17 More inward are Driby and Ormesby neighbour towns which gave sirnames to two great families in their times From the Dribyes descended the elder Lords Cromwell now determined and from Oâââesbies the house of Skipwiâh still continuing Then Louth a little market-town of good resort taking its name from Lud a little river that runs by Cockerington heretofore the head of the Barony de Scoteney And lastly Grimsby Grimsby which our Sabines Eulogium lovers of their own conceits will have so call'd from one Grime a Merchant who brought up a little child of the Danish blood-royal nam'd Havelock that was exposed for which he is much talk'd of as is also that Haveloc his Pupil who was first a Scullion in the King's kitchen but afterwards for his eminent valour had the honour to marry the King's daughter He perform'd I know not what great exploits which for certain are fitter for tattling gossips in a winter night than a grave Historian bb 18 But the honour and ornament of this place was the right reverend Doctor Whitgift late Archbishop of Canterbuây a peerless Prelate for piety and learning in our days Scarce six miles from hence farther in the Country is to be seen the ancient castle call'd at this time Castor Castor in Saxon Duang-caster and Thong-caster in British Caer-Egarry Thong-castle but in both languages it takes the name from the thing viz. from a hide cut in pieces as Byrsa Byrsa the most noted Carthaginian castle did For 't is affirm'd in our annals that Hengist the Saxon having conquer'd the Picts and Scots and got very large possessions in other places begged also of Vortigern as much ground in this place as he could encompass with an Ox's hide cut out in very small Thongs where he built this castle whence one who has writ a Breviary of the British history in verse transpos'd Virgil's verses in this manner Accepitque solum facti de nomine Thongum Taurino quantum poterat circundare tergo Took and call'd Thong in memory of the deed The ground he compass'd with an Ox's hide From Grimesby the shore gives back with great winding and admits the aestuary Abus or Humber by Thornton heretofore a College for divine worship founded by William Crassus Earl of Albemarle and by Barton where we pass into the County of York Thââââ Câllâg by a very noted Ferry Next this lies Ankam a little muddy river and for that reason full of Eels Bâââ ãâ¦ã âber which at last runs into the Humber near the spring-head of it stands Market-Rasin so call'd from a pretty throng market there A little higher stands Angotby now corruptly call'd Osgodby belonging heretofore to the family 19 Of Semarc of S. Medardo from whom the Airmoines had it by inheritance Oâgâââ and Kelsay which was sometime the estate of the Hansards very eminent in this Shire Kâââ from whom it came to the Ashcoughs Knights by marriage cc Afterwards the Ankam is joyn'd with a bridge to Glanford a little market town call'd by the common people Brigg from the bridge the true name being almost quite forgotten Near this town within a park is to be seen Kettleby the seat of the famous family of the Tirwhitts Knights 20 Descended from Grovil Oxenbridge and Echingham but formerly the dwelling-place of one Ketellus Kâttâââ as the name it self intimates Tirwâââ which was very common among the Danes and Saxons For in Saxon Bye signifies an habitation and Byan to inhabit which is the reason why so many places all over England but especially in this County end in By. Bye This County is at certain seasons so stock'd with fowl to say nothing of fish that one may very justly admire the numbers and variety of them Birds and those not common ones and such as are of great value in other Countries namely Teal Quails Woodcocks Pheasants Partridge c. but such as we have no Latin words for and that are so delicate and agreeable that the nicest palates always covet them viz. Puittes Godwitts Knotts that is as I take it Canutus's birds for they are believ'd to fly hither out of Denmark Dotterells Knots so call'd from their dotish silliness for the mimick birds are caught at candle-light by the fowler's gestures Dottâââs if he stretch out his arm they imitate him with their wing if he holds out his leg they likewise will do the same with theirs to be short whatsoever the fowler does they do after him till at last they let the net be drawn over them But I leave these to be observed either by such as delight curiously to dive into the secrets of nature or that squander away their estates in luxury and epicurism More westward the river Trent after a long course within its sandy banks which are the bounds to this Shire falls from the Fossedike into the Humber having first of all ran pretty near Stow Stow. where Godiva Earl Leofrick's wife built a Monastery which by reason of its low situation under the hills is said by Henry of Huntingdon to lye under the Promontory of Lincoln dd Then by Knath now the seat of the Lord Willoughby of Parham formerly of the family of the Barons of Darcy Knath who had great honours and possessions by the daughter and heir of Meinill This family of the Darcies came from one more ancient to wit from one Norman de Adrecy or Darcy of Nocton who was in high esteem under Henry 3. His posterity endow'd the little Monastery at Alvingham in this County Dârcy de Nocâââ Knath But this honour was in a manner extinct when Norman the last of the right and more ancient line left only two sisters the one married to Roger Penwardin the other to Peter de Limbergh Fiâes 29 Eâ â Afterwards the Trent runs down to Gainsborow a little town famous for being the harbour of the Danish ships and for the death of Sueno Tiugskege Gaââââârow a Danish Tyrant who when he had pillaged the Country as Matthew of Westminster writes was here stabb'd by an unknown person and so at last suffer'd the punishment due to his wickedness Some ages after this it was the possession of 21 Sir William William de Valentia Earl of Pembroke who obtain'd of Edw. 1. the privilege of a Fair for it The Barons of Borrough who dwell here of whom we have spoken before in Surrey are descended from this Earl by the Scotch Earls of Athol âââs of ââough and the Percies ee In this part of the County stood formerly the city Sidnacester once the seat of the Bishops of this County who were call'd Bishops of Lindiffar ââacester but this town is now so sadly decay'd that neither the ruins nor name of it are in being ff I must not omit that here at Mellwood there flourishes the honourable family of St. Paul Knights corruptly call'd Sampoll which
springeth out of a pond vulgarly call'd Brown's-well for Brent-well that is in old English Frog-well passeth down between Hendon which Archbishop Dunstan born for the advancement of Monks purchased for some few gold Bizantines which were imperial pieces of gold coined at Byzantium or Constantinople and gave to the Monks of St. Peter of Westminster And Hampsted-hill from whence you have a most pleasant prospect to the most beautiful City of London and the lovely Country about it Over which the ancient Roman military way led to Verulam or St. Albans by Edgworth and not by High-gate as now which new way was opened by the Bishops of London about some 300 years since But to return Brent into whom all the small rivers of these parts resort runneth on by Brent-street an Hamlet to which it imparted its name watreth Hangerwood Hanwell Oiâterley-Park where Sir Thomas Gresham built a fair large house and so near her fall into the Thames giveth name to Brentford a fair thorough-fare and frequent Market Hard by is Brentford Brentford which receiv'd that name from the little river Brent where Edmund Ironside after he had oblig'd the Danes to draw off from the siege of London did so attack them as to force 'em to a disorderly flight wherein he kill'd great numbers of them From Stanes thus far all between the high-road along Hounslow and the Thames was call'd the Forrest or Warren of Stanes till Henry 3. as we read in his Charter deforrested and dewarren'd it Then 8 To the Thames side I saw Fulham Fulham in Saxon Fullonham i.e. a house of fowle which receives its greatest honour from the Bishop of London's Country-house 9 Standing there conveniently not far from the City albeit not so healthfully f And Chelsey Chelsey as if one should say Shelfsey so call'd from a bed of Sands in the river Thames 10 As some suppose but in Records 't is nam'd Chelche-hith adorn'd with stately buildings by Henry 8. William Powlett Marquess of Winchester and others g But amongst these London which is as it were the Epitome of all Britain the Seat of the British Empire and the â Camera Residence of the Kings of England is to use the Poet's comparison as much above the rest as the Cypress is above the little sprig Tacitus Ptolemy and Antoninus call it Londinium and Longidinium Ammianus Lundinum and Augusta Stephanus in his book of Cities ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our British Lundayn the old Saxons Londen-ceaster Londen-byrig Londen-pyc foreigners Londra and Londres our own nation London London the fabulous Writers Troja Nova Dinas Belin i.e. the city of Belin and Caer Lud from one King Luddus whom they affirm to have given it both being and name But as for those new-broach'd names and originals as also Erasmus's conjecture that it came from Lindum a city of Rhodes I leave 'em to those that are inclin'd to admire them For my own part since Caesar and Strabo have told me British Towns that the ancient Britains call'd such woods or groves as they fenc'd with trees they had cut down Cities or Towns and since I have been inform'd that in British they call such places Llhwn I am almost of this opinion that London is by way of eminence simply call'd a City or a City in a wood But if that do not hit give me leave without the charge of inconstancy 11 While I disport in conjecture to guess once more that it might have it's name from the same original that it had it's growth and glory I mean Ships call'd by the British Lhong so that London is as much as a Harbour or City of Ships For the Britains term a City Dinas Dinas which the Latins turn'd into Dinum Upon which account it is call'd in one place Longidinium and in a * Naenia Song of an ancient British Bard Lhongporth i.e. a port or harbour for Ships And by the same word Bologne in France in Ptolemy Gessoriacum Navale is turn'd by the British Glossary Bolung Long. For several cities have had their names from shipping as Naupactus Naustathmos Nauplia Navalia Augusti c. None of which can lay better claim to the name of an harbour than our London For 't is admirably accommodated with both Elements standing in a fruitful soil abounding with every thing seated upon a gentle ascent and upon the river Thames which without trouble or difficulty brings it in the riches of the world For by the convenience of the tide coming in at set hours with the safety and depth of the river which brings up the largest vessels it daily heaps in so much wealth both from East and West that it may at this day dispute the preheminence with all the Mart-towns in Christendom Moreover it is such a sure and complete station for ships that one may term it a grov'd wood so shaded is it with masts and sails h Antiquity has told us nothing of the first Founder as indeed Cities growing up by little and little but seldom know their original Notwithstanding this among others has fabulously deriv'd it self from the Trojans and is persuaded that Brute â Abnepos second Nephew to the famous Aeneas was it's Founder But whoever built it the growth of it may convince 't was begun with a â Vitali genio lucky omen 12 Marked for life and long continuance and Ammianus Marcellinus has taught us to pay it a veneration upon account of it's Antiquity when even in his time which is twelve hundred years ago he calls it an ancient town And agreeably Cornelius Tacitus who flourish'd under Nero 13 1540. years since has told us that then 't was a place exceeding famous for the number of merchants and it's trade Even then nothing was wanting to complete it's glory but that it was not either a â Municipium free-Free-borough or a Colony Nor indeed would it have been the interest of the Romans that a City of such vast trade should enjoy the privileges of a Colony or Free-borough for which reason I fancy they made it a Praefecture Praefecturae for so they call'd the towns wherein there were * Nundinae Fairs and Courts kept Not that they had Magistrates of their own but had Praefects sent them yearly to do justice who were to act in all publick affairs such as taxes tributes imposts â Militiae the business of the army c. according to the Instructions of the Roman Senate Upon which account it is that London is only term'd Opidum a town by Tacitus by the Panegyrist and by Marcellinus But altho' it had not a more honourable title yet it has been as powerful wealthy and prosperous as any and that almost without interruption under the Roman Saxon and Norman Governments scarce ever falling under any great calamity i In Nero's reign when the Britains under the conduct of Boadicia had unanimously resolv'd
the longer she liv'd the greater sorrow she felt and every day was more doleful than other As for what here befel another most mighty Princess Mary Queen of Scots I had rather it should be buried in oblivion than once spoken of Let it be for ever forgotten if possible if not let it however be wrapped up in silence Under the best of Princes some there are who being once arm'd with authority know how by secret slights to set a fair face of Conscience and Religon upon their own private designs and some again that sincerely and heartily consult true Religion their Prince's security and which is the highest law the publick safety Neither can it be deny'd but that even the best of Princes themselves are sometimes violently hurried away as good Pilots with Tempests whither they would not But what they do as crowned heads we must leave to God who only hath power over Kings The Nen now touching upon the edge of Huntingdonshire and running under a fine Bridge at Walmesford passes by Durobrivae Durobrivae a very ancient City calld in Saxon Dormancester as I said before and which took up a great deal of ground on each side the River in both Counties For the little village Caster which stands a mile from the river seems to have been a part of it by the inlaid chequer'd pavements found there tho' we read this Inscription of later date upon their Church-wall XV. KL MAII DEDICATIO HVIVS ECCLESIAE MCXXIIII The fifteenth day before the Kalends of May in the year one thousand one hundred twenty four was the dedication of this Church And doubtless it was a place of more than ordinary note for in the adjoyning fields which instead of Dormanton they call Normanton-fields such quantities of Roman coins are thrown up that a man would really think they had been sown there and two high-ways the Cawseys whereof are still to be seen went from hence the one call'd Forty-foot-way from its being forty foot broad to Stanford the other nam'd Long-ditch and High-street by Lollham-bridges Lollham-Bâidges bridges certainly of great antiquity whereof eleven Arches are still to be seen cleft and ruinous with age through West-deping into Lincolnshire At the first parting of these ways stands Upton Upton upon a rising ground whence it took its name where Sir Robert Wingfield Kt. descended from the ancient family of the Wingfields that has brought forth abundance of renownd Knights has a fine house with lovely walks From Durobrivae or Dormanchester the river Nen passes on to Peterborough Peterbârough a little city seated in the very Angle of this County where Writers tell us there was a gulph in the river of a prodigious depth call'd Medes-well and a town hard by it nam'd thereupon Medes-well-hamsted and Medes-hamsted This as Robert de Swapham informs us was built in a very fine place having on one side a Mere and excellent waters on the other many woods meadows and pastures every way beautiful to the eye and inaccessible by land on the East side only On the South side of the Burrough runs the river Nen. In the middle of this river there is a place so deep and cold that in Summer none of your swimmers can dive to the bottom of it nor yet is it ever frozen in winter For there is a spring continually bubbling up water This place was in ancient times call'd Medes-well till such time as Wolpher King of the Mercians dedicated here a Monastery to St. Peter And because the place was morish he laid the foundation as the same Robert affirms with stones of a vast bigness such as eight yoke of Oxen would hardly draw one of them which I my self saw when the Monastery was destroy'd Afterwards it began to be call'd Peterborow or Burgh Petâââghs Petââpââs and was a very famous Monastery I cannot but think it worth the while to give you an account of its original and first building abridg'd out of this Robert de Swapham a Writer of good antiquity Peada the son of Penda first Christian King of the Mercians in the year of our Lord 10 546. 656. for the propagation of the Christian Religion laid the foundation of a Monastery at Medes hamsted among the Girvians â Or Finn-country which he liv'd not to finish being made away by the wicked contrivances of his wife After Peada succeeded his brother Wolpher a bitter enemy to the Christian Religion who most inhumanly murder'd his own sons Wolphald and Rufin for their having embrac'd it But he himself some few years after turn'd Christian and to expiate his impieties with good works he carried on the Monastery his brother had began and with the help of his brother Etheldred and his sisters Kineburg and Kineswith finish'd it in the year 633. and dedicated it to St. Peter whence it came to be call'd Peterborow endowing it with large revenues and making Sexwulph a man of great piety who principally advis'd him to this work first Abbot thereof This Monastery flourish'd from thence-forth under a fair character of sanctity for about two hundred and fourteen years till those dreadful times came when the Danes wasted all before them Then were the Monks massacred and the Monastery quite destroy'd which lay as it were buried in its ruins for a hundred and nine years At last about the year 960. Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester a person wholly given up to the encouragement of Monkery began to rebuild it having the helping hand especially of King Edgar and of Adulph the King's Chancellour who out of sorrow and repentance for his own and his wife's having over-laid a little infant their only son spent his whole estate in re-edifying this Monastery bid adieu to the world and was made the first Abbot after its restoration It has been ever since famous for its large revenues and great privileges though in the reign of William the Norman Herward an English Out-law made an excursion from the Isle of Ely and plunder'd it of all its wealth against whom Abbot Turold erected the Fort Mont Turold Monâ Tuââd Yet was it lookt upon as very rich till within the memory of our fathers when King Henry the eighth thrust out the Monks every where accusing them of not having observ'd the rule of those holy men the ancient Monks and of having riotously wasted the goods of the Church which were the patrimony of the poor and erected here a Bishoprick assigning this County and Rutlandshire for its Diocese a Deanery also and Prebends So that of a Monastery it became a Cathedral Church which if you survey its building is very fine even in respect of its antiquity its Front is noble and majestick its Cloisters fine and large in the Glass-windows there is represented the history of Wolpher the founder with the succession of its Abbots St. Mary's Chapel is a large piece of building and full of curious workmanship and the Choir is very fine wherein two Queens
sylvestris alba nona Clusâi Ger. emac. montana viscosa alba latifolia C. B. Sylv. alba sive Ocimoides minus album Park Polemonium petraeum Gesneri J. B. White wild Catchfly On the walls of Nottingham castle and on the grounds thereabout Verbascum pulverulentum flore luteo parvo J. B. Hoary Mullein with small flowers About Wollerton-hall the seat of my honoured friend Sir Thomas Willughby Baronet DERBYSHIRE ON the West of Nottinghamshire lies the County of Derby in Saxon Deorbi-scyre commonly Derbyshire which is bounded on the south by Leicestershire on the west by Staffordshire on the north by Yorkshire in the form as it were of a triangle but not equilateral For from the south point of it where 't is hardly six miles broad it grows so wide on both sides that towards the north it is about thirty miles in latitude It is divided into two parts by the course of the river Derwent thro' the middle of it which rising in the north edge of it flows with its black waters so colour'd by the soil it runs thro' southward to the Trent For the Trent crosses through the south point I did but now mention The east and south parts are well cultivated pretty fruitful and have many parks in them The west part beyond the Derwent call'd Peake is altogether rocky rough mountainous and consequently barren yet rich in lead iron and coal and pretty convenient for feeding sheep The first thing we meet with remarkable in the South corner is Greisely-castle Greisly-Castle a meer ruin which with the little-Monastery of St. George there was formerly built by the Lords Greisleys The family of the Greisleys who derive their pedigree from William son of Nigell sirnam'd de Greiseley and have continu'd flourishing from the time of the Norman Conquest to this very day in great honour which they did not a little encrease long ago by marrying the daughter and heir of that ancient family De Gasteneys Upon the river Dove which severs this County from Staffordshire till such time as it runs into the Trent there is nothing to be seen but Country-villages and Ashburne a market-town where the family of the Cockains have long flourish'd and Norbury where that noble and particulary ancient family the Fitz-Herberts have long liv'd of whom was Anthony Fitz-Herbert highly deserving for his great knowledge of the Common-Law Not much distant from this place stands Shirley the old estate of that famous family the Shirleys The family of the Shirleys descended from one Fulcher and besides the antiquity of their family much honour'd and enrich'd by marriages with the heirs of the Breoses Bassets of Brailesford Stantons Lovetts c. Here are many places round about which have given both name and seat to famous families namely Longford Bradburne Kniveton from whence the Knivetons of Marcaston and Bradley of whom is S. Lous Kniveton to whose study and diligence I am much indebted also Keidelston where the Cursons as they likewise do at Croxton dwell 1 But whether Sir Robert Curson Knighted by King Henry 7. and created a Baron of the Empire by the Emperour Maximilian A. D. 1500. on the account of his singular valour on whom also King Henry 8. in like manner conferr'd the title of a Baron of England assigning to him a liberal pension were descended from these Cursons I dare not affirm Radburne where John Chandos Kt. to whom this place belongs laid the foundation of a great house from whom by a daughter this estate hereditarily descended to the Poles who live here at this day But I will leave these particulars to one who designs to give us a compleat description of this County Upon the Trent where it receives the Dove stands Repandunum so our Historians call it but the Saxons name it a Hreopandun is the true name Hrepandun and we at this day Repton Repton which from a large town is now dwindl'd into a small village For heretofore it was very famous both for the burial of Aethelbald that excellent King of the Mercians who lost his life by the treachery of his own subjects and the other Mercian Kings and also for the misfortune of b His right name is Burhred Burthred King Burthred the last King of the Mercians who after a reign of 20 years continu'd by the precarious means of solicitation and bribery was here dethron'd by the Danes or rather forc'd from the pompous misery of reigning which may shew us how weak and slippery those high places are that are barely held and supported by mony a After this not far from the Trent stands Melborn Melborn a castle of the King 's now decaying where John Duke of Bourbon taken prisoner in the battel of Agincourt was kept nineteen years in custody of Nicholas Montgomery the younger Scarce five miles from hence to the Northward lies the course of the river Derwent which as I already observ'd rising from Peak-hills in the North-border of this County flows for about thirty miles sometimes rough and dash'd by a stony passage sometimes gliding through green meadows almost in a streight line to the South Yet in all this long course there is nothing entertaining upon it besides Chattesworth Chattesworth a house really large neat and admirable which was begun by Sir William Candish or Cavendish Kt. descended from that noble and ancient family de Gernon in Suffolk and lately finish'd at great expence by his wife Elizabeth a most famous Lady at present Countess of Shrewsbury Now where the Derwent turns its course to the eastward and passes by Little-Chester Little-Chester i.e. a little city where old Roman coins are often dugg up stands Derby Derby in Saxon NorthÆ¿orthig and in Danish as that ancient writer Ethelwerd tells us Deoraby the chief town of this Shire which derives its name from the Derwent upon which it stands and gives it to this County The town is neat pretty large and well inhabited on the east part of it the river Derwent runs very sweetly with a full and brisk stream under a fair stone bridge upon which stands a neat c It is dedicated to S. Mary and in the time of King Charles 2. when he granted Liberty of Conscience it was a little repair'd and made a Meeting-house for some time it is since new-built and converted into a Dye-house Chapel now neglected formerly built by our pious Ancestors The South-part of the town is cross'd by a little clear river which they call Mertenbroke It has five Churches in it the greatest of them dedicated to All-Saints has a steeple particularly famous both for height and workmanship Here the Countess of Shrewsbury before-mention'd distrusting to the affection of her heirs providently built her self a Sepulchre and piously founded an Hospital just by for the maintenance of 12 poor people namely 8 men and four women This place was formerly memorable for being a harbour to the plundering Danes till
has gradually withdrawn it self so that the town has lost the benefit of them and the advantage of a harbour which it enjoy'd heretofore It 's situation in Longitude is 20 degrees and 23 minutes in Latitude 53 degrees 11 minutes Whoever desires to know more of this City may read this passage taken out of Lucian the Monk who lived almost five hundred years ago First it is to be considered that the City of Chester is a place very pleasantly situated and being in the west parts of Britain stood very convenient to receive the Roman Legions that were transported hither and besides it was proper for watching the frontiers of the Empire and was a perfect key to Ireland For being opposite to the north parts of Ireland it opened a passage thither for ships and mariners continually in motion to and again Besides it lyes curiously not only for prospect towards Rome and the Empire but the whole world a spectacle exposed to the eye of all the world so that from hence may be discern'd the great actions of the world and the first springs and consequents of them the persons who the places where and the times when they were transacted We may also take example from the ill conduct of them to discern the base and mean things and learn to avoid them The City has four gates answering the four winds on the east-side it has a prospect towards India on the west towards Ireland and on the north towards the greater Norway and lastly on the south to that little corner wherein God's vengeance has confined the Britains for their Civil wars and dissentions which heretofore changed the name of Britain into England and how they live to this day their neighbours know to their sorrow Moreover God has blest and enrich'd Chester with a river running pleasantly and full of fish by the city walls and on the south side with a harbour to ships coming from Gascoign Spain Ireland and Germany who by Christ's assistance and by the labour and conduct of the mariners repair hither and supply them with all sorts of commodities so that being comforted by the grace of God in all things we drink wine very plentifully for those countries have abundance of vineyards Moreover the open sea ceases not to visit us every day with a tide which according as the broad shelves of sand are open or shut by tides and ebbs continually is wont more or less to change or send one thing or other and by reciprocal ebb and flow either to bring in or carry out From the city northwestward there runneth out a Chersonese into the sea inclosed on one side with the aestuary Dee and on the other with the river Mersey we call it Wirall Wâââ the Welsh because it is a corner Kill-gury d this was all heretofore a desolate forest and not inhabited as the natives say but King Edw. 3. disforested it Now it is well furnish'd with towns which are more favoured by the sea than by the soil for the land affords them very little corn but the water a great many fish In the entry into it on the south-side by the aestuary stands Shotwick a castle of the Kings on the north stands Hooton a manour which in Richard 2.'s time fell to the Stanleys who derive themselves from one Alan Sylvestris upon whom Ranulph the first of that name Earl of Chester conferr'd the Bailywick of the forest of Wiral by the delivery of a horn Just by this stands Poole from whence the Lords of that place who have liv'd very honourably and in a flourishing condition this long time took their name Near this is Stanlaw that is Law ãâã as the Monks there have explain'd it a stony-hill where John Lacy Constable of Chester built a little Monastery which by reason of inundations was forced afterwards to be remov'd to Whaly in the County of Lancaster 11â At the farthest end of this Chersonese there lies a little barren dry sandy Island called Il-bre Iââ which had formerly a small cell of Monks More inward east of this Chersonese lies the famous forest called the Forest of Delamere the foresters whereof by inheritance are the Dawns of Utkinton of an honourable family being descended from Ranulph of Kingleigh to whom Ranulph the first Earl of Chester gave the inheritance of that office of Forester In this forest Aedelfleda the famous Mercian Lady built a little city called Eades-burg that is a happy town which has now d There is no reason why the name of this place should be thought altogether lost or it's ruins grop'd for in the Forest of de la mer so long as we have still in the County so noted a place as Edisbury-hall which gives name not only to an eminent family but to a whole Hundred lost both its name and being for at present 't is only a heap of rubbish which they call the Chamber in the forest About a mile or two from it are also to be seen the ruins of Finborrow Finborââ another town built by the same Lady Through the upper part of this forest lies the course of the river Wever which issues out of a lake in the south-side of the County at a place called Ridley Ridâây the seat of the famous and ancient family of the Egertons a branch of the Barons of Malpas as I have already observed and not far from Bunbury 4 Contractly so call'd for Boniface Bury for St. Boniface was the Patron Saint there where is an ancient College built by them and near to Beeston-castle 5 Which gave sirname to an ancient family Boestââ a place well guarded both by the mountains the vast extent of the walls and the great number of its towers with a steep access to it This Castle was built by Ranulph the last Earl of Chester of that name whereof Leland writes thus Assyrio rediens victor Ranulphus ab orbe Hoc posuit Castrum terrorem gentibus olim Vicinis patriaeque suae memorabile vallum Nunc licet indignas patiatur fracta ruinas Tempus erit quando rursus caput exeret altum Vatibus antiquis si fas mihi credere vati Ranulph returning from the Syrian Land This Castle rais'd his Country to defend The borderers to fright and to command Tho' ruin'd now the stately fabrick lies Yet with new glories it again shall rise If I a Prophet may believe old prophecies Hence the Wever continues his course southward not far from Woodhay Woââ where the famous and Knightly family of the Wilburhams liv'd long in great reputation also by Bulkely and Cholmondly Bulkeââ which gave names to two famous and Knightly families and lastly not far on one hand from Baddely formerly the seat of the ancient family of the Praeries nor on the other hand from Cumbermer in which William Malbedeng founded a little Religious-house 11â When this river touches the south part of this County it passes through
was fortified with a castle by Hugh Earl of Chester whereof tho' I made diligent enquiry I could not discover the least ruins 'T was seated at the very entrance of this Fretum or chanel where Edward 1. attempted in vain to build a bridge that his Army might pass over into the Island Mona or Anglesey whereof next in order At this place also as we find in Tacitus Paulinus Suetonius pass d over with the Roman soldiers the horse at a ford and the foot in flat-bottom'd boats From hence the shore with a steep ascent passes by a very high and perpendicular rock call'd Pen maen mawr Penmaenmawr which hanging over the sea affords travellers but a very narrow passage where the rocks on one hand seem ready to fall on their heads and on the other the roaring sea of a vast depth But having pass'd this together with Pen maen bychan i.e. the lesser rocky promontory a plain extends it self as far as the river Conwy Conwy river call'd Toisovius the eastern limit of this County This river is call d in Ptolemy Toisovius for Conovius which is only an errour crept in o copies from a compendious way of writing Greek It springs out of a lake of the same name in the southern limit of the County and hastens to the sea being confin'd within a very narrow and rocky chanel almost to the very mouth of it This river breeds a kind of Shells which being impregnated with celestial dew produce pearl Pearls b The town of Conovium Conovium mention'd by Antoninus receiv'd it's name from this river which tho' it be now quite destroy'd and the very name in the place where it stood extinct yet the antiquity of it is preserved in the present name for in the ruins of it we find a small village call'd Kaer hên which signifies the old city c Out of the ruins of this city King Edw. 1. built the new Town at the mouth of the river which is therefore call'd Aber Conwy a place that Hugh Earl of Chester had fortified before This new Conwy both in regard of its advantageous situation and for its being so well fortified as also for a very neat castle by the river side might deserve the name of a small city rather than a town but that it is but thinly inhabited d Opposite to Conwy on this side the river though in the same County we have a vast promontory with a crooked elbow as if nature had design'd there a harbour for shipping call'd Gogarth Gogarth where stood the ancient city of Diganwy Diganwy on the sea of Conwy which many ages since was consumed by lightning This I suppose to have been the city Dictum Dictum where under the later Emperours the commander of the Nervii Dictenses kept guard As for it's being afterwards call'd Diganwy who sees not that Ganwy is a variation only of Conwy and that from thence also came the English Ganoc Ganoc for so was that castle call d which in later times was built by Henry 3. e Soon after the Norman Conquest this Country was govern'd by Grufydh ap KÅ·nan * Conanus who not being able to repel the English troops which made frequent inroads into Wales was constrain'd sometimes to yield to the storm and when afterwards by his integrity he had gain'd the favour of King Henry 1. he also easily recover'd his lands from the English and left them to his posterity who enjoy'd them till the time of Lhewelyn ap Grufydh â An account of the life and death of this excellent Prince may be seen at large in Dr. Powel's History of Wales p g. 314 c. But he having provok'd his brothers with injuries and the neighbouring English with incursions was at length brought to that strait that he held this mountainous Country together with the isle of Mona or Anglesey of King Edward 1. as Tenant in fee paying a thousand marks yearly Which conditions when he afterwards would not stand to but following rather his own and his perfidious brother's obstinacy than led on with any hopes of prevailing would again run the hazard of war he was kill'd and so put an end to his own Government and that of the Britains in Wales This County contains 68 Parishes ADDITIONS to CAERNARVONSHIRE a THE British name of these Mountains Kreigieu'r Eryreu signifies Eagle Rocks which are generally understood by the Inhabitants to be so call'd from the Eagles that formerly bred here too plentifully and do yet haunt these Rocks some years tho' not above three or four at a time and that commonly one Summer in five or six coming hither as is supposed out of Ireland Had they been denominated from Snow the name must have been Kreigieu'r Eiral whereas we always call them Eryreu Nor do the ancientest Authors that mention them favour Mr. Camden's Etymology for Giraldus Cambrensis writes it Eryri which differs nothing in pronunciation and Ninnius who writ Anno 858. Heriri However seeing the English call it Snowdon the former derivation was not without good grounds and 't is possible the word yrau might be either the ancient pronunciation or a corruption of eira and so these Rocks call'd Kreigiau yr Yrau which might afterwards be written Kreigieu Eryreu Amongst these Mountains the most noted are Moel y Wydhva y Glyder Karnedh Dhavidh and Karnedh Lhewelyn which are very properly call'd by our Author the British Alps. For besides their extraordinary height and craggy precipices their abounding with Lakes and Rivers and being covered with Snow for a considerable part of the year they agree also with the Alps in producing several of the same * âee Ray's Synophs of British Plants Plants and some Animals as particularly Merula Saxatilis Aldrovandi call'd here and in Meirionydhshire Mwyalchen y Graig i.e. Rock-ouzl and in Switzerland Berg-Amzel or Mountain Black-bird and the Torgoch a Fish â Umblâ minor Gâsneri p. 1201. which Mr â Willough Ichthyol Ray supposes to be the same with the * The word Roetel signâfies the same with Torgoch Roetel of the Alpine Lakes In these Mountains as probably in the Alps also and other places of this kind the greatest variety of rare Plants are found in the highest and steepest Rocks The places here that afford best entertainment for Botanists are Klogwyn Karnedh y Wydhva call'd commonly Klogwyn y Garnedh which is probably the highest Rock in the three Kingdoms Krîby â Call'd so corruptly perhaps for Krâby Dâstith for water drops down this precipice continually Diskil Trig-vylchau â i e. Treigi-Vyâchen and y Klogwyn dû ymhèn y Glyder which are all near Lhan Berys and well known to the Shepherds Such as have not seen Mountains of this kind are not able to frame an Idea of them from the hills of more champain or lower Countries For whereas such hills are but single heights or stories these are heap'd upon one another
antient and noble family have flourished from the first conquest of this country by the English who were afterwards advanced to the honour of Barons o Now Earl of Tyrone Curraghmore Upon the bank of the river Suire stands Waterford ââterford the chief City of this County Of which thus old Necham Suirius insignem gaudet ditare Waterford Aequoreis undis associatur ibi Thee Waterford Suir 's streams with wealth supply Hasting to pay their tribute to the sea This City which the Irish and Britains call Porthlargy the English Waterford was first built by certain Pirats of Norway Though 't is situated in a thick air and on a barren soil and close built yet by reason of the convenience of the haven p It was once but now Cork may claim that honour 't is the second City in Ireland for wealth and populousness and has ever continued q It s motto was Intacta manet Waterfordia But in the course of the Irish rebellion begun An. 1641. by means of the Popish Clergy it became exceeding faulty Now that the English Inhabitants daily encrease we may expect it will recover its former reputation particularly loyal and obedient to the Crown of England For since it was first taken by Richard Earl of Pembroke it has been so faithful and quiet that in our Conquest of Ireland it has always secur'd us from any attempts on this side Upon this account the Kings of England have endowed it with many and those considerable privileges which were enlarged and confirmed by Henry 7. for behaving themselves with great valour and conduct against Perkin Warbeck a sham-Prince who being but a young fellow of mean extraction had the impudence to aim at the Imperal Diadem by pretending to be Richard Duke of York the second son of King Edward 4. King Henry 6. gave the County of Waterford ãâã of ââterford together with the City to John Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury in words which so clearly set forth the bravery of that warlike man that I cannot but think it worth the while and perhaps some others may think it so too to transcribe them from the Record We therefore says the King after a great deal more wherein one sees the defect both of the Latin and eloquence of the Secretaries of that age in consideration of the valour of our most dear and faithful Cousen John Earl of Shrewsbury and Weysford Lord Talbot of Furnival and Lestrange sufficiently shewn and proved in the wars aforesaid even to his old age not only by the sweat of his body but many times by the loss of his blood and considering how our County and City of Waterford in our Kingdom of Ireland with the Castle Seigniory Honour Lands and Barony of Dungarvan and all the Lordships Lands Honours and Baronies and their appurtenances within the same County which by forfeiture of rebels by reversion or decease of any person or persons by escheat or any other title of law ought to vest in Us or our progenitors which by reason of invasions or insurrections in these parts are become so desolate and as they lye exposed to the spoils of war so entirely wasted that they are of no profit to us but have done and now do many times redound to our loss and charge and also that the said lands may hereafter be better defended against the attempts and incursions of enemies or rebels do ordain and create him Earl of Waterford with the stile title name and honour thereunto belonging And that all things may correspond with his state and greatness we hereby of our special grace certain knowledge and free motion that the Grandeur of the Earl may be supported more honourably do give grant and by these presents confirm unto the said Earl the County aforesaid together with the aforesaid title stile name and honour of Earl of Waterford and the city of Waterford aforesaid with the fee-farm castles lordships honours lands baronies and all other appurtenances within the County as also all mannors hundreds wapentakes c. along the sea-coast from the town of Yoghall to the city of Waterford aforesaid To have and to hold the said County of Waterford the stile title name and honour of Earl of Waterford and likewise the city of Waterford aforesaid with the castle seigniory honour land and barony of Dungarvan and all other lordships honours lands and Baronies within the said County and also all the aforesaid mannors hundreds c. to the abovesaid Earl and to the heirs males of his body begotten to hold of us and our heirs by homage fealty and the service of being our Seneschal and that he and his heirs be Seneschals of Ireland Seneschal of Ireland to us and our heirs throughout our whole land of Ireland to do and that he do and ought himself to do in the said office that which his predecessors Seneschals of England were wont formerly to do for us in that office In witness whereof c. However while the Kings of England and their Nobility who had large possessions in Ireland were either took up with foreign wars in France or civil dissentions at home Ireland was quite neglected so that the English interest began to decay r See the Statute of Absentees in the County of Caterlogh and the power of the Irish grew formidable by reason of their absence and then it was enacted to recover their interest and to suppress this growth of the Irish strength that the Earl of Shrewsbury for his absence and carelesness should surrender the Town and County of Waterford to the King and his successors and likewise that the Duke of Norfolk the Baron Barkley Ann. 28. H. 8 the Heirs Female of the Earl of Ormond and all the Abbots Priors c. of England who held any lands there should surrender them to the King and his successors for the same faults The County of LIMERICK THus far we have surveyed the maritime counties of Mounster two remain that are inland Limerick and Tipperary which we are now come to The County of Limerick lies behind that of Cork Northward between Kerry the river Shanon and the county of Tipperary fruitful and well inhabited but it has few remarkable towns The West part of it is called Conilagh Conilagh where among the hills Knock-Patrick Knock-Patrick that is St. Patrick's hill is most eminent for its height from the top whereof one has a pleasant prospect into the sea and along the river Shanon which at a great distance falls from a wide mouth into the Vergivian Ocean At the bottom of this hill the Fitz-Giralds liv'd for a long time in great honour Knight of the Vally Qu. Elâz An. 11. till Thomas call'd the Knight of the Valley or de Glin when his graceless son was put to death for Arsony for 't is treason by the laws of Ireland to set villages and houses a fire was also found an Accessary and had his estate
a garison-castle is so situate upon the river that no ships can pass to Waterford or Ross but by its permission and therefore they took care to fortifie it in the year 1588 when the Spaniards intended to conquer Ireland From hence to the very mouth of the river a narrow neck of land shoots out upon which stands a high tower built by the citizens of Ross in the time of their prosperity for the direction of mariners into the river's mouth At a little distance from hence upon a winding shore stands Tintern Tintern Monast de Voto where William Marshall Earl of Pembrooke built a famous Monastery and called it De Voto because in a dangerous storm he had made a vow to found one and being here cast upon the shore chose this place Hieron Promontory This very Promontory Ptolemy calls Hieron which signifies sacred and I don't question but it was call'd to the same sense by the inhabitants For the last town in it Byaun in Irish sacred where the English landed when they first invaded this Island is call'd in Irish Banna which signifies holy From this Holy-Promontory the shore turns eastward and winds about again for a long way towards the north over-against which the sea is full of flats and shallows very dangerous and called by the mariners the Grounds The Grounds Here Ptolemy fixes the river Modona The river Modona and the city Menapia standing at the mouth of it names so utterly lost at this day that I plainly despair of giving any light to a thing so very much involved in darkness Yet seeing there is but one river empties it self here and that in a manner parting this country in two called Slane as also The river Slane that upon the mouth where it stagnates there stands a city call'd by a German name Weisford Weisford the head town of this County methinks I could at least conjecture with some confidence that this Slane is that Modona and this Weisford Menapia and the rather because this name is but novel and of a German original having been given it by those Germans whom the Irish call Oustmen This city is none of the greatest but as remarkable as any being the first of this Island that submitted to the English reduced by Fitz-Stephens a valiant Commander and made a Colony of the English Upon this account this shire is very full of English who dress after the old fashion and speak the old language but with some allay and mixture of Irish Dermic who first drew the English hither gave this city and the territory about it to Fitz-Stephen for ever who began a burrough-burrough-town hard by at Carricke and with great art improved those advantages wherewith nature had fortified the place But he having surrendred his right to King Henry the second the King made it over to Richard Earl of Pembrook in fee to hold of him and the Kings of England for ever from whom by the Earls Mareschals it fell to the Valences of the family of Lusignian in France and the Hastings it fell to the Greys Lord of Ruthin called always in old Charters Lords of Weisford though in Henry the 6th's time J. Talbot is once mentioned 18 In the Records in the Acts of Parliament by the title of Earl of Shrewsbury and Weisford Concerning the river take this Distick of Necham's such as it is Ditat Eniscortum flumen quod Slana vocatur Hunc cernit Weisford se sociare sibi Enrich'd by Slane does Eniscort appear And Weisford sees him join his stream with her For c Eniscorthy Eniscort a Burrough-town stands upon this river as also more inward upon the same Fernes only famous for its Bishop's See which the Fitz-Giralds formerly fortified with a castle Hard by on the other side the Slane live the Cavenaghs the Donels Montaghs and O-mores Irish families of turbulent and seditious spirits as also the Sinotts the Roches and the Peppards all English On this side those of greatest note are the Viscounts Mont-Garret the first of whom was 19 Richard Edmund Butler a younger son of Peter Earl of Ormond dignified with that title by Edward the 6th and many other of the same name with the Devereux Staffords Chevers Whites Forlongs Fitz-Harrys Brownes Hores Haies Coddes and Mailers of English blood and original as are very many of the common people CAVCI The Cauci THE Cauci who were also a people of Germany seated upon the sea inhabited that part of the country next the Menapii but not at the same distance as those in Germany They lived in that sea-coast country now possess'd by the O-Tools O-Tools and Birns Birns Irish families that live by blood and wickedness ever restless and unquiet confiding in the strength of their forts and garisons they obstinately withstand all law and live in implacable enmity with the English To put a stop to their outrage and to make them conformable to the laws it was debated by very wise men in the year 1578 how those parts might be reduced into a County and at last they were divided into six Baronies and laid within certain limits constituting d This County of Wicklow has besides the town of Wicklow famous for the best ale in Ireland the town of Arklow several pretty Villages and some Noblemen's seats It is so well inhabited with English and by them improved to that degree as to make it inferior to few Counties in this Kingdom the County of Wicklo or Arcklo Arcklo For here is a place of that name which is eminent above the rest and a castle of the Earls of Ormond who among other titles of honour stile themselves Lords of Arcklo Below which that river call'd Ovoca in Ptolemy runs into the sea 20 Making a Creek and as Giraldus Cambrensis says is of that nature that as well when the tide flows as ebbs in this creek it retains its natural taste and freshness preserving it self unmixt and free from any tincture of salt to the very sea The County of DIVELIN or DVBLIN BEyond the Cauci lived the Eblani in that tract which is now the County of Dublin or Divelin bounded on the east by the Irish sea on the west by the County of Kildare on the south by the little territories of the O-Tools and O-Birns and those which they term the Glinnes ââe Glinâââ and lastly on the north by the County of Meath and the river Nanny The soil produces good corn and yields grass and fodder very plentifully and the County is well stock'd with game both for hunting and fowling but so naked for the most part that they generally burn a fat kind of a turf or else coal out of England instead of wood In the south part which is less improved and cultivated there is now and then a hill pretty thick with wood upon the top of it under which lie the low vales call'd Glynnes thick set with woods and
the titles of the Dukes of York who write themselves Lords of Trim. After that it runs by Navan Navan which has its Baron or Baronet but not Parliamentary and is for the most part honoured with the residence of the Bishop of this Diocess who has now no Cathedral Church but acts in all matters with the assent of the Clergy of Meth. His See seems to have been at Cluanarard also called Clunart where Hugh Lacy formerly built a Castle for thus we find it in the * Apostollâcis Apostolical Letters Episcopus Midensis sive Clunarardensis and corruptly as it seems in a Roman Provincial Elnamirand The c This is the river famous for the battle fought on the banks of it between King William and King James on the first day of July 1690. Boyn now grows larger and after a speedy course for some miles falls into the sea near Drogheda And what if one should imagine this river to be so called from its rapid stream for Boan not only in Irish but in British also signifies swift and our Countryman Necham sings thus of it Ecce Boan qui Trim celer influit istius undas Subdere se salsis Drogheda cernit aquis See how swift Boyn to Trim cuts out his way See how at Drogheda he joyns the Sea The families of greatest note in this County besides those already mentioned the Plonkets Flemings Barnwells and Husseys are the Darceys Cusakes Dillons Berminghams De la Hides Netervills Garvies Cadells and others who I hope will pardon me for not taking notice of them as well as those I mention though their dignity may require it WEST-METH THE County of West-meth so called in respect of the former upon which it borders to the West comes up to the Shanon and lyes upon the King's County on the South and the County of Longford on the North. It is hardây inferiour to either of them for fruitfulness number of inhabitants or any other quality except civility and mode Molingar ââângar by Act of Parliament was made the head town of this County because it lyes as it were in the very middle The whole is divided into 12 Baronies Fertulogh where the Tirells live Ferbille the seat of the Darcies Delvin Baroâ Delvin which gives the title of Baron to the Nogents a famous English family descended from 27 Sir Gilbert Gilbert Nogent whom Hugh Lacy who conquer'd Meth for his great services in the wars of Ireland rewarded with these Lands and those of Furrey as that learned Gentleman Richard Stanihurst has observed Then this Furrey aforesaid as also Corkery where the Nogents dwell Moyassell the seat of the Tuts and Nogents Maghertiernan of the Petits and Tuts Moygoisy of the Tuts and Nangles Rathcomire of the Daltons Magirquirke of the Dillons all English families also Clonlolan where the O-Malaghlins who are of the old Royal Line of Meth and Moycassell where the Magohigans native Irish do live with many others called by a sort of barbarous names But however as Martial the Poet said after he had reckon'd up certain barbarous Spanish names of places being himself a Spaniard he liked them better than British names so the Irish admire these more than ours and one of their great men was wont to say he would not learn English lest it should set his mouth awry Thus all are partial in passing a judgment upon their own and think them pleasant and beautiful in comparison of others Meth had its petty Kings in old times and Slanius the Monarch of Ireland as 't is said appropriated the revenues of this County to supply provision for his own table When the English got footing there Hugh Lacy conquer'd the greatest part of it and King Henry the second gave it him in fee with the title of Lord of Meth Lords of Meth. who at the building of Derwarth Castle had his head struck off by a Carpenter as he held it down to give him directions This Hugh had two sons Hugh Earl of Ulster of whom more hereafter and Walter Lord of Trim who had a son Gilbert that died in the life-time of his father By the daughters of this Gilbert Margaret and Maud the one part of this estate by the Genevills Genevills who are said to be of the family of Lorain and the Mortimers came to the Dukes of York and so to the Crown For Peter de Genevill Maud's son had a daughter Joan who was married to Roger Mortimer Earl of March the other part by Margaret wife of John Verdon and by his Heirs Constables of Ireland Constables of Iâeland fell at length to several families of England 28 As Furnivall Burghersh Crophull c. The County of LONGFORD TO West-Meth on the North side joyns the County of Longford reduced into the form of a County by 29 Sir Henry Sidney H. Sidney Lord Deputy some years ago formerly called c Or Annaly Analè Anale and inhabited by a numerous family of the d O Farrâl O-Pharols O-Pharoll of which there are two eminent Potentates the one in the South part called O-Pharoll Boy or the Yellow and the other ruling in the North called O-Pharoll Ban i.e. the white Very few Englishmen live among them and those that do are of long continuance The side of this County is water'd by the Shanon the noblest river in all Ireland which as we observed runs between Meth and Conaught Ptolemy calls it Senus Riv. Senus Shannin and Shanon Orosius Sena and in some Copies Sacana Giraldus Flumen Senense The natives thereabout call it the e i.e. Shan-awn Shannon that is as some explain it the antient river It rises in the County of Le Trim in the mountains of Therne from whence as it runs along Southward it grows very broad in some places Then again it contracts it self into a narrow stream and after it has made a lake or two it gathers in it self and runs to Macolicum Macolicum mentioned in Ptolemy now Malc Malc as the most learned Geographer G. Mercator has observ'd Soon after it is received by another broad lake called Lough Regith the name and situation whereof makes it seem credible that the City Rigia Rigia which Ptolemy places in this County stood not far off When it is passed this lake it contracts it self again within its own banks and runs by the town Athlon of which in its proper place From hence the Shanon having passed the Catarach at f Killaloo Killoloe whereof I shall take notice by and by grows capable of bearing ships of the greatest burthen and dividing its stream encompasses the city Limirick of which I have spoken already From hence after a direct course for threescore miles together wherein by a fetch or winding it takes in an Island ever now and then it plies very swiftly to the Westward Where it is fordable at low water it is guarded with little
castle given to him and to the heirs male of his body to hold of the Kings of England upon this condition that neither he his men nor posterity shall take up arms in behalf of any foreign Prince without licence that they should restrain their followers from depredations find 12 horsemen and 40 footmen at their own charges for 40 days together in time of war and pay every year a certain number of oxen and hawks to the Kings of England The County of COLRAN BEyond the Glinnes westward lies Krine now call'd a 'T is now the County of London-derry from the city of London-derry which was built and planted by the Londoners the County of Colran from the chief town in it bounded by the river Bann ãâã Bânn on one side and the Lough-Foile on the other and the County of Tir-Oen on the south This Bann is a very beautiful river as Giraldus says which indeed its very name intimates It rises out of the Mourne-hills in the County of Downe and emptying it self into the large lough of Eaugh or Sidney where it loses both it's self and name after thirty miles for so long this Lough is counted it receives it again by Tome castle From whence crown'd with wood on both sides it proudly runs by Glancolkein âââolââ which by reason of thick woods and unpassable bogs is a safe refuge for the Scotch Islanders and rebels as the English are sensible by their pursuit of Surley-boy who absconded here and so into the sea being the best stock'd with Salmon of any river in Europe by reason as some imagine of its clearness above all other rivers Salmons a quality with which that kind of fish are particularly delighted The Cahans are of greatest authority in these parts the chief of which family is O-Cahan O-Cahan who was reputed one of the greatest of those Potentates or Uraights Uraights as they term them that held of O-Neal tyrant of Ulster as being the person who in the barbarous election of O-Neal The election of O-Neal performed with barbarous ceremony upon a high hill in the open air has the honourable office of throwing a shoe over the head of the O Neal then chosen Yet his power is not so great as to restrain the Island-Scots The Island Scots who to save their own at home in the summer-time leave those barren and fruitless Islands where there 's nothing but want and beggery and come hither for provisions where they take all opportunities to raise or nourish rebellion so that it has been declared high-treason either to call them into Ireland or receive them in it 53 But this County without confining is escheated to the King who graciously purposing a civil plantation of those unreformed and waste parts is pleased to distribute the said lands to his civil subjects and the City of London hath undertaken to plant Colonies there The County of TIR-OEN UNder Calaran southward lies the County of Tir-Oen that is the land of Eugenius 54 Which name the Irish have contracted into Eogain and Oen. This is a midland County divided from Tir-Conell on the west by the river Liffer from the County of Antrim on the east by the Lough-Eaugh and from the County of Armagh on the south by Blackwater in Irish More which signifies the same thing Though it is somewhat rough and unpleasant yet is it fruitful and very large being sixty miles in length and thirty in breadth divided into the Upper Tir-Oen on the north Upper Tir-Oen and the Nether Tir-Oen on the south by the mountains of Slew-Gallen In this lies Cloghar Bishoprick of Cloghar Dunganon Barons of Dunganon a poor Bishoprick Dunganon the chief seat of the Earls which by the favour of Henry the eight gave the title of Baron to Matthew son to the first Earl of Tir-Oen The house is neater than is generally to be met with in this County but often burnt by the the Lord of it to save the enemy that trouble Next Ublogabell where O-Neal who with great pride and haughtiness king'd it in Ulster was wont to be crown'd after the barbarous custom of that Country Then the Fort at Blackwater Fort of Blackwater or the river More which hath sustained all the changes and chances that are in war being the only passage into this country the harbor of rebels But it has been neglected ever since the discovery of the other ford below which is defended by a fort on both sides built by Charles Montjoy Lord Deputy as he pursued the rebels in these parts At the same time he also made another Fort called from him Montjoy situated upon the Lough Eaugh Lough Sidney or Sidney as the souldiers in honour of Henry Sidney at this day call it which encloses the west-side of this shire and is either made or much enlarged by the river Bann as I have observed This Lough is very clear full of fish and very big being of thirty miles extent or thereabouts as the Poet says Dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu With his sweet water counterfeits the sea And considering the variety of appearances upon the banks the shady groves green meadows and rich corn fields when they meet with good husbandry as also the copling hills and pleasant brooks all contrived so agreeable and fine by nature they seem to upbraid the natives for letting things run thus wild and barbarous for want of industry In the Upper Tir-Oen Tir-Oen the upper stands Straban a noted castle inhabited since our times by Turlogh Leinigh of the family of the O-Neals who after the death of Shan O-Neal as I shall shew by and by was elected by the people and raised to the dignity of O-Neal The Castles of Ireland and some other castles of less note which like those in other parts of the Island are no more than towers with narrow * Foraminibus loop-holes rather than windows to which adjoins a hall made of turf and roofed over-head with thatch and a large yard fenced quite round with a ditch and hedge to defend their cattle from thieves But if this County is famous or eminent for any thing 't is for its Lords who have ruled as Kings or rather Tyrants over it of whom two have been Earls of Tir-Oen namely Conus O-Neale and Hugh his Grandchild by his son But when I treat of the Earls and Lords of Ulster I will speak more at large of these The County of DONEGALL or TIR-CONEL ALl that remains now in Ulster towards the north and south was inhabited by the Robogdii and Vennicnii At present this tract is called the County of Donegall or Tir-Conell that is as some interpret it the land of Cornelius and as others the land of Conall and accordingly Matianus calls it Conallea The County is in a manner all champagne and full of havens being bounded both on the north and west side by the sea on the east by the
Mortality Foundation of the Hospitallers and Order of St. John of Jerusalem Fol. MONMOVTHSHIRE LAmentable News from Monmouthshire of the loss of 26 Parishes in a great Flood which hapn'd January 1607. Publish'd the same year The manner of the Wire-Works at Tinton in Monmouthshire Ray English words pag. 194. NORFOLK SEE Sir William Dugdale's History of Imbanking Of the lamentable Burning of East Derham in the County of Norfolk July 1. 1581. in verse black Letter publish'd 1582. History of the Norfolk-Rebels by Alexander Nevil a Kentish-man with the History of Norwich and a Catalogue of the Mayors Publish'd 1575. Norfolk's Furies or a View of Kitt's Camp with a table of the Mayors and Sheriffs of Norwich c. done out of Latin into English by R. W. 1615. The Antiquities of Norwich writ by Dr. Jo. Caius are mention'd by Dr. Fuller but still remain in Manuscript Norwich Monuments and Antiquities by Sir Thomas Brown M. D. a Manuscript in the hands of the learned Dr. More the present Bishop of Norwich Nashe's Lent-Stuff containing an account of the growth of Great Yarmouth with a Play in praise of Red-herring Publish'd 1599. A description of the town of Great Yarmouth with a Survey of Little Yarmouth incorporated with the Great c. in a sheet A Survey of Norfolk was taken by Sir Henry Spelman Knight in Latin and is still in Manuscript in the Bodleian-Library at Oxon. A relation of the damages done by a tempest and overflowing of the Tyde upon the coasts of Norfolk and Lincolnshire The West prospect of Linn-Regis a sheet Urn-burial or a discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk by Sir Thomas Brown 1669. Mercurius Centralis or a Discourse of Subterraneal Cockle Muscle and Oyster-shells found in digging of a Well at Sir William Doylie's in Norfolk by Tho. Lawrence A. M. in a Letter to Sir Tho. Browne 1664. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE HIstory of the Cathedral Church of Peterburrow by Simon Gunter Prebendary Publish'd with a large Appendix by Simon Patrick D. D. then Dean of this Church and now Bishop of Ely Fol. 1685. The Fall and Funeral of Northampton in an Elegy first publish'd in Latin since made English with some variations and addititions and publish'd An. 1677. The state of Northampton from the beginning of the Fire Sept. 20. 1675. to Nov. 5. in a Letter to a Friend 1675. Names of the Hides in Northamptonshire by Francis Tate MS. Wood's Athenae Vol. 1. p. 349. A Survey of this County is said to have been intended by Mr. Augustin Vincent Wood's Athenae vol. 1. p. 349. NORTHVMBERLAND A Chorographical Survey of Newcastle upon Tine by ..... Grey An. 1649. England's Grievances in relation to the Cole-trade with a Map of the river of Tine and the situation of the town and corporation of New-castle 1655. A Survey of the river Tine grav'd by Fathorne The Antiquities of the ancient Kingdom of Northumberland are now ready for the Press compil'd by Mr. Nicolson Archdeacon of Carlisle who designs shortly to publish the Book under this Title Norðanhymbraric or a description of the ancient Kingdom of Northumberland The work will consist of eight parts whereof he stiles the I. Northanhymbria or an account of the Bounds and natural History of the Country II. Northanhymbri the Original Language Manners and Government of the People III. Annales the Succession and History of the several Dukes Kings and Earls from the first institution of the Government down to the Conquest IV. Ecclesiastica Religious Rites observ'd by the Pagan Inhabitants before the establishment of Christianity together with the state of the Church and the succession of Bishops in it afterwards V. Literae Literati the state of Learning with a Catalogue of the Writers VI. Villare the Cities Towns Villages and other places of note in an Alphabetical Catalogue VII Monumenta Danica Danish Remains in the Language Temples Courts of Judicature Runic Inscriptions c. To the whole will be prefix'd a Prefatory Discourse of the condition these parts of the Isle were in upon and some time before the coming in of the Saxons wherein notice will be taken of many pieces of Brittish and Roman Antiquities never yet observ'd Large Collections have been made by Sir Robert Shafto relating to the Antiquities of the County of Northumberland Mr. Clavering of Callaly a very knowing Antiquary has also done great service to his native Country in this kind NOTTINGHAMSHIRE THE Antiquities of the County of Nottingham by Dr. Robert Thoroton OXFORDSHIRE MAnuscript History of Alchester in the hands of Mr. Blackwell History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford by Anthony à Wood fol. Twine's Vindication of the Antiquity of the University of Oxford Natural History of Oxfordshire by Dr. Robert Plot folio Survey of Woodstock by Mr. Widows Athen. Oxon. vol. 2. p. 119. Parochial Antiquities or the History of Ambrosden Burcester and other adjacent Towns and Villages in the North-east parts of the County of Oxford delivering the general Remains of the British Roman and Saxon Ages and a more particular account of English Memoirs reduc'd into Annals from 1 Will. Conq. to 1 Edw. 4. with several Sculptures of ancient and modern Curiosities 4o. By the Reverend Mr. White Kennet B. D. An account of an Earthquake in Oxfordshire Philosoph Transact Num. 10. p. 166. Num. 11. p. 180. A Relation of an Accident by Thunder and Lightning in Oxford Philosoph Transact Num. 13. pag. 215. RVTLANDSHIRE ANtiquities of Rutlandshire by Mr. Wright Folio SOMERSETSHIRE THE ancient Laws Customs and Orders of the Miners in the King's Forest of Mendipp in the County of Somerset London 1687. 12o. Proposals for a Natural History of Somersetshire have been publish'd by Mr. John Beaumont A Letter from Mr. Beaumont giving an account of Ookey-hole and other subterraneous Grotto's in Mendip-hills Philosoph Transact 1681. Num. 2. Ookey-hole describ'd An. 1632. Thermae Redivivae by Mr. John Chapman 1673. with an Appendix of Coriat's Rhimes of the Antiquities of the Bath Johnson in his Mercurius Britannicus hath given an account of the Antiquities of the Bath with a ground-plot of the City A Discourse of the several Bathes and hot waters at the Bath with the Lives and Characters of the Physicians that have liv'd and practis'd there Together with an Enquiry into the Nature of S. Vincent's Rock near Bristol and that of Castle Cary by Dr. Thomas Guidot Enlarg'd by the same hand with the addition of several Antiquities 1691. The Antiquities of the City of Bath collected in Latin by the same Author MS. STAFFORDSHIRE NAtural History of Staffordshire by Dr. Robert Plot. Fol. Genealogies of the Nobility and Gentry in this County MS. written by Mr. Erdswick and now in the collection of Walter Chetwind Esq who very much improv'd it SVFFOLK AN account of some Saxon Coins found in Suffolk Philosoph Transact Num. 189. 1687. WARWICKSHIRE THE Antiquities of Warwickshire by Sir William Dugdale WESTMORLAND THE Antiquities of Westmorland collected by Mr. Thomas Machel of
British word t Bedget has nothing â British Bol indeed in that language is a belly which may suit that fancy well enough Butsiet or Soldurii Soldurii in Caesar which in him were such as had vow'd to live and dye together from u Sowaer is proâably pure English for the British always use Milwr in that sense Sowdiwr or Pliny's Planarat Planarat for a Plow from x Aradr in British is a plough Arat which in British signifies the same thing or Isidore's Taxea Taxea for Lard from the British y Tew is fat Tew or Diodorus Siculus's Zithum Zithum Cyder Ceâvisia Ale from their z Sider is not British Cider or Cervisia beer from Keirch i.e. Oats whereof the Welch in many places make beer or rather from z Cerevisia and the Welch Kwrâv are no doubt of the same original Cwrwf which we in English call Ale That all these words properly belong'd to the antient Gauls appears by the Authors we have cited and you see that as they agree in sound with our British words so they do as fully also in their signification Another thing let me here add The ends of the names of places that since the antient names of places in both kingdoms had the same terminations to wit Dunum Briva Ritum Durum Magus c. it may be inferr'd that those Nations could not be altogether different For this may be used as a convincing evidence that we English are descended from the Germans because the modern names of our Towns do end in Burrow Berry Ham Sted Ford Thorp and Wich all which do plainly answer and exactly correspond with the German terminations of Burg Berg Heim Stadt Furdt Dorpe Wit Moreover so rational an account may be given of some Gaulish words out of our British language answering exactly to the nature and property of the things so nam'd that of necessity we must conclude either those to have been names impos'd by the Britains or else that the Britains spake the Gaulish language An instance or two to this purpose may be sufficient A third part of Gaul saith Caesar is inhabited by those who in their own tongue are called Celtae Celtaâ in ours Galli by the Greeks Gallathae But whence these people were called Celtae and Gallathae the most learned among the French could never tell us I wish they would consider whether this may not be deduc'd from the British word b Gwalht Gualt Guâlt which to this day signifies the hair of the head in the Welch tongue as Gualtoc doth Comata i.e. long-haired from whence the names of Celtica and Gallathae and Galli may all very well seem to have been derived only a little mollified by some difference in the pronunciation Now that the Celtae were called Comati from their large heads of hair which they wore always at its full length is universally acknowleged by the Learned and as for the Letters C Lipsius de prenunciatione p 66. K Q and G whether in power or sound there is but little difference among them Garumna Garânâe That the noble River of Garonne in France runs with a mighty forcible and as it were with a rough current is a thing very well known From whence the Poets have given it the epithets of the strong the sea-like the rapid Garonne All which the British word c Garw or Garwv is rough and Arar gentle Garrw doth fully import The river Arar Arar or Saonne Saonne moves so incredibly slow that you cannot tell by the eye which way it has its course Hence by the Poets it is called the slow and the still Arar Now Ara with the Britains signifies slow and still Rhodanus Rââdanus the Rhosne Rhosne which receives the Arar runs with a very swift and violent current and is therefore term'd hasty swift and precipitant The word sounds not much unlike Rhedc which signifies celerity in running Strabo and others tell us that the Mountains Gebennae now called the Cevennes run along in one continued ridge through a great part of Gaul G lânnae Mountains of Auâeââne Cevennes But that d The British call mountains Kevn and in the Plural Number Kevneu that is backs Kevin signifies the ridge of an hill amongst our Britains appears by the British Lexicon There is also near Otteley in Yorkshire a long ridge of hills which I have seen at this day called the Kevin by the people of those parts Whereas stones were in old time erected in Gaul by the Road-side at the just distance of every fifteen hundred paces and since the French Leuca Leuca or League containeth as Jornandes observes just the same number and e Lhech Leach in the British signifies a Stone I would desire the learned among the French to consider whether their word Leuca be not derived from thence Stoây âââds Campâ Lâp âci Near the Sea-side in that part of France which was heretofore called Narbonensis where Hercules and Albion fought if we believe the old Fable on all sides for many miles together the stones lye so thick that one would almost think it had rain'd stones there From whence it is by writers called the Stony Shore and the Stony Field The French at this day call it le Craux and yet they know not the reason of that name Now in British stones are called f Stones are called Kerig but Kraig is a rock from whence in our Northern parts we still call them Grags Craig That people which in old time inhabited the Sea-coast of Gaul lying nearest to Britain were in their own language called Morini Morini Now Mor is in British the Sea from whence that word seems to have been derived For the Britains call Morinwyr such as live upon the Sea-coast as Aremorica of old in the Gaulish tongue and now in the British signifies by the Sea-side Arelate Araes So Arelate a famous city of Gaul which is seated in a marshy and watry soile may seem to have taken that name purely from its situation For Ar in British signifies upon and Laith moisture Uxellodunum Uââlloâunum now Cadenac saith Caesar is a Town having on all sides a rocky access and situate on the top of a high hill Now g This is very often us'd in compound names of places Uchel in British is as much as lofty and Dunum Dunum among the antient Gauls signified an high ground or an hill as Plutarch in his book of Rivers tells us out of Clitiphon and the same word was also used in that sense by the antient Britains Pliny placeth the Promontory Cytharistes Cytharistes in Gaul near Marseilles where the town of Tolon now stands And if you ask our present Britains what they call Cythara i.e. an harp in their language they will tell you h Telyn is a harp Telen Again to put this matter past all farther
gardening nor any other kind of husbandry They have many Potentates among them In battles they use Chariots in great numbers British towns as some of the Gauls do Woods among them are instead of cities for having cut down trees and enclosed a large round plat of ground with them there they build huts to live in and make folds for their cattle which are not design'd to endure long Caesar likewise It is counted a town among the Britains when some thick wood is fenced round with a trench and rampier where to avoid incursions they retire and take refuge Diodorus Siculus The Britains live in the same manner that the antients did they fight in chariots as the antient heroes of Greece are said to have done in the Trojan wars Their houses for the most part are made of reeds or wood They house their corn in the ear and thresh out no more at a time than may serve them for one day They are plain and upright in their dealings and far from the craft and subtilty of our countrymen Their food is plain and natural and has nothing of the dainties of rich men The Island is very populous Pomponius Mela. Britain has its Nations and its Kings over them but all in it are barbarous And as they are at great distance from the continent so they are the more unacquainted with the wealth and riches in other places theirs consisting wholly in cattle and the extent of their grounds They Ultro Corpora infecti But in the margin glasto vel vitro vid. pag. 29. paint their bodies whether for shew and beauty or some other reason is uncertain They make war at pleasure and make frequent incursions upon one another prompted chiefly by an ambition of Sovereignty and enlarging their territories They fight not only on horseback and on foot but also in their wagons and chariots armed after the way in Gaul where they call them Covins with hooks and sythes at the axletrees of them Cornelius Tacitus The Britains are nearest to the Gauls and likest them either by virtue of the same original or because that in Countries opposite to one another a like climate gives a like make and complexion to the bodies of each people However if a man considers all 't is probable this neighbouring country was peopl'd by the Gauls one finds the same religious rites and superstitious opinions among them Their language is not much different from one another and they are alike bold and forward in any dangerous enterprise and likewise upon encounter alike cowardly in giving over and declining Yet the Britains shew more heat and fierceness than the other as being not yet soften'd and render'd effeminate by much peace For we find that the Gauls likewise were once famous for their wars till with peace idleness came in among them and their bravery went to wreck as well as their liberty Which very thing is befallen those Britains who were formerly conquer'd whereas the rest continue such as the Gauls were The strength of their Arms consists in their Infantry and some of their nations fight in chariots The greatest person among them still drives his servants defend him Heretofore they were governed by Kings but now they are drawn under petty Princes into parties and factions Nor was there any thing of more considerable advantage to the Romans against the most powerful nations of them than their not concerting one common interest Seldom above one or two cities unite against a common enemie so that whilst every one fights singly all are conquer'd In another place 'T is common among the Britains to consult the Gods by surveying the entrals of beasts and to go to war under the conduct of women They make no distinction of sex in point of Government And therefore some learned men think Aristotle spake of the Britains Polit. 2. c. 7. where he takes notice of some warlike nations beyond the Celtae subject to the government of women Dio Nicaeus out of Xiphilin's Epitome concerning the Britains in the North part of the Island They till no ground but live upon prey and hunting and the fruit of trees fish though they have in great plenty they will not tast They dwell in tents naked and without shoes They use their wives in common and bring up all the children among them The commonalty govern for the most part They rob at pleasure and fight in chariots Their horses are small and swift They themselves run at a great rate When they stand in an engagement they are firm and immoveable Their weapons are a shield and a short spear in the lower end whereof is a piece of brass like an apple that by shaking it they may terrifie the enemy Seld. P raef ad Polyolb They have daggers also and they endure hunger cold and all kinds of labour with wonderful patience For in the begs to the very head they 'll continue many days without food In the woods they live upon barks of trees and roots They have a certain kind of meat ready upon all occasions of which if they take but the quantity of a bean they are neither hungry nor dry Herodian They know not the use of cloaths but about their necks and bellies they wear iron thinking that an ornament and a sign of their great riches as other Barbarians do gold They paint their bodies with sundry colours with all kinds of animals represented in them and therefore they put on no cloaths least they hide and cover it The people are warlike and bloody arm'd with a narrow shield only and a spear and lastly a sword hanging by their naked bodies they are altogether strangers to the use either of a coat of mail or helmet supposing that would prove but burthensome to them when they march over hogs and mosses from which so much fog and vapour is exhaled that the air in those parts is always thick and cloudy Magick in Britain What remains which is but little now I will pick up here and there and set down as briefly as I can Pliny of Magick But why should I take notice of these things in an art which hath travers'd the ocean and reach'd the utmost bounds of nature Britain at this day honours it with so much pomp and ceremony that one would imagine the Persians had been taught it by them The same Author There grows in Gaul an herb like Plantine Glastum Woad called Glastum wherewith the British wives and virgins dye their bodies all over resembling Blackamoors by that tincture and so they are wont at certain sacrifices to go naked The choicest food among them is your Chenerotes Chenerotes a kind of fowl less than a wild Goose The Britains wear rings upon their middle finger they manure their ground with * Marga. Marle Manner of Painting Solinus tell us That they painted themselves with certain marks which Tertullian calls Britonum stigmata He says farther The Country was partly
of Atilius Rufus Lieutenant and reserv'd for some persons of quality was designed for him 'T was also commonly thought that he sent a Free-man one of his Cabinet-Council to Agricola with a Commission for Syria and instructions that if he were in Britain it should be delivered and that the messenger meeting Agricola upon the sea spoke not one word of it but returned with it to Domitian yet whether this be true or a bare surmise as agreeable enough by the carriage of that Prince is uncertain However Agricola had surrendered up his Province peaceable and quiet to his Successor And now that his entry to Rome might be obscure and private he came as he was order'd by night into the city and at night was admitted into the Palace where the Emperor receiv'd him with a dry kiss and spoke not one word to him and so drew off among the rest of the Attendants Agricola's successor according to some was Cn. Trebellius in my opinion Salustius Lucullus Sallustius Luâââlus Lieutenant of Bâitain Arviragus the Britain who was soon put to death by Domitian for suffering a new sort of spears to be called Lameae Luculleae At which time f Stilling sleet's Orig. Britan. p. 35. Arviragus flourisht in this Island and not in Claudius's time as Geffry of Monmouth imagines For that of Juvenal is to be understood of Domitian Omen habes inquit magni clarique triumphi Regem aliquem capies aut de temone Britanno Excidet * Calââd Arbela in an old Scholiast of Juvenal Arviragus The mighty omen see He cries of some illustrious victory Some captive King thee his new Lord shall own Or from his British chariot headlong thrown The proud Arviragus comes tumbling down Then also flourished at Rome Claudia Rufina a British Lady eminent for her extraordinary beauty and learning commended by Martial in these verses Claudia caeruleis cum sit Rufina Britannis Edita cur Latiae pectora plebis habet Quale decus formae Romanam credere matres Italides possunt Atthides esse suam Among the painted Britains Claudia born By what strange arts did you to Roman turn What shapes what heavenly charms enough to raise A noble strife in Italy and Greece This is she that St. Paul mentions in his second Epistle to Timothy according to J. Bale and Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury nor is it inconsistent with Chronology though others differ from that opinion And thus in Domitian's time Britain a Province the farther part of this Island was left to the Barbarians as neither pleasant nor fruitful but this hither part was fairly reduced to a compleat Province which was not govern'd by Consular or Proconsular Deputies Britain â Praesidiâl Province but was counted Praesidial and appropriate to the Caesars as being a Province annext to the Empire after the division of Provinces made by Augustus and having Propraetors of its own Afterwards when Constantine the Great had new model'd the Commonwealth this Province was govern'd by a Deputy under the Praetorian Lieutenant of Gaul together with the Count of Britain the Count of the Saxon shore throughout Britain and the Duke of Britain in times of war besides praesidents receivers c. But farther out of those 29 Legions which were the constant and standing guard of the Roman Empire What Legions were in Britain Dio 55. three of them were garison'd here namely the Legio secunda Augusta the Legio sexta victrix and the vicesima victrix But this is to be understood of Severus's time for before that we find there were other Legions here and many more And although Strabo writes that one * Ordo Legion of soldiers was sufficient to command Britain yet under Claudius the Legio secunda Augusta the Legio 9. of Spain and the 14th Legion call'd Gemina Martia victrix were kept here nay even in Vespasian's time Josephus tells us there were four Legions garison'd in this Island The words are Britain is encompassed with the sea and is not much less than our world The inhabitants are subject to the Romans who keep the numerous people of that Island in subjection with four Legions ââiâine of Cities And doubtless these stations and garisons of the Legions and Roman soldiers a Upon this account it is that so many of our famous Towns end in châster which is nothing but the remains of the old Roman Castra prov'd very often the foundations of Towns and Cities and that not only in other Provinces âhe Roâan yoke but in Britain too Thus the yoke of subjection was first laid upon the Britains by troops and garisons which were constantly kept here to the great terror of the Inhabitants and then by tribute and imposts upon which account they had their Publicans that is to say Cormorants and Leeches to suck the blood out of them to confiscate their goods and exact tribute Mortuo âum noââne in the name of the dead They were not permitted so much as to enjoy the laws of their own country but had their courts and benches fill'd by such Magistrates as the Romans sent them âowardus ãâã his Proââbunalia with their rods and axes For the Provinces had their Propraetors Legats Praesidents Praetors and Proconsuls and each particular City its peculiar Magistrates The Praetor held a kind of Assize once every year and then decided all causes of more than ordinary consequence sitting in great state upon a high Tribunal with his Lictors round him bearing rods and axes for the awe and punishment of the people This Magistrate was every year to be appointed anew but that was not all neither they fomented discord and faction among the people giving great countenance to such as they could make tools of to enslave others Yet however grievous this yoke was it prov'd of very good consequence to us For together with it came in the blessed Doctrine of Christ Jesus of which hereafter and upon the light of his glorious Empire barbarism soon vanish'd from among the Britains as it had done in all other places upon the approach of it For Rome as Rutilius says Legiferis mundum complexa triumphis Foedere communi vivere cuncta facit Triumphant all the world commands And with new laws unites the conquer'd lands And in another place very elegantly and very truly to the same Fecisti patriam diversis gentibus unam Profuit injustis te dominante capi Dumque offers victis proprii consortia juris Urbem fecisti quod priùs orbis erat All countries now in one vast nation joyn And happily subdu'd their Rites resign Thy juster laws are every where obey'd And a great city of the world is made For not to mention the other Provinces the Romans by planting their Colonies here and reducing the natives under the forms of Civil Government and Society by instructing them in the liberal Arts and sending them into Gaul to learn the laws of the Roman Empire whence that of
in legibus QUI VENERANDA CHRISTIANORUM FIDE ROMANUM MUNIVIT IMPERIUM DIVUS DIVAE MEMORIAE DIVINAE MEMORIAE c. That is An Emperor most valiant most blessed most pious happy Redeemer of the City Founder of Peace Establisher of the Commonwealth Encreaser of the publick Liberty Restorer of the City of Rome and the whole World Great Greatest Invincible Most Invincible Perpetual Ever Augustus Best Governour of humane affairs Most Valiant Most Merciful And in the Laws with these Who fortified the Roman Empire with venerable Christianity Sacred Of blessed memory Of divine memory c. And he is the first Emperor that I can find who in Coins and publick Memorials was ever stiled Dominus noster yet at the same time I am not ignorant that Dioclesian was the first after Caligula that would allow the title of Dominus to be publickly given him However it seems to have been a great over-sight and imprudence in this mighty Emperor that he open'd a passage to the Barbarians into Britain Germany and Gaul For when he had reduc'd the northern nations to that degree that they were not able to annoy him and had newly built the city of Constantinople that he might suppress the mighty growth of the Persians who then began to rival the Roman empire he drew the legions from the frontier garisons partly into the east building forts and castles to supply the want of them and partly to remote cities so that presently after his death the Barbarians forced the towns and castles and broke into the Roman Provinces For this reason Zosimus gives him the character of the first and greatest subverter of that flourishing Empire Government in Britain under the later Emperors But after that Constantine had new modelled the Empire it will not be improper to observe here in short how Britain was govern'd under him and in succeeding times He appointed certain Praefecti Praetorio over the East Illyricum Italy and Gaul and two Masters of the soldiers the one over the horse and the other over the foot in the West who were call'd Praesentales As for Civil matters they were administer'd in Britain by the Praefectus Praetorio of Gaul who supply'd that Office by a deputy honour'd with the title of Spectabilis Vicegerent of Britain Under him were two Consular Deputies answerable to the number of the Provinces and three Praesides who were to determine all causes whether Criminal or Civil As for military matters they were under the rule and management of the Master of the foot in the East and to him were subject the Count of the Britains the Count of the Saxon shore throughout Britain and the Dux Britanniarum who had each of them the title of Spectabilis The Count of Britain Count of Britain seems to have presided over the inner parts of the Island and had the command of seven companies of foot and nine cornets of horse about him The Count of the Saxon shore Count of the Saxon shoâe who was to defend the coast against the Saxons and by Ammianuâ Marcellinus is call'd Comes Traclus Maritâmi had seven companies of foot two â Vexillationes troops of horse the second legion and a cohort under him The Duke of Britain who was to take care of the marshes and defend them against Barbarians had the command of 38 garisons consisting in all of 14000 foot and 900 horse so that at that time if Pancirolus has cast up this account right Britain had 19200 foot and 1700 horse or thereabouts There were besides these Officers Count of the Imperial Largesses the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum who had the care of all the Emperor's gifts and largesses He had under him in Britain a Rationalis Summarum Britanniae or Receiver-General Praepositus Thesaurorum Augustensium in Britannia or Lord-Treasurer and a Procurator Gynegii in Britannia or an Overseer of the Gynegium in Britain the place where the Cloaths of the Emperor and army were woven Also the Comes rerum privatarum or Keeper of the Privy Purse had here in Britain his Rationalis rei privatae or private Auditor not to mention the Procurator Ludi Gladiatorii or Overseer of the Fencing-School in Britain mention'd by an old inscription with others of an inferior rank Upon the death of Constantine Constantine Emp. Britain fell to his son Constantine who being spurr'd on by an ambition of soveraignty to invade the rights of others was slain by his brother Constans Constans Emp. Being exalted with this victory Constans possess'd himself of Britain and the other Provinces and came hither with his brother Constantius Hence that address of Julius Firmicus not the Pagan Astrologer but the Christian to them In the winter a thing which was never done hitherto nor will hereafter you have triumph'd over the boisterous and swelling waves of the British Ocean A sea unknown to us hath trembled and the Britains are surpris'd at the unexpected coming of their Emperor What further would you atcheive The elements themselves do yeild themselves conquer'd by your virtues This Constans conven'd the Council at Sardica against the Arrians which consisted of 300 Bishops among whom were the Bishops of Britain who after they had condemn'd the hereticks and confirm'd the Nicaene-Creed voted Athanasius innocent But the young Prince Athanasius in Apol. 2. without any farther application to state affairs grew dissolute and voluptuous this made him burthensome to the Provincials and unacceptable to his army so that Magnentius Count of the Jovij and the Herculei Magnentius called also Tapârus set upon him in a village called Helena as he was hunting and there slew him fulfilling the prophesie that he should end his life in his Grandmother's lap from whom that town was denominated This Magnentius was born amongst the Laeti in Gaul but his Father was a Britain and now upon the murder of Constans he assumed the Imperial robes in Gaul and drew Britain to side with him but for three years together was so warmly oppos'd by Constantius that at last he laid violent hands upon himself one of the most fortunate of Princes for favourable weather plentiful harvests and peace and quietness with the Barbarians things of great moment in the rate and estimate of Princes among the vulgar But for what reason this Magnentius is called in an old Inscription long since dug up at Rome Taporus I leave others to enquire Fonthus it is read there speaking of the Obelisk erected in the Circus Interea Taporo Romam vastante tyranno Angelus Rocha Augusti jacuit donum studiumque locandi Under vile Taporu's tyrannick sway The royal present unregarded lay At this time Gratian sirnamed Funarius Gratianus Funarius was General in Brirain who was father of Valentinian the Emperor He was called Funarius from a Rope A. Marcellinus which in his youth he had to sell and though five soldiers attempted to take it from him yet they could not with
his power But he was soon after recalled and succeeded by Jovinus who sent back â Possibly a place corrupted Theodosius Proventusides with all speed to intimate the necessity there was of greater supplies and how much the present state of affairs required it At last upon the great distress that Island was reported to be in Theodosius was dispatch'd hither eminent for his exploits and good fortune He having selected a strong body of men out of the Legions and Cohorts began this expedition with great hopes The Picts Picts were at that time divided into two nations the Dicalidonae and Tecturiones and likewise the Attacotti a warlike people and the Scots Attacots Scots were ranging up and down the country for spoil and booty As for Gaul the Franks and Saxons who border upon it were always making inroads both by land and sea and what by the spoil they took the towns they burnt and the men they kill'd were very troublesome there If fortune would have favoured this brave Captain now bound for the remotest part of the world was resolved to have curbed them When he came to the Coast of Bologn which is severed from the opposite Country by a narrow sea apt to run high at some times and again to fall into a plain and level surface like a champaign country at which time 't is navigable without danger he set sail and arrived at Rhutupiae a safe harbour over against it When the Batavians Herulians the Jovii and Victores brave bold men who followed him were landed likewise he set forward for London an ancient town London called Augusta called in after ages Augusta Having divided his army into several bodies he fell upon the enemy dispersed up and down the country and laden with spoil and booty They were soon routed and forced to leave their prey which was nothing but cattle and prisoners they had took from this miserable Country After he had made restitution of the booty to the respective owners saving only some small part to refresh his army he entered the City in great state which though in the utmost affliction and misery at that time soon revived upon it in hopes of recovery and protection for the future This success soon put him upon greater designs yet to proceed warily he considered upon the intelligence he had got from fugitives and captives that so great a multitude as the enemy composed of several nations and those of a fierce heady temper were not to be routed but by stratagem and surprise Having published his declaration and a pardon therein to such as would lay down their arms he order'd all deserters and others dispers'd up and down the country for forage and provision to repair to him This brought in many upon which reinforcement he thought to take the field but deferred it upon other considerations till he could have Civilis Civilis sent to be his Deputy a man somewhat passionate but very just and upright and also Dulcitius Dulcitâs a gallant Captain and experienced in the arts of war Afterwards taking heart he went from Augusta formerly called Londinum with a good army which with much ado he had raised and thereby proved a great support to the sinking state of the poor Britains He took in all such places as might favour him in cutting off the enemy by ambuscade and imposed nothing upon the common souldiers but what he would do himself Thus he discharged the office of an active and hardy souldier as well as of a brave General and by that means defeated several nations who had the insolence to invade the Roman Empire laid the foundation of a lasting peace and restored both Cities and Castles that were reduced to great streights to their former happiness In this juncture there happened an ill accident which might have been of dangerous consequence if it had not been timely prevented One Valentinus Valentine raises a disturbance in Britain of Valeria Pannonia a proud man and brother-in-law to Maximinus that intolerable Deputy afterwards Lieutenant was banished for an heinous crime into this Island where like some savage of a restless temper he put all things in disorder by plots and insurrections against Theodosius and that purely out of pride and envy he being the only man that could cope with him However that he might proceed with conduct and security in these ambitious pursuits he endeavoured to draw in all exiles and deserters to him with the encouragement and prospect of much booty But these designs taking air and coming to the General 's ear before they were full ripe for execution he took care like a wise Captain to be before hand with him both to prevent and punish the conspirators Valentinus himself with some of the chief of his cabal he committed to Dulcitius to see executed but upon laying things together for he was the wisest and most experienced souldier of his time he would suffer no farther enquiry after the other Conspirators lest the general terror which it would strike might again imbroil the Province which was now in peace and quietness From this he turned his thoughts upon the reformation of some things which now grew intolerable being freed from all dangers that might divert him and sensible that fortune was ever favourable to his designs and so he applied himself to the repairing of Cities and garison-garison-towns as we have already said and the strengthening the Frontiers and Castles with watches and intrenchments Having thus recovered the Province which was possessed by the enemy he restored it so compleatly to its former state that upon his motion it had a * Rector Legitimus Valentia lawful Governor set over it and was afterwards by the Prince's order called Valentia The Areans a sort of men instituted by the ancients were displaced by him as corrupt and treacherous being plainly convict of giving intelligence of our affairs to the Barbarians for rewards and bribery For their business was to run to and fro with news from the neighbouring Countreys to our Captains After these regulations and some others made by him with great applause he was sent for to Court leaving the Provinces in such a calm and happy condition that he was no less honoured for his success and victories than Furius Camillus or Cursor Papirius And so being attended with the acclamations of all as far as the sea he sailed over with a gentle gale and arrived at the Prince's camp where he was received with great joy and commendation For these famous exploits here a statue on horseback was erected in honour of him as Symmachus to his son Theodosius the Emperor informs us The founder of your stock and family was one that was General both in Africa and Britain honoured by the Senate with his Statues on horse-back among the ancient Heroes Thus Claudian likewise in his Commendation Ille Caledoniis posuit qui castra pruinis Qui medio Libyae sub casside pertulit aestus Terribilis Mauro
cities â In Thesaâris slavissâs l. 1. c. de ââri pub profecut Lib. 12 13. C. Th. de suscept praepos in the treasure coffers or vaults hidden in that age and in the funeral urns But I was very much surprised how such great abundance should remain to this day till I had read that melting down of antient money was prohibited by the Imperial Constitutions Having now represented those antient Coins British and Roman * Sâis typis in their proper forms I cannot but think it the reader's interest to insert here a Chorographical Table of Britain when a Roman Province with the antient names Not that I promise to make it compleat for who can pretend to that But such a one as if you learn nothing else from it will at least teach you this that there are continual changes in this world new foundations of cities laid new names of nations trump'd up and old ones rejected So that as the Poet says Non indignemur mortalia corpora solvi Cernimus exemplis oppida posse mori Vain mortals ne're repine at heaven's decree When sad examples shew that towns themselves can dye Roman Coins TAB III. By Mr. Walker IMperator at first was an appellation of Honour given by the soldiers to their Commander that had obtained a great victory over the enemies but afterwards it was a title given to the chief General of their armies as all the Emperors were The Tribunes also of the people were accounted sacred persons and therefore might safely accuse any man to the people They were always of Plebeian families but the Emperors being Pontifices Maximi were Patritian And therefore that their power might be uncontroulable not being capable of the Tribuneship they obtained to have Tribunitiam potestatem i.e. all the power of a Tribune which was also conferred upon them every year or as often as they desired it Sometimes they refused it and sometimes they conferr'd it on one of their Confidents and sometimes for five years So that it is not true which most of the Medal Writers and Camden amongst them say that the number of the Tribunitia potestas was the number of their reigns See the book of Coins and Medals in Augustus I have added the second a Britain naked fighting with a man armed with sword and buckler out of the judgment of divers learned men though I have not seen any with such inscription In the third is expressed the manner how the Romans settled the Countries they conquered which was by planting strong Colonies of Romans in places convenient whereby they both kept the conquered in peace and entred into conversation and business with them by introducing frugality husbandry trading c. To the seventh Commodus was by his flatterers called Britannicus whereas the Britains either endeavoured or actually chosed another Emperor Lampr. To the sixteenth I find one Aelianus chosen Emperor by the army of Lollianus after they had flain him at Mentz To the seventeenth C. Carausius was a man of very mean birth but by his parts courage and industry together with the money he had got from the Pirates never restoring what he took either to the Emperor or the persons robbed advanced to that high degree He was of Menapia but as it seems not that in Gallia but in Ireland Roman Coins TAB IV. THese as likewise the rest of the Roman Coins are so common and well known that there needs no explication of them The ninth tenth c. are added because though those contain nothing upon them expresly concerning Britain yet Julius Caesar was the first that discovered and made some small progress in reducing the nation No mention of this is on his Coins because then he was not supream but acted as a General commissionated by the Senate and the power of putting his Image upon Coins was not given him till afterwards and till he had obtained the supream power The reverse of this is Augustus because under him the Britains lived in peace and liberty probably secured by Cunobelinus who as we said before lived at Rome in his time The eleventh is of Vespasian who contributed more than any other to the conquest of Britain and by his valour and success there obtained that glory which brought with it the Empire The twelfth is of Decimus Clodius Albinus a great Gourmond but a good Justicer a valiant and expert soldier He was a noble Roman but born at Adrumetum Commodus would have made him Caesar I suppose because he was accounted of a gladiatorian humor also but he refused it yet accepted it from Severus When Severus went against Pescennius Niger to keep him quiet in Britain where he commanded the Legions he named him Caesar and Sophinius and a little after partaker or companion in the Empire But Pescennius being overcome he went streight against Albinus who hearing of it met him with his British Legions in arms where divers sore battles were fought with various success Till at Lyons Albinus was by the treachery of some of his Officers vanquish'd sorely wounded and basely and unworthily used by Severus who cut off his head sending it to Rome where it was set upon the publick Gallows and his body left in the Praetorium till it stunk and was torn by dogs It appears by divers of his Coins that he was also Augustus but not long before his death The thirteenth is of M. Aurelius Marius placed here because some say that he was born in Britain at first a smith but being afterwards a soldier got by his prodigious strength and valour after Posthumus's death to be chosen Emperor Some say that he reigned but three days but by his many Coins it appears that he reigned longer both in Britain and Gaul The soldier that killed him upbraided him that it was with a sword which himself had made The fourteenth I had here placed Bonosus a Britain son of a Rhetorician a very valiant warlike man and the greatest drinker of his age He commanded Rhaetia the Grisons country and the confines of the Roman Empire towards the Germans and having lost the fleet upon the Rhine left in his charge for fear of punishment he rebelled and declared himself Augustus Probus after a great battle took and hanged the Usurper In his stead therefore I have taken the Coin of Aemilianus being very rare because I could find neither in metal or writing any one of Bonosus The fifteenth being a rare Coin of Delmatius I have described though not so nearly related to Britain being son to the brother of Constantine the Great chiefly to fill up a void place As also because Roman Coins are so well known and very few more than what are here described concerning Britain for the better understanding of exotick Coins as of the Franks British and Saxon I thought it not amiss to insert an Alphabet of such letters as are usually found upon them Some I have omitted because I did not know them The first Alphabet is of
youth who was heir apparent to the Crown with his little page into a â Actuoriola small skiff without any tackle and then launched them out to sea that it might might be charg'd with his guilt Edwin being helpless and distracted with grief threw himself headlong into the sea l Beneath this Middleton another little river rises which runs by a small market-town call'd Bere Bere where for a long time together the ancient and famous family De turbidâ villâ commonly call'd Turbervill Turbevil had their seat 14 Whereof as some were famous so Hugh Turberville in the time of K. Edw. 1. was infamous with his traiterous practices with the French But to return to the western parts of the shire At the rise of Frome where the soil is most fruitful Blackmore-forest once well wooded now more naked affords very good hunting This is commonly call'd t It is long since disafforested The forest of white-hart Forest of Whitehart The occasion of it's name the inhabitants have by tradition that K. Henry 3. having been a hunting here amongst several Deer he had run down spar'd the life of a milk-white hart which afterwards T. de la Linde a gentleman of this County with others in his company took and kill'd but they were soon made sensible how dangerous it is to provoke a Lyon For the King being highly incens'd at it find them severely and their very Lands which they held to this day have pay d into the King's Exchequer annually a pecuniary acknowledgment by way of fine call'd White-hart-silver Shirburn Whitehart-silver Shirburn which is likewise call'd Shirburn-castle borders upon this forest formerly Scireburn Fo rs limpidus that is by interpretation a spring of clear water and as it is sometimes written Fons clarus plac'd on the decline of a hill and very pleasant as Malmsbury says by reason of the multitude of it's inhabitants and it 's delightful situation 't is at present u In some old evidences it is term'd Fons clarus Lel. Itineâââr M. S. Vol. 2. the most frequented town in this County it 's woollen manufacture turning to the best account In the year of our Lord 704. an Episcopal See was erected here and Aldelm was first consecrated Bishop Afterwards in the reign of King Etheldred Herman Bishop of Sunning being advanc'd to this Bishoprick transferr'd his Episcopal See hither and annext the Bishoprick of Sunning to it which in William the Conqueror's reign he transferr'd to Salisbury reserving Shirburn to his successors for a retiring place to whom it now belongs m and one of them named Roger built a fortify'd castle in the Eastern part of it beneath which was a large marsh and many fish-ponds which being fill'd up are converted into fruitful meadows x Leland says in his time it was about two miles in compass and subsisted partly indeed by making of cloath but mostly by all manner of trades jointly Itinerar Vol. 2. But the Cathedral Church immediately upon the translation of the See was converted into a monastery and seems very ancient tho' not many years ago in y The quarrel was occasion'd by the Monks taking the liberty to baptize in the Chappel of Allâaâlows the fontstone whereof one of the towns-men defac'd Lel. Itinerar an uproar between the townsmen and the monks it was set on fire plain signs of which appear in the blackness of the stones Below this the river Ivell of which we shall speak elsewhere with many turnings and windings glides on westward to Clifton Cliftoâ formerly the seat of the family of 15 Malbanc Maulbauch from which it hereditarily descended to the family of the Horseies Knights z From them it came by purchase to the Heles and now to the Hââveys where it enters into Somersetshire More to the East the famous river Stoure yielding plenty of Tench and Eel particularly flows on to Stourton the seat of the Barons of Stourton Stourtoâ taking it's source from six springs in Wiltshire Where it first enters into this County it runs thro' Gillingham-forest Gillingâ where Edmund surnam'd Ironside put the Danes to flight in a very remarkable battle and then visits Shaftsbury three miles off Shaftâââ seated on the top of a hill 16 Very defective of water the Britains call'd it Caer Paladur as the common people falsly imagine and Septonia the Saxons Sceaftes-byryg perhaps from the Church-spire which they call'd Scheaft A little before the Normans came in it had 104 houses in it and three mint-masters as I have read in the Book so often cited by me It was afterwards more famous for the Nunnery founded by that pious woman Elfgiva wife to Edmund King Alfred's nephew's son and had about ten Parish-Churches But 't is most remarkable for the report that our Historians make of one Aquila The Pââphecy ãâã Aquila who prophesy'd concerning the change of the British government Some think it was the bird call'd Aquila that is an Eagle others that 't was a man of that name who foretold that the government of Britain after having been in Saxon and Norman hands should return at length to the ancient Britains who likewise would have it older than time it self altho' 't was infallibly built by Alfred For Malmsbury the historian has told us that there was an ancient stone in his time remov'd out of the ruines of the walls into the Chapter-house which had this Inscription ANNO DOMINICAE INCARNATIONIS ALFREDUS REX FECIT HANC URBEM DCCCLXXX REGNI SUI VIII King Alfred built this city in the year of our Lord DCCCLXXX and the eighth of his reign I was the more willing to insert this Inscription for clearing the truth of the matter because in all the Copies I have seen 't is wanting excepting one which belongs to the Lord Burghley High Treasurer of England 17 And I have been inform'd that it continu'd there till the time of K. Henry 8. yet the Inhabitants have a Tradition that an old City stood upon the place which is call'd the Castle-Green and by some Bolt-bury now a fair plain so sited that as of one side it joineth to the town so of another it is a strange sight to look down to the vale under it whereby in the west-end of the Chappel of S. Jâhn as I hear now standeth a Roman Inscription revers'd From thence the Stoure streaming along by Now the possession of George Husey Marnhill from whence Henry Howard 18 Brother of Thomas last Duke of Norfolk receiv'd of K. James the title c. had his title of Baron Howard of Marnhill Baron Hââard of Marnhiâ Stourmâster before he was created Earl of Northampton makes to Stourminster that is a monastery or minster upon the Stoure a very mean town and lowly seated to which Newton-castle is joyn'd by a stone bridge where there is a b 'T is cut off by a deep and wide ditch
Camp-place singly-ditch'd called Dun-shat and about one mile and a half from Yanesbury another likewise with a single trench named Woldsbury I have noted the names as the Country people term them that others may collect some matter thereby more than I can The Nadder rising in the south border of this County with a winding stream z Mr. Camden's conjecture is made more probable by the true writing of what we call An adder which ought to be writ a nadder being in Saxon Naeddre and accordingly in our Northern parts we call it A nedder The corruption has happen'd in this as in some others by stealing the initial n from the word it self and giving it to a creeps like an adder from whence it seems to have it's name not far from Wardour a pretty Castle Wardour Castle which once belong'd to the ancient family of S. Martins Now it is in the possession that I may omit several of its intermediate a Amongst whom were the Lords Lovel temp Hen. 4. 5. 6. and J. Tuchet Lord Audley 1 Ed. 4. owners 17 And amongst them the Lord Brook who repair'd it and died at it of John Arundel lately made by King James Lord Arundell of Wardour Baron Arundel of whom very honorable mention is to be made because in his youth he piously went into far countries to serve in the wars against the sworn enemies of Christendom the Turks and there for his singular valour at the storming of Gran he merited the honour to be made Count of the Empire by a Patent from the Emperor Rodolph 2. in these words Count of the Empire Forasmuch as he had behaved himself couragiously in the field and at the siege of several Cities and Castles and especially had given eminent proof of his valour at the assault upon the water-water-town near Gran taking the Flag from the Turks with his own hands we have created made and nominated him and all and every one of his children his heirs and lawful issue for ever of both sexes true Counts and Countesses of the sacred Empire and have dignified them with the Title and Honour of a County Imperial c. b No less valiant was the Lady Arundel who in 1643. with only 25 men made good this Castle for a week against 1300. of the Parliament Forces and they at last contrary to the Articles of Surrender did 100000 l. damage to the Castle and Parks Vid. Merc. Rustic Week 5. On the other side of the river is Hach Hache not very noted at present but famous in the reign of K. Edw. 1. for it's Baron Eustace de Hache Baron of Hache who was then summoned to Parliament among the rest of the Nobility 18 And a few miles from thence is Hindon a quick Market and known for nothing else that I could see At the conflux of these rivers Willey watereth the place from it denominated Wilton Wilton once the chief town of the County to which it gave name It was in times past call'd Ellandunum as appears from some ancient Charters which expresly make mention of Weolsthan Earl of Ellandunum Ellandunum that is of Wilton and again that he built a little Monastery at Ellandunum that is at Wilton From this name Ellan I am partly induc'd to think this river to be the Alanus which Ptolemy placeth in this Tract Alan riv At this place Egbert King of the West-Saxons fought successfully against Beorwulf the Mercian A. D. 821. but the battel was so bloody on both sides that the river was stained with the blood of near relations s Here also A. C. 871. Aelfred fighting against the Danes was at the first Charge conquerour but the fortune of the battel changing he was driven out of the field In the times of the Saxons it was a very populous place King Edgar founded here a Nunnery and as the Historians relate made his daughter Edith Abbess But it is evident from the ancient Charter of Eadgar himself dated A. D. 974. that the Nunnery was much older for in it are these words The Monastery which was built by my great grandfather K. Edward in a noted place by the Inhabitants called Wilton And we read in the life of Edward the Confessor Whilst S. Edward was building the Abbey of S. Peter at Westminster Editha his wife imitating the royal charity of her Husband laid the foundation of a stately Monastery of stone instead of the wooden Church at Wilton where she was educated The town did not much decay tho' it was miserably plunder'd by Swain the Dane until the Bishops of Salisbury c Leland says that before the turning of the road this town had 12 Parish-Churches but now they are reduc'd to one turn'd the Road into the western Countries from it Since that time it has dwindled by little and little into a small village only it hath the honour of a Mayor for its chief Magistrate and the stately house of the Earls of Pembroke built out of the suppressed Abbey But in old time Sorbiodunum Sorbiodunum was and now New-Sarum which arose out of its ruines is a great obstacle of it's splendor Antoninus's Itinerary calleth that town Sorbiodunum which the Saxons afterward named Searysbyrig and the vulgar Latins Sarum and Sarisburia 19 And Salisburialia Old Sarisbury For the course of the Itinerary and the remains of the name evidently shew this without any remark of mine And without doubt Searesbirig was derived from Sorbiodunum the Saxon word Byryg which denoteth a town being put in the place of Dunum Dunum what it signified with the Gauls and Britains which word the Britains and Gauls usually added to places of lofty situation as this Sorbiodunum is So that as one very well skilled in the Welsh language informed me Sorviodunum signifieth a dry hill t which is a more probable conjecture than the far-fetch'd derivation of it from Saron in Berosus or from Severus the Emperour from whom they call'd it Severia u For it was seated on a high hill and as Malmsbury saith The town was more like a Castle than a City being environ'd with a high wall and notwithstanding it was very well accommodated with all other conveniences yet such was the want of water that it was sold there at a great rate This gave occasion to the distich which was made upon Old Sarum by one that lived in those times Est tibi defectus lymphae sed copia cretae Saevit ibi ventus sed Philomela silet Water's there scarce but chalk in plenty lies And those sweet notes that Philomel denies The harsher musick of the wind supplies By the great pieces of the Walls and the Bulwarks yet to be seen it seems to have been a very strong place and near half a mile in circumference Kinric the Saxon after he had fought against the Britains with good success A. D. 553. was the first of the Saxons that won it
feet upon which he step'd back and said Let all the inhabitants of the world know That the power of Monarchs is a vain and empty thing and that no one deserves the name of a King but he whose will by an eternal law the Heaven Earth and Sea obey Nor would he ever after suffer the Crown to be put on his head c. Of those rivers between which this town is plac'd the western one now call'd Test but formerly I think Anton rising out of the Forest of Chute runs first to Andover ândover in Saxon e And Andeferan Andeafaran that is the Ferry or passage of the river Ande where in the year f In the year 994. according to the Saxon Annals 893. Aethelred K. of England when the Danes ravaged all his kingdom that he might bless his harrass'd nation with a safe and settl'd peace adopted Anlaf the Dane ânlaf adâpted by ãâã Aethelâed tho' this league of friendship was soon broke for so great a respect and honour could not restrain that barbarous foreigner from his usual rapines i 3 From thence it runneth down and receives from the East a brook passing by Bullingdon in whose parish is a place called Tibury-hill and contains a square field by estimation 10 acres ditch'd about in some places deeper than other wherein hath been found tokens of Wells and about which the Plough-men have found square-stones and Roman coins as they report for the place I have not seen From hence this river runs near Whorwel where Queen Aelfrith built a Monastery to expiate her heinous crime in vowing to kill King Edward her son-in-law and to atone for the murder of her former Husband the noble Earl Athelwold whom King Edgar upon an invitation to go a hunting did here murder because he had put a trick upon him in his love-intreagues and had by ill arts obtain'd from him this Lady Aelfrith who was the greatest beauty of her age After this the Test takes in another small stream call'd Wallop âallâp or rather Wellop that is if we interpret it from our own ancient language a little fountain on the side of a hill which gives name to the ancient family of Wallops Knights who live near it Hence the river runs in search of Brige âge or Brage an ancient town by Antoninus plac'd 9 miles from the old Sorbiodunum at which distance between Salisbury and Winchester not far from its own banks it finds a small country village call'd Broughton and if the old Brage was not at this place I am of opinion that it was entirely demolish'd when William the Conquerour converted these parts into the forest before mention'd Next Rumsey âumsey in Saxon Rumseg where King Edgar built a Nunnery the Church whereof is still standing is visited by this river 4 Out of the which Mary daughter to King Stephen being there Abbess and his only heir surviving was convey'd secretly by Matthew of Alsace son to the Earl of Flanders and to him married But after she had born to him two Daughters was enforced by Sentence of the Church to return hither again according to her vow which presently falls into South-hampton-bay at the Vadum Arundinis as Bede calls it which he interprets Redford but now from the bridge where the ford was instead of Redford 't is call'd Redbridge âdbridge where in the infancy of the Saxon-Church stood a Monastery whereof one Cymberth was Abbot and baptised as Bede tells us two young Brothers of Arvandus petty King of the Isle of Wight just before they were to be murdered for when Cedwalla the Saxon invaded that Island these two boys made their escape and hid themselves at a little town called ad Lapidem till being betrayed they were killed at the command of Cedwalla If you ask where this little town ad Lapidem stood I should guess that 't was Stoneham a small village next to Redbridge as the name it self seems to prove very naturally The other river which runs on the east-side of South-hampton seems to have been call'd Alre for a market town on the banks of it not far from the lake out of which it rises is now call'd Alresford i.e. the ford of Arle Which place to use the words of an old Register of the Church of Winchester the religious K. Kinewalc with great devotion gave to the Church of Winchester after he had receiv'd the Christian Sacraments from Bishop Birinus at the beginning of Christianity in those parts In the year 1220. A book of waverly Monastery Godfrey Lucy Bishop of Winchester renew'd the market here and call'd the place New-market perhaps in respect of the old Alresford that lies near it But this new name did not last long with the people in whose power lies the use of words and names Nigh this place lies Tichborn Tichborn of which I must not omit to mention that it has given name to an eminent and ancient family On the western bank of this river lies the famous city of the British Belgae which Ptolemy and Antoninus call'd g From whence the Bishop of Winchester is in our Histories very often call'd Ventanus and Wentanus Venta Belgarum Venta Belgarum the Britains to this day Caer Gwent the old Saxons As also Winteceaster Winceaster Wincester Wintancester the Latin Writers commonly Wintonia and we Wintchester Wintchester Yet there are some Writers who pretend that this was the Venta Simenorum and give Bristol the honour of being the Venta Belgarum but that there was no such People as the Simeni in this Island I shall prove when I come to the Iceni In the mean time if they would confirm this their conjecture by seeking any where else for the towns which Antoninus places near to this Venta let them be as accurate as they can they will find nothing to their purpose The original of Venta some fetch from Ventus others from Vinum and again others from Wina a Bishop * Qui bonae menti litarent who might be asham'd of such trifling derivations I should rather subscribe to the opinion of our country-man Leland who derives the word from the British Guin or Guen that is white as if it signified Caer Gwin the White City And why should it not since from this same colour the old Latins gave name to the cities Alba Longa and Alba Regia the Greeks to Leuca Leucas and other places For this Venta as also two other towns of the same name Venta Silurum and Venta Icenorum is situate in a soil of Chalk and whitish Clay This city no doubt was very famous in the Roman times k for it is here the Roman Emperors seem to have had their â Textrina sua sacra Imperial Weaving-shops this city being the chief of all the British Ventae and lying nearest Italy For in the Notitia there is mention made of a Procurator or Governour of the Cynegium Ventense or Bentense
in Britain The Cynegium of the Roman Emperors in Brit. Gynaecium which Jacobus Cujacius that most eminent Civilian reads Gynaecium and interprets it the Royal Weavery in his â Paratitla Paratitles to the Codes Guidus Pancirolus is of the same opinion and writes that these Gynaecia were appointed for weaving the cloaths of the Emperor and Army for making of sails linnen * Stragula shrouds and other necessaries for the furniture of their mansions or quarters Yet Wolphgangus Lazius thinks that the Procurator here took care of the Emperor's dogs British dogs And this indeed is certain that our dogs have been preferable to all others in Europe insomuch that as Strabo witnesses our dogs have served as soldiers and the ancient Gauls us'd them in their wars and they were bought up by the Romans for their sports in the Amphitheatre and the other pleasures of hunting for they were as Strabo says ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is naturally made for hunting Hence Nemesianus Divisa Britannia mittit Veloces nostrique orbis venatibus aptos The Britains from this world disjoyn'd Fleet dogs and useful for our hunting send And Gratius thus mentions their goodness and their value Quod freta si Morinûm dubio refluentia ponto Veneris atque ipsos libeat penetrare Britannos O quanta est merces quantum impendia supra But if at farthest Calais you arrive Where doubtful tides the passive shore deceive And thence your dang'rous course to Britain steer What store you 'll find and how excessive dear The Greeks also were acquainted with and highly esteemed that kind of Dogs amongst us which was called Agasaeus Agasaeus Gasehound a British Dog and we yet term a Gasehound as Oppian will tell you in his first Book of his Cynegeticks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Which Bodinus does thus render in Latin Est etiam catuli species indagine clara Corpus huic breve magnifico sed corpore digna Picta Britannorum gens illos effera bello Nutrit Agasaeósque vocat vilissima forma Corporis ut credas parasitos esse latrantes Another sort of dogs for lurching known Tho' small in bulk in value yield to none In Britain bred they thence the name receive Of Gaze-hounds by their bigness you 'd believe They 're mungril Curs that under tables live Mastives Claudian likewise speaks thus of our Mastiff-dogs Magnâque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni And English mastiffs us'd to bend the necks Of furious bulls But pardon this digression In this city as our Historians relate in the times of the Romans Constans from a Monk made Caesar liv'd that Constans the Monk who was first made Caesar and afterwards Emperour by his father Constantine and who usurped the purple in opposition to Honorius out of a conceit that his name would prove successful For long before this as Zosimus speaking of that time delivers it there were as well Cities as Villages full of Colleges of Monks Monasteries in Cities who before had led a solitary life in mountains and woods and the remoter places from whence they derive their name That old piece of wall still to be seen of great strength and thickness towards the west-gate of the Cathedral Church seems to be the reliques of this old College But the Monk who was here declared Caesar after he was taken hence did by death soon suffer the vengeance due to his father's ambition and his own affront to Religion During the Saxon Heptarchy tho' this place was once or twice very much harrass'd yet still it recover'd and was the Palace of the West-Saxon Kings adorn'd with magnificent Churches and honour'd with an Episcopal See as also endow'd by King Ethelstan with the privilege of six money-mints In the Norman times it very much flourish'd and the Archives or custody of all publick Records were in it Thus it continu'd long in a good condition only suffer'd by one or two accidents of fire and was plunder'd by the insolent souldiers in the Civil War between King Stephen and Mawd the Empress Hence our Poet Necham who liv'd in that age Guintoniam titulis claram gazisque repletam Noverunt veterum tempora prisca patrum Sed jam sacra fames auri jam caecus habendi Urbibus egregiis parcere nescit amor For wealth and state for honour and renown In good old times fair Winchester was known But in our age in our degenerate days When all the world tyrannick Gold obeys The richest Cities are the surest preys But all these losses were sufficiently repair'd by King Edward 3. when he settled here a publick Mart for Cloth and Wool which we commonly call the Staple The Staple What figure this City made in former ages is not easie to imagine which as the same Necham writes Flammis toties gens aliena dedit Hinc facies urbis toties mutata dolorem Praetendit casus nuntia vera sui So oft the hapless town The rage of foreign flames hath undergone She show'd her sad misfortunes in her face And dismal looks her ancient griefs express At this time the City is pretty populous and well water'd by the divided streams of the river extending lengthways from East to West and contains about a mile and a half within the circuit of it's walls which have six gates and the passage to each for a considerable way is Suburbs At the south-side of the west gate stands an ancient Castle which has often been besieged but never so straitly as when Maud the Empress maintain'd it against K. Stephen and at last a report was spread of her death and she put in a Coffin to deceive the enemy and so was carry'd off l K. Arthur's round Table Of the Round Table which now hangs up and which the common people take for King Arthur's Table I shall observe no more than this that it plainly appears to be of a much later date For in former ages when those military exercises call'd Torneaments Torneaments made use of to train up their Soldiers were much in fashion they had these kind of round tables that there might be no dispute for precedency among the noble Combatants and this seems to be a very ancient custom Lib. 4. Deipnosophât For Athenaeus tells us that the old Gauls did sit at round Tables and that their Armour-bearers stood at their backs with their shields Almost in the middle of the city only a little more southward Kenelwalch King of the West-Saxons after the College of Monks in the Roman age was destroy'd built here a Church as Malmesbury writes very splendid for those times in the track whereof was afterwards erected a Cathedral Church of the same model tho' more stately In this See from Wina Bishope of Wincheâter whom that Kenelwalch made first Bishop of it there
Moels and the Courteneys much augmented his estate His son Robert who marry'd the daughter and heir of the Lord Botereaux enrich'd the family more and then Robert his son who had to Wife Eleanor the daughter and heir of William Molines upon which account he was honour'd among the Barons of the Kingdom by the name of Lord Molines and during the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster was beheaded at New-castle made great additions to it Thomas his son slain at Salisbury in his father's life-time left Mary an only daughter married to Edward Lord Hastings with whom he had a great estate But Walter brother to the said Thomas begat Edward Hungerford father of that Walter whom Henry 8. created Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury and condemned afterwards for a very heinous crime nevertheless Queen Mary restor'd his children to every thing but the dignity of Barons h Not far from hence towards the South lies Widehay âidehay long the seat of the Barons of St. Amand ââons of Amand. whose estate by marriage came to Gerard Braybrok and Elizabeth his eldest grand-daughter by his son Gerard transferr'd the estate by marriage to William Beauchamp who being summon'd to Parliament by the name of William Beauchamp of St. Amand ââuchamp ãâã Amand was a Baron as his son Richard also was who had no legitimate issue From thence the river Kenet taking it's course between Hemsted Marshall anciently held * Per virgam Marescalliae by the Rod of the Marshalsea and belonging to the Marshals of England where â Sir Thomas Thomas Parry Treasurer of the Houshold to Queen Elizabeth built a very fine seat and Benham Valence so call'd from it's belonging to William Valence Earl of Pembroke 7 But Queen Elizabeth gave it to John Baptista Castilion a Piemontes of her Privy Chamber for faithful service in her dangers comes to Spinae Spinae the old town mention'd by Antoninus which retaining still it's name is call'd Spene but instead of a town is now a poor little village scarce a mile from Newbury a noted town that had it's rise out of the ruines of it For Newbury Newbury with us is as much as the New Borough that is in regard to Spinae the more ancient place which is quite decay'd but hath left the name in part of Newbury it self still call'd Spinhamlands And if nothing else yet this certainly might prove that Newbury fetcht it's original from Spinae for that the inhabitants of Newbury owns the little village Spene for their mother tho' Newbury compar'd with Spene is for it's buildings and neatness a very considerable town and much enrich'd by cloathing well seated upon a plain and has the river Kenet running through it In the Norman Conquest this town fell to Ernulph de Hesdin Earl of Perch Lib. Inquisitionum whose great grandson Thomas Earl of Perch being slain at the siege of Lincoln the Bishop of Chalons his heir sold it to William Marshall Earl of Pembroke who likewise held the mannour of Hempsted hard by spoken of before as did his successors Marshals of England till Roger Bigod for his obstinacy lost his honour of Earl Marshal and possessions too which notwithstanding by much â precariò intercession he obtain'd again for life i The Kenet continues on his course from hence and receives by the way the little river Lamborn Lamborn which at it's rise imparts the name to a small market-town that in ancient times belong'd to Alfrith K. Alfred's Cousin having been left him by the said King in his Will and afterwards was the Fitzwarin's who obtain'd the privilege of a market of Henry 3. But now it belongs to the Knightly family of Essex which derives it's pedigree from William de Essex Under-Treasurer of England in Edw. 4.'s time and from those of the same sirname in Essex that liv'd in great repute and honour there From thence this little river runs beneath g In the late Civil Wars it was a garrison for the King Dennington Dunnington-castle call'd also Dunnington a little but very neat castle seated on the brow of a woody hill having a fine prospect and windows on all sides very lightsome They say it was built by Sir Richard de Abberbury Knight founder also of God's House beneath it for the relief of the poor Afterwards it was the residence of h It was the house of Jeoffery Chaucer and there under an Oak commonly call'd Chaucer's Oak he is said to have penn'd many of his famous Poems The Oak till within these few years was standing Chaucer then of the De la Poles and within the memory of our fathers of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk And now the Kenet having run a long way passes at last by Aldermaston Aldermaston which Henry 1. gave to Robert Achard from whose posterity by the De la Mares it came at length by right of marriage to the Fosters a Knightly family At last it runs into the Thames having first with it's windings encompass'd a great part of Reading This little city or town of Reading Reading call'd in Saxon * Per virgam Marescalliae Rheadyge of Rhea that is the River or of the British word Redin signifying Fern which grew in great plenty hereabouts for the neatness of it's streets the fineness of it's buildings for it's riches and the reputation it hath gotten for making of cloath goes beyond all the other towns of this county tho' it hath lost it's greatest ornaments the beautiful Church and very ancient Castle k For this as Asserius tells us the Danes kept possession of when they drew a ditch between the Kenet and the Thames and hither they retreated after King Ethelwolph had routed them at Inglefield Inglefield a little village in the neighbourhood which gives name to a noble and ancient family But it was so demolish'd by K. Henry 2. because it was a place of refuge for King Stephen's party that nothing now remains of it but the bare name in the next street Near to this K. Hen. 1. having pull'd down a little Nunnery founded in former times by Queen Alfritha to expiate for some crimes built a most magnificent Abbey for Monks and enrich'd it with great Revenues Which Prince to use the very words of his Charter of Foundation Because three Abbeys in the kingdom of England were formerly for their sins destroy'd that is Reading Chelsea and Leonminstre which were long in Lay-mens hands by the advice of the Bishops founded a new Monastery at Reading and endow'd it with Reading Chelsea and Leonminstre In this Abbey was interr'd the Founder himself King Henry 7 With his wife both veil'd and crown'd for that she had been a Queen and professed Nun. Maud the Empress together with his daughter Maud as appears by the private history of the place tho' some report that she was bury'd at Becc in Normandy Who as well
under is Ulcomb anciently a Mansion of the family De Sancto Leodegario commonly called Sentieger and Sellinger and Morinden where Sir R. Rockesley descended from Kriol and Crevecer built a house who held Lands at Seaton by Serjeanty to be Vantraââs Regis Fin. Mic. 11 E. 2. when the King goeth into Gascoin donec perusus fuerit pari solutarum pretii 4 d. which as they that understand Law-Latin for I do not translate that he should be the King's fore-footman until he had worn our a pair of shooes prized 4 d. Nor hath this river any other thing memorable upon it besides Leeds-castle Leeds-castle Famây the Cââqueâ built by the noble Crevequers call'd in ancient Charters de Crâuecuer and de Crepito corde Afterwards it was the unfortunate seat of Bartholomew Baron of Badilsmer who treacherously fortify'd it against King Edward 6. that had given it him but afterwards had the rewards of his treachery upon the gallows Take if you please the whole relation out of a little history of Thomas De-la-More a Nobleman of the same time which I lately publish'd In the year 1321. came Queen Isabel to the castle of Leeds about Michaelmas where she had design'd to lodge all night but was not suffer'd to enter The King highly resenting this as done in contempt of him call'd together some neighbouring inhabitants out of Essex and London and gave orders to besiege the Castle Bartholo mew de Badilsmer was he who own'd it and having left his wife and sons in it was gone with the rest of the Barons to spoil the estate of Hugh De-Spenser The besieg'd in the mean time despairing of succour the Barons with their Associates came as far as Kingston and by the mediation of the Bishops of Canterbury and London and the Earl of Pembroke petition'd the King to raise the Siege promising to surrender the Castle after the next Parliament But the King considering that the besieg'd could not hold out and moreover incens'd with their contumacy would not listen to the petition of the Barons After they had betook themselves to other parts he gain'd the Castle tho' with no small difficulty the rest of them that were in it he hang'd and sent his wife and sons to the Tower of London Thus the Medway after it has receiv'd the little river Len passes through fruitful Corn-fields and by Allington-Castle where Tho. Wiat senior a most learned Knight ââford rebuilt a fair house 40 Now decay'd whose son Sir Thomas enrich'd by an heir of Sir T. Haut proposing to himself great hopes upon fair pretences pitifully overthrew himself and his state to Ailesford in Saxon Eaglesforð call'd by Henry Huntingdon Elstre by Ninnius Epifford who also has told us that 't was call'd Saissenaeg-haibail by the Britains because of the Saxons being conquer'd there as others have in the same sense call'd it Anglesford For Guor-timer the Britain son of Guortigern fell upon Hengist and the English Saxons here and disordering them so at first that they were not able to stand a second charge he put them to flight so that they had been routed for ever had not Hengist by a singular art of preventing dangers betook himself into the Isle of Thanet till that resolute fierceness of the Britains was a little allay'd and fresh forces came out of Germany In this battel the two Generals were slain Catigern the Britain and Horsa the Saxon the latter was buried at Horsted a little way from hence âd and left his name to the place the former was bury'd in great state ââen's as 't is thought near Ailesford where 41 Under the side of a hill but not so artificially with mortis and tenents those four vast stones are pitch'd on end with others lying cross-ways upon them much of the same form with that British monument call'd Stone-henge And this the ignorant common people do still from Catigern name Keith-coty-house 42 In Ailsford it self for the religious house of the Carmelites founded by Richard Lord Grey of Codnor in the time of K. Henry 3. is now seen a fair habitation of Sir William Siddey a learned Knight painfully and expencefully studious of the common good of his country as both his endow'd house for the poor and the bridge here with the common voice do plentifully testifie p Nor must we forget Boxley âây hard by where William de Ipres a Fleming Earl of Kent built a monastery in the year 1145. and supply'd it with monks from Clarevalle in Burgundy 43 Medway having wound himself higher from the east receiveth a brook springing near Wrotham or Wirtham so named for plenty of worts where the Archbishops had a place until Simon Islip pull'd it down leaveth Malling which grew to be a town after Gundulph Bishop of Rochester had there founded an Abbey of Nuns and watereth Leibourn which hath a Castle sometime the seat of a family thereof sirnamed out of which Sir Roger Leibourn was a great Agent in the Barons wars and William was a Parliamentary Baron in the time of K. Edw. 1. and not far from the opposite bank âg just over against this is Birling 44 Now the habitation of the Lord Abergeveny formerly the Barony of the Maminots then of the Saies whose estate at last came by females to the families of Clinton Fienes and Aulton On the east-side of the Medway after it has pass'd by Halling ââg where Hamo de Heath Bishop of Rochester built a seat for his successors a little higher up is an ancient city call'd by Antoninus Duro-brus Duro-brivae and in some other places more truly Duro-provae âârevâs âanciâble âsh'd âelfer ãâã âr ãâ¦ã âester or Durobrovae Bede has it Duro-brevis and in the decline of the Roman Empire time did so contract this name that it was call'd Roibis whence with the addition of Ceaster which being deriv'd from the Latin castrum was us'd by our Forefathers to signifie a city town or castle they call'd it Hroueceaster and we more contractly Rochester as the Latins Roffa from one Rhoffus as Bede imagines tho' to me there seems to be some remains of that in the old Duro brovis And as to the name there is no reason to doubt of that since beside the course of the Itinerary and Bede's authority in an old Foundation-Charter of the Cathedral Church it is expresly call'd Durobrovis Only this I would have observ'd that the printed Copies of Bede read Daruervum where the Manuscripts have Durobrovis It is plac'd in a valley on some sides encompass'd 45 With a marsh river with walls but not very strong and as Malmesbury says is pent within too narrow a compass so that 't was formerly look'd upon as a Castle rather than a City for Bede calls it Castellum Cantuariorum i.e. the castle of the Kentish men But now it runs out with large suburbs towards west east and south It has had a great many
Fosse ãâã Out of Warwickshire it cometh down by Lemington where there seems formerly to have been a Station of the Romans from the coins which are often found and plow'd up there some of which Edward Palmer an industrious Antiquary k This place belongeth now to Sir William Juxon Baronet Nephew to Dr. Juxon Archbishop of Canterbury whose ancestors have long lived here very courteously bestow'd upon me Thence it goes by Stow on the Would by it's high situation too much exposed to the winds dd and by Northleach so called from the little rivulet that runs by it ee and thence to Cirencester Cirencester to which town the river Churn running southward amongst the hills 25 Near Corberley and very commodious for mills gave that name This was a famous city of great antiquity call'd by Ptolemy Corinium Corinium by Antonine Durocornovium i.e. the water Cornovium just 15 miles as he observeth distant from Glevum or Glocester The Britains call'd it Caer-cori and Caer-ceri the English Saxons Cyren-ceaster and at this day it is call'd Circester and Circiter The ruinated walls do plainly shew it hath been very large for they are said to have been 2 miles about That this was a considerable place the Roman coins chequer'd pavements and inscriptions in marble here dug up do evidently prove which coming into the hands of ignorant and illiterate persons have been slighted and lost to the great prejudice of Antiquity and also those Consular ways of the Romans ãâã way ãâ¦ã Romans which here cross each other especially that which leadeth to Glevum or Glocester are still visible with an high ridge as far as Bird lip-hill and to a curious observer it seems to have been paved with stone ff The British Annals tell us that this City was set on fire by one Gurmundus I know not what African tyrant he making use of sparrows to effect it whence Giraldus calls it the City of Sparrows and from these memoirs Neckham writes thus Urbs vires experta tuas Gurmunde per annos Septem A city that defy'd proud Gurmund's strength For seven long years Who this Gurmund was I confess I am ignorant the inhabitants shew a mount of earth near the town which they report he cast up calling it Grismund's tower Marianus an historian of ancient credit says that Ceaulin took this city from the Britains after he had vanquish'd their forces at Deorham and reduced Glocester For a long time after it was subject to the West-Saxons for we read how Penda the Mercian was defeated by Cineglise King of the West-Saxons when he laid siege to it with a mighty army But at last it came with the whole County under the power of the Mercians and so continued till the English Monarchy under which it was grievously harrassed by the incursions of the Danes possibly by that Gurmon the Dane whom historians call Guthrus and Gurmundus gg 26 So that it may seem he was that Garmund which they so much speak of for certes when he raged about the year 879. a rabblement of Danes rousted hore one whole year Now scarce the fourth part within the walls is inhabited the rest being pasture grounds and the ruins of an Abbey first built by the Saxons as is reported and repair'd by Hen. 2. 27 For black Canons in which as I am informed many of the family of the Barons of St. Amand are interred The Castle that stood there was razed by the command of Hen. 3. in the first year of his reign The chief trade of the inhabitants is in the Woollen Manufacture and they talk much of the great bounty of Richard 1. who enriched the Abbey and as they affirm made them Lords of the seven adjacent hundreds to hold the same in Fee Farm to have tryal of Causes and to impose Fines and to have the forfeitures amercements and other profits arising thence to their own use hh Moreover King Henry 4. granted them privileges for their valiant and good service performed against Thomas Holland Earl of Kent 28 Late Duke of Surrey John Holland Earl of Huntingdon 29 Late Duke of Exeter John Montacute Earl of Salisbury Thomas de Spencer Earl of Glocester and others who being deprived of their honours conspired against him and being here secured by the townsmen some of them were instantly slain and the rest beheaded ii âe river ãâã afterârds Taâââ The river Churne having left Cyrencester about 6 miles 30 Near to Dounamveny an ancient seat of the Hungerfords joyneth with Isis for Isis commonly call'd Ouse that it might be originally of Glocestershire riseth near the south border of this County not far from Torleton a small Village hard by the famous Fosse-way This is that Isis l See this opinion confuted in the beginning of Wiltshire which afterwards joyning with Tame by adding the names together is call'd Tamisis chief of the British rivers of which we may truly say as ancient writers did of Euphrates in the East that it both plants and waters Britain the poetical description of it's spring-head or fountain taken out of the marriage of Tame and Isis I have here added which you may read or omit as you please Lanigeros quà lata greges Cotswaldia pascit Crescit in colles faciles visura Dobunos ââsse-âây Haud procul à * Fossa longo spelunca recessu Cernitur abrupti surgente crepidine clivi Cujus inauratis resplendent limina tophis Atria tegit ebur tectumque Gagate Britanno Emicat alterno solidantur pumice postes Materiam sed vincit opus ceduntque labori Artifici tophus pumex ebur atque Gagates Pingitur hinc vitrei moderatrix Cynthia regni Passibus obliquis volventia sydera lustrans Oceano tellus conjuncta marita marito Illinc caelatur fraternaque flumina Ganges Nilus Amazonius tractusque binominis Istri Vicini Rheni sed his intermicat auro Vellere Phrixaeo dives redimitaque spicis Clara triumphatis erecta Britannia Gallis c. Undoso hic solio residet regnator aquarum Isis fluminea qui majestate verendus Caeruleo gremio resupinat prodigus urnam Intonsos crines ulvis arundine cinctus Cornua cana liquent fluitantia lumina lymphis Dispergunt lucem propexa in pectore barba Tota madet toto distillant corpore guttae Et salientis aquae prorumpunt undique venae Pisciculi liquidis penetralibus undique ludunt Plurimus cygnus niveis argenteus alis Pervolitat circum c. Where Cotswold's hillocks fam'd for weighty sheep Their eager course to the Dobunians keep Near the great Fosse a spatious plain there lies Where broken cliffs the secret top disguise Huge freestones neatly carv'd adorn the gate The porch with ivory shines the roof with jeat And rows of pumice in the posts are set But nature yields to art the workman's skill Does freestone ivory pumice jeat excell Here wandring Cynthia arbitress o' the main Guides the
almost thro' the middle of this County It first watereth Banbury Banbury formerly Banesbyrig where Kynric the West-Saxon overcame the poor Britains when they fought for their Liberties and Country in a memorable battel h And in latter times Richard Nevil Earl of Warwick fighting for the Lancastrian Interest gave such an absolute defeat to the York party that he soon after took the distressed King Edward 4. and carry'd him off prisoner i The town which at present is most famous for making k good Cheese has a Castle built by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln for this manour belong'd to that See who in his way of living consulted more his state and grandeur than his ease and safety and brought very many mischiefs on himself by his vain and expensive buildings Give me leave to add one remark that the coins of Roman Emperours found here and in the fields adjoyning are a fair argument for the antiquity of this place 5 Near to Banbury is Hanwell where the family of Cope hath flourish'd many years in great and good esteem I must not here pass by Broughton the seat of Rich. Fienes or Fenis to whom and to the heirs of his body our potent Monarch K. James in the first year of his reign granted and confirm'd the name stile title degree dignity and honour of Baron of Say and Sele he being descended in a right line from James Fienes Lord Say and Sele High Treasurer of England in the reign of Hen. 6. 6 Who was cruelly beheaded by a rabble of Rebels in the time of K. Hen. 6. The Cherwel for many miles after it has left Banbury sees nothing but well cultivated fields and most delightful meadows among which stands 7 Heyford-warine so denominated from Warine Fitz-Gerold Lord thereof Heyford Purcell likewise so named of the Purcells or de Porcellis ancient Gentlemen the old owners Blechingdon an ancient possession of the family of Povre Islip Iââââ formerly Ghistlipe the birth-place of King Edward whom for his piety and chastity our Ancestors honour'd with the title of Confessor as he himself witnesses in his original charter whereby he gives this his manour to the Church of Westminster l and at a small distance is Hedindon Hedââdââ which K. John gave for a Barony to Thomas Basset m At Islip the Cherwel is joyn'd from the east by a small brook which runs by i Perhaps as much as to say Birini castrum âmplying it to be a frontier-garrison of the West-Saxons against the Mercians rais'd out of the ââins of Alchester by the advice and assistance of Birinus Bishop of Dorchester Burcester Burâââer in Saxon Burenceaster and Bernaceaster a town of ancient name but where I have observ'd nothing of antiquity only that Gilbert Basset and Egeline de Courtney his wife in the reign of Hen. 2. built here a Monastery in honour of k It was dedicated to S. Mary and S. Edburg the memory of the latter is still preserved in a Well call'd S. Edburg's Well as also in a green foot-path leading to it call'd Tadbury walk corruptly for the Edâuây-way-walk St. Edburg and that the Barons Le Strange of Knocking were lately Lords of this place n Toward the west we meet with some few remains of an old deserted Station which they call Allchester perhaps instead of Aldchester Alâhââtââ or the old Castrum o thro' which a military way led from Wallingford as the neighbours believe to Banbury They call this Akeman-street-way Baâ mâny âââ Aâââceâer a ridge whereof does still appear for some miles together on the deep plains of Otmore often overflow'd in winter p But where the Cherwel flows along with the Isis and their divided streams make several little sweet and pleasant islands is seated on a rising vale the most famous University of Oxford Oâââââ in Saxon Oxenford our most noble Athens the seat of the English Muses the prop and pillar nay the sun the eye the very soul of the nation the most celebrated fountain of wisdom and learning from whence Religion Letters and good Manners are happily diffus'd thro' the whole Kingdom A delicate and most beautiful city whether we respect the neatness of private buildings or the stateliness of publick structures or the healthy and pleasant situation For the plain on which it stands is walled in as it were with hills of wood which keeping out on one side the pestilential south-wind on the other the tempestuous west admit only the purifying east and the north that disperses all unwholsome vapours From which delightful situation Authors tell us it was heretofore call'd Bellositum Some writers fancy this city in the British times had the name of Caer Vortigern and Caer-Vember and was built by God knows what Vortigerns or Memprics Whatever it was under the Britains it is certain the Saxons call'd it Oxenford in the same meaning no doubt as the Grecians had their Bosphorus and the Germans their Ochenfurt upon the river Oder that is a ford of Oxen. In which sense it is still call d by the Welsh Rhid-Ychen Yet Mr. Leland with some shew of probability derives the name from the river Ous in Latin Isis and believes it to have been heretofore call'd Ousford especially since the little islands which the river here makes are call'd Ousney Wise Antiquity as we read in our Chronicles even in the British age consecrated this place to the Muses whom they transplanted hither as to a more fertile nursery from l So written in most of our Historians to favour a groundless notion of a Greek and Latin School the first at this place truly written Creccagelade the latter at Latinlade rightly call'd Leccelade See Somner's Glossar to the Decem Script under Greglada Greek-lade now a small town in Wiltshire Alexander Necham writes thus Italy does challenge the glory of Civil Law Divinity and the Liberal Arts make Paris preferable to all other cities Wisdom too and Learning have long flourish'd at Oxford ââ 2. de ãâã reâ and according to the prophecy of Merlin shall in due time pass over thence to Ireland But in the following Saxon age remarkable for the continual ruin and subversion of towns and cities this place underwent the common fate and during many years was famous for nothing but the reliques of St. Frideswide âeswide a virgin of great esteem for the sanctity of her life and first reputed a Saint on this occasion that when by a solemn vow she had devoted her self to the service of God and a single life Earl Algar courted her for a wife and pursuing her in her flight was miraculously as the story goes struck blind This Lady as we read in William of Malmesbury built here a Religious house as a trophy of her preserv'd virginity into which Monastery when in the time of Ethelred several Danes sentenc'd to death were fled for refuge the enraged Saxons burnt them and the house together But
expresly says that the Founders did therein instituere Canonicos seculares who were of the Order of S. Augustine Roger de Iveri is there mention'd as a Co-Founder a Parish-Church dedicated to St. George to which the Parishioners not having free access when the Empress Maud was closely besieg'd in this castle by King Stephen the Chapel of St. Thomas Å¿ Westward from the Castle hard by was built for that purpose He is supposed likewise to have beautified the city with new walls which are now by age sensibly impair'd Robert his Nephew son of his brother Nigel Chamberlain to King Hen. 1. t Who design'd thereby to expiate the sins of her former unchaste life and to prevail with her husband told him a story of the chattering of birds and the interpretation of a Frier which legendary tale Leland tells us was painted near her Tomb in that Abbey by persuasion of his wife Edith daughter of Furn who had been the last Concubine of that Prince in the island meadows nigh the castle built Oseny Oseney Abby which the ruins of the walls still shew to have been very large At the same time as we read in the Register of the said Abbey of Oseney Robert Pulein began to read the holy scriptures at Oxford which were before grown almost out of use in England which person after he had much profited the English and French Churches by his good doctrine was invited to Rome by Pope Lucius 2. and promoted to the dignity of Chancellour of that See To the same purpose John Rous of Warwick writes thus By the care of Keng Henry the first the Lecture of Divinity which had been long intermitted began again to flourish and this Prince built there a new Palace which was afterward converted by King Edward 2. into a Convent for Carmelite Friers But u Richard Ceur de Lion third son of Henry and Queen Eleanor his wife was born on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary An. 1157. 4 Hen. 1. in the King's Palace of Beaumont in a Chamber upon the ground whereof the Carmelites when this house was given them by King Edw. 2. built a Belfrey and Tower of which they us'd to boast as the place of Nativity to this Martial Prince long before this conversion was born in that Palace the truly Lion-hearted Prince King Richard 1. commonly call'd Ceur de Lion Richard ceur de Lyon a Monarch of a great and elevated Soul born for the glory of England and protection of the Christian world and for the terror and confusion of Pagans and Infidels Upon whose death a Poet of that age has these tolerable verses Viscera Carleolum corpus Fons servat Ebrardi Et cor Rothomagum magne Richarde tuum In tria dividitur unus qui plus fuit uno Nec superest uno gloria tanta viro Hic Richarde jaces sed mors si cederet armis Victa timore tui cederet ipsa tuis Great Richard's body's at Fontevrault shown His bowels at Carlisle his head at Roan He now makes three because too great for one Richard lyes dead but death had fear'd his power Could this proud Tyrant own a Conquerour The City being thus adorn'd with beautiful buildings many Students began to flock hither as to the common Mart of civility and good letters So that learning here quickly reviv'd chiefly through the care of the foresaid Robert Pulein a man born to promote the interest of the learned world who spar'd no trouble and pains to cleanse and open the fountains of the Muses which had been so miserably dried and damm'd up under the favour and protection of King Henry 1. King Henry 2. and Richard his son whom I mention'd just before And he met with such fortunate success in his endeavours that in the reign of King John there were three thousand Students in this place who went away altogether some to Reading and some to Cambridge w As also to Maidstone Salisbury and other places when they could no longer bear the x Which happen'd An. 1209. the 10th of King John upon a Clerk in Oxford accidentally killing a woman and complaint being made to the King then at Woodstock he commanded two of the Scholars who upon suspicion of that fact had been imprison'd by the Towns-men to be immediately hang'd without the City walls This so much offended and frighted the poor Scholars that they all deserted the Town But the Inhabitants being soon sensible of the desolation and poverty they had brought upon themselves did upon their knees deprecate the fault at Westminster before Nicholas the Pope's Legate and submitted to a publick Penance Upon which the dispersed Scholars after five years absence return'd to Oxford An. 1214. and obtain'd some new Privileges for their more effectual protections abuses of the rude and insolent Citizens but when these tumults were appeas'd they soon after return'd Then and in the following times as Divine Providence seem'd to set apart this City for a seat of the Muses so did the same Providence raise up a great number of excellent Princes and Prelates who exercis'd their piety and bounty in this place for the promoting and encouraging of Arts and all good Literature And when King Henry 3. came hither and visited the shrine of S. Frideswide which was before thought a dangerous crime in any Prince and so took away that superstitious scruple which had before hindred several Kings from entring within the walls of Oxford He here conven'd a Parliament to adjust the differences between him and the Barons and at that time confirm'd the privileges granted to the University by his Predecessors and added some new acts of grace and favour After which the number of learned men so far encreas'd as to afford a constant supply of persons qualified by divine and humane knowledge for the discharge of offices in Church and State So that Matthew Paris expresly calls Oxford The second School of the Church after Paris nay the very foundation of the Church r. For the Popes of Rome had before honour'd this place with the title of an University which at that time in their decretals they allow'd only to Paris Oxford Bononia and Salamanca And in the Council of Vienna it was determin'd That Schools for the Hebrew Arabic and Chaldaic tongues should be erected in the Studies of Paris Oxford Bononia and Salamanca as the most eminent that the knowledge of those Languages might be hereby propagated and encourag'd and that out of men of the Catholick Communion furnisht with sufficient abilities two should be chosen for the profession of each Tongue For the maintenance of which Professors in Oxford all the Prelates in England Scotland Ireland and Wales and all Monasteries Chapters Convents Colleges exempt and not exempt and all Rectors of Parish-Churches should make a yearly contribution In which words one may easily observe that Oxford was the chief School in England Scotland Wales and Ireland and that
Cair Dorin Dorchester Dorchester call'd by Bede Civitas Dorciniae and by Leland Hydropolis which is a name of his own invention but well adapted to the nature of the place Dour signifying water in the British tongue That this was formerly a station of the Romans several of their Coins found frequently in this place do sufficiently attest and our Histories tell us it was once a Bishop's See founded by Birinus the Apostle of the West-Saxons who having baptiz'd Cinigilse a petty King of the West-Saxons to whom Oswald King of Northumberland was Godfather the two Kings as Bede tells us gave the Bishop this City to constitute here his Episcopal See This Birinus as we learn from the same Bede was f Whereupon we find in the MS. History of Alchester A round hill there still appears where the superstitious ensuing ages built Birinus a shrine teaching them that had any Cattel amiss to creep to that shrine for help esteem'd in that age as a miracle of piety and strictness of life whence an old Poet who wrote his life in verse does thus extol him Dignior attolli quà m sit Tyrinthius heros Quà m sit Alexander Macedo Tyrinthius hostes Vicit Alexander mundum Birinus utrunque Nec tantum vicit mundum Birinus hostem Sed sese bello vincens victus eodem Alcides less than thee shall men proclaim And Alexander own thy greater fame Tho that his foes and this the world o'recame With foes and world Birinus did subdue Himself the vanquisht and the victor too This See after four hundred and sixty years continuance lest the name and authority of a Bishop might grow contemptible from so mean and inconsiderable a place against which a Council of Bishops had g An. 1072. lately provided was translated to Lincoln by Remigius in the time of William the Conquerour At which time says William of Malmsbury who flourisht in that age Dorchester was a small and unfrequented village yet the beauty and state of its Churches was very remarkable as well for the ancient work as the present care taken of them After this removal of the Bishop's Chair it began sensibly to decay and of late the great road to London which lay through the town being turn'd another way it is so weakned and impoverisht that though it was formerly a city it scarce now deserves the name of a town Nor has it any thing to boast of but the ruins of its former greatness of which we find some signs and tokens in the adjacent fields qq Near this place Tame and Isis with mutual consent joyn as it were in wedlock and mix their names as well as their waters being h See the Additions to Wiltshire about the beginning henceforth call'd Tham-Isis or the Thames Tame and Isis joyn in like manner as the rivers Jor and Dan in the Holy Land and Dor and Dan in France from which composition are Jordan and Dordan This seems to have been first observ'd by the Author of the Eulogium Historiarum Of the marriage of Tame and Isis I present you here with some verses from a Poem of that title which you may read or pass over as you please Hic vestit Zephyrus florentes gramine ripas Floraque nectareis redimit caput Isidis herbis Seligit ambrosios pulcherrima Gratia flores Contexit geminas Concordia laeta corollas Extollitque suas taedas Hymenaeus in altum Naiades aedificant thalamumque thorumque profundo Stamine gemmato textum pictisque columnis Undique fulgentem Qualem nec Lydia Regi Extruxit Pelopi nec tu Cleopatra marito Illic manubias cumulant quas Brutus Achivis Quas Brennus Graecis rigidus Gurmundus Hibernis Bunduica Romanis claris Arthurius Anglis Eripuit quicquid Scotis victricibus armis Abstulit Edwardus virtusque Britannica Gallis Hauserat interea sperati conjugis ignes Tama Catechlanûm delabens montibus illa Impatiens nescire thorum nupturaque gressus Accelerat longique dies sibi stare videntur Ambitiosa suum donec praeponere nomen Possit amatori Quid non mortalia cogit Ambitio notamque suo jam nomine * Tame villam Linquit Norrisiis geminans salvete valete Cernitur tandem Dorcestria prisca petiti Augurium latura thori nunc Tama resurgit Nexa comam spicis trabea succincta virenti Aurorae superans digitos vultumque Diones Pestanae non labra rosae non lumina gemmae Lilia non aequant crines non colla pruinae Utque fluit crines madidos in terga repellit Reddit undanti legem formamque capillo En subito frontem placidis è fluctibus Isis Effert totis radios spargentia campis Aurea stillanti resplendent lumina vultu Jungit optatae nunc oscula plurima Tamae Mutuaque explicitis innectunt colla lacertis Oscula mille sonant connexu brachia pallent Labra ligant animos tandem descenditur una In thalamum quo juncta Fide Concordia sancta Splendida conceptis sancit connubia verbis Undique multifori strepitat nunc tibia buxi Flucticolae Nymphae Dryades Satyrique petulci In numeros circum ludunt ducuntque choreas Dum pede concutiunt alterno gramina laeti Permulcent volucres sylvas modulamine passim Certatimque sonat laetum reparabilis Echo Omnia nunc rident campi laetantur Amores Fraenatis plaudunt avibus per inania vecti Personat cythara quicquid vidêre priores Pronuba victura lauro velata Britôna Haec canit ut toto diducta Britannia mundo Cum victor rupes divulserit aequore Nereus Et cur Neptuni lapidosa grandine natum Albionem vicit nostras delatus in oras Hercules illimes libatus Thamisis undas Quas huc adveniens aras sacravit Ulysses Utque Corinaeo Brutus comitatus Achate Occiduos adiit tractus ut Caesar anhelus Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis c. And after a few other verses Dixerat unito consurgit unus amore Laetior exultans nunc nomine Tamisis uno Oceanumque patrem quaerens jactantior undas Promovet Here with soft blasts obliging Zephyrs pass And cloath the flowry banks with long-liv'd grass The fragrant Crown that her glad hands have made Officious Flora puts on Isis head The beauteous Graces have their business too They brush the weeping flowers from their ambrosial dew Which joyful Concord does with pleasing care Weave into Chaplets for the God-like pair While Hymen's mounted Taper lights the air In a fair vault beneath the swelling stream The Marriage-bed the busie Naiads frame Where brightest gems the painted columns grace And doubly shine with their reflected rays No such great Pelops kingdom could afford Nor lavish Cleopatra for her Lord. On this the Virgins in vast numbers pile Proud spoils and trophies of the conqu'ring Isle What Bundwic Gurmund Brennus Brute brought home From Greece from Gaul from Ireland and from Rome What mighty Arthur from the Saxons won What Edward from the Scots and
belong'd to Nigel Kyre pp Next is Ricot Ricot which still continues in the family of the Norris's and is now part of the possession of the right honourable James Earl of Abingdon who had that honour conferr'd upon him Novemb. 29. 1682. and having marry'd Eleanora one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir Henry Lee Baronet by her has issue his eldest son and heir apparent Mountague Lord Norris who has marry'd the heiress to the family and estate of the ancient and honourable Venables Barons of Kenderton qq South and by West of Dorchester are two banks with a trench between them therefore call'd Dike-hills * Pag. 322. which in the opinion of Dr. Plot cannot be part of any Roman way because extended only as a string to the great bow of the river Thames but rather a fortification such as P. Ostorius is said by Tacitus to have rais'd on the rivers Antona and Sabrina or else some of the out-works of the fortifications on Long Witenham-hill on the other side the water which perhaps was the Sinnodunum of the ancient Britains So he rr Not far from hence is Ewelme Ewelme the Rectory whereof with a Canonây of Christ-Church King James 1. in the third year of his reign annex'd to the office of Regius-Professor of Divinity in Oxford as he did at the same time the government of the Hospital here to that of Professor in Physick Which Prince however represented as of a mean spirit for his inclinations to peace was yet one of the highest patrons to learning and the greatest Benefactor to this University and deserves to have his memory vindicated from the common aspersions cast upon it by men of ignorance and men of arms ss Then the Thames runs forward to Henley Henley which Dr. Plot takes to be the ancientest town in the whole County so call'd says he from the British Hen which signifies old and Lley a place and perhaps might be the head town of the People call'd Ancalites that revolted to Caesar tt At some distance is Watlington Watlington which by the name one would imagine to be of no less than British Antiquity Plot. p 332 as seeming to point out to us * the old way of making their towns or cities an account whereof Strabo has left us viz. Groves fenc'd about with trees cut down and laid cross one another within which they built them sheds for both themselves and Cattel The same way of fencing the Saxons call'd Watelas hurdles or wattles from whence the town probably enough might have its name Continuation of the EARLS Henry the last Earl mention'd by our Author marry'd Diana second daughter to William Cecil Earl of Exeter and dy'd at the siege of Breda An. 1625. without issue Upon which Robert Vere son and heir of Hugh son and heir of Aubry de Vere second son of Earl John the fifth was in the Parliament held at Westminster An. 2 Car. 1. restor'd to this title of Earl of Oxford who taking to wife Beatrix van Hemmema of Friezland had issue by her Aubrey the present Earl Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter who marry'd Diana daughter to George Kirk Esq but by her has no issue More rare Plants growing wild in Oxfordshire Anagallis foemina flore coeruleo Female or Blew-flower'd Pimpernel At Battle near Oxford Park p. 554. Arundo vallatoria foliis ex luteo variegatis Painted or gilded Reed Found by Mr. Bobert in the river Thames not far from Oxford Though it be but an accidental variety it deserves to be mention'd being very ornamental in gardens Atriplex vulgaris sinuata spicata D. Plot. Hist. nat Oxon. It is found commonly on Dunghils growing together with Goose-foot Orache Geranium Columbinum maximum foliis dissectis D. Plot. Hist nat Oxon. columbinum majus foliis imis longis usque ad pediculum divisis Moris hist The greatest Doves-foot Cranes-bill with dissected leaves In hedges about Marston and on that part of Botley causey next Oxford in great plenty Gramen caninum aristatum radice non repente sylvaticum Dogs-grass with awns Found plentifully growing in Stoken-Church woods Mr. Bobert Gramen Secalinum majus Sylvaticum Gr. secalinum majus Park an Gr. hordeaceum montanum sive majus C. B. Wild Rye grass of the woods In Stoken-Church woods also Idem Gramen cyperiodes minimum Ranunculi capitulo rotundo Cyperus-grass with a round Crowfoot-head Frequently found on the bogs on the west side of Oxford Idem Gramen bromoides maximum hirtum Park Festuca graminea perennis hirsuta gluma longiore dumetorum spicâ divisâ In Godstow copse near Oxford Idem Helleborine flore albo vel Damasonium montanum latifolium C B. Ger. Damasonium Alpinum seu Elleborine floribus albis J. B. Elleborine minor flore albo Park White-flower'd Bastard-Hellebore In the woods near Stoken-Church not far from the way leading from Oxford to Lnod Hordeum nudum seu Gymnocrithon J. B. Zeopyron sive Tritico-speltum C. B. Park Hordeum nudum Ger. cujus figura huic plantae minimè respondet Naked Barley It is sown in the fields about Islip in Oxfordshire and other places It is really a species of wheat and no Barley only its ear resembles the Hordeum dystichum Orobanche Verbasculi odore D. Plot. Hist nat Oxon. Birds-nest smelling like Primrose-roots At the bottoms o trees in the woods near Stoken church Saxifraga Anglica annua Alsines folio D. Plot. Hist nat Oxon. Annual Pearl-wort In the walks of Baliol-College gardens and on the fallow-fields about Hedington and Cowley plentifully and in many other places Stachys Fuchsii J. B. Ger. major Germanica C. B. Park Base Hore-hound Nigh Witney-park in Oxfordshire and thereabouts plentifully Tilia foliis molliter hirsutis viminibus rubris fructu tetragono 'T is known by the name of the red Lime and grows naturally in Stoken-Church woods Mr. Bobert Tormentilla reptans alata foliis profundiùs serratis Pentaphyllum minus viride flore aureo tetrapetalo radiculas in terram è geniculis demittens Moris Hist Creeping Tormentil with deeply indented leaves In the borders of the corn-fields between Hockley and Shotover-woods and elsewhere Triticum spica multiplici C. B. Ger. Park Many-eared wheat It hath been sown about Biceter and Weston on the green Viola Martia hirsuta major in odora D. Plot. Hist nat Oxon. Moris hist. Trachelii folio D. Merret Violet with Throatwort-leaves In Magdalen-college-Cops Shotover-hills Stow-wood and many other places plentifully It is found in most Countries Viola palustris rotundifolia D. Plot. Hist nat Oxon. Round-leaved Marsh-violet In the bogs about Stow-wood and on the banks of Cherwell between Oxford and Water-Eyton but sparingly Clematis Daphnoides major C. B. Daphnoid latifolia seu Vinca pervinca major Park The greater Periwinkle In the high-ways between Wolverton and Yarnton and in several hedges thereabout I am not yet fully satisfied that this is a native of England though it be found in the places mentioned
and was not wholly laid aside till the Reign of King Edward 3. g Betwixt these two towns Ware and Hertford which are scarce two miles asunder Lea is augmented by two small rivers that fall into it from the north Asser names them b These two rivers are call'd by the Saxon Chronicle Memera and Benefica Mimera and Beneficia I should guess that to be the Beneficia upon which stands Bennington where the Bensteds a noted family had formerly a small Castle 12 And also Woedhall an habitation of the Bâtlers who being branch'd from Sir Ralph Butler Baron of Wem in Shropshire and his wife heir to William Pantulfe Lord of Wem were Lords of Pulre-bach and enrich'd much by an heir of Sir Richard Gobion and another of Peletot Lord of this place in the time of K. Edw. 3. And that to be the Mimera which passeth by Pukerich a place that obtain'd the privilege of a Fair and Market by the Grant of Edward 1. procured by the interest of William le Bland 13 Whereupon also neighboureth Standon with a seemly house built by Sir Ralph Sadleir Chancellour of the Dutchy of Lancaster Privy-Counsâllor to three Princes and the last Knight Banneret of England a man so advanc'd for his great Services and stay'd wisdom Behind Puckerich Munden Furnivall presents it self which deserves mention on this account 14 That Geffrey Earl of Britain gave it to Gerard c. that it had for its Lord Gerard de Furnivall Furnivall from whom also it took it's name a younger son of Gerard Furnivall of Sheffield But now let us return to the river Lea and the town of Ware as far as which place the Danes came up the river in their light Pinnaces as Asser relateth it and there built a Fort which when King Alfred could not take by force he digged three new Chanels and so turned the waters of the Lea out of their old course to cut off their fleet from returning that from that time the river was of no great use to the neighbourhood untill it was not long since restored to it 's ancient Chanel and made more commodious for the conveyance of wares corn c. The Lea soon after it hath left Ware takes into it from the east a small river named Stort which first runneth by Bishops Stortford Bishâps Stortford a little town fortified formerly with a small Castle standing upon an hill raised by art within a little island h Castle of Waymore Which Castle William the Conquerour gave to the Bishops of London whence it came to be called Bishops Stortford But King John out of hatred to Bishop c William de S. Maria made Bishop An. 1199. the same year that King came to the Crown W. demolish'd it 15 From thence it maketh his way by Sabridgworth a parcel of the honour of Earl William Mandevile and sometime the possâssion of Geffry Say near Shingle-hall honested by the owners the Leventhorpes of ancient Gântry So on not far from Honsdon c. From thence it passeth on to Hunsdon which place by the favour of Queen Elizabeth Baron of Hunsdon gave the title of Baron to Sir Henry Cary then Lord Chamberlain For besides that he was descended from that family of the Dukes of Somerset which was of the Blood Royal he also was by his mother Mary Bolen Cousin-German to Qu. Elizabeth The Lea having now receiv'd this small river hast'neth on with a more full and briâk current toward the Thames 16 Under Hodsdon a fair through-fair to which H. Bourchier Earl of Essex having a fair house at Baise thereby wâile it stood procur'd a market and in it's passage thither as it were chearfully salutes Theobald-house Theobalds commonly called Tibauld's a place than which as to the Fabrick nothing can be more neat and as to the Gardens the Walks and Wildernesses nothing can be more pleasant i This House was built by that Nestor of Britain the right honorable Baron Burleigh Lord Treasurer of England to whom more particularly this river owns it self obliged for the recovery of it's ancient Chanel But now let us return to the heart of the County where are places more ancient Twelve miles westward from Hertford stood Verolanium in old time a very famous City Tacitus calls it Verulamium Verolamiuâ Ptolemy Urolanium and Verolamium The situation of this place is very well known to have been close by the town of St. Albans St. Albans in Caisho Hundred which Hundred was without doubt in old time inhabited by those Cassii of whom Caesar makes mention The Saxons call'd it Watlinga-cester from the famous high-way named Watlingstreat and Werlam-ceaster Neither hath it as yet lost it's ancient name for it is still commonly call'd Verulam altho' nothing of it now remains but ruins of walls checquer'd pavements and Roman Coins now and then digg'd up there k It was seated upon the side of an easie hill which faced the east and was fortified with very strong walls a double rampire and deep trenches toward the south And on the east part it had a small rivulet which formerly made on that side a large Mere or standing water whereupon it has been conjectur'd that this was the town of Cassibelinus Cassâbelinus his town so well defended by the woods and marshes which was taken by Caesar For there is not that I know of any other Mere hereabouts In Nero's time it was esteemed a Municipium which occasion'd Ninius in his catalogue of Cities to call it Caer-Municip So that there is no doubt but this was that Caer Municipium which Hubert Goltzius found in an old Inscription These Municipia Mâniâipâa were Towns whose inhabitants enjoyed the rights and privileges of Roman citizens And the name was framed à muneribus capiendis i.e. from their capacity to bear publick Offices in the Commonwealth These Municipia as to orders and degrees had their Decuriones their Equites or Gentlemen and their Commons as to their publick Council a Senate and People as to their Magistrates and Priests their Duumviri and Triumviri to administer justice and also their Censors Aedils Quaestors and Flamins But whether this our Verulam was a Municipium with Suffrages or without is not easie to determine A Municipium with Suffrages they call'd that which was capable of publick honours as they called the other which was uncapable a Municipium without Suffrages In the reign of the same Nero when Bunduica or Boadicia Queen of the Iceni out of an inveterate hatred had raised a bloody war against the Romans this town as Tacitus writeth was by the Britains entirely ruined Of which Suetonius makes mention in these words These miseries which were the effects of that Prince's inhumanity were attended with a massacre in Britain where â Verulam and Maldân two of the chiefest towns in that Island were taken and sack'd with a dreadful slaughter both of Roman Citizens and their
to recover their old liberty the Londoners could not prevail upon Suetonius Paulinus either by cries or tears but that after he had got together assistance he would march and leave the city defenceless to the mercy of the enemy and they immediately dispatch'd those few that either by reason of their sex their old age or a natural inclination to the place had stay'd behind Nor had it suffer'd a less dismal massacre from the Franks had not the Divine Providence unexpectedly interpos'd For when C. Alectus had treacherously cut off C. Carausius C. Caraâsius a citizen of Menapia who depending upon the boisterousness of our sea A Panegyrick spoken to Constantius Caesar and falsly entitl'd to Maximiaâ the difficulties of the war wherein Dioclesian was engag'd in the East and the Franks with that bold crew of sea-allies had kept back the revenues of Britain and Batavia and enjoy'd the title of Emperour as we learn from several of his Coins that are dug up for six years together when also M. Aurelius Asclepiodatus had cut off and defeated Alectus in a set battel who for three years together had usurp'd the government of Britain The Franks slain then the Franks that escap'd alive out of the engagement posted to London and were just ready to plunder the City when the Thames that always stood the Londoners a true friend luckily brought up some Roman soldiers that had been parted from the main fleet by a fog These fell upon the Barbarians in all parts of the City by which means the citizens were not only secure themselves but had the satisfaction of seeing their enemies destroy'd Then it is our Annals tell us that L. Gallus was slain near a little river which run almost thro' the midst of the City and was call'd from him Nantgall in British and in English Walbroke A name that remains in a street there under which I have heard there goes a ditch or sink to carry off the filth of the town It is not far from that great stone call'd London-stone London-Stone this I take to have been a Mile-stone such a one as they had in the Forum at Rome from which all the Journeys were begun since it stood in the middle of the City as it run out in length And hitherto I do not think London was walled round But our Historians tell us that a little after Constantine the Great Coins of Helena often found under the walls at the request of Helena his mother first wall'd it about with hew'n stone and British bricks containing within the compass of it about 3 miles whereby the City was made a square but not equilateral being longer from west to east and from south to north narrower That part of these walls which run along by the Thames The Walls by the continual beating of the river is quite wash'd away tho' Fitz-Stephens who liv'd at that time tells us there were some pieces of it to be seen in Henry 2.'s time The rest remains to this day and that part toward the north very firm for having not many years since been repair'd by one Jotcelin that was Mayor it put on as it were a new face and freshness But that toward the east and west tho' the Barons repair'd it in their Wars out of the demolish'd houses of the Jews is yet ruinous and going all to decay For the Londoners like the Lacedaemonians of old slight fenced Cities as fit for nothing but women to live in and look upon their own to be safe not by the assistance of stones but the courage of it's inhabitants These walls have 7 Gates in them The Gates for those lesser I industriously omit which as they have been repair'd have taken new names To the west there are two Ludgate so call'd either from King Luddus or as Leland thinks from Fludgate with reference to the small river below it as there was the Porta Fluentana at Rome this was lately built from the very foundation and Newgate the most beautiful of them all so nam'd from the newness of it for before they call'd it Chamberlangate and is the publick Gaol On the north-side there are four Aldersgate either from it's antiquity or as others would have it from Aldrick the Saxon Cripplegate from the adjoyning Hospital for lame people Moregate from a neighbouring bog or fen now turn'd into a field and a pleasant Walk which was first built by one 14 Francerius Falconer Lord Mayor A. D. 1414. Francerius who was Mayor in the year 1414. Bishopsgate from the Bishop this as I have been told the German Merchants of the Society of the Hanse-towns Easterlings were bound by Article both to keep in repair and in case of a siege to defend it To the east there is but one Aldgate from it's oldness or as others will have it call'd Elbegate 15 Which at this present is by the cities charge re-edify'd The common opinion is that there were two more towards the Thames besides that at the bridge Belings-gate now a * Cothon Wharf to receive ships and Dourgate i.e. the water-gate call'd commonly Dow-gate At each end of the wall that runs along by the river there were strong Forts the one towards the east remains to this day call'd commonly the Tower The Tower of London and in British from it's whiteness Bringwin and Tour-gwin Which is indeed a stately Tower surrounded with strong walls mounting up with turrets guarded with a rampire and broad ditches together with the accommodation of a noble Armory and other houses so that it self looks like a town and a conjecture that the two Castles which Fitz-Stephens has told us were at the west-end of the city may have been turn'd into this one would be plausible enough At the west-end of the city there was another Fort where the little river Fleet from whence our Fleetstreet now of little value but formerly as I have read in the Parliament-Records navigable empties it self into the Thames Fitz-Stephens call'd this the Palatine-Tower and tradition affirms it to have been burnt down in William the Conquerour's time Out of the ruins whereof was built a great part of Paul's Church as also a Monastery for Dominican Friers from whom we call the place Black-Friers founded in the very area or plot of it by Robert Kilwarby Archbishop of Canterbury from whence you may easily take an estimate of it's largeness And yet in Henry 2.'s time there were in the same place as Gervasius Tilburiensis in his Otia Imperialia affirms two Pergama or Castles with walls and rampires one whereof belong'd hereditarily to Bainard the other to the Barons of Montfitchett But there 's nothing now to be seen of them tho' some are inclin'd to think that Penbroch-house was a part of them which we call Bainard's-castle from a Nobleman one William Bainard Lord of Dunmow that was formerly owner of it whose successors the Fitz-Walters were hereditary â
much of Westminster which tho' as I observ'd is a City of it self and of a distinct Jurisdiction I have taken in along with London because it is so joyn'd to it by continu'd buildings that it seems to be but one and the same City Hoâburn On the west-side of the City the Suburbs runs out with another row of beautiful buildings namely Holborn or rather Oldburn 58 Wherein stood anciently the first House of Templers only in the place now called Southampton House wherein are some Inns for the study of the Common Law and a house of the Bishops of Ely becoming the State of a Bishop which they owe to John Hotham Bishop of that See under Edward 3. The Suburbs grew likewise on the north-side where Jordan Brisset a pious and wealthy man built an House for the Knights Hospitalers of S. John Hoâpitalers of S. John of Jerusalem that was afterwards improv'd into the stateliness of a Palace and had a very beautiful Church with a high tower so neatly carry'd up that while it stood 't was a singular ornament to the City At their first Institution 59 About the year 1124. and long after they were so humble while but poor that their â Governour was call'd Servant to the poor Servants of the Hospital at Jerusalem as that of the Templers Templââs who arose a little afteâ The humble Minister of the poor Knights of the Temple 60 This religious Order was instituted shortly after Geoffry of Bollen had recover'd Jerusalem The Brethren whereof wore a white Cross upon their upper black garment and by solemn profession were bound to serve Pilgrims and poor people in the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and to secure the passages thither they charitably buried the dead they were continual in prayer mortified themselves with watchings and fastings they were courteous and kind to the poor whom they called their Masters and fed with white bread while themselves liv'd with brown and carried themselves with great austerity Whereby they purchased to themselves the love and liâing of all sorts But what for their piety and bravery in war their condition came to be so much alter'd from this mean state by the bounty of good Princes and private persons that they even abounded in every thing For about the year 1240. they had nineteen thousand Lordships or Manours within Christendom as the Templers had nine thousand whose revenues here in England fell also afterwards to the Hospitalers Mâtth Par. And this vast increase of revenues made them so effectual a passage to great honours that their Prior was reckon'd the first Baron of England and liv'd in great state and plenty till King Henry 8. by the instigation of bad Counsellors seis'd upon all their lands as he did also upon those belonging to the Monasteries which out of a pious design were dedicated to God's glory and by the Canons of the Church were to be expended upon the maintenance of Priests relief of the poor redemption of Captives and the repair of Churches Near this place where there is now a stately circuit of houses was formerly a rich House of the Carthusians Cââter-hââse built by 61 Sir Walter Many Walter Many of Hainault who got great honour by his service in the French War under Edward 3. And before that there was a very famous Church-yard which in that plague of London in the year 1349. had above fifty thousand men bury'd in it as appear'd by an Inscription in brass whereby it was convey'd to posterity t The Suburbs also which runs out on the north-west side of London is large and had formerly a watch-tower or military â Praetentura fence from whence it came to be call'd by an Arabick name Barbacan Barbacan By the gift of Edw. 3. it became a seat of the Uffords Gâleottus Martius from whom by the Willoughbies it descended to 62 Sir Peregrine Berty Peregrine Bertie Lord Willoughby of Eresby a person every way of a generous temper and a true martial courage Nor are the Suburbs that shoot forth towards the north-east and east less considerable in the fields whereof whilst I am upon this work there are digg'd up many sepulchral Vessels Seals and Urns with Coins in them of Claudius Nero Vespasian c. Glass Vials also with small earthen vessels wherein was a sort of liquid Substance which I should imagine to be either an oblation of wine and milk us'd by the Romans at the burning of their dead or those odoriferous Liquors mention'd by Statius Phariique liquores Arsuram lavêre comam And precious odours sprinkled on his hair Prepar'd it for the flames This was a place set apart by the Romans for burning and burying their dead being oblig'd by the Twelve Tables to carry them without the Cities and to bury them by the military high-ways 63 To put passengers in mind that thây are as those were subject to mortality And thus much of the land-side of the City u But upon the river-side and the south part of it Borough of Southwark See Surrey p. 160. that large Borough of Southwark before-mention'd is joyn'd to the city with a bridge first built on wooden piles where formerly instead of a bridge they pass'd the water in a ferry Afterwards The Bridge in the reign of K. John they built a new one of free-stone and admirable workmanship with 19 Arches beside that which makes the * Versatilis Draw-bridge and so continu'd it all along like a street with most handsome buildings that it may claim a preheminence over all the bridges in Europe whether you look upon the largeness or beauty In this Borough of Southwark the things that have been remarkable are a noble Abbey for Monks of the Benedictine Order call'd Bermondsey erected formerly to our Saviour by Aldwin Child S. Saviour Citizen of London and a stately house built by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk Suffolk-house which was pull'd down again after it had been for a little time the delight of its Master There still remains the Hospital of S. Thomas St. Thomas Hospital repair'd or rather founded by the City of London for the lame and infirm and the Church of the Priory of St. Mary which because it is seated over the Thames is with respect to the City of London call'd a The learned Dr. Hicks in his Saxon Grammar has observ'd that the Church's name is not taken from it's being over the river but from standing upon the banks of it ofre in Saxon signifying a bank S. Mary Over-Rhe founded for 64 Black Canons Canons by William Ponte del Arche a Norman as also the house of the Bishops of Winchester built by William Gifford Bishop about the year 1107. for the use of his successors From this along the Thames-side there runs westward a continu'd line of houses in which compass within the memory of our fathers there
were Publick Stews call'd by the Latins Lupanaria wherein Whores prostituted and set to sale their modesty because they like rapacious She-wolves hale miserable silly people into their dens But these were prohibited by King Hen. 8. at a time when England was at the height of Lust and Luxury tho' in foreign nations they are still continu'd for gain under the specious pretence of making allowance to humane infirmity But I do not believe that they call'd this place in our language The Stews Stewes from these Bawdy houses but from the fish-ponds here for the fatting of â Lucios Pikes and Tench and scowring off their muddy fennish taste Here I have seen the bellies of Pikes open'd with a knife to shew their fatness and the gaping wounds presently clos'd by the touch of Tenches and by their glutinous slime perfectly heal'd up Among these buildings there is a place for Bull-bating and Bear-bating with certain several Kennels of Band-dogs Canes cathenai which are so strong and bite so close that three of them are able to manage a Bear and four a Lion So that what the Poet said formerly of our Dogs That they could break the necks of Bulls is very true as is also what another observ'd That they are more fierce and eager than the Arcadian ones suppos'd to be engender'd of Lions w At what time this Borough was joyn'd to London by a bridge the City was not only enlarg'd but also modell'd into an excellent form of Government the Citizens being distributed into * Corpora sive Collegia Bodies or Colleges The City it self was divided into 26 Wards Wards and the management of all publick concerns put in the hands of as many ancient Men Tribus call'd in our language from their age Aldermen in Latin Senatores each of whom had the government of one Ward And whereas formerly they had for their chief Magistrate a Port-reve i.e. a â Praefectus Governour of the City King Richard ordain'd two Bailiffs instead of which King John granted them the privilege of choosing a Mayor Mayor yearly out of their twelve principal Companies and of nominating two Vice-Comites or Sheriffs the one call'd the King's and the other the City-Sheriff After this new Government was establisht 't is incredible how it grew in publick and private Buildings and is still growing the rest of the Cities in England rather decaying For to pass by the Senate-house call'd Guild-hall built with great beauty by 65 Sir Thomas Knowles Tho. Knowles Mayor and Leaden hall a large and curious piece of work built by Simon Eire for a common Garner to beat down the price of Corn in times of dearth That circuit of Pillars also or the middle Janus Bursa which the Common-people call the Burse but Queen Elizabeth nam'd the Royal Exchange 1567. Royal Exchange built by Sir Thomas Gresham Knight for the use of Merchants and the ornament of the City A magnificent thing it is whether you consider the Structure it self the resort of Merchants from all Nations or the variety of Commodities The same person being a great admirer of Learning consecrated a spacious house that he had in the City to the improvement of good Letters Gresham-College and settled gentele Salaries upon six Professors of Divinity Law Physick Astronomy Geometry and Musick that London might not only be as it were a shop of all kind of wares but a treasury also of Arts and Sciences To pass by also the house of the Hanse-Company 66 Commonly call'd the Stil-yard as the Easterlings-yard the conveyance of water into all parts of the City by pipes under ground and neat Castles for the reception of it together with the new Aquiduct lately contriv'd by Peter Maurice a German of great ingenuity and industry and by the help of a wheel with little pipes plac'd at a certain level brings water out of the Thames to a great part of the City Besides these I say it is in all parts so beautified with Churches and Religious houses that one would think Religion and Piety had made choice of it for their residence For it has in it 121 Churches more than Rome 67 As great and holy as it is her self can show besides â Nosocomia Xenodochia Hospitals and particularly in that Nursery of young boys call'd Christ-Church it maintains about 600 Orphans x and 1240 poor people that live upon Alms c. It would be too tedious to insist particularly upon the excellency of its Laws and Constitutions the dignity of its Governours loyalty and obedience to their Prince the courteousness of the Citizens the splendour of its buildings the many choice and excellent Wits it produces the pleasure of it's gardens in the Suburbs admirably stockt with foreign Herbs its numerous and well appointed fleet that incredible treasure of all sorts of Commodities particularly it furnishes Antwerp yearly with two hundred thousand â Pannorum Lancorum woollen Cloaths besides what it sends to other places and the great plenty of whatever either the necessity or convenience of humane life requires 68 About four hundred years since So what H. Junius says in his Philippeis is very true Tectis opibúsque refertum Lodinum si fas numeroso cive superbum Larga ubi foecundo rerum undat copia cornu London where circling riches still return Where num'rous tribes the stately piles adorn And willing plenty shakes her fruitful horn And J. Scaliger in his Book of Cities Urbs animis numeróque potens robore gentis For number strength and courage of her men Great London's fam'd Another also hammer'd out these verses concerning London if you vouchsafe to read them Wedding of Tame and ãâã Londinum gemino procurrit littore longè Aemula maternae tollens sua lumina Troiae Clementer surgente jugo dum tendit in ortum Urbs peramaena situ coelóque solóque beata Urbs pietate potens numeroso cive superba Urbsque Britannorum quae digna Britannia dici Haec nova doctrinis Lutetia mercibus Ormus Altera Roma viris Crysaea secunda metallis Stretch'd on a rising hill betwixt the strands London her mother Troy 's great rival stands Where heaven and earth their choicest gifts bestow And tides of men the spatious streets o'reflow London the mighty image of our Isle That we Great Britain of it self may stile Where Chryse Paris Rome and Ormus yield In metals learning people wealth excell'd Henry of Huntingdon also in the time of King Stephen 69 writes thus in commendation of London Ibis in nostros dives Londonia versus Quae nos immemores non sinis esse tui Quando tuas arces tua moenia mente retracto Quae vidi videor cuncta videre mihi Fama loquax nata loqui moritura silendo Laudibus erubuit fingere falsa tuis And thou rich London shalt my verse adorn Thou in my joyful mind art
build an Hospital in the place of it for the maintenance of wounded and superannuated Soldiers which being begun by him was carried on by his Successor King James the second and is finisht and furnisht with all sorts of Necessaries and Conveniencies by their present Majesties 'T is indeed a Structure well suiting the munificence of its Royal Founders being more nobly accommodated with all sorts of Offices and adorned with more spatious walks and gardens perhaps than any Nobleman's house or College in the Kingdom h Hence our Author brings us to London London the capital city of England where he first give us an account of it's various names and etymologies of them to which I shall only add * Chron. Sax. that it was also call'd by the Saxons Lundone Lundune and Lundenburh and has another etymology given us of it's Latin name by the judicious Mr. Somner â Glossar ad X. Script who derives it from the British Llawn plenus frequens and dyn homo or din the same with dinas urbs civitas either of which joyned wit Llawn will signifie a populous place as London has always been i As to the original of the City tho' we have no certain account City buiââ it not being clear that there was any such place in Caesar's time and yet a great town of trade in Nero's as Tacitus witnesses doubtless it must be founded within that little compass of time between those Emperours and in all probability as the learned â Orig. Bâât p. 43. Bishop of Worcester thinks about the time of Claudius and inhabited by the Romans and Britains together being a trading tho' not a military Colony as Camulodunum was from the very beginning But it flourish'd not long for in the very next reign of the Emperour Nero upon that grand revolt of the Iceni and Trinobantes under Boodicia his Lieutenant Suetonius Paulinus judging it not tenible and taking away from it to his aid the choicest of the Citizens it was quickly sack'd by the Britains and the remaining inhabitants barbarously massacred without any regard to sex or age So that I cannot so fully agree with our Author when he asserts that this has been a City vix unquam magnis calamitatibus conflictata Suffer'd several Calamities that scarce ever engag'd any great calamity For not only in it's infancy but when grown to a greater bulk in the year 839. in the reign of King Ethelwolf it was surprized by the Danes and the Citizens inhumanly butcher'd Quickly after in the year 851. it was again sack'd by the Danes the army of Beorhtwulf King of Mercia who came to it's defence being totally routed Again in the year 872. in the days of King Ethelred the Danes took it and winter'd in it And so again An. 1013. after a great fight with Swane King of Denmark who besieg'd it the Citizens were at last forc'd to admit him and his army to winter in it and to pay him such tribute as he demanded Lastly in the year 1016. it was twice besieg'd and so much streighten'd by Canutus that they were necessitated in fine to receive him into the city give him winter quarters and to buy their peace with a sum of money * Châââ Sax. ãâ¦ã Anââ Not to mention the grievous insults that were made upon it of later years by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw temp Rich. 2. An. 1381. of Jack Cade otherwise call'd by his followers John Mend-all An. 1450. temp Hen. 6. and the bastard Falconbridge temp Edw. 4. An. 1481. Nor has it suffer'd only by the sword it being much wasted by fire as â Polyâ Lib. â Ranulph Higden tells us An. 983. And in the year 1077 in the days of William the Conquerour it was also consumed by so great a fire as had not happen'd to it as the Saxon Chronicle expresses it since it's foundation â Châââ Sax p â Quickly after again in the same King's reign An. 1086. the Church of S. Paul was quite burnt down with the greatest and most splendid part of the City â Stow's Survey p. 2ââ Again in the year 1135. the first of King Stephen by a fire which began in Cannon-street near London-stone the City was consumed from thence to the Eastward as far as Aldgate to S. Paul's Church Westward and to the South as far as Southwark the bridge then of timber being quite burnt down It was afterwards rebuilt of stone and houses set upon it but within four years after it was finish'd An. 1212. upon occasion of a fire in Southwark whilst a multitude of people were passing the bridge either to extinguish or to gaze at it on a sudden the houses on the North end of the bridge by a strong South wind were set on fire So that the people thronging betwixt two fires could now expect no help but from the vessels in the river which came in great numbers to their assistance but the multitude so unadvisedly rush'd into them that they were quickly overset and the people drown'd and betwixt fire and water there perish'd above 3000 persons â G alt ãâ¦ã Lâ Dânâ ãâ¦ã S. Also Feb. 13. An. 1033. a third part at least of the same bridge was again burnt down Sââw's ãâã p. â ãâã of Lââdon But the most dreadful fire that ever befell this great City was that which happen'd within our own memory viz. on Sunday Sept. 2. An. 1666. which beginning in Pudding-lane in three days time being driven by a fresh easterly wind consumed no less than 89 Churches the Guild-hall Hospitals Schools and Libraries 15 entire Wards of the 26 leaving 8 of the rest half burnt and miserably shatter'd In this compass were 400 streets and in them 13200 houses which cover'd no less than 436 acres of ground It destroying all on the Thames-side from that of Allhallows Barkin to the Temple Church and all along from the North-east walls of the City to Holburn-bridge and when all artificial helps fail'd it languish'd and went out of it self tho' amongst as combustible buildings as any it had burnt before In memory whereof near the place where the fire began is erected a magnificent Pillar somewhat resembling except the Imagery those of Trajan and Antonine at Rome of 202 foot high which equals exactly the distance of the Pillar from the place where the fire first began k In which Conflagration the magnificent Church of St. Pauls S Paâl's did not escape the foundation whereof was laid so very large that as our Author notes tho' the whole revenues of the Bishoprick for 20 years together were given toward it by Richard Beaumes successor to Mauricius the first founder yet they seemed so little to advance the work that his successors and all others despaired of its ever being finish'd at least by private hands Wherefore they were forced to apply themselves to the bounty of all good people throughout the Realms both of England and Ireland as appears by
those days for making of brick and divers other Romans coins and vessels were found as Mr. Stow tells us belonging to their Sacrifices and Burials beside what he mentions Such as the Coins of Trajan and Antoninus Pius Lamps Lachrymatories Patinae and vessels of white earth with long necks and handles which I suppose must be the Gutti used in their Sacrifices â Survey p. 177. There were many Roman Coins also discover'd in the foundations of Aldgate when it was rebuilt in the year 1607. which were formerly kept in the Guild-hall â Ibid. p. 121 But many more of all kinds since the late fire in the foundations of St. Paul's Church now rebuilding and in the making of Fleet-ditch which were carefully collected by Mr. John Coniers Citizen and Apothecary of London and are now many of them in the possession of the ingenious Mr. Woodward the present Professor of Physick in Gresham-College London Many Urns and Coins have been also met with in digging the foundations of the new buildings in Goodmans-fields as there daily are in many other places upon the like occasions especially in the Suburbs of the City w Southwark was 't is true Apr. 23. 1549. 4 Edw. 6. purchased of the King by the Lord Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London for the sum of Six hundred forty seven pounds two shillings and a penny and annext to their City and erected immediately into a new Ward call'd the Bridg-ward without and was thenceforth to be esteemed within the government and correction of the Lord Mayors and other Officers of London and their Deputies The inhabitants were licensed to enjoy and use all such Laws and Privileges whatsoever within their Borough and Precincts as the Citizens of London did within their City * Stow's Survey p 442 443. Which possibly might move our Author to place its history here But it was not thereby remov'd out of Surrey as appears by the provisions of the King's Grant whereby care is taken that the Lord Mayor should do and execute all such things within the Borough as other Justices might within the County of Surrey and that he as Escheator within the Borough and Precincts should have power to direct Precepts to the Sheriff of Surrey for the time being â See more of this in Surrey x The Hospital of Christ-Church founded Anno 1552. by King Edward the sixth as it stood in our Author's time maintain'd but 600 Orphans whereof part Boys and part Girls and both the children of Freemen of this City Since the Fund being uncertain depending as well upon the casual charity both of living and dying persons as upon its real Estate the number has been augmented and diminisht in proportion to the increase and decrease of that sort of Charity However it seldom now maintains less than 1000 annually nor is there reason to fear they will ever have fewer Here having run through the several Schools at 15 years they are put forth to a seven years Apprenticeship except some Boys of the best parts who are sent to the Universities and there also maintain'd for seven years which is the present state of King Edward's foundation Mathematical School To this there has been added another of late years stiled the New Royal Foundation of King Charles the second consisting of 40 Boys all wearing Badges appropriate to their Institution to be fill'd up successively out of such of the above-mention'd Children as have attain'd to a competency in fair writing and Latin learning Thence-forward they are instructed in the Mathematicks and Art of Navigation till they are 16 years of age at which time they are disposed of in a seven years Apprenticeship to the practice of Navigation Which Institution most highly charitable in it self and tending to the honour and safety of the Kingdom as well as the security and advancement of our Trade was founded the 19th of August Anno 25 Car. 2. Earls of MIDDLESEX Sir Lionel Cranfield Kt. Merchant of London having for his great abilities been first made Master of the Requests then of the great Wardrobe and after of the Wards and at last privy Counsellor upon the 19. of July 19 Jac. 1. was advanced to the degree of a Baron of this Realm by the title of Lord Cranfield of Cranfield in Bedfordshire and to the office and dignity of Lord high Treasure of England and by Letters Patents bearing date Sept. 2. 1622. 20 Jac. 1. to the Earldom of Middlesex Who by his second wife Anne daughter to James Bret of Howbey in the County of Leicester Esquire had issue four sons James Edward Lionel and William whereof James and Lionel succeeded him in the Honour but both dying without issue this Title descended to his eldest daughter Frances married to Richard Earl of Dorset and her issue and is accordingly now enjoyed by the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold and Knight of the Garter More rare Plants growing wild in Middlesex communicated by Mr. James Petiver Filicula saxatilis ramosa maritima nostras Raii Synops Hist Plant. Small-branch'd Stone-fern On many old walls in and about London as the Savoy Westminster Royal Garden c. Fungus spongiosus niger reticulatus doliolis vinosis adnascens Raii synops Mr. Doody's spung-like Mushrome In most vaults sticking to the wine casks Eruca sylvestris Ger. sylv vulgatior Park major lutea caule aspero C. B. tenuifolia perennis fl luteo J. B. Wild Rocket On old walls about this City frequently as on London-wall between Cripplegate and Bishopsgate the Charter-house c. plentifully Viscum Ger. vulgare Park baccis albis C. B. Quercus aliarum arborum J. B. Misseltoe On some trees at Clarendon house St. James's Nasturtium aquaticum amarum Park majus amarum C. B. Nasturtium aq fl majore elatius Raii syn Bitter Cresses On the Thames-bank between Peterborough-house and Chelsey Conserva reticulata Raii Hist Plant. append 1852. synops 15. Mr. Doody's netted Crow-silk In some ditches about Westminster and Hounslow-heath Bardana major Rosea Park 1222. lappa Rosea C. B. prodr 102. Rose Burdock This variety which Caspar Bauhine averrs to be found frequently about Leipsick I have observed near the Thames between Westminster and Chelsey Juncus caule triangulari Merr. Pin. 67. The three-corner'd Bulrush In the Thames between Peterborough-house and the Horse-ferry Westminster Cyperus rotundus litoreus inodorus J. B. rotundus inodorus Anglicus C. B. rotundus litoâeos Ger. rotundus litoreus inodorus Anglicus Park Round-rooted Bastard Cyperus Sagitta aquatica omnium minima Raii synops append 242. The least Arrow-head Observed by that most curious Botanist Dr. Plukenet to grow with the two last Salix minima fragilis foliis longissimis untrinqueviridibus non serratis Raii synops append 238. Dr. Sherard's Green Osier Amongst the Willows on the Thames side between Westminster and Chelsey Salix folio Amygdalino utrinque aurito corticem abjiciens Raii synops 216. Almond-leav'd
Raii syn 114. Sysymbrium Cardamine hirsutum minus fl albo J. B. The lesser hairy impatient Cuckow flower or Ladies-smock On the New-river banks between Canberry-house and Newington in many places Tormentilla reptans alata foliis profundius serratis D. Plot. Hist nat Oxon. Creeping Tormentil with deeply indented leaves In a ditch between the Boarded-river and Islington road Gramen Cyperoides spica pendula breviore C. B. Cyperus seu Pseudo-Cyperus spica brevi pendula Park Pseudo-Cyperus Ger. Bastard Cyperus with short pendulous spikes In the same place with the last Stellaria pusilla palustris repens tetraspermos Lenticula aq bifolia Neapolitana Park Fig. 1293. Raii hist Plant. 1852. Small creeping Marsh-Starwort This I found in some moist writts in a wood near the Boarded-river But the first discovery of it to be a native of England we owe to that ingenious Physician and expert Botanist Dr. Hans Sloan who found it in a Bog on Putney-Heath Alnus nigra baccisera J. B. C. B. nigra sive Frangula Ger. Frangula seu Alnus nigra baccifera Park The black-berry bearing Alder. This with the following grow plentifully in a wood against the Boarded river Gramen arundinaceum panicula spadicea molli majus C. B. Gramen tomentosum arundinaceum Ger. Reed-grass with a pappose panicle Gramen Cyperoides polystachion slavicans spicis brevibus propè summitatem caulis Raii syn 195. Mr. Rays yellowish Cyperus-grass with short spikes Gramen Cyperoides sylvarum tenuius spicatum Park Slender-ear'd wood Cyperus grass Gramen Cyperoides spica è pluribus spicis brevibus mollibus composita Raii syn Mr. Ray's round cluster-headed Cyperus grass Sambucus aquatilis seu palustris Ger. aq fl simplicis C. B. Water Elder In the same wood but sparingly Myosurus J. B. cauda muris Ger. Holosteo affinis cauda muris C. B. Mouse-tail This with the next I found in a sloughy lane near the Divel's-house going to Hornsey Plantaginella palustris C. B. Plantago aquatica minima Park Chickweed with Water-plantain leaves Muscus muralis platyphyllos Raii syn 237. Broad leav'd moss This Mr. Bobart the Botanick Professor of Oxford shewed me on many walls about that City the which I have this year found on a brick wall on the right hand assoon as you enter into Hornsey town from London Bardana minor Ger. lappa minor Xanthium Dioscoridis C. B. The lesser Burdock This I observed in the road side near the Bridge at Newington Cynoglossum minus folio virenti Ger. semper-virens C. B. Park The lesser green-leav'd Hounds tongue In a hedge facing the round on Stamford-hill between Newington and Tottenham Cruciata Ger. vulgaris Park hirsuta C. B. Gallium latifolium Cruciata quibusdam fl luteo J. B. Crosswort or Mugweed In Hampsted Churchyard Alsine tetrapetalos Caryophylloides quibusdam Holosteum minimum Raii syn 145. The least Stichwort On Hampstead heath plentifully Filix florida seu Osmunda Regalis Ger. Osmund Royal or flowering Fern. Towards the north side of the heath and in a Ditch near it the Lichen petreus cauliculo calceato C. B. Small Liverwort with crumpled leaves With the Gramen Cyperoides spicis brevibus congestis folio molli Raii Hist 1910. Mr. Doody's short-headed Cyperus grass And Ros solis folio rotundo J. B. C. B. Ger. Park Round leav'd Ros-solis or Sun-dew In the Bogs Muscus trichodes medius capitulis sphaericis Raii in append syn 243. Mr. Doody's Goldilocks with round heads Muscus trichoides foliis capillaceis capitulis minoribus Raii syn 243. Mr. Doody's fine-leav'd Goldilocks with small heads Muscus trichoides minor capitulis longissimis Raii syn 243. Mr. Doody's small Goldilocks with very long and slender heads These three last that most indefatigable Botanist first discovered on a ditch-bank leading from Mother Huffs towards Hampsted Muscus trichoides minor capitulis perexiguis per Microscopium Botro referens Mr. Dares cluster-headed Goldilocks This is a singular Moss its rough heads distinguising it from any yet discover'd I found it in the lane going from Mother Huffs to Highgate but it was first discovered by Mr. Dare in a lane beyond Putney-heath I have also lately receiv'd it from my ingenious friend Mr. T. Pool a Mercer at Nottingham who gathered it near that town Filix mas non ramosa pinnulis latis auriculatis spinosis Ger. 1130. Prickly auriculate male Fern. This with the following are found in the woods about Highgate and Hampsted Filix mas non ramosa pinnulis angustis raris profundè dentatis Ger. 1130. Male Fern with thin-set deeply indented leaves Filix mas ramosa pinnulis dentatis Ger. 1129. Great branch'd Fern with indented leaves Alsine longifolia uliginosis proveniens locis J. B. Long-leav'd water Chickweed Alsine Plantaginis folio J. B. Plantain-leav'd Chickweed Bifolium sylvestre vulgare Park Common Twayblade Cyperus gramineus J. B. gramineus Miliaceus Ger. Fig. 30. Millet Cyperus grass Equisetum omnium minimum tenuifolium Park Fig. 1201. sylvaticum Ger. 1114. Wood Horsetail These five last are found in the moistest places in the abovesaid woods the following in the dryer parts Astragalus sylvaticus Ger. Wood-pease Androsemum vulgare Park Tutsan or park-leaves Anagallis lutea Ger. Yellow Pimpernel Gramen Avenaceum rariore gluma spicatum Park Fig. 1151. Wood Oat-grass Gramen Cyperoides spica pendula longiore Park Cyperus grass with long pendulous heads Gramen Cyp. spicatum minimum spica divulsa aculeata Raii synops Tall prickly-headed spiked Cyperus-grass Gramen nemorosum hirsutum latifol maxim Raii synops Great broad-leav'd hairy Wood-grass Hieracium fruticosum latifolium hiâsutum C. B. Park Bushy Hawkweed with broad rough leaves Hieracium fruticosum angustifolium majus C. B. Park Narrow-leav'd bushy Hawkweed Juncellus omnium minimus Chamaeschoenus Ad. Lob. The least Rush Lilium convallium Ger. fl albo Park Lily of the Valley or May-Lily Sorbus sylvestris seu Fraxinus bubula Ger. The Quicken tree Sorbus torminalis Ger. The common wild Service or Sorb Vaccinia nigra Ger. Black Whorts Whortle-berries or Bilberries Aparine minima Raii synops Mr. Sherard's least Clivers First discovered by that compleat Botanist on a wall at Hackney Carduus stellatus Ger. Star-Thistle In some barren fields near White-chapel Carum seu Careum Ger. Caraways This I have more than once found about London Chondrilla viscosa humilis C. B. Ger. Park The least wild Lettice In a lane against Pancras-Church near London Eruca aquatica Ger. Park Water Rocket In a ditch in the road between White-chapel and Mile-end Lapathum pulchrum Bononiense sinuatum J. B. Fiddle Dock In Bunhill and Morefields plentifully Mercurialis mas foemina Ger. French Mercury This though a scarce Plant wild in England yet grows spontaneously in most Gardens in and about London Ulmus folio latissimo scabro Ger. latiore folio Park The Wych-hasel or broad-leav'd Elm. I have seen large trees of this at Hoxton near London ESSEX THE other part of the Trinobantes call'd from the Eastern situation and the Saxons who possest it East-Seaxa
an honourable series of Earls and Lords are descended From hence passing through Earls-Coln so call'd by reason of its being the burying place of the Earls of Oxford where Aubry de Vere 24 In the time of King Henry 1. founded a small Convent and took himself a religious habit it goes on to Colonia which Antoninus mentions and makes a different place from Colonia Camaloduni Whether this Colonia Colonia be deriv'd from the same word signifying a Colony or from the river Coln let Apollo determine k For my part I am more inclin'd to the latter opinion since I have seen several little towns that adding the name of Coln to that of their respective Lords are call'd Earls-Coln Wakes-Coln Coln-Engain Whites-Coln This city the Britains call'd Caer Colin the Saxons Coleceaster and we Colchester Colchester 'T is a beautiful populous and pleasant place extended on the brow of an hill from West to East surrounded with walls and adorn'd with 15 Parish-Churches besides that large Church which Eudo Sewer to Henry 1. built in honour of St. John This is now turn'd into a private house In the middle of the city stands a castle ready to fall with age Historians report it to have been built by Edward son to Aelfred when he repair'd Colchester which had suffer'd very much in the wars 25 And long after Maud the Empress gave it to Alberic Vere to assure him to her party But that this city flourish'd even more than ever in the time of the Romans abundance of their coins found every day fully evince l Though I have met with none ancienter than Gallienus the greatest part of them being those of the Tetrici Victorini Posthumus C. Carausius Helena mother to Constantine the Great Constantine and the succeeding Emperours The inhabitants glory that Fl. Julia Helena mother to Constantine the Great was born in this city daughter to King Coelus And in memory of the Cross which she found they bear for their arms a Cross enragled between four Crowns Of her and of this city thus sings Alexander Necham though with no very lucky vein Effulsit sydus vitae Colcestria lumen Septem Climatibus lux radiosa dedit Sydus erat Constantinus decus imperiale Serviit huic flexo poplite Roma potens A star of life in Colchester appear'd Whose glorious beams of light seven climats shar'd Illustrious Constantine the world's great Lord Whom prostrate Rome with awful fear ador'd The truth is she was a woman of a most holy life and of an unweary'd constancy in propagating the Christian Faith whence in old inscriptions she is often stiled PIISSIMA and VENERA-BILIS AUGUSTA Between this city where the Coln emptieth it self into the sea lyes the the little town of St. Osith the old name was * Cice by the Saxon Annals Chic Chic the present it receiv'd from the holy Virgin St. Osith S. Osithe who devoting her self entirely to God's service and being stabbed here by the Danish pyrates was by our ancestors esteem'd a Saint In memory of her Richard Bishop of London about the year 1120. built a Religious house and fill'd it with Canons Regular This is now the chief seat of the right honourable the Lords Darcy Barons Darcy of Chich. stiled Lords of Chich who were advanc'd to the dignity of Barons by Edward the sixth 26 When he created Sir Thomas Darcy his Councellor Vice-Chamberlain and Captain of the Guard Lord Darcy of Chich. m From hence is stretch'd out a vast shore as far as Nesse-point Nesse in Saxon Eadulphesness What was once found hereabouts let Ralph de Coggeshal tell you who wrote about 350 years ago In the time of King Richard on the sea-shore in a village call'd Edulfinesse were found two teeth of a Giant Giants of such a prodigious bigness that two hundred of such teeth as men ordinarily have now might be cut out of one of them These I saw at Cogshal and handled with great admiration Another I know not what Gigantick relique was found near this place in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth by the noble R. Candish I can't deny but there have been men of such extraordinary bulk and strength as to be accounted prodigies whom God as St. Austin tells us therefore produc'd in the world to show that comeliness of body and greatness of stature were therefore not to be esteem'd among the good things because they were common to the impious with the virtuous and religious Yet we may justly suspect what Suetonius hath observ'd that the vast joints and members of great beasts dugg up in other countries and in this kingdom too have been commonly term'd and reputed the bones of Giants Bones of Giants n From this point the shore runs back a little to the Stour's mouth famous for a sea-fight between the Saxons and Danes in the year 884. Here is now seated Harewich Harewiââ a very safe harbour as the name imports for the Saxon Hare-Æ¿ic signifies as much as an haven or bay where an army may lye 27 The town is not great but well peopled fortified by art and nature and made more fencible by Queen Elizabeth The salt-water so creeketh about it that it almost insulateth it but thereby maketh the springs so brackish that there is a defect of fresh water whcih they fetch-some good way off o This is that Stour which parteth Essex and Suffolk and on this side runs by no memorable place only some fat pastures But not far from the spring of this river stands Bumsted which the family of the Helions held by Barony 28 From whom the Wentworths of Gosfield are descended And in those parts of this county which are opposite to Cambridgeshire lyes Barklow Barkl w. Old Baârows famous for four great Barrows such as our ancestors us'd to raise to the memory of those Soldiers that were kill'd in battel and their bodies lost But when two others in the same place were dugg up and search'd we are told that they found three stone Coffins and abundance of pieces of bones in them The Country-people have a tradition that they were rais'd after a battel with the Danes And the â Wall-wort or Dwarf-elder that grows hereabouts in great plenty and bears red berries they call by no other name but Dane's-blood Danes-blood denoting the multitude of Danes that were there slain Lower among the fields that look pleasantly with Saffron is seated g Call'd formerly Walden-burg and afterwards Cheping-Walden Walden Waldââ a market-town call'd thence Saffron-Walden 29 Incorporated by King Edward 6. with a Treasurer two Chamberlains and the Commonalty It was famous formerly for the castle of the Magnavils which now scarce appears at all and for an adjacent little Monastery 30 Founded in a place very commodious in the year 1136. Commonly call'd Maâdâvilleâ in which the Magnavils founders of it lye interr'd Jeffrey de Magnaville was
without issue was succeeded by his brother Roger whose son Richard marry'd Amicia daughter and coheir of William Earl of Glocester and in right of her his posterity were Earls of Glocester whom you may find in their proper place But at last upon default of heir-male Leonel third son of Edw. 3. who had marry'd Elizabeth daughter and sole heir of William de Burgo Earl of Ulster by Elizabeth Clare was honour'd by his father with the new title of Duke of Clarence But he having only a daughter call'd Philippa wife of Edmund Mortimer Earl of March King Henry 4. created his younger son Thomas Duke of Clarence Dukes of Clarence who was Governour of Normandy 7 As also Lord High Steward of England and Earl of Albemarle and in the assaults of the Scots and French was slain in Anjou leaving no issue behind him A considerable time after Edward 4. conferr'd this honour upon George his brother whom after bitter quarrels and a most inveterate hatred between them he had receiv'd into favour yet for all that he at length dispatch'd him in prison ordering him to be drown'd as the report commonly goes â In dolio vini Cretici in a butt of Malmesey And thus 't is planted in the nature of man to hate those they fear and those with whom they have had quarrels for life even tho' they be brethren e From Clare the Stour runs by Long-Melford a beautiful Hospital lately built by that excellent person Sir William Cordall Knight Master of the Rolls to Sudbury Sudbury i.e. the Southern burrough which it almost encompasses The common opinion is e For Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it has still something of preheminence the County being divided into the two Archdeaconries of Suffolk and of Sudbury that this was once the chief town of the County and that it had the name given it with respect to Norwich i.e. the northern village And indeed at this day it has no reason to give place to it's neighbours For 't is populous and thrives exceedingly by the Cloth-trade it 's chief Magistrate also is a Mayor who is annually chosen out of the seven Aldermen Not far from hence is Edwardeston Edwardeston a place of no great repute at present but had formerly Lords and inhabitants of great honour call'd de Monte Canisio and commonly Mont-chensy Barons de Montchensy Of which family Guarin marry'd the daughter and co-heir of that most powerful Earl of Pembroke William Marshal and had by her a daughter Joanna who brought to her husband William de Valentia of the family of Lusigny in France Minor Hist Matth. Par. the title of Earl of Pembroke That Guarin Mont-chensy as he had great honours so likewise had he a very plentiful fortune insomuch that in those times he was call'd the Crassus of England his Will amounting to no less than two hundred thousand marks f 8 No small wealth as the standard was then From a younger brother or cadet of this house of Montchensie issu'd by an heir-general the fâââly of the Waldgraves who having long flourisht in Knightly degree at Smaltbridge nearer to Stour as another family of great account in elder age ãâã Buers which was thereof sirnamed A few miles from hence the Stour is encreas'd by the little river Breton which within a small compass washes two towns of Antiquity At the head of it we see Bretenham a little inconsiderable town without almost any appearance of a City and yet that it is the Combretonium Combretonium mention'd by Antoninus in those parts is evident both from the affinity and signification of the name For as Bretenham Bretenham in English implies a town or mansion upon the Breton so does Combretonium in Welsh a valley or low place upon the Breton But this place in the Peutegerian Tables is falsly call'd Comvetronum and Ad Covecin A little way from hence to the east is seen Nettlested 9 Whence was Sir Thomas Wentworth whom King Henry 8. honour'd with the title of Baron Wentworth from whence are the Wentworths Baâons Wentworth whom King Henry the eighth honour'd with the dignity of Barons and neighbour to it is Offton i.e. the town of Offa King of the Mercians where upon a chalky hill there lye the ruins of an old Castle which they tell you was built by King Offa after he had villanously cut off Ethelbert King of the East-Angles and seiz'd upon his kingdom 10 But to return to the river Breton on the banks of another brook that is joyn'd thereto stands Lancham a âair market-town and near it the manour of Burnt-Elleie to which King Henry 3. granted a market at the request of Sir Henry Shelton Lord thereof whose pâsterity flourisht here for a long time Below this is Hadley in Saxon headlege famous at this day for making of woollen Cloaths but mention'd by our ancient Historians upon the account of Guthrum or Gormo the Dane's Guthrum or Gormo the Dane being buried here For when Alfred had brought him to such terms as to make him embrace Christianity and be baptiz'd he assign'd him this tract of the East-Angles that he might to use the words of my g Selden has observ'd it to be taken out of Malmesbury Not. MS. Author by a due Allegiance to the King protect those Countries he had before over-run with ravage and plunder From hence the Breton runs 11 Runs swiftly by Higham whence the family of Higham takes its name to Stour c. into the Stour whose united streams flowing not far from Bentley Bentley where the Talmaches a famous and ancient family have a long time flourisht within a few miles run near Arwerton Arwerton formerly the seat of the famous family of the Bacons 12 Who held this manour of Brome by conducting all the Footmen of Suffolk and Norfolk from St. Edmund's-dike in the wars of Wales now of the Parkers who by the father's side are descended from the Barons Morley and by the mother from the Calthrops a very eminent family Then they flow into the Ocean and the river Orwell or Gipping joyning them just at the mouth discharges it self along with them This rises about the very middle of the County out of two Springs one near Wulpett Wulpett the other at a little village call'd Gipping Wulpett is a Market-town and signifies in Latin Luporum fossa i.e. a den of Wolves if we believe Neubrigensis who has patcht up as formal a story about this place as is the * Vera narratio True Narrative of Lucian Namely how two little green boys â Ex Satyrorum genere born of Satyrs after a long tedious wandering through subterraneous Caverns from another world i.e. the Antipodes and the Land of St. Martin came up here If you would have more particulars of the story I refer you to the Author himself â Omnibus rihonibus ridenda prâpinabit who
seu foliis gramineis ramosum An gramineum ramosum C. B. J. B. Park Millefolium tenuifolium Ger. emac. ico Fine or Fennel-leav'd Pondweed In the river Cam plentifully Pulsatilla Anglica purpurea Park parad flore minore Ger. minore nigricante C. B. flore clauso caeruleo J. B. Common or English Pasque-flower On Gogmagog-hills on the left hand of the way leading from Cambridge to Haveril just on the top of the hill also about Hildersham six miles from Cambridge Ranunculus flammeus major Ger. palustris flammeus major Park longifolius palustris major C. B. longo folio maximus Lingua Plinii J. B. Great Spear-wort In some ditches at Teversham-moor and abundantly in many great ditches in the fens in the Isle of Ely Ribes nigrum vulgò dictum folio olente J. B. fructu nigro Park Grossularia non spinosa fructu nigro C. B. Black Currans Squinancy-berries By the river-side at Abington Rorella sive Ros soliis folis oblongis J. B. Park folio oblongo C. B. Long-leav'd Rosa solis or Sun-dew On Hinton-moor about the watery places plentifully Salix humilior foliis angustis subcaeruleis ut plurimum sibi invicem oppositis Salix tenuior folio minore utrinque glabro fragilis J. B. The yellow dwarf-willow By the horse-way-side to Cherry-hinton in the Close just by the water you pass over to go thither Scordium J. B. C. B. Ger. legitimum Park Water Germander In many ditches in the Isle of Ely and in the Osier-holts about ely-Ely-city Also in a ditch on the left hand of the road leading from Cambridge to Histon about the mid-way S. Sesamoides Salamanticum magnum Ger. The greater Spanish Catchfly Near the Gravel-pits as you go to the nearest Windmill on the North-side of newmarket-Newmarket-town This place may be in Suffolk Solanum lethale Park Ger. melanocerasos C. B. manicum multis sive Bella donna J. B. Deadly Nightshade or Dwale In the lanes about Fulborn plentifully Thalictrum minus Ger. Park C. B. minus sive Rutae pratensis genus minus semine striato J. B. The lesser Meadow-Rue About Newmarket and also about Bartlow and Linton in the chalky grounds Trifolium echinatum arvense fructu minore C. B. Medica echinata minima J. B. echinata parva recta Park malè non enim erigitur The smallest Hedgehog-Trefoil In an old gravel-pit in the corn-field near Wilborham Church also at Newmarket where the Sesamoides Salamanticum grows Trifolium sylvestre luteum siliquâ cornutâ vel Medica frutescens C. B. Medica sylvestris J. B. frutescens sive flavo flore Clusii Park Yellow-medick with flat wreathed cods In many places among the corn as between Linton and Bartlow by the road sides between Cambridge and Trumpinton near the river about Quoy Church and Wilborham c. Verbascum nigrum flore è luteo purpurascente C. B. nigrum flore luteo apicibus purpureis J. B. nigrum Ger. nigrum salvifolium luteo flore Lob. Sage-leav'd black Mullein In many places about Gogmagog-hills towards Linton as by the lanes sides and in the closes about Abington Shelford c. Veronica picata recta minor J. B. Spicata minor C. B. mas erecta Park assurgens sive spica Ger. Upright male Speedwell or Fluellin In several closes on Newmarket-heath as in a close near the beacon on the left hand of the way from Cambridge to Newmarket HVNTINGDONSHIRE AT the back of Cambridgeshire lyes the County of Huntingdon by the Saxons call'd huntedunescyre by the common people Huntingdonshire situated so as to have Bedfordshire on the South Northamptonshire on the West as likewise on the North where it is parted by the river Avon and Cambridgeshire on the East a It is a very good Corn Country and for feeding ground the fenny part of the East is fatter than ordinary the rest mighty pleasant by reason of its swelling hills and shady groves in ancient times woody all over according to the report of the Inhabitants That it was a Forest till the beginning of Henry 2. is evident by an old Survey All except Waybridge Sapple and Herthei which were Woods of the Lords demain is still Forest b HUNTINGTON SHIRE By Robt. Morden It is the same place that J. Picus an ancient writer speaks of when he says That King Alfred gain'd such advantages over the Danes that they gave what security he demanded either to leave the Land or turn Christians Which was put in execution for Guthrum the King whom they call Gormond thirty of his Nobility and almost all his people were baptiz'd and himself adopted Alfred 's God-son and call'd by the name of Athelââan Upon this he settl'd here and had the Provinces of the East-Angles and Northumbers bestow'd on him now to protect them as their lawful Soveraign which before he had wasted as a Robber Nor must it be pass'd over that some of these old writers have call'd this city Gumicester and Gumicastrum positively affirming that Machute had his Episcopal See at this place d 1 And by the name of Gumicester King Henry 3. granted it to his son Edmund Earl of Lancaster Ouse hastning its course frâm hence nigh Cambridgeshire glides through pleasant meadows where is a pretty neat town formerly by the Saxons call'd Slepe now St. Ives St. Ives from Ivo a Persian Bishop who they write about the year 600 travell'd over England with a great reputation of sanctity all the way carefully preaching the Gospel and left his name to this place where he left his body too Soon after the Religious remov'd that from hence to Ramsey-Abby e Turning almost three miles on one side I saw Somersham Somersham a large Palace of late belonging to the Bishop of Ely given to the Church of Ely by Earl Brithnot in the year 991 and enlarg'd with new buildings by that every-way-prodigal Bishop James Stanley d It is now in the possession of Anthony Hamond Esq of the ancient family of that name in Kent A little higher stood the famous rich Abby of e In Saxon Ramesige Ramsey among the fenns where the rivers stagnate in a soft kind of grounds For a description of this place you may have it in short out of the private History of the Abby Ramsey Ramsey that is the Rams Isle on the West-side for on all others there are nothing but impassible fens for a great way together it is separated from firm ground almost two Bow shots by rough Quagmires Which place formerly up a shallow river us'd to receive Vessels into the midst of it by gentle gales of wind but now with great pains and cost these clay Quagmires are stopped with large quantities of wood gravel and stone and footmen may pass upon a firm Causey almost two miles long but less in breadth surrounded with Alders which with fresh green Reeds intermix'd with Bulrushes make a beautiful shew long before it was inhabited it was all cover'd over with several sorts of trees but with wild Ashes in
William de Fortibus Earl of Albemarle Mat. Par. like a rebel fortify'd it and plunder'd the whole neighbourhood laid almost level with the ground Afterwards this became the seat and as it were the head of the Barony of the Colvills Colvill who lived for a long time in very great honour but failed in Ed. 3.'s time so that the Gernons and those Bassets of Sapcot had this inheritance in right of their wives A little way from the head of the river Witham stands Paunton Paunton that boasteth very much of its antiquity chequer'd pavements of the Romans are very often dug up in it and there was here formerly a bridge over the river For both the name Paunton and its distance not only from Margidunum but also from Croco-calana Pontes do evince that this is that Ad pontem which Antoninus places 7 miles from Margidunum For Antoninus calls that town Croco-calana which we name Ancaster being at this time only one direct street along the military way one part of which not long since belong'd to the Vescies the other to the Cromwells In the entrance on the South I saw a trench and 't is very evident 't was a castle formerly as also on the other side towards the West are to be seen certain summer camps of the Romans It seems to have had that British name from its situation for it lies under a hill and we read in Giraldus Cambrensis and in Ninnius that among the Britains Cruc maur signify'd a great hill and Cruc-occhidient a mount in the west but I leave others to find out the meaning of the word Colana The antiquity of this town appears by Roman coins by the Vaults that are often discover'd by its situation on the high-way and by the fourteen miles distance between this and Lincoln the road lying through a green plain call'd Ancaster-heath for just so many Antoninus makes it to be between Croco-calana and Lindum But let us follow the river p Next to Paunton q is to be seen Grantham Grantham a town of no small resort adorn'd with a School built by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and with a fair Church having a very high spire steeple remarkable for the many stories that are told of it Beneath this town near the little village Herlaxton in the last age was a brazen vessel plow'd up in which they found an old fashion'd gold helmet A golden Hâlmât studded with jewels which was presented to Katharine of Spain Queen Dowager to Henry the eighth From hence Witham after a long course northwards runs near Somerton-castle Somârton Lib. Dunelmensis built by Anthony Bec Bp. of Durham by whom 't was given to Edward the first but a little after to 10 Sir William William de Bellomont Lords of Bâllomont who about that time came into England of him is descended the family of the Viscounts de Bellomonte which in the last age was almost extinct the sister and heiress of the last Viscount being married to John Lord Lovel de Tichmersh but we have spoken already of this family in Leicestershire From hence the river winds towards the South east through a fenny country and discharges it self into the German-sea a little below Boston after it has bounded Kesteven on the North. Altho' this river falls from a steep descent and large chanel into the sea yet by the great floods in the winter it overflows the fenns on each side with no small loss to the Country however these waters are drain'd in the spring by the sluces call'd by them Gotes On the other side of Witham lyes the third part of this County call'd Lindsey Lindsey by Bede Lindissi from the chief city of this shire 't is bigger than Hoiland or Kesleven jetting out into the ocean with a large front which has the sea continually plying upon its East and North shores on the West lyes the river Trent on the South 't is parted from Kesteven by the Witham and the Foss-dike Foss-dike seven miles in length cut by Henry the first between the Witham and the Trent Hoveden for the conveniency of carriage from Lincoln At the entrance of this Dike into the Trent stands Torksey Torkesey in Saxon Turcesig now a little mean town but heretofore very noted for there were in it before the Norman times as 't is in Domesday-book Domesday-book two hundred Burgesses who enjoy'd many privileges on condition that they should carry the King's Ambassadors as often as they came that way down the river Trent in their own barges and conduct them as far as York r At the joyning of this Dike to Witham s stands the Metropolis of this County call'd by Ptolemy and Antoninus Lindum Lindum by the Britains Lindcoit from the woods instead whereof 't is in some places falsly written Luitcoit Lincoln Bede calls it Lindecollinum and the city Lindecollina but whether it be from its situation on a hill or because 't was formerly a Colony I will not undertake to determine the Saxons call it Lindo-collyne Lind-cyllanceaster the Normans Nichol we Lincoln the Latins Lincolnia From whence Alexander Necham in his Treatise de Divina Sapientia Lindisiae columen Lincolnia sive columna Munifica foelix gente repleta bonis Her pillar thee great Lincoln Lindsey owns Fam'd for thy store of goods and bounteous sons Others believe it had its name from the river Witham which say they was formerly call'd Lindis but they have no authority so this is a bare conjecture For my part I cannot agree with them for Necham himself who wrote four hundred years ago contradicts them and calls this river Witham in these verses Trenta tibi pisces mittit Lincolnia sâd te Nec dedigneris Withama parvus adit Trent Lincoln sends the fish that load thy halls And little Witham creeps along thy walls And waits on thee himself ah be not proud Nor scorn the visit of the humble flood I should rather derive it from the British word Lhin which with them signifies a Lake for I have been inform'd by the citizens that Witham was wider formerly at Swanpole below the city altho' 't is at this day very broad I need take no notice of Lindaw in Germany standing by the Lake Acronius to confirm it nor of Linternum in Italy situated upon a Lake since Tall-hin Glan-lhin Linlithquo are towns in our Country of Britain standing upon Lakes The city it self is very large and much resorted to being built on the side of a noted hill where the Witham winds about towards the East and being divided into three chanels watereth the lower part of it That the ancient Lindum of the Britains stood on the very top of the hill of a very difficult ascent and lay much farther extended in length Northward than the gate Newport is evident by the plain signs of a rampire and deep ditches still visible Vortimer that warlike Britain who had very often routed
occasion to derive it from hay seem to lye under the same inconvenience in that the soil does not favour either of these or at least not so much as to render the place eminent for them I would not willingly go any farther than the Saxon heah deep the remains whereof our Northern parts still retain in their how which they use for deep or low and the breakings in of the sea with the banks made against it sufficiently declare how much the nature of the place contributes towards this conjecture c Upon the confines of Norfolk lyes Tydd Tydd a small village but famous for the once Rector of it Nicholas Breakspear who planted Christianity in Norway for which good service to the Church he was afterwards made Cardinal and in the year 1154 Pope under the name of Hadrian the fourth d To endeavour the discovery of any thing that looks like Roman hereabouts would be a search as fruitless as unreasonable and for its condition in the Saxon times Ingulphus fully answers that whose history no doubt is the best intelligence for those parts For which reasons we shall take leave of it and go along with our Author into the second part of this County having first observ'd that this as well as Lindsey division has had its Earls and gave title to Henry Rich Lord Kensington created Earl of Holland Apr. 3. 22 Jac. 1. He was succeeded by Robert his son who had the additional title of Earl of Warwick by the death of Charles Rich Earl of that place his Cousin-german Whereupon both titles are at present enjoy'd by the right honourable Edward Rich stil'd Earl of Warwick and Holland e Kesteven Kesteven Mr. Camden observes is call'd by Aethelwerd Ceostefne Sylva the wood Ceostefne The reason of it is this because there was really a great forest at this end of the division where now are the large fenns call'd Deeping-Fenns c. A plain argument whereof is that the trunks of trees are dugg up in several ditches thereabouts which lye cover'd some two foot with a light black mold And Mr. Neal to whom the world is indebted for this and other discoveries in this County tells me that in a ditch of his own just at the edge of the fenns there was about 12 years ago several trunks of trees lying in the bottom and in another place as many acorns turn'd out of one hole as would fill a hat very firm and hard but colour'd black and now there is no tree standing near that place by a mile except here and there a willow lately set The same Gentleman assures me he has by him the copy of the Exemplification of the Letters Patents of Jac. 1. dated at Westminster Febr. 15. in the fifth of his reign over England and over Scotland the 41. wherein he recites by way of Inspeximus the Letters Patents of Henry 3. dated at Portsmouth the 23d of April in the 14th of his reign who thereby disafforested the said forest of Kesteven in perpetuum which was also confirm'd by the Letters Patents of Edward the third in the 20th of his reign wherein the said forest is butted and bounded to extend on one side from Swafton to East-Deeping as Caresdike extends it self which is a dike running cross the top of the Fenns not only of Deeping-Fenn but also of that great fenn beyond the river Glen call'd Lindsey-level and on the other side it extends to the division call'd Holland f Having made our way into this division by a previous account why some old Authors call it a wood or forest whereas now there appearing no such thing the readers might be surpriz'd let us accompany Mr. Camden to Stanford Stanford the first remarkable place we meet with As to the Antiquity of it our English Historians afford us very large testimonies Henry Huntingdon lib. 5. pag 203. in his description of the wars between Edmund Ironside and the Danes calls it an ancient city and Ingulphus p. 515. tells us there were Terms held at Stamford and Hoveden in the book of Crowland p. 249. calls it Stamfordshire being a county-County-town and very commodious it is for that use this end of Lincolnshire adjoyning to it being 36 miles from Lincoln and the end of Northamtonshire next it on that side no less from Northamton which distance is a great inconvenience to the inhabitants so often as their business calls them to the Assizes Stow p. 131. tells us there was a Mint for coyning of money in Stamford-Baron in the time of King Athelstan but this probably was some privilege granted to the Abbots of Peterburrow for this is that parish that 's within Northamtonshire and is within a distinct liberty granted to the Abbots of Peterburrow g Mr. Neal before-mention'd has an old Manuscript fragment of an history that says Stamford was an University long before our Saviour's time and continued so till the year 300 when it was dissolv'd by the Pope for adhering to Arrius For the first founder of it that Author quotes Merlin a British Historian But whatever deference we pay to the authority of the History from the circumstances it seems pretty plain as the same Gentleman has observ'd that it must be of longer date than Ed. 3. For upon that quarrel mention'd by Mr. Camden which happen'd between the Southern and Northern Scholars the latter it seems came hither in Nov. 1333. and return'd to Oxford before 1334. so that their short stay could not allow them any great opportunities for building But here are still the remains of two Colleges one call'd Black-hall and the other Brazen-noze in the gate whereof is a great brazen Nose and a ring through it like that at Oxford And 't is evident that this did not take its pattern from Oxford but Oxford from it because Brazen-nose College in Oxford was not built before the reign of Henry the seventh and this is at least as old as Edw. 3. or probably older h So much for the University there The government of the town Mr. Camden tells us An Alderman and 24 Cââburgâers is by an Alderman and 24 Comburgenses When this begun is not so certain being much elder than the first Charter they have For there is a list of sixty upon the Court-Roll sworn there before the Incorporation viz. from 1398. to 1460. the first year of Edward the fourth So that Edward the fourth by his Charter seems rather to confirm an old custom than establish a new one 'T is very observable here that they have the Custom which Littleton the famous Common-Lawyer calls Burrough English Burroâg Eng ââ viz. the younger sons inherit what Lands or Tenements their fathers dye possess'd of within this Manour i My Lord Burghley founded a Hospital here but when Mr. Camden says he is bury'd in the Parish-Church of S. George in Stamford it is a mistake for he lyes in S. Martin's Church in Stamford-Barron which is in Northamptonshire k After the death of
wares and trade Howbeit exceeding much frequented for the Corn-fair there holden This hath for a near neighbour Arrow according to the name of the river whose Lord Thomas Burdet for his dependance upon George Duke of Clarence words unadvisedly uttered and hardly construed thro' the iniquity of the time lost his life But by his grand-daughter married to Edward Conway brother to Sir Hugh Conway of Wales a gracious favourite of K. Hen. 7. the Knightly family of the Conways have ever since flourished and laudably follow'd the profession of Arms. But from a very great town 't is reduc'd to a small market tho' very noted for all sorts of grain o Higher north-east where the Country is not so thick cloathed with woods stands Wroxhall Wroâhâll where Hugo de Hatton built a little Monastery or Priory And Badesley Baddesâey formerly the possession of the Clintons now of the Ferrars And Balshall Baâshaâl heretofore a Preceptory of the Templars which Roger de Mowbray gave them Register of the Teâplars and of the Order of St. John of Jârusââem whose munificence to the Order of the Knights-Templars was so extraordinary that by unanimous consent of their Chapter they decreed that he should have the power of pardoning any Brother who had transgress'd the Rules of the Order provided he came and acknowledg'd his crime before this their Benefactor And the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem to whom all the t By the custom of this place the Tenants could not marry their daughters without the consent of the fraternity of Templars or Hospitalers as appears by an account taken 31 Hen. 2. possessions of the Templars in England were assign'd for to give to profane uses things once consecrated to God our Ancestors thought a crime not to be aton'd for in testimony of their gratitude granted to John Mowbray de Axholm See the Stat. aâ Tempâariâ successor of the said Roger that he and his successors at every of the Assemblies of their Order should be received in the next degree of honour to Soveraign Princes More to the north-east in the midst of a Chase and Park a confluence of little streams form a Lake which being presently confin'd within Banks make a Chanel or Kennel Upon this stands Kenelworth Kenelworth commââ Kilâingworth heretofore vulgarly call'd Kenelworda and corruptly Killingworth From this town a most noble beautiful and strong Castle encompass'd with a Chase and Parks takes its name It was built neither by Kenulphus nor Kenelmus nor Kineglisus as some Historians have dreamt but by Geoffrey de Clinton Lord Chamberlain to King Henry 1. and his son as may be seen in authentick evidences after he had founded there a Monastery for Canons Regular But Henry his * Prânââ great grandchild wanting issue sold it to King Hen. 3. who granted it to Simon de Montefort Earl of Leicester with Eleanor his sister for her portion But presently after this bond of amity and friendship being broken and Earl Simon after dismal commotions being slain in the Barons Wars 8 Which he had rais'd upon fair pretext against his Sovereign the Castle endured a siege of six months and at last was surrender'd to King Hen. 3. 9 Who annex'd this Castle as an inheritance to Edmund his son Earl of Lancaster who made it part of the inheritance of the Lancastrian family At which time was made and publish'd the Edict which our Lawyers stile Dictum de Kenelworth whereby it was enacted that all who had taken up Arms against the King should pay five years value of all their lands c. A very wholsome piece of severity without effusion of blood to check those seditious spirits so pernicious to the Government whose only hopes were placed in the distractions of the State at that time But now of late by the royal munificence of Queen Elizabeth it became the seat of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester who in rebuilding and adorning it spar'd no cost So that if you regard the magnificence of buildings and nobleness of the Chase and Parks lying round and belonging to it it may claim a second place among the stateliest Castles of England p From hence that I may pursue the same course I did in my journey I saw Solyhill in which was nothing worth seeing beside the Church Next Bremicham âââmicham swarming with inhabitants and echoing with the noise of Anvils for here are great numbers of Smiths The lower part is very watery The upper rises with abundance of handsome buildings and 't is none of the least honours of the place that from hence the noble and warlike family of the Bremichams 10 Earls of Louth c. in Ireland had both their original and name From thence in the extreme point of this County northward lies Sutton Colefield in a foresty unkind and barren soil boasting of it's native John Voisy Bishop of Exeter who in the reign of Henry 3. raised up this little town then ruinous and decayed and adorn'd it with fair buildings great privileges and a Grammar-school q From hence going southward I came to Colesâud belonging heretofore to the Clintons r and neighbour to this is Maxtock-Castle which in a continu'd succession had for it's Lords the Lindseys who were Lords of Wolverly the Odingsells having their original from Flanders and the Clintons who have been very eminent in this County Lower in the middle of this woody country is seated Coventry so called as I conjecture from a Convent for such a Convent in our Tongue we call a Covent or Covenn and frequently in our Histories and in the Pontifical Decrees this is call'd Conventria as particularly in that u This must relate to Alexander de Savensby who was consecrated 1224. and liv'd in the time of Pope Honorius 3. He was a very learned man but pretended to visions and apparitions scarce credible says Bishop Godwin Either the Bishop of Conventry is not in his right wits or he seems wilfully to have quitted common sense Yet some there are who will have the name taken from a rivulet running through it at this day called Shirburn and in an old Charter of the Priory âconâ 3. p. 14. ââcret Cuentford Whencesoever the name be taken this City some ages since being enrich'd with the Manufacture uu Now both these trades are much decay'd of Cloathing and Caps was the only mart-Mart-town of this Country and of greater resort than could be expected from its Mid-land situation 'T is commodiously seated large and neat fortify'd with very strong walls and adorn'd with beautiful buildings amongst which two Churches of excellent Architecture stand near together as it were rivalling each other the one dedicated to the Holy Trinity the other to St. Michael There is nothing in it of very great antiquity That which seems to be the greatest monument is the Religious-house or Priory whose ruins I saw near these two Churches This King
for she was married to Walter de Beauchamp whom King Stephen made Constable of England when he displaced Miles Earl of Glocester Within a few years after K. Stephen made Walleran Earl of Mellent 6 Twin-brother brother to Robert Bossu Robert de Monte. Earl of Leicester the first Earl of Worcester and gave him the City of Worcester which Walleran became a Monk and died at Preaux in Normandy in the year 1166. His son Robert who married the daughter of Reginald Earl of Cornwall and set up the standard of Rebellion against Hen. 2. and Peter the son of Robert who revolted to the French in 1203. used only the title of Earl of Mellent as far as I have observed and not of Worcester For K. Hen. 2. who succeeded Stephen did not easily suffer any to enjoy those honours under him which they had received from his enemy For as the Annals of the Monastery of Waverley have it he deposed the titular and pretended Earls among whom K. Stephen had indiscreetly distributed all the Revenues of the Crown After this till the time of K. Rich. 2. I know of none who bore the title of Earl of Worcester He conferred it upon Thomas Percy who being slain in the Civil wars by Hen. 4. Richard Beauchamp descended from the Abtots received this honour from K. Hen. 5. After him who died without heirs male John Tiptoft Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was created Earl of Worcester by K. Hen. 6. And he presently after siding with Edward 4. and accommodating himself with a blind obedience to the humour of that Prince became the Executioner of his vengeance till he in like manner lost his own head when Hen. 6. was restored But K. Edward having recovered the Crown restored Edward Tiptoft his son to all again He died without issue and the estate was divided among the sisters of that John Tiptoft who was Earl of Worcester Orig. 1 H. 7. R. 36. who were married to the Lord Roos Lord Dudley and Edmund Ingoldsthorp whereupon Charles Somerset natural son of Henry Duke of Somerset was honoured with that title by K. Hen. 8. to whom in a direct line have succeeded Henry William and Edward who is now living and among his other vertuous and noble qualities is to be honoured as a great Patron of good literature This County hath 152 Parishes ADDITIONS to WORCESTERSHIRE a AFTER the Britains were expell'd this nation by the Conquering Saxons they retir'd beyond the Severn and defended their new Territories against the encroaching Enemy So that the County of Worcester with those other through which that large river runs were for a long time the frontiers between the two people And * Breviar f. 26. p. 1. as Mr. Twine has observ'd most of the great cities that lye upon the East-shore of Severn and Dee were built to resist the irruptions of the Britains by the Romans or Saxons or both like as the Romans erected many places of strength on the West-shore of the Rhine to restrain the forcible invasions of the Germans into France b The people of those parts in Bede's time before England was divided into Counties were as our Author observes term'd Wiccii as also were some of their neighbours But the great question is how far that name reach'd the solution whereof is not attempted by Mr. Camden They seem to have inhâbited all that tract which was anciently subject to the Bishops of Worcester that is all Glocestershire on the East-side Severn with the city of Bristol all Worcestershire except 16 parishes in the North-west-part lying beyond Aberley-hills and the river Teme and near the South-half of Warwickshire with warwick-Warwick-town For as under the Heptarchy at first there was but one Bishop in each kingdom and the whole realm was his Diocese so upon the subdividing the kingdom of Mercia into five Bishopricks An. Dom. 679. of which Florentius Wigorniensis saith Wiccia was the first doubtless the Bishop had the entire Province under his jurisdiction and accordingly he was stil'd Bishop of the Wiccians and not of Worcester This will appear more probable yet from a passage in â P. 559. edit Lond. quarto Florentius who saith that Oshere Vice-Roy of the Wiccians perswaded Aethelred King of Mercia to make this division out of a desire that the Province of Wiccia which he govern'd with a sort of Regal power might have the honour of a Bishop of its own This being effected his See was at Worcester the Metropolis of the Province which according to â Hist Ecel lib. 2. cap. 2. Bede border'd on the Kingdom of the West-Saxons that is Wiltshire and Somersetshire and Coteswold-hills lye in it which in Eadgar's Charter to Oswald is call'd Mons Wiccisca or Wiccian-hill tho' * Concil Tom. 1. p. 433. Spelman reads it corruptly Monte Wittisca and the â Monast Angl. T. 1. p. 140. Monasticon more corruptly Wibisca Moreover Sceorstan which possibly is the Shire-stone beyond these hills is said by â Flor. p. 385. 4o. Florentius to be in Wiccia c Having premi's thus much concerning the ancient Inhabitants of those parts let us next with Mr. Camden go thorow the County it self In the very North-point whereof lies Stourbridge Stourbridge so nam'd from the river Stour upon which it stands a well-built market-town and of late much enrich'd by the iron and glass-works King Edward the sixth sounded and liberally endow'd a Grammar-school here and in our time near this place the pious munificence of Tho. Foley Esq erected a noble Hospital and endow'd it with Lands for the maintenance and education of 60 poor Children chosen mostly out of this and some neighbour parishes They are instructed in Grammar Writing Arithmetick c. to fit them for trades Their habit and discipline are much like that of Christ's Hospital in London d Going along with the Stour not far from its entrance into the Severn we meet with Kidderminster Kidderminster famous for the Bissets Lords of it part of whose estate Mr. Camden tells us upon a division came to an Hospital in Wiltshire built for Lepers This was Maiden-Bradley * Monast Angl. Tom. 2. p. 408. which was built by Manser Bisset in King Stephen's time or the beginning of Henr. 2. and endow'd by him and his son Henry long before the estate was divided among daughters â Dugd Baronage T. 1. p. 632. For that hapned not till the year 1241. so that the Tradition of the Leprous Lady is a vulgar fable e Leaving this river our next guide is the Severn upon which stands Holt-castle Holt castlââ now the inheritance of the Bromleys descended from Sir Thomas Bromley Lord Chancellor of England in the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign A little below Salwarp enters the Severn not far from the first lies Grafton Grafton which Mr. Camden tells us was given to Gilbert Talbot and that hapned upon the attainder of Humfrey Stafford Brook's Cataloguâ of
we Wreckceter and Wroxceter Wroxceâ It was the Metropolis of the Cornavii and built probably by the Romans when they fortify'd the bank of the Severn which is only here fordable and not any where lower towards the mouth of it but this being shatter'd by the Saxon war was quite destroy'd in that of the Danes and is now a very little village inhabited only by country-people who frequently plow up ancient coins that bear witness of it's antiquity Here is nothing to be seen of it but a very few reliques of broken walls call'd by the people m This stands near the midst of the city being about 20 foot high and 100 in length The old works of Wroxceter which were built of hewn stone and laid in â Septeâplici Britânicarum dine seven rows 15 In equal distance arch'd within after the fashion of the Britains That where these are was formerly a castle is probable from the unevenness of the ground heaps of earth and here and there the rubbish of walls The plot where this city stood which is no small spot of ground is a blacker earth than the rest and yields the largest crops of the best barley g Below this city went that Roman military high-way call'd Watlingstreet either thro' a ford or over a bridge to the Strattons Stratton before mention'd which name imports they were Towns seated by the high-way the foundation of which bridge was lately discover'd a little above in setting a Wear for so they call a fishing damme in the river but now there is no track of the Way h This ancient name of Viroconium is more manifestly retain'd by a neighbouring mountain call'd Wreken-hill Wrekenhâ by some Gilbert's-hill which gradually falls into a pleasant level and yields an entertaining prospect of the plains about it n It stands about a mile from Wroxeter and is the highest ground of all the Country thereabout Leland's Itin. This hill shoots it self out pretty far in length is well set with trees and under it where Severn visits it with it's streams at Buldewas commonly call'd Bildas Bildas was formerly a noted Monastery the burying-place of the Burnels a famous family and Patrons of it Above it is a Lodge call'd Watling-street from it's situation upon the publick Street or military high-way and hard by are the reliques of Dalaley-castle âalaley which upon the banishment of Richard Earl of Arundel King Rich. 2. by Act of Parliament did annex to the Principality of Chester which he had erected Not far from the foot of this hill in the depth of the valley by that Roman military high-way is Okenyate âkenyate a small village of some note for the pit-coal which by reason of it's low situation and that distance which Antoninus says Us-ocona is both from Uriconium and Pennocrucium undoubtedly must be the same with o Written also according to the variety of Copies Usoccona and Uxacona Burton's Itinerar Us-ocona âs-ocona Nor does the name make against the conjecture for it is compounded of the word Ys which in Welsh signifies Low and seems to be added to express its lowly situation On the other side under this hill appears Charleton-castle anciently belonging to the Charletons âharleton Lords of Powis and more eastward towards Staffordshire is Tong-castle ãâã formerly Toang repair'd not long since by the Vernons as likewise was the College within the town which the Penbriges as I have read first founded The inhabitants boast of nothing more than a great bell famous in those parts for its bigness Hard by stands Albrighton which in the reign of King Edward 1. was the seat of 16 Sir Ralph Ralph de Pichford âichford but now belongs to the Talbots who are descended from the Earls of Shrewsbury 17 But above Tong was Lilleshul-Abbey in a wood-land Country founded by the family of Beaumeis whose heir was marry'd into the house of De la Zouch But seeing there is little left but ruins I will leave it and proceed On the other side of the river Tern lies Draiton âraiton upon the very banks of it where during the Civil wars between the houses of Lancaster and York was a battel fought very fatal to the Gentry of Cheshire for tho' Victory neither turn'd her balance on the one side or the other yet they being divided and adhering to both parties were cut off in great numbers Lower down and pretty near the Tern lies Hodnet formerly inhabited by Gentlemen of that name from whom by the Ludlows it hereditarily fell to the Vernons ãâã Ed. 2. It was formerly held of the Honour of Montgomery by the service of being Steward of that Honour The Tern after that passing by some small villages is joyn'd by a rivulet call'd Rodan and after it has run a few miles farther near Uriconium before spoken of it falls into the Severn Not far from the head of this river Rodan stands Wem âem where may be seen the p There is nothing now to be seen but the bank upon which it stood marks of an intended castle It was the Barony of William Pantulph about the beginning of the Norman times from whose posterity it came at length to the Butlers and from them by the Ferrers of Ouseley and the Barons of Greystock to the Barons Dacre of Gillesland q The tile of this Barony was given by K. James 2. to Sir George Jeffreys Lord Chancellour of England and is now descended to his son to whom the manour and Royalty of it do belong A little distant from this upon a woody hill or rather rock which was anciently call'd Rad-cliff stood a castle upon a very high ground call'd from the reddish stone Red-castle âed-castle and by the Normans Castle Rous heretofore the seat of the Audleys by the bounty of Mawd the Stranger or Le-strange but now there is nothing to be seen but decayed walls 18 Which yet make a fair shew Hol. But at present they make none some small tokens of it only remaining Scarce a mile off is a spot of ground where a small city once stood the very ruins of which are almost extinct but the Roman Coyns that are found there with such bricks as they us'd in building are evidence of its Antiquity and Founders The people of the neighbourhood call it Bery from Burgh and they affirm it to have been very famous in King Arthur's days 19 As the common sort ascribe whatsoever is ancient and strange to King Arthur's glory After that upon the same river appears Morton-Corbet 20 Anciently an house of the family of Turet âorton-âorbet âastle a castle of the Corbets where within the memory of man Robert Corbet to gratifie the fancy he had for Architecture began a noble piece of building 21 In a barren place after the Italian model for his future magnificent and more splendid habitation but death countermanding his
IMP. M AURELIO ANTONINO AVC SEVER LVCII FILIO LEC. IIV VG P sic Together with these two fragments Centurio c This was lately in the School-wall at Kaêr Lheion but is now rased out â 7. VECILIANA d This is in the Garden-wall at Moin's Court but the first line VIII and this character 7. are not visible See Reines Syntag. Inscr pag. 977. VIII 7. VALER MAXSIMI f Here also about the time of the Saxon Conquest was an Academy of 200 Philosophers who being skill'd in Astronomy and other Sciences observ'd accurately the courses of the Stars as we are informed by Alexander Elsebiensis a very scarce Author out of whom much has been transcrib'd for my use by the learned Thomas James Tho. James of Oxford who may deservedly be stiled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as one that is wholly intent upon Books and Learning and is at present God prosper his endeavours out of a desire of promoting the publick good busily employ'd in searching the Libraries of England on a design that is like to be of singular use to the Commonwealth of Learning In the time of K. Henry 2. when Giraldus writ this City seems to have been a place of considerable strength For we find that Yrwith of Kaer Lheion a courageous Britain defended it a long time against the English forces till at last being over-power'd by the King he was dispossest of it But now a fair instance that Cities as well as Men have their vicissitude and fortune that is become an inconsiderable small town which once was of so great extent on each side the river that they affirm St. Gilian's the house of the honourable Sir William Herbert a person no less eminent for wit and judgment than noble extraction to have been in the city and in that place the Church of Julius the Martyr is said to have stood which is now about a mile out of the town From the ruins also of this City Newport Newport had its beginning seated a little lower at the fall of the river Usk. By Giraldus 't is call'd Novus Burgus It is a town of later foundation and of considerable note for a Castle and a convenient harbour where there was formerly some Military-way mention'd by Necham in these verses Intrat auget aquas Sabrini fluminis Osca Praeceps testis erit Julia Strata mihi Increas'd with Usk does Severn rise As Julia Strata testifies That this Julia Strata was a way we have no reason to question and if we may be free to conjecture it seems not absurd to suppose it took its name from Julius Frontinus who conquer'd the Silures Not far from this Newburgh saith Giraldus there glides a small stream call'd Nant Pènkarn passable but at some certain fords not so much for the depth of its water as the hollowness of the chanel and deepness of the mud It had formerly a ford call'd RhÅ·d Penkarn now of a long time discontinued Henry 2. King of England having by chance pass'd this ford the Welsh who rely too much upon old prophecies were presently discouraged because their Oracle Merlinus Sylvester had foretold that whenever a strong Prince with a freckled face such as King Henry was should pass that Ford the British Forces should be vanquish'd During the Saxon Heptarchy this County was subject to the Mountain-Welsh call'd by them Dun-settan Dun set who were yet under the government of the West-Saxons as appears by the ancient Laws At the first coming in of the Normans the Lords Marchers grievously plagued and annoy'd them especially the above-mention'd Hamelin Balun Hugh Lacy Walter and Gilbert de Clare 1 Miles of Glocester Robert Chandos Pain Fitz-John Richard Fitz-Punt and c. and Brien of Wallingford To whom the Kings having granted all they could acquire in these parts some of them reduced by degrees the upper part of this County which they call'd Over-Went and others the low lands call'd Nether-Went Parishes in this County 127. ADDITIONS to MONMOVTHSHIRE a MYnydh Kader mention'd by our Author is the name of many Mountains in Wales thus denominated as Kader Arthur Kader Verwin Kader Idris Kader Dhinmael Kader yr Ychen c. which the learned Dr. Davies supposes to have been so call'd not from their resemblance to a Kà dair or Chair but because they have been either fortified places or were look'd upon as naturally impregnable by such as first impos'd those names on them For the British Kader as well as the Irish word Kathair signifying anciently a Fort or Bulwark whence probably the modern word Kaer of the same signification might be corrupted b Lhan Lhan properly signifies a Yard or some small Inclosure as may be observ'd in compound words For we find a Vineyard call'd Gwin-lhan an Orchard Per-lhan a Hay-yard Yd-lhan a Church-yard Korph-lhan a Sheep-fold Kor-lhan c. However as Giraldus observes it denotes separately a Church or Chapel and is of common use in that sense throughout all Wales probably because such Yards or Inclosures might be places of Worship in the time of Heathenism or upon the first planting of Christianity when Churches were scarce c That this Jeffrey of Monmouth as well as most other Writers of the Monkish times abounds with Fables is not deny'd by such as contend for some authority to that History but that those Fables were of his own Invention seems too severe a censure of our Author's and scarce a just accusation since we find most or all of them in that British History he translated whereof an ancient copy may be seen in the Library of Jesus-College at Oxford which concludes to this effect Walter Arch-Deacon of Oxford composed this Book in Latin out of British Records which he afterwards thus render'd into modern British We find also many of the same Fables in Ninnius who writ his Eulogium Britanniae about three hundred years before this Galfridus Arturius compos'd the British History As to the regard due to that History in general the judicious Reader may consult Dr. Powel's Epistle De Britannica Historia rectè intelligenda and Dr. Davies's Preface to his British Lexicon and ballance them with the arguments and authority of those that wholly reject them Near Monmouth stands a noble House built by his Grace Henry Duke of Beaufort call'd Troy the residence of his eldest son Charles Marquiss of Worcester who is owner of it and of the Castle and Manour of Monmouth settled upon him with other large possessions in this County by the Duke his father e The English names of Went-set Wentseâ c. and Wents land have their origin from the British word Gwent whereby almost all this Country and part of Glocestershire and Herefordshire were call'd till Wales was divided into Counties But it seems questionable whether that name Gwent be owing to the City Venta or whether the Romans might not call this City Venta Silurum as well as that of the Iceni and that other of the Belgae
Cave at the root of a Mountain and at the top of it a cleft Now when the wind blows into the Cave and is reverberated therein they hear at the chink the sound of several Cymbals for the wind being driven back makes much the greater noise Beyond these Islands the shore is continued directly westward receiving only one river upon which a little more within the land lyes Cowbridge Cowbridge call'd by the Britains from the Stone-bridge y Bont vaen a market-town and the second of those three which the Conquerour Fitz-Haimon reserv'd for himself In regard Antoninus places the City Bovium which is also corruptly call'd Bomium in this tract and at this distance from Isca I flatter'd my self once with the conjecture that this must be Bovium Bovium But seeing that at three miles distance from this town we find Boverton which agrees exactly with Bovium I could not without an injury to truth seek for Bovium elsewhere Nor is it a new thing that places should receive their names from Oxen as we find by the Thracian Bosphorus the Bovianum of the Samnites and Bauli in Italy so call'd quasi Boalia if we may credit Symachus But let this one argument serve for all Fifteen miles from Bovium Antoninus using also a Latin name hath placed Nidum which tho' our Antiquaries have a long time search'd for in vain yet at the same distance we find Neath Neath in British Nêdh a town of considerable note retaining still its ancient name almost entire From Sir J. Stradling Moreover we may observe here at Lantwit or St. Iltut's a village adjoyning the foundations of many buildings and formerly it had several streets c Not far from this Boverton almost in the very creek or winding of the shore stands St. Donat's-castle St. Donat's Castle the habitation of the ancient and noble family of the Stradlings near which there were dug up lately several ancient Roman coyns Roman Coyns but especially of the 30 Tyrants and some of Aemilianus and Marius which are very scarce A little above this the river Ogmor Ogmor River falls into the Sea which glides from the Mountains by Koetieu-castle the seat formerly of the Turbervils afterwards of the Gamages and now in right of his Lady of Sir Robert Sidney Viscount L'Isle and also by Ogmor-castle which devolv'd from the family of the Londons to the Dutchy of Lancaster There is a remarkable Spring within a few miles of this place as the learned Sir John Stradling told me by Letter at a place call'd Newton Saâdiâââ Weâ A Fââââ ebbââââ now ââ ãâã the ââ a small village on the west side of the river Ogmor in a sandy plain about a hundred paces from the Severn shore The water of it is not the clearest but pure enough and fit for use it never runs over insomuch that such as would make use of it must go down some steps At full Sea in summer time you can scarce take up any water in a dish but immediately when it ebbs you may raise what quantity you please The same inconstancy remains also in the winter but is not so apparent by reason of the adventitious water as well from frequent showers as subterraneous passages This several of the Inhabitants who were persons of credit had assured me of However being somewhat suspicious of common report as finding it often erroneous I lately made one or two journeys to this sacred Spring for I had then some thoughts of communicating this to you Being come thither and staying about the third part of an hour whilst the Severn flow'd and none came to take up water I observ'd that it sunk about three inches Having left it and returning not long after I found the water risen above a foot The diameter of the Well may be about six foot Concerning which my Muse dictates these few lines Te Nova-Villa fremens odioso murmure Nympha Inclamat Sabrina soloque inimica propinquo Evomit infestas ructu violenter arenas Damna pari sentit vicinia sorte sed illa Fonticulum causata tuum Quem virgo legendo Litus ad amplexus vocitat latet ille vocatus Antro luctatur contra Namque aestus utrique est Continuo motu refluus tamen ordine dispar Nympha fluit propiùs Fons defluit Illa recedit Iste redit Sic livor inest pugna perennis Thee Newton Severn's noisy Nymph pursues While unrestrain'd th' impetuous torrent flows Her conqu'ring Surges wast thy hated Land And neighbouring fields are burden'd with the Sand. But all the fault is on thy fountain laid Thy fountain courted by the amorous Maid Him as she passeth on with eager noise She calls in vain she calls to mutual joys He flies as fast and scorns the proffer'd love For both with tides and both with different move The Nymph advanceth straight the Fountain's gone The Nymph retreats and he returns as soon Thus eager Love still boyls the restless stream And thus the cruel Spring still scorns the Virgin 's flame Polybius takes notice of such a Fountain at Cadiz An eââ and iâaing f âââ at Caââ and gives us this reason for it viz. That the Air being depriv'd of its usual vent returns inwards by which means the veins of the Spring being stopt the water is kept back and so on the other hand the water leaving the shore those Veins or natural Aqueducts are freed from all obstruction so that the water springs plentifully From hence coasting along the shore you come to Kynfyg the Castle heretofore of Fitz-Haimon and Margan Mââgân once a Monastery founded by William Earl of Glocester and now the Seat of the noble family of the Maunsels Knights Not far from Margan on the top of a Hill call'd Mynydd Margan there is a Pillar of exceeding hard stone erected for a Sepulchral Monument of about four foot in height and one in breadth with an Inscription which whoever happens to read the ignorant common people of that neighbourhood promise he shall dye soon after Let the Reader therefore take heed what he does for if he reads it he shall certainly dye The last words I read Aeternali in domo for in that age Sepulchres were call'd Aeternales domus d Betwixt Margan and Kynfyg also by the way side lyes a stone about four foot long with this Inscription PVNP EIVS CAR AN TOPIVS Which the Welsh as the Right Reverend the Bishop of Landaff who sent me this Copy of it informs me by adding and changing some letters do thus read and interpret PVMP BVS CAR A'N TOPIVS i.e. The five fingers of our friend or kinsman kill'd us They suppose it to have been the Grave of Prince Morgan from whom the Country receiv'd its name who they say was kill'd eight hundred years before the birth of our Saviour but Antiquaries know these Letters are of much later date e From Margan the shore leads North-eastward by Aber-Avon a small market town at the mouth
at this place And that being granted it will also appear highly probable that what we now call Lhannio was the very same with that which Ptolemy places in the Country of the Dimetae by the name of Lovantinum or as Mr. Camden reads it Lovantium If any shall urge that to suppose it only a Castle and not a City or Town of note is to grant it not to have been the old Lovantium I answer that perhaps we do but commit a vulgar Error when we take all the Stations in the Itinerary and Burroughs of Ptolemy for considerable Towns or Cities it being not improbable but that many of them might have been only Forts or Castles with the addition of a few Houses as occasion requir'd c As to the Beavers tho' we may not rely on the authority of Giraldus in many things he relates as one who writ in an age less cautious and accurate and when nothing pleas'd so much as what excited the admiration of the Reader yet in this case I see but littâe reason to question his veracity Moreover that there were formerly Beavers in this Kingdom seems much confirm'd in that there are two or three Ponds or Lakes in Wales well known at this day by the name of Lhyn yr Avangk i.e. Beaver-pool The vulgar people of our age scarce know what creature that Avangk was and therefore some have been perswaded that 't was a Phantom or Apparition which heretofore haunted Lakes and Rivers As for the name I take it for granted that 't is deriv'd from the word Avon which signifies a River and suppose it only an abbreviation of the word Avonog i.e. Fluviatilis as Lhwynog a Fox signifies Sylvaticus from Lhwyn Sylva And for the signification 't is not to be controverted some old Poets so describing it that I doubt not but that they meant a Beaver Besides the Beaver we have had formerly some oher Beasts in Wales which have been long since totally destroy'd As first Wolves concerning which we read in this Author in Meirionydh-shire as also in Derbyshire and Yorkshire Secondly Roe-Bucks call'd in Welsh Iyrchod which have given names to several places as Bryn yr Iwrch Phynon yr Iwrch Lhwyn Iwrch c. Thirdly The Wild-Boar whereof mention is made by Dr. Davies at the end of his Dictionary And lastly I have offer'd some arguments to prove also that Bears were heretofore natives of this Island which may be seen in Mr. Ray's Synopsis Methodica Animalium quadrupedum c. p. 213. d There have been since our Author writ this History several other Lead-Mines discover'd in this part of the County but the most considerable that has been found out in our time either here or in any other part of the Kingdom is that of Bwlch yr Eskir hîr discover'd Anno 1690. which was lately the possession of the right worshipful Sir Carbury Pryse of Gogerdhan Baronet who dying without issue and the title being extinct was succeeded in this estate of Gogerdhan by the worshipful Edward Pryse the son of Thomas Pryse of Lhan Vrêd Esq who is the present Proprietor of these Mines The Ore was here so nigh the surface of the Earth that as I have been credibly inform'd the moss and grass did in some places but just cover it which seems to add credit to that place of Pliny Nat. Hist lib. 34. c. 17. Nigro plumbo ad fistulas laminásque utimur laboriosiùs in Hispania eruto sed in Britanniâ summo terrae corio adeo largè ut lex ultro dicatur ne plus certo modo fiat But because there is a Map of these Lead-mines published by the Steward Mr. William Waller together with a far better account of them than may be expected here it seems needless to add any more on this subject ¶ There are also in this Countrey several such ancient Stone-monuments as we have observ'd in the preceding Counties whereof I shall briefly mention such as I have seen because they may differ in some respect from those already describ'd Lhêch yr Ast in the parish of Lhan Goedmor is a vast rude stone of about eight or nine yards in circumference and at least half a yard thick It is plac'd inclining the one side of it on the ground the other supported by a pillar of about three foot high I have seen a Monument somewhat like this near Lhan Edern in Glamorganshire call'd also by a name of the same signification Glâl y Vilast which affords no information to the curious signifying only the Bitch-Kennel because it might serve for such use That Gwâl y Vilast is such a rude stone as this but much longer and somewhat of an oval form about four yards long and two in breadth supported at one end by a stone about two foot high somewhat of the same form tho' much more rude as those we find at the head and feet of graves in Country Churches There is also by this Lhêch yr âst such another monument but much less and lower and five beds such as we call Kistieu Maen but not cover'd scarce two yards long of rude stones pitch'd in the ground as likewise a circular area of the same kind of stones the diameter whereof is about four yards but most of the stones of this circle are now fallen and about six yards from it there lies a stone on the ground and another beyond that at the same distance which doubtless belong to it Meineu hirion near Neuodh the seat of the worshipful David Parry Esq the present High-Sheriff of Penbrokeshire are perhaps some remaining pillars of such a circular stone-monument though much larger as that describ'd in Caer-Mardhin-shire by the name of Meneu gŵyr Meineu Kyvrîvol or the numerary stones near the same place seem to be also the remains of some such barbarous monument They are 19 stones lying on the ground confusedly and are therefore call'd Meineu Kyvrîvol by the vulgar who cannot easily number them whereof two only seem'd to have been pitch'd on end Lhêch y Gowres * Id est Saxum foeminae giganteae a monument well known also in this neighbourhood seems much more worth our observation being an exceeding vast stone placed on four other very large pillars or supporters about the height of five or six foot Besides which four there are two others pitch'd on end under the top-stone but much lower so that they bear no part of the weight There are also three stones two large ones and behind those a lesser lying on the ground at each end of this monument and at some distance another rude stone which has probably some reference to it This Lhêch y Gowres stands on such a small bank or rising in a plain open field as the five stones near the circular monument call'd Rolrich stones in Oxfordshire Hir-vaen gŵydhog * Id est Colossus conspicuus is a remarkable pillar about 16 foot high 3 foot broad and 2 thick It 's erected on the top of a mountain in
Meirionydh Shire This County though it be mountainous is yet in general a fertile Country having fruitful Vales as well for pasture as arable land and was formerly a breeder of excellent horses which as Giraldus informs us were much esteem'd as well for their shape and stateliness â Membroââ suà maââstate as incomparable swiftness At the utmost limit of this County westward where it ends in a Cone or sharp point lies Machynlheth âachynââeth the Maglona âaglona perhaps of the Romans where 1 In the time of the Emperour Theodosius the younger in the time of Honorius the Emperour the Praefect of the Solensians lay in garrison under the Dux Britanniae in order to keep in subjection the inhabitants of that mountainous tract And at 2 miles distance near Penalht Id est âorsum ârbis we find a place call'd Kevn-Kaer â where they sometimes dig up Roman Coyns and where are seen the footsteps of a round wall of considerable extent a Vâlgò âlyâhymâââ an reâââ Pen âââman ãâã c. Jugum ââxillare The founââin-head âf Severn Five miles hence that mountain of â Plinlimon I mention'd rises to a great height and on that side where it limits this County sends out the river Sabrina call'd by the Britains Havren and in English Seavern which next to Thames is the most noted river of Britain Whence it acquired that name I could never learn for that a Virgin call'd Sabrina was drown'd therein seems only a Fable of Jeffrey's invention on whose authority also a late Poet built these verses in flumen praecipitatur Abren Nomen Abren fluvio de virgine nomen eidem Nomine corrupto deinde Sabrina datur Headlong was Abren thrown into the stream And hence the river took the Virgin 's name Corrupted thence at last Sabrina came This river has so many windings near its Fountain-head that it seems often to return but proceeds nevertheless or rather wanders slowly through this County Shropshire Worcestershire and lastly Glocestershire and having throughout it's whole course enrich'd the soil is at last discharged into the Severn-sea In this County being shaded with woods it takes it's course northward by Lhan Idlos Lhan Idlos Tre ' newydh or New town New-town and Kaer Sŵs Kaer Sws which is reported to be both ancient and to enjoy ancient privileges and not far from it's bank on the east-side leaves Montgomery Montgomery the chief town of this County seated on a rising rock having a pleasant plain under it 'T was built by Baldwin Lieutenant of the Marshes of Wales in the reign of K. Will. 1. whence the Britains call it Tre ' Valdwin Tre ' Valdwyn i.e. Baldwin's Town but the English Montgomery from Roger de Mont Gomery E. of Shrewsbury 2 Who winning much land here from the Welsh as we find in Domesday c. whose inheritance it was and who built the Castle as we read in Domesday-book though Florilegus fabulously tells us 't was call'd Mons Gomericus from it's situation by King Henry 3. after he had rebuilt it for the Welsh had overthrown it putting the garrison to the sword in the year 1095. after which it lay a long time neglected However certain it is that King Henry 3. granted Anno 11. That the Burrough of Montgomery should be a free Burrough with other Liberties 3 Now the Herberts are here seated branched out from a brother of Sir William Herbert the first Earl of Penbroke of that name Near this town Corndon-hill Corndon-hill rises to a considerable height on the top whereof are placed certain * Commonly call'd Magifold stones in form of a crown whence the name in memory perhaps of some victory c A little lower the river Severn glides by Tralhwn i.e. the town by the Lake whence the English call it Welsh Pool Welsh Pool d Near unto which on the South-side is a Castle Red Castle call'd from the reddish stones whereof 't is built Kastelh Kôch where within the same walls are two Castles one belonging to the Lord of Powys the other to Baron Dudley Kadŵgan ap Bledhyn that renowned Britain mention'd in the last County whilst he was intent on the building of this Castle was slain by his nephew Madok as we find in the Abridgment of K'radok of Lhan Garvan Opposite to this on the other side the river lyes Buttington a place noted for the Danes wintering there whence Marianus tells us they were driven out by Adheredus Duke of Mercia in the year 894. The river Severn having left these places winds it self by degrees towards the East that it may the sooner receive a small river call'd Tanat * L. Myrnwy wherewith being united it enters Shropshire I am fully perswaded because it seems a certain truth that the Mediolanum Mediolanum of the Ordovices celebrated by Antoninus and Ptolemy stood in this Country the footsteps whereof I have diligently endeavour'd to trace out tho' with no great success so far doth age consume even the very skeletons and ruins of Cities However if we may conjecture from its situation seeing those Towns which Antoninus places on each side are well known viz. on one side Bonium call'd now Bangor by the river Dee and on the other Rutunium now Rowton Castle for he places it twelve Italian miles from this and from the other twenty the lines of Position if we may so term them or rather of Distance cross each other betwixt Mathraval and Lhan Vylhin which are scarce three miles asunder and in a manner demonstrate to us the situation of our Mediolanum For this method of finding out a third from two known places cannot deceive us when there are neither Mountains interpos'd nor the turnings of Roads discontinued This Mathraval Mathraval lyes five miles to the west of Severn and which in some degree asserts the Antiquity of it tho' it be now but a bare name 't was once the Royal Seat of the Princes of Powys and is also noted in Authors who tell us that after the Princes left it * De veteri ponte Robert Vipont an English-man built a Castle therein But Lhan Vylhin Lhan Vylhin i.e. the Church of Mylhin a small market-town tho' in respect of distance it be farther off is yet as to affinity of name much nearer Mediolanum For the word Vylhin is by a propriety of the British only a variation of Mylhin as Kaer-Vyrdhin from Kaer and Myrdhin and Ar-von from Ar-môn Nor is this name of Mylhin or Myllin more remote from Mediolanum than either Millano in Italy Le Million in Xantoigne or Methlen in the Low-Countries all which as is generally allowed were formerly known by the name of Mediolanum Now whether of these conjectures comes nearer the truth let the Reader determine for my own part I only deliver my opinion If I should affirm that this our Mediolanum and those other Cities of the same name in
Gaul were built either by Duke Medus or Prince Olanus or that whilst it was building Sus mediatim lanata a Sow half clad with wooll was dug up should I not seem to grasp at clouds and trifles And yet the Italians tell all these stories of their Mediolanum But seeing it is most evident that all these were founded by people who spoke the same language for we have shewn already that the Gauls and Britains used one common tongue it seems highly probable that they had their denomination from one and the same original Now our Mediolanum agrees in nothing with that of Italy but that each of them are seated in a Plain between two rivers and a learned Italian has from thence derived the name of his Mediolanum for that it is seated media inter lanas Lana ãâã it signââââ which he interprets betwixt Brooks or small Rivers e 4 But this may seem over-much of Mediolanum which I have sought here and about Alcester not far off This County has dignified no Earl with its name and title till very lately An. 1605. King James created at Greenwich Philip Herbert a younger son of Henry Earl of Penbroke by Mary Sydney at one and the same time Baron Herbert of Shurland and Earl of Montgomery Earls of Montgomery as a particular mark of his favour and for the great hopes he conceiv'd of his virtuous qualifications The Princes of Powis Princes of Powys descended from Roderic the Great â Froâ Bledhyn ãâã Kynvyâ Powel ãâã Lords of Powys possess'd this County with some others in a continued series till the time of Edward the second For then Owen the son of Grufydh ap Givenŵynwyn the last Lord of Powys of British Extraction for the title of Prince was discontinued long before left only one daughter call'd Hawis D. Powââ who was married to 5 Sir John John Charlton an English-man the King's Valect and he thereupon created Earl of Powys by King Edward the second His Arms as I have observed in several places were Or a Lion rampant Gules 6 Which he receiv'd from his wife's Progenitors He was succeeded in this title by four Barons until the male-line became extinct in Edward who by Aeleanora daughter and one of the heiresses of Thomas Holland Earl of Kent had two daughters viz. Jane married to Sir John Grey and Joyce the wife of John Lord Tiptoft from whom descended the Barons Dudley and others Dupli Norm 6 Hen. 5. This Sir John Grey by his own martial valour and the munificence of King Henry the fifth receiv'd the Earldom of Tanquervil Earl of Tanquerâââ in Normandy to him and his heirs male delivering one Bassinet at the Castle of Roan yearly on St. George's day His son was Henry Lord Powys in whose Family the title of Powys continued honourable to Edward Grey who not long before our time died without lawful issue f There are in this County 47 Parishes ADDITIONS to MONTGOMERYSHIRE a KEvn Kaer Kevn Kaer tho' it be here mention'd lyes in the County of Meirionydh concerning which a Gentleman who has liv'd there many years adds this farther account The main Fort which was on the highest part of the hill was built quadrangularly and encompass'd with a strong wall and a broad ditch of an oval form excepting that towards the valley 't was extended in a direct line On the out-side of the great ditch next the river Dyvi the foundations of many Houses have been discover'd and on a lower Mount there stood a small Fort which may be supposed to have been built of bricks for that they find there plenty of them All the out-walls were built of a rough hard stone which must have been carried thither by water there being none such nearer than Tâl y Ganeg distant from this place about seven miles From the Fort to the water-side there 's a broad hard way of pitch'd pebles and other stones continued in a straight line through meadows and marsh-grounds which may be about two hundred yards long and ten or twelve in breadth It is very evident this Fort hath been demolish'd before the building of the Church of Penalht for that we find in the walls of that Church several bricks mixt with the stones which were doubtless brought thither from this place Roman Coyns have been found here since Mr. Camden's time particularly some silver pieces of Augustus and Tiberius and near the main Fort in a field call'd Kâe Lhŵyn y Neuodh i.e. the Court or Palace-grove a small gold chain was found about four inches long and another time a Saphire-stone neatly cut Some other things of less note have been discover'd in the same place as a very large brass Cauldron used since as a brewing vessel at Kae'r Berlhan several pieces of lead and some very odd Glasses of a round form like hoops which were of several sizes some of them being about twenty inches in circumference others much less c. These hoop-glasses were curiously listed of divers colours some of which being broke 't was observ'd that variety proceeded from Sands or Powders of the same colours inclosed in several Cells within the Glass b Kaer Sŵs ââer Sws was anciently a town of considerable note as may be concluded from the street there and the lanes about it I cannot learn that any Roman coyns have been discover'd at this place however that it was of Roman foundation seems highly probable for that there have been lately besides some neat hewn stones for building several bricks dug up there of that kind we frequently meet with in such ancient Cities as were possess'd by the Romans It has had a Castle and at least one Church and is said to have been heretofore the seat of the Lords of Arwystli but how far this town extended seems at present altogether uncertain It has had encampments about it at three several places viz. First on the North-side on a Mountain call'd Gwyn-vynydh Secondly Eastward near a place call'd Rhôs dhiarbed in the parish of Lhan Dhinam where besides entrenchments there 's a very large Mount or Barrow And thirdly at a place call'd Kevn Karnedh about a quarter of a mile on the West-side of the town Moreover about half a mile Southward from this Kevn Kardnedh on the top of a hill above Lhan Dhinam Church there 's a remarkable entrenchment call'd y Gaer Vechan which name may signifie either the lesser City or the lesser Fortification but is here doubtless put for the latter c The stones on the top of Corndon-hill âârndon-ââââ whence ãâã call'd are no other than four such rude heaps as are commonly known on the Mountains of Wales by the name of Karneu and Karnedheu whereof the Reader may find some general account in Radnorshire And to me it seems very probable seeing these stones can in no respect be compar'd to a Crown that the name of Corndon is derived from this word Karn the singular of
aloft that it seems I shall not say to threaten the sky but even to thrust its head into it And yet it harbours snow continually being throughout the year cover'd with it or rather with a harden'd crust â Nivium senio of snow of many years continuance And hence the British name of Kreigieu Eryreu and that of Snowdon Snowdon Hills in English both which signifie Snowy mountains so Niphates in Armenia and Imaus in Scythia as Pliny informs us were denominated from Snow Nevertheless these mountains are so fertile in grass that it 's a common saying among the Welsh That the mountains of Eryreu would in a case of necessity afford pasture enough for all the cattel in Wales I shall say nothing of the two lakes on the tops of these mountains in one of which there floats a wandring island and the other affords plenty of fish each whereof has but one eye lest I might seem to countenance fables tho' some relying on Giraldus's authority have believ'd both However that there are lakes and standing waters on the tops of these mountains is certain whence Gervase of Tilbury in his book entitl'd Otia Imperialia writes thus In the land of Wales within the bounds of Great Britain are high mountains which have laid their foundations on exceeding hard rocks on the tops whereof the ground is so boggy that where you do but just place your foot you 'll perceive it to move for a stones cast Wherefore upon a surprisal of the enemy the Welsh by their agility skipping over that boggy ground do either escape their assaults or resolutely expect them while they advance forward to their own ruin Joannes Sarisburiensis in his Polycraticon calls the inhabitants of these mountains by a new-coin'd word Nivi collinos of whom he wrote thus in the time of Henry 2. Nivicollini Britones irruunt c. The Snowdon-Britains make inroads and being now come out of their caverns and woods they seize the plains of our Nobles and before their faces assault and overthrow them or retain what they have got because our youth who delight in the house and shade as if they were born only to consume the fruit of the land sleep commonly till broad day c. a But let us now descend from the mountains to the plains which seeing we find only by the sea it may suffice if we coast along the shore That promontory we have observ'd already to be extended to the south-west is call'd in the several copies of Ptolemy Canganum Cangaâââ Janganum and Langanum Which is truest I know not but it may seem to be Langanum seeing the inhabitants at this day call it LhÅ·n Lhyn It runs in with a narrow Peninsula having larger plains than the rest of this County which yield plenty of Barley It affords but two small towns worth our notice the innermost at the bay of Pwlh heli Pwlh ãâã which name signifies the Salt Pool and the other by the Irish sea which washes one part of this Peninsula call'd Nevin Nevin where in the year 1284 the English Nobility as Florilegus writes triumphing over the Welsh celebrated the memory of Arthur the Great with Tournaments and festival pomp If any more towns flourish'd here they were then destroyed Vita Gâfydâânaââ when Hugh Earl of Chester Robert of Rutland and Guarin of Salop the first Normans that advanc'd thus far so wasted this promontory that for seven years it lay desolate From Nevin the shore indented with two or three promontories is continued northwards and then turning to the north-east passes by a narrow frith or chanel call'd Meneu âneu or ânat See âirebeâ which separates the Isle of Anglesey from the firm land Upon this Fretum stood the city Segontium ââgoâtium mention'd by Antoninus of the walls whereof I have seen some ruins near a small Church built in honour of St. Publicius ãâ¦ã It took its name from a river that runs by it call'd to this day Seiont which issues out of the lake LhÅ·n Peris wherein they take a peculiar fish not seen elsewhere call'd by the inhabitants from its red belly Torgoch âââgoch Now seeing an ancient copy of Ptolemy places the haven of the Setantii ântii in this coast which other copies remov'd much farther off if I should read it Segontiorum Portum and should say it was at the mouth of this river perhaps I should come near the truth at least a candid reader would pardon my conjecture Ninnius calls this city Kaer Kystenydh and the author of the life of Grufydh ap Kynan tells us that Hugh Earl of Chester built a castle at Hén Gaer Kystenin which the Latin Interpreter renders The ancient city of the Emperour Constantine Moreover Matthew of Westminster hath recorded but herein I 'll not avouch for him that the body of Constantius the father of Constantine the Great was found here in the year 1283. and honourably interr'd in the Church of the new town by command of King Edward 1. who at that time built the town of Kaer'n Arvon out of the ruins of this city ânarâ a little higher by the mouth of the river in such a situation that the sea washes it on the west and north This as it took its name from its situation opposite to the island Mona so did it communicate that name to the whole County for thence the English call it Caernarvonshire This town is encompass'd with a firm wall tho' of a small circumference almost of a circular form and shews a beautiful castle which takes up all the west-side of it The private buildings for the manner of the Country are neat and the civility of the inhabitants much commended They esteem it a great honour that King Edward 1. was their founder and that his son Edward 2. the first Prince of Wales of English extraction was born there who was therefore stiled Edward of Caernarvon Moreover the Princes of Wales had here their Chancery their Exchequer and their Justiciary for North Wales In a bottom seven miles hence on the same Fretum lies Bangor âgor or Banchor enclosed on the south-side with a very steep mountain and a hill on the north so call'd à choro pulchro or as others suppose quasi locus chori âee â ãâã âsh D. ãâã in word ãâã âeâ ââi Penââ or ãâã Ceâ which is a Bishop's See and contains in it's Diocese 96 Parishes The Cathedral is consecrated to Daniel once Bishop thereof it 's no very fair building having been burnt by that most profligate Rebel Owen Glyn Dowrdwy who design'd no less than the destruction of all the Cities of Wales 'T was afterwards restored in the time of Henry 7. by the Bishop thereof Henry Deny but hath not yet recover'd it's ancient splendour 'T is now only a small town but was heretofore so considerable âa Gââf that for it 's large extent it was call'd Bangor-vawr and
or red Charres if we may so call them are found in some other Lakes of this County and Meirionydh besides Lhyn Peris but this Lake of St. Peris affords another kind of Alpine Fish and by the description I hear of it I suspect it to be the Gelt or Gilt Charre of Winandermear in Westmorland which Mr. Willoughby and Mr. Ray conclude to be the same with the Carpio Lacus Benaci of Rondeletius and Gesner The season here for catching both begins about the eleventh of November and continues for a month These fish as well as the Guiniad of Lhyn Tegid in Meirionydhshire are never taken by bait but in nets near Pontvawr in the river Seiont which issues out of this Lake and is call'd now corruptly Avon y Sant from St. Peris I observ'd that the Inhabitants of these Mountains call any low Country Hendrev which signifies the ancient habitation and that 't is a common tradition amongst them as also amongst those that inhabit the like places in Brecknock and Radnorshire that the Irish were the ancient Proprietors of their Country which I therefore thought remarkable because 't is impossible that either those of South-wales should receive it from these or the contrary seeing they have no communication there being a Country of about fourscore miles interpos'd b The river Conwy is probably one of the noblest streams of the length in Europe for whereas the whole course of it is but twelve miles it receives so many Brooks and Rivulets from the bordering Mountains of Snowdon that it bears Ships of burden And hence if I may be free to conjecture it receiv'd its name for supposing that Gŵy or ŵy signifies a River See Râdârâeââe ãâã â KÅ·nwy or Conwy for in Etymologies we regard the pronunciation not the orthography must denote an extraordinary great or prime river the particle Kyn prefixt in compound words being generally augmentative or else signifying the first and chief As Kyn-kan extraordinary white Kyndyn very stiff or obstinate Kynvid the Antediluvian world Kyndhydh the dawning of the day Kynverthyr a Proto-martyr c. And that we may note this by the way I suspect the word Cyn to have been the same originally with the Irish Cean i.e. Head whence Kyntav signifies the first quasi pennav the chiefest and Dr. Davies supposes the word Kyndhâredh i.e. Megrim or Vertigo to be equivalent in signification with Penharedh If this may be allow'd I know not but these proper names Cuntegorix Cunobelinus Cuneglasus and Cunotamus âea the ââââons call'd in British KÅ·ntwrch Kynvèlyn KÅ·nglas and Kynèdhav Pânâhââe ââem ãâã âav ãâã might bear the interpretation of Choerocephalus Flavicomus Canus and Capito or Bucephalus since we find that persons of the greatest dignity were stiled by such sirnames not only among the Britains but the Romans also and probably most Nations in these parts of Europe The Pearls of this river are as large and well colour'd as any we find in Britain or Ireland and have probably been fish'd for here ever since the Roman Conquest if not sooner For 't is evident that Pearls were in esteem amongst the Britains before that time seeing we read in Pliny â Nât Hist l. 9. c. 35. that Julius Caesar dedicated a Breast-plate to Venus genitrix placing it in her Temple at Rome all cover'd or studded over with British Pearls which must have been receiv'd from the Britains and not discover'd here by his own Souldiers for he advanced not much nearer than 100 miles of any river that affords them The British and Irish Pearls are found in a large black Muscle figur'd and describ'd by Dr. Lister under the title of Musculus niger omnium crassissimâ ponderosissimâ testâ â Append. ad Tract de Animal Angl p. 11. whereby it 's sufficiently distinguish'd from all other shells They are peculiar to rapid and stony rivers and are common in Wales in the North of England and Scotland and some parts of Ireland In this Country they are call'd by the vulgar Kregin Diliw i.e. Deluge-shells as if Nature had not intended shells for the rivers but being brought thither by the Universal Deluge had continued there and so propagated their kind ever since They that fish here for Pearls know partly by the out-side of these Muscles whether they contain any for generally such as have them are a little contracted or distorted from their usual shape A curious and accomplish'd Gentleman lately of these parts * Robert Wyn of Bôd Yâkalhen Esq whose untimely death I have reason amongst many others to bewail shew'd me a valuable Collection of the Pearls of this river amongst which I noted a stool-pearl of the form and bigness of a lesser button-mold weighing 17 grains distinguish'd on the convex side with a fair round spot of a Cornelian colour exactly in the center c The small village mention'd here by the name of Kaer hên lies three miles above Conwy or Aber Kynwy and is now call'd Kaer Rhûn which was also the vulgar name of it in our Author's age as appears by some Writings of that time Nevertheless I incline to his conjecture that Kaer Rhûn is only a corruption of Kaer hên i.e. the old City unless we should rather suppose it call'd Y Gaer hÅ·n which signifies the elder Town or City with reference to the Town of Conway which as our Author informs us was built by King Edwarâ the first out of the ruins of it The common tradition of this neighbourhood is that it received its name from Rhûn ap Maelgwn Gwynedh who liv'd about the end of the sixth Century for his Father whom Gildas calls Maglocunus which word I suppose some Copyist writ erroneously for Maelocunus and invectively Draco Insularis died about the year 586 * Mr. Rob. Vaughan's MS. This I suspect was at first no other than the conjecture of some Antiquary conceiv'd from the affinity of the names which being communicated to others became at length a current Tradition as we find too many more have on the like occasion but whether Rhûn ap Maelgwn gave name to this place or not 't is certain 't was a City long before his time there being no room to doubt but this was the old Conovium of the Romans mention'd in the Itinerary Not many years since there was a Roman Hypocaust discover'd at this place agreeable in all respects by the account I hear of it with those found at Kaer Lheion ar ŵysk mention'd by Giraldus and near Hope in Flintshire describ'd by Mr. Camden So that in all places in Wales where any Legions had their station such stoves or hot vaults have been discover'd those at Kaer Lheion ar ŵysk being made by the Legio Secunda Augusta that near Hope by the twentieth Legion entitl'd Britannica Valens Victrix which lay at Kaer Lheion ar Dhowrdwy or Westchester and this by the Tenth For I find in some notes of Mr. William Brickdal late Rector of Lhan Rŵst that he had seen
formerly a little Monastery z and to Bethmesley the seat of the famous family of Claphams of which was J. Clapham a famous souldier in the Wars between York and Lancaster Hence it passes by Ilekely ââa ââây which I imagine to be the Olicana in Ptolemy both from its situation in respect of York and the resemblance of the two names It is without question an ancient town for not to mention those engrav'd Roman pillars lying now in the Churchyard and elsewhere it was rebuilt in Severus's time by ââââon'd âââan ãâã ceâââ ââar ãâã Virius Lupus Legate and Propraetor of Britain as we are informed by an Inscription lately dug up near the Church IM SEVERVS AVG. ET ANTONINVS CAES. DESTINATVS RESTITVERVNT CV RANTE VIRIO LVPO ââgato ãâã Prââââ LEG EORVM â PR PR That the second Cohort of the Lingones quartered here is likewise shewed us by an old Altar I have seen there now put under a pair of stairs and inscribed by the ââââct Captain of the second Cohort of the Lingones to Verbeia perhaps the Nymph or Goddess of the Wherf the river called Verbeia I suppose from the likeness of the two words VERBEIAE SACRVM Verbeia fl vel Nympha CLODIVS FRONTO PRAEF COH II LINGON For Rivers says Gildas in that age had divine honours paid them by the ignorant Britains Epist 41. And Seneca tells us of Altars dedicated to them We worship the heads of great rivers and we raise altars to their first springs And Servius says that every river was presided by some Nymph or other In the walls of the Church there is this other imperfect Inscription RVM CAES. AVG. ANTONINI ET VERI JOVI DILECTI CAECILIVS PRAEF COH aa I found nothing in my search up and down the Church for pieces of Roman Antiquity but the portraicture of Sir Adam Middleton armed and cut out in stone who seems to have liv'd in Edward the 1.'s reign His posterity remain still in the neighbourhood at a place called Stubham bb Somewhat lower stands Otley Otley which belongs to the Archbishop of York memorable for nothing but its situation under a huge craggy Cliff called Chevin Chevin For the ridge of a mountain is in British Chevin Chevin what it signifies and so that long ridge of mountains in France which formerly us'd the same language with our Britains is called Gevenna Gevenna and Gebenna From hence the river flows in a chanel bank'd on both sides with Lime-stone by Harewood Harewood where stands a neat and strong Castle which has always chang'd its master as the times turn'd It was formerly the Curcies but went from them with Alice the heiress of that family to Warren Fitz-Gerold who married her Placit 1. Joan. Rot. 10. in D. Monstr le droit 35 Ed. 1. and had issue Margery who being one of his heirs and a great fortune was first married to Baldwin de Ripariis son to the Earl of Devonshire who died before his father and then by King John's means to Falcatius de Brent a favourite upon account of his great service in pillaging Afterwards Isabel de Ripariis Countess of Devonshire dying without issue this Castle fell to Robert de Lisle the son of Warren as a relation Lords de Insula or Lisle and one of her heirs At last by those of Aldborough it came to the Rithers as I learn'd from Fr. Thinn who with great judgment and diligence has long studied the Antiquities of this Kingdom cc Nor must I forget to take notice of a place just by called Gawthorp remarkable for that ancient and virtuous family the Gascoigns Gascoigns descended very probably from Gascoigne in France Hence the course of the river Wherf is by Wetherby Wetherby a notable trading town which has no remains of Antiquity but only a place under it called Helensford where a Roman military way has lain through the river dd Then by Tadcaster Tadcaster a very small town which yet I cannot but think was the same with Calcaria Calcaria both from the distance name and nature of the soil especially since it is agreeable to the opinion of Mr. Robert Marshall of Rickerton a person of excellent judgment for 't is just nine Italian miles from York which is the distance of Calcaria from it in Antoninus And Limestone which is the main ingredient in mortar is no where to be found all about but plentifully here from whence it is conveyed to York and all the Country round for the use of building This Limestone was call'd by the Britains the Saxons and the Northern English after the manner of the Latins Calc For that imperious City not only impos'd her Laws upon those she had subdu'd Câlcarienses De Decurâonibus l. 27. Roman Language in the Provinces Augustin l. 9. de Civit Dei but her Language too and Calcarienses in the Theodosian Code is used to denote them who burnt this Limestone from whence one might not improbably infer that this town had the name Calcaria from the Limestone found there like the city Chalcis from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã brass Ammon from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sand Pteleon from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã elms and perhaps the city Calcaria in Clive from the word Calx Especially considering that Bede calls it Calca-cester who tells us farther that k Heina the first woman of this Country that turned Nun came to this City and lived in it Again here is by the town a hill called Kelcbar which still retains something of the old name For other proofs of Antiquity not to mention its situation near a Roman Consular way there are many Coins of Roman Emperours digged up in it the marks of a trench quite round the town and the platform of an old Castle still remaining out of the ruins of which a bridge was made over the Wherf not many years ago Not far from this bridge the Wherf glides gently into the Ouse And really considering the many currents that fall into it this so shallow and easie stream from the bridge is very strange and might well give occasion to what a certain Gentleman that passed it in the summer-time said of it Itinerary of T. Edes Nil Tadcaster habet Musis vel carmine dignum Praeter magnificè structum sine flumine pontâm Nothing in Tadcaster deserves a name But the fair bridge that 's built without a stream Yet if he had travell'd this way in winter he would have thought the bridge little enough for the river For as Natural Philosophers know very well the quantity of water in springs and rivers ever depends upon the inward or outward heat and cold 10 Whereupon in his return he finding here durt for dust and full current water under the bridge recanted with these Verses Quae Tadcaster erat sine flumine pulvere plena Nunc habet immensum fluvium pro pulvere lutum ee Nid
The Church of York was by the Princes of that time endow'd with many large possessions especially by Ulphus the son âf Toraldus which I the rather note from an old bâok that a strange way of endowing heretofore may be took notice of This Ulphus govern'd in the west parts of Deira and by reason of a difference like to happen between his eldest son and his youngest about the Lordships after his death he presently took this course to make them equal Without delay he went to York and taking the horn wherein he was wont to drink with him he fill'd it with wine and kneeling upon his knees before the Altar bestow'd upon God and the blessed S. Peter Prince of the Apostles all his Lands and Tenements This horn was kept there to the last age as I have been informed It would seem to reflect upon the Clergy if I should relate the emulations and scuffles which ambition has raised between the two Sees of York and Canterbury whilst with great expence of money but more of reputation they warmly contended for pre-eminence T. ãâã r This Controversie was determin'd in Arch-bishop Thoresby's time A. D. 1353. at the special solicitation of King Edward â qui corpoâum animarum pericula considerans ac pacem quietem populi sui affectans dictos Archiepiscopos ad pacis concordiam invitavit Yet so as that the Arch-bishops of York might legally write themselves Primate of England Anglia Sacra par 1. p. 74. For as one relates it the See of York was equal in dignity tho' it was the younger and the poorer sister and this being raised to the same power that the See of Canterbury was and endowed with the same Apostolical privileges took it very heinously to be made subject by the decree of P. Alexander declaring that the Arch-bishoprick of York ought to yield to that of Canterbury and pay an obedience to her as Primate of all Britain in all her Constitutions relating to the Christian Religion It falls not within the compass of my design to treat of the Arch-bishops of this See many of whom have been men of great virtue and holiness 'T is enough for me to observe that from the year 625. when Paulinus the first Arch-bishop was consecrated there have succeeded in it threescore and five Arch-bishops The ãâã sixth Aââbishâp to the year 1606. in which D. Tobias Matthews Venerable for his virtue and piety for his learned eloquence and for his indefatigable industry in teaching was translated hither from the Bishoprick of Durham mm This City very much flourish'd for some time under the Saxon Government till the Danish storms from the North began to rush on and spoil'd its beauty again by great ruins and dismal slaughter Which Alcuin in his Epistle to Egelred King of the Northumbrians seems to have foretold For he says What can be the meaning of that shower of blood which in Lent we saw at York the Metropolis of the Kingdom near St. Peter's Church descending with great horrour from the roof of the North part of the House in a clear day May not one imagine that this forebodes destruction and blood among us from that quarter For in the following age when the Danes laid every thing they came at waste and desolate this City was destroy'd with continual sufferings In the year 867. the walls of it were so shaken by the many assaults made upon them that Osbright and Ella Kings of Northumberland as they pursued the Danes in these parts easily broke into the City and after a bloody conflict in the midst of it were both slain leaving the victory to the Danes who had retired hither Hence that of William of Malmesbury York ever most obnoxious to the fury of the northern nations hath sustained the barbarous assaults of the Danes and groaned under the miseries it hath suffered But as the same author informs us King Athelstan took it from the Danes and demolish'd that castle wherewith they had fortified it Nor in after-ages was it quite rid of those wars in that especially which was so fatal for the subversion of Cities But the Normans as they put an end to these miseries so they almost brought destruction to York For when the sons of Sueno the Dane arrived here with a fleet of two hundred and forty sail Aâfâââ ãâã the ãâã of the ãâã Burleââ Treasââ of Eâgâ and landed hard by the Normans who kept garrison in two castles in the city fearing lest the houses in the suburbs might be serviceable to the enemy in filling up the trenches set them on fire which was so encreased and dispersed by the wind that it presently spread about the whole city and set it all on fire In this disorder and hurry the Danes took the town putting the Townsmen and the Normans to the sword with great slaughter yet sparing William Mallet and Gilbert Gant the principal men among them for a Decimation Deciââââon among the soldiers afterwards For every tenth prisoner of the Normans on whom the lot fell was executed Which so exasperated William the Conquerour that as if the citizeâs had sided with the Danes he cut them all off and set the City again on fire and as Malmesbury says so spoiled all the adjacent territory that a fruitful Province was quite disabled and useless that the country for sixty miles together lay so much neglected that a stranger would have lamented at the sight of it considering that formerly here had been fine cities high towers and rich pastures and that no former inhabitant would so much as know it The ancient greatness of the place may appear from Domesday In the time of Edward the Confessor the City of York contained six Shires or Divisions besides the Shire of the Archbishop One was wasted for the castles in the five remaining Shires there were 1428 houses inhabited and in the Shire of the Archbishop two hundred houses inhabited After all these overthrows Necham sings thus of it Visito quam foelix Ebraucus condidit urbem Petro se debet Pontificalis apex Civibus haec toties viduata novisque repleta Diruta prospexit moenia saepe sua Quid manus hostilis queat est experta frequenter Sed quid nunc pacis otia longa fovent There happy Ebrauk's lofty towers appear Which owe their mitre to St. Peter's care How oft in dust the hapless town hath lain How oft it's walls hath chang'd how oft it's men How oft the rage of sword and flames hath mourn'd But now long peace and lasting joy 's return'd For in his days these troublesome times being followed with a long and happy peace this city began to revive and continued flourishing notwithstanding it was often marked out for destruction by our own Rebels and the Scotch Yet in King Stephen's time it was most sadly ruined again by a casual fire which burnt down the Cathedral St. Mary's Monastery and other Religious houses and also as 't is supposed that
streams that fall into it and many other very considerable rivers discharge themselves here And it is without question the most spacious Aestuary and the best stor'd with fish of any in the Kingdom At every tide it flows as the sea does and at ebb returns it 's own waters with those borrowed from the Ocean with a vast hurry and murmur and not without great danger to those that then sail in it Hence Necham Fluctibus aequoreis Naeutis suspectior Humber Dedignans urbes visere rura colit Humber whom more than seas the Pilots fear Scorning great towns doth thro' the country steer The same Author still following the British history as if the Humber deriv'd this name from a King of the Hunns continues Hunnorum princeps ostendens terga Locrino Submersus nomen contulit Humbris aquae The Hunne's great Prince by Locrin's arms subdu'd Here drown'd gave name to Humber's mighty flood Another Poet says of the same river Dum fugit obstat ei flumen submergitur illic Deque suo tribuit nomine nomen aquae Here stopt in 's flight by the prevailing stream He fell and to the waters left his name However in Necham's time there was no city seated upon this Aestuary tho' before and in after-ages there flourished one or two in those places In the Roman times not far from its bank upon the little river Foulnesse where Wighton ââghton a small town well frequented with husbandmen now stands there seems to have stood Delgovitia âgoviâia as is probable both from the likeness and the signification of the name without drawing any other proofs from its distance from Derventio For the word Delgwe in British signifies the Statues or Images of the heathen Gods and in a little village not far off there stood an Idol-Temple Bede in very great glory even in the Saxon times which from the heathen Gods in it was then called God-mundingham and now in the same sense Godmanham Godmanâam Nor do I question but here was some famous Oracle or other even in the British times an age wherein weakness and ignorance exposed the whole world to these superstitions A Temple of the Gods But after Paulinus had preach'd Christ to the Northumbrians Coyfi who had been a priest of these heathen Ceremonies and was now converted to Christianity first profaned this Temple the house of impiety as Bede tells us * Injââta lancâa by throwing a spear into it nay destroyed and burnt it with all its â Sepâââ hedges f Somewhat more eastward the river Hull runs into the Humber the rise of it is near a village call'd Driffeild Driffeild remarkable for the monument of Alfred the most learned King of the Northumbrians and likewise for the many Barrows rais'd hereabouts The same river posts on running not far from Leckenfeld Leckenfeld a house of the Percies Earls of Northumberland near which at a place called Schorburg is the habitation of a truly famous and ancient family the Hothams and at Garthum not far from thence the rubbish of an old castle which belonged to P. de Malo-lacu or Mauley The river-Hull begins now to approach near Beverley Beverley in Saxon Beuer-lega which Bede seems to call Monasterium in Deirwaud that is the Monastery in the wood of the Deiri a town large and very populous From it's name and situation one would imagine it to be the Petuaria Parisiorum Petuaria tho' it pretends to nothing of greater antiquity than that John sirnamed de Beverley Archbishop of York a man as Bede represents him that was both devout and learned out of a pious aversion to this world renounced his Bishoprick and retired hither where about the year 721 he died Life of Jo. de Beverley The memory of him has been so sacred among our Kings particularly Athelstan who honoured him as his Guardian-Saint after he had defeated the Danes that they have endowed this place with many considerable immunities 3 And Athelstan granted them Liberties in these geâeral words All 's free make I thee As heart may think or eye may see They granted it the privilege of a Sanctuary that it should be an inviolable protection to all Bankrupts and those suspected of Capital crimes Asylum Within it stood a Chair made of stone with this Inscription HAEC SEDES LAPIDEA Freedstooll DICITVR i. PACIS CATHEDRA AD QVAM REVS FVGIENDO PERVENIENS OMNIMODAM HABET SECVRITATEM That is This Stone-seat is call'd Freedstooll i.e. the Chair of Peace to which what Criminal soever flies shall have full protection By this means the Town grew up to a considerable bulk strangers throng'd thither daily and the Towns-men drew a chanel from the river Hull The river Hull for the conveyance of foreign commodities by boats and barges The Magistrates of the Town were first twelve Wardens which were after that chang'd to Governours and Wardens But at this day by the favour of Queen Elizabeth the Town has a Mayor and Governours g More to the Eastward flourish'd Meaux-Abbey Regist Monast de Meaux so denominated from one Gamell born at Meaux in France who obtain'd it of William the Conquerour to live in Here William le Gross Earl of Albemarle founded a Monastery for the Monks of the Cluniack Order to atone for a vow he had made whereby he was oblig'd to go to Jerusalem Somewhat lower stands Cottingham Cottingham a long Country-town where are the ruins of an old Castle built by King John's permission by Robert Estotevill Estotevil descended from Robert Grundebeofe a Norman Baron and a man of great note in those times whose estate came by marriage to the Lords de Wake and afterwards by a daughter of John de Wake to Edmund Earl of Kent from whom descended Joan wife to Edward that most warlike Prince of Wales who defeated the French in so many Engagements The river Hull about six miles from hence falls into the Humber Just at its mouth stands a Town call'd from it Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull but commonly Hull The Town is of no great antiquity for King Edward the first whose royal virtues deservedly rank him among the greatest and best of Kings Plac. an 44 Ed 3 Ebor. 24. having observ'd the advantagious situation of the place which was first call'd Wik had it in exchange from the Abbot de Meaux and instead of the Vaccarii and Bercarii that is as I apprehend it Cribs for Cows and Sheep-folds which he found there he built the Town call'd Kingston signifying the King's Town and there as the words of the Record are he made a harbour and a free burgh making the inhabitants of it free burgesses and granting them many liberties By degrees it has grown to that dignity that for statley building strong forts rich fleets resort of merchants and plenty of all things 't is without dispute the most celebrated Town in these parts All this
a THat the great opinion our Ancestors had of the Sanctity of St. Cuthbert was the occasion of their munificence to his Church our Histories informs us and ãâã is very evident from our Author But he seems to have given him more than ever was bestow'd when he tells us that King Egfrid gave him large Revenues in York For his Charter be it true or counterfeit mentions no such thing Simeon Dunelmensis indeed or rather Abbot Turgot tells us that Creac was given him by this King Ut haberet Eboracum iens vel inde rediens mansionem ubi requiescere posset But this only intimates that St. Cuthbert might have frequent occasions to travel to York probably to attend the Court which the Historian supposes to have been most commonly resident in that City b Nor can we properly say that Guthrun the Dane whom our Historians call also Guthredus Cuthredus Gormo and Gurmundus was Lieutenant to the great King Aelfred in the Kingdom of Northumberland any more than Aelfred was his Deputy in that of the West-Saxons For they two by compact divided the whole Kingdom betwixt them and joyntly enacted Laws which were to be mutually observ'd both by the English and Danes And hence some Monks have taken occasion to unite them falsly in granting Charters to Monasteries c. c What vast Privileges and Immunities this Church had by the Liberality of Princes we may learn in general from Mr. Camden but may have a more particular view by the help of some observations upon that Head extracted for me by Mr. Rudd Schoolmaster of Durham out of the posthumous Papers of Mr. Mickleton who had made large Collections in order to the Antiquities of this County It 's probable the Bishops were Counts Palatine before the Conquest it appears at least they were so in the Conquerour's time Their power was formerly very great till part of it was taken away by the Statute of Henry 8. It was a common saying that Quicquid Rex habet extra Comitatum Dunelmensem Episcopus habet intrà nisi aliqua sit concessio aut praescriptio in contrarium They had power to levy Taxes and make Truces with the Scots to raise defensible persons within the Bishoprick from 16 to 60 years of age They had power also to make Barons who as well as their vassals were bound to come to their Palace to advise them and to give them observance and obedience in their Courts And altho' the Canons forbid any Clergyman to be present when judgment of blood is given the Bishops of Durham did and may sit in Court in their Purple-robes in giving judgment of death Hence the saying Solum Dunelmense judicat stola ense They had a Mint and power to coyn money The Courts which in other places are held in the King's name were till the Statute of Henry 8. held here in the Bishop's till which time he could make Justices of Assizes of Oyer and Terminer and of the Peace and all Writs went out in his name All Recognizances entred upon his Close-Rolls in his Chancery and made to him or in his name were as valid within the County as those made to the King without He could exempt men from appearing at the Assizes and being Jurors He had a Register of Writs of as much authority as that in the King's Courts He hath yet his Court of Chancery Common-Pleas and County Court and Copyhold or Halmot Court A great part of the Land in the County is held of him as Lord Paramount in Capite All the Moors and Wastes in the County to which no other can make title belong to him which could not be enclos'd without his grant Neither could Freehold Lands be alienated without his leave they that did so were oblig'd to sue to him for his Patent of Pardon He pardon'd intrusions trespasses c. He had villains or bondmen whom he manumitted when he pleas'd The Lands Goods and Chattels of those that committed Treason are forfeited to the Bishop All forfeitures upon Outlawries or Felonies belong to him He could pardon Felonies Rapes Trespasses and other Misprisions He had the fruits of Tenures by Wardships Marriages Liveries Primier-seizins Ouster le mains c. He gave licence to build Chapels found Chantries and Hospitals made Burroughs and Incorporations Markets Fairs c. He created several Officers by Patent either quamdiu se bene gesserint quamdiu Episcopo placuerit or for life or lives viz. his Temporal Chancellor Constable of the Castle of Durham Great Chamberlain Under-Chamberlain Secretary Steward Treasurer and Comptroller of his Houshold Steward and Under-steward of the Manours or Halmot Courts Sheriff Protonotary Clerk of the Chancery Crown and Peace several Keepers of the Rolls belonging to their respective Offices Registers and Examiners in Chancery Clerk of the County Court Stewards of Burrough-Courts Escheators Feodaries Auditors and Under-Auditors Clerks of the Receipt of the Exchequer Supervisors of Lordships Castles Mines of Coal Lead and Iron Coroners Conservators of Rivers and Waters Officers of the Marshalsea or Clerks of the Market of Cities Burroughs and Towns Keepers of his Seal of Ulnage and of his Wardrobe and Harness But none of his Patents are valid any longer than the Bishop's life that gives them unless they be confirm'd by the Dean and Chapter He had several Forests Chaces Parks Woods where he had his Foresters who kept Courts in his name and determin'd matters relating to the Forests c. or the Tenants of them Parkers Rangers Pale-keepers He was Lord Admiral of the Seas and Waters within the County Palatine had his Vice-Admirals and Courts of Admiralty Judges Registers Examiners c. Officers of Beaconage Anchorage c. he awarded Commissions to regulate waters and passage of waters There have been several contests betwixt the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham about Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the one attempting to exercise his Archiepiscopal jurisdiction in this Diocese the other claiming a peculiar immunity Walter Gray Archbishop profferr'd the Archdeacon of Durham the guariandship of Stanhop-Church but he refus'd to accept it as having it before in his own or the Bishop's right Another Archbishop coming to visit the Priory when the Bishop was absent at Rome was forc'd to take Sanctuary in St. Nicholas Church as he was afterwards upon another attempt of the same nature and when he was going to excommunicate them in his Sermon was in danger of being kill'd if he had not escap'd out of the Church one of his Attendants lost an ear This distinct mention of Condati would tempt us to believe that this was the ancient Condate which Mr. Camden places in Cheshire Which opinion one may close with the more freely because nothing at least that he has told us of induc'd him to settle it at Congleton beside the affinity of names e North from hence is Heighington Heighington in Darlington-ward where Elizabeth Penyson founded a School in the 43d of Queen Elizabeth to which Edward
some parts they find great store of Marle to manure their grounds whereby that soil which was deem'd unfit for Corn is so kindly improv'd that we may reasonably think Mankind rather to blame for their idleness heretofore than the Earth for her ingratitude But as for the goodness of this County we may see it in the complexion of the Natives who are particularly well favour'd and comely nay and if we will Lancashire Oxen. in the Cattle of it too For in the Oxen which have huge horns and â Compositio corpore proportionable bodies you shall find nothing of that perfection wanting that Mago the Carthaginian in Columella requir'd On the South part it is divided from Cheshire by the river Mersey which springeth in the middle of the Mountains becomes the boundary as soon as it has gone a little from the rise of it and runs with a gentle stream towards the West inviting as it were other rivers to use the words of the Poet into his azure lap and forthwith receives the Irwell from the North and with it all the rivers of this Eastern part The most memorable of them is the river Roch upon which in the valley stands Rochdale Rochdale a market-town of no small resort as also Bury upon the Irwell it self a market-town no way inferiour to the other And near this whilst I carefully sought up and down for Coccium mention'd by Antoninus I saw Cockley Cockley a wooden Chapel beset round with Trees Turton-Chapel situated in a dirty steep place Turton-tower Turton and Entweissel a fair built house The latter of which formerly belong'd to certain noble persons of that name the former is the seat of that famous family the Orells at this day Where the Irk runs into the Irwell on the left bank rising in a kind of reddish stone scarce three miles from the Mersey flourishes that ancient Town read according to different copies Mancunium Maâââum and Manutium in Antoninus which old name it has not quite lost at this day being now call'd Manchester Manââ This surpasses all the Towns hereabouts in building populousness woollen-manufacture market-place Church and its College a This stately stone building is now wholly employ'd for the use of the Hospital and Library founded in the reign of Henry the fifth by Thomas Lord La-Ware 1 Bâing summon'd to Parliament among the Lords Temporal by the name of Magister Thomas de la Ware who was in Orders and was the last heir-male of this family He was descended from the Greleys who were by report the ancient Lords of the Town 2 And by Joânna sister of tâe ãâã Sir Thâmas it came to the Wests now Lords de la Ware But in the last age it was much more eminent for the credit of its Woolen-cloth or Manchester-Cottons Maâchâ Câttââ as they call them and also for the privilege of a Sanctuary in it which by Act of Parliament in Henry the eighth's time was transferr'd to Chester a In a Park adjoyning to the County of Deâby call'd Alparc I saw the marks of an old square Fort just where the river Medloc joyns the Irwell which they call Mancastle I will not say that this was the ancient Mancunium the compass of it is so little but rather that it has been some Roman station here I saw an old stone with this Inscription * O CANDIDI FIDES XX. _____ IIII. This other was taken for me by the famous Mathematician J. Dee Warden of Manchester-College who view'd it COHO I. FRISIN O MASAVONIS P. _____ XXIII They may seem erected to the memory of those Centurions for their approv'd faith and loyalty for so many years together b In the year 920. Edward the elder as Marianus says sent an Army of the Mercians into Northumberland for then this belong'd to the Kings of Northumberland that they should repair the City of Manchester and put a Garison in it c For it seems to have been destroy'd in the Danish wars and because the Inhabitants behav'd themselves bravely against them they will have their Town call'd Manchester that is as they explain it a city of men and of this opinion they are strangely fond as seeming to contribute much to their glory But these honest men are not sensible that Mancunium was the name of it in the British times so that the original of it as 't is derived from our English tongue will by no means hold And therefore I had rather fetch it from the British word Main which signifies a stone For it stands upon a stony hill and beneath the Town at Colyhurst Câlâ there are noble and very famous quarries THE COUNTY PALATINE OF LANCASTER By Robt. Morden ãâ¦ã After Chatmoss we see Holcroft which gave both seat and name to the famouâ family of the Holcrofts formerly enrich'd by marriage with the Coheir of Culchit For that place stands hard by which Gilbert de Culchit held in fee of Almarick Butler as Almarick did of the Earl de Ferrariis in Henry the third's time Whose eldest daugher and heir being married to Richard the son of Hugh de Hinley he took the name of Culchith as Thomas his brother who married the second daughter was call'd from the estate Holcroft the other for the same reason Peasfalong and the fourth de Riseley ãâ¦ã Now I note this that the Reader may see that our Ancestors as they were grave and settl'd in other things so in rejecting old and taking new names from their possessions were light and changeable And this was a thing commonly practis'd heretofore in other parts of England Here are little Towns quite round as also throughout this whole County Cheshire and other Northern parts which have given names to famous families and continue in the hands of those of the same name to this very day As Aston of Aston Atherton of Atherton Tillesley of Tillesley Standish of Standish Bold of Bold Hesket of Hesket Worthington of Worthington Torbeck of Torbeck c. It would be endless to reckon up all neither is it my design to give an account of eminent families but to survey such places as are of Antiquity Yet these and such like families in the Northern Counties that I may once for all observe it as they rose by their bravery and grew up more and more by their frugality and the ancient self-contented simplicity so in the South parts of England Luxury Usury Debaucheries and Cheating have undone the most flourishing families in a short time insomuch that many complain how the old race of our Nobility fades and decays ãâ¦ã Let us however go on with the Mersey which runs by Warrington remarkable for its Lords the Butlers who obtain'd for it the privilege of a Market from Edward the first Hence northward at no great distance ãâ¦ã stands Winwick very famous for being one of the best ãâ¦ã Benefices in England Here in the uppermost part of the Church
think m This reading should make it seem to be the ancient Whitern or Candida Casa in Galloway in Scotland being possibly a corruption for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i.e. White-houses Leucopibia Nennius Caer Lualid the ridiculous Welsh Prophecies The City of Duballus we Carlile and the Latins from the more modern name Carleolum For that Luguballia and Carlile are the same is universally agreed upon by our Historians n Caer in Welsh signifies a City and Caer-Luul Caer-Luel Caer-Lugubal as it was anciently writ are the very same with Caer-Leil or Caer-Luil the present appellation and import as much as the Town or City of Luul Luel or Lugubal But as to the Etymology good God! what pains has our Countryman Leland took about it and at last he 's driven upon this shift to fancy Ituna might be call'd Lugus and that Ballum came from Vallis a valley and so makes Lugu-vallum as much as a valley upon the Luge But give me leave also to produce my conjecture I dare affirm that the Vallum and Vallin were deriv'd from that famous military Vallum of the Romans which runs just by the City For Antoninus calls it Luguvallum ad vallum and the Picts-wall that was afterwards built upon the Wall of Severus is to be seen at Stanwicks a small village a little beyond the Eden over which there is a wooden bridge It pass'd the river over against the Castle where in the very chanel the remains of it namely great stones appear to this day Also Pomponius Mela has told us ãâã ââgus âhat they ââgnify'd ââong the ââcient Briâââns and ââals that Lugus or Lucus signify'd a Tower among the old Celtae who spoke the same Language with the Britains For what Antoninus calls Lugo Augusti is in him Turris Augusti so that Lugu-vallum both really is and signifies a tower or fort upon the wall or vallum Upon this bottom if the French had made their Lugdunum ââgduââm signifie as much as a tower upon a hill and their Lucotetia Lucotetia or Lutetia in France An old Itinerary lately publish'd says that Lugdunum signifies a desirable mountain so the Ancients nam'd what we call Lutetia as much as a beautiful tower for the words import so much in the British possibly they might have been more in the right than by deriving the latter from Lutum dirt and the former from one Lugdus a fabulous King That this City flourish'd in the times of the Romans does plainly enough appear both from the several evidences of Antiquity they now and then dig up and from the frequent mention made of it by Roman Authors And even after the ravages of the Picts and Scots it retain'd something of it's ancient beauty and was reckon'd a City For in the year of our Lord 619. Egfrid King of Northumberland o See the Donation at large in Sim. Dunelm l 2. p. 58. gave it to the famous S. Cuthbert in these words I have also bestow'd upon him the City call'd Luguballia with the lands fifteen miles round it At which time also it was wall'd round The Citizens says Bede carry'd Cuthbert to see the Walls of the City and a Well of admirable workmanship built in it by the Romans At which time Cuthbert as the Durham-book has it founded a Religious-house for Nuns with an Abbess and Schools for the instruction of youth Afterwards being miserably destroy'd by the Danes it lay bury'd for about two hundred years in it's own ashes till it began to flourish again by the favour and assistance of William Rufus who built it a-new with a Castle and planted there a Colony first of the Flemings whom upon better consideration he quickly remov'd into oo North-Wales and the Isle of Anglesey Wales and then of English sent out of the south r Then as Malmesbury has it was to be seen a Roman Triclinium or dining-room of stone arch'd over which neither the violence of Weather nor Fire could destroy On the front of it was this Inscription Marii Victoriae Some will have this Marius to have been Arviragus the Britain others that Marius who was saluted Emperour in opposition to Gallienus and is said to have been so strong that Authors tell us he had nerves instead of veins in his fingers Yet I have heard that some Copies have it not Marii Victoriae but Marti Victori which latter may perhaps be favour'd by some and seem to come nearer the truth Luguballia now grown populous had as they write it's Earl or rather Lord Ralph Meschines or de Micenis from whom are descended the Earls of Chester and being about the same time honour'd with an Episcopal See by Hen. 1. had Athulph for it's first Bishop This the Monks of Durham look'd upon as an injury to their Church When Ralph say they Bishop of Durham was banish'd and the Church had none to protect it certain Bishops seis'd upon Carleil and Tividale and joyn'd them to their own Dioceses How the Scots in the reign of King Stephen took this City and Henry 2. recover'd it how Henry 3. Eversden committed the Castle of Carlile and the County to Robert de Veteri ponte or Vipont how in the year 1292. it was p The Chronicle of Lauercost is very particular in describing this lamentable Fire He that recorded the account was an eye-witness and says that the fire was so violent that it consum'd the villages two miles off as well as the Church Castle and the whole City and by his relation it should seem that the City was then much larger and more populous than at present it is burnt down along with the Cathedral and Suburbs how Robert Brus the Scot in the year 1315. besieg'd it without success c. are matters treated of at large in our Histories But it may be worth our while to add two Inscriptions I saw here one in the house of Thomas Aglionby near the Citadel * Deterioris seculi but not ancient DIIS MANIBV S MARCI TROIANI AVGVSTINANI * Tumulum TVM FA CIENDVM CVRAVIT AFEL AMMILLVSIMA CONIVX â Carissima KARISS To which is joyn'd the effigies of an armed Horseman with a Lance. The other is in the Garden of Thomas Middleton in a large and beautiful Character LEG VI VIC P. F. G. P. R. F. That is as I fancy Legio Sexta Victrix Pia Felix The interpretation of the rest I leave to others Andrew Harcla Earl of Carlisle Carlisle had only one Earl 15 Sir Andrew Andrew de Harcla whom Edward the second to speak from the Original Charter of Creation for his honourable and good services against Thomas Earl of Lancaster and his Adherents for subduing the King's Subjects who were in rebellion and delivering them prisoners to the King by the girding of a sword created Earl under the honour and title of Earl of Carleol But the same person afterwards prov'd ungrateful villanous and perfidious to
new name an ancient Altar was found among the rubbish of an old Castle with this Inscription âc Duplaâs Numeri âxploratoâm Bremeâi Aram âstituerunt âumini eâs Capione âharâcimo âibuno voâân solveânt Libânâs mereto D. R. S. DVPL N. EXPLOR BREMEN ARAM. INSTITVERVNT NÌ EIVS C CAEP CHARITINO TRIB V S L M May we not hence guess that here was that Bremenium âremenium so industriously and so long sought after which Ptolemy mentions in these parts and from which Antoninus begins his first journey in Britain as from its outmost limit g For the bounds of the Empire were seas great rivers mountains desart and unpassable countries such as this part affords ditches walls empailures and especially castles built in the most suspected places whereof there are here great plenty of remains Indeed since the Barbarians having thrown down Antoninus Pius's Wall in Scotland widely spoil'd this Country and Hadrian's Wall lay unheeded till Severus's time we may believe the limits of the Roman Empire were in this place and hence the old Itinerary that goes under the name of Antoninus begins here as à Limite i. at the furthest bounds of the Empire But the addition of i. à vallo is a gloss of the transcriber's since Bremenium lies fourteen miles northward from the Wall unless we take it to be one of those Field-stations already mention'd to have been built beyond the Wall in the Enemy's Country To the south of old Bremenium within five miles Battel of Otterburn 1388. lies Otterburn where a stout engagement happen'd betwixt the Scots and English Victory three or four times changing sides and at last fixing with the Scots for Henry Percy for his youthful forwardness by-nam'd Whot-spur who commanded the English was himself taken prisoner and lost fifteen hundred of his men and William Douglas the Scotch General fell with the greatest part of his army so that never was there a greater instance of the martial prowess of both Nations h A little lower the river Rhead washes or rather has almost wash'd away another Town of venerable antiquity now call'd Risingham Risingham which in the old-English and high-Dutch languages signifies as much as Giants-Town as Risingberg in Germany is Giants-Hill i There are here many remains of antiquity The Inhabitants report that the placc was long defended by the god Magon against a certain Soldane or Pagan Prince Nor is the story wholly groundless for that such a god was here worship'd appears from these two Altars lately taken out of the River and thus inscrib'd ãâã Mogonâ Cadenoâ ââini Doââini nostri âugusti M. â Secundiâ Benefiâaâius Conâ Habiâici Priââ tam âse ãâã posuit DEO MOGONTI CAD ET N. DN AVG. M. G. SECVNDINVS BF COS. HABITA NCI PRIMAS TA PRO SE ET SVIS POSVIT DEO MOVNO CAD INVENTVS DO V. S. From the former of these some guess may be made that the place was called Habitancum and that he who erected it was Pensioner to a Consul and Mayor of the Town For that the chief Magistrates of Cities ârimas Towns and Forts were call'd Primates the Codex Theodosii will abundantly teach us Whether this god were the tutelar Deity of the Gadeni whom Ptolemy makes next neighbours to the Ottadini I am not yet able to determine let others enquire Here were also found the following Inscriptions for which among others we are indebted to the famous Sir Rob. Cotton of Conington Knight who very lately saw and copy'd them D. M. BLESCIVS DIOVICVS FILIAE SVAE VIX SIT AN. I. ET DIES XXI CVI PRAEEST M PEREGRINIVS SVPER TRIB COH I. VANG FECIT CVRANTE IVL. PAVLO TRIB DEAE TER TIANAE SA CRVM AEL TIMOTHEA P. V. S. LL. M. HERCV LI IVL. PAVLLVS T R I B. V. S. AVR. ANTONI NI PII AVG. M MESSORIVS DILIGENS TRIBVNVS SACRVM As also what exceeds all the rest in finery of the work a long Table thus curiously engraven and by the h And yet our Author places Viniolana their station at Winchester a great distance from hence Why then should another Inscription found at Rochester with a word in it that looks like bremânium so forcibly prove that this was the old name of that place fourth Cohort of the Gallic Troops dedicated to the Sacred Majesty of the Emperours But to return A little lower Rhead with several other brooks that have joyn'd it runs into Tine and so far reaches Rhedesdale which as Doomsday-Book informs us the Umfranvils held in Fee and Knights Service of the King for guarding the Dale from Robbers All over the Wasts Wasts as they call them as well as in Gillesland you see as it were the ancient Nomades Nomades a Martial sort of people that from April to August lye in little Hurts which they call Sheals heals and Shealings here and there dispers'd among their Flocks From hence North-Tine passes by Chipches Chipcâââ a little Fort formerly belonging to the Umfranvils then to the 4 Hairuns new commonly call'd Heron. Herons k and not far from the small Castle of Swinborn Swinbâââ which gave name to a Family of note and was sometime part of the Barony of William Heron afterwards the seat of the Woderingtons and so comes to the Wall which is cross'd at Collerford Collerââââ by a Bridge of Arches where are still to be seen the ruins of the large Fort of Wallwick Ciâurnââ If Cilurnum where the second wing of the Astures lay in garison was not here it was in the neighbourhood at Scilcester in the Wall ââester âreden where after Sigga a Nobleman had treacherously slain Elfwald King of Northumberland the Religious built a Church and dedicated it to Cuthbert and Oswald Oswald which last has so far out-done the other that the old name being quite lost the place is now call'd S. Oswald's This Oswald King of Northumberland being ready to give Battel to l Cedwall the Britain so Bede calls him whom the British Writers name Caswallon King âdwalla â Caswalâ as it should seem of Cumberland erected a Cross and humbly on his knees begg'd of Christ that he would afford his heavenly assistance to those that now call'd on his name and presently with a loud voice thus address'd himself to the Army âde l. 3. c 2. âout the ââr 634. âristianiâ first proââ'd in âârthumâââland Let us all on our knees beseech the Almighty Living and True God mercifully to defend us from our proud and cruel Enemy We do not find says Bede that any Banner of the Christian Faith any Church any Altar was ever erected in this Country before this new General following the dictates of a devout Faith and being to engage with a most inhumane Enemy set up this Standard of the Holy Cross For after Oswald had in this Battel experienc'd that effectual assistance of Christ which he had pray'd for he immediately turn'd Christian
malis Quin superest quin extremis exhausta ruinis Funere sic crevit firmior usque suo Oppida ut exaequet jam munitissima Civis Militis censum munia Martis obit Post quam servitio durÃsque est functa periclis Effert laetitiae signa serena suae Et nunc antiquo foelix se jactat honore Cum reddit Domino debita jura suo Cujus ab Auspiciis unita Britannia tandem Excelsum tollit libera in astra caput bound of the Scottish and the English Land Where both their realms and both their labours end After a thousand turns of doubtful state She yet outbraves the vain assaults of Fate A happy Port in all her storms hath found And still rose higher as she touch'd the ground Surpass'd by none her stately forts appear Her sons at once inur'd to Trade and War Now all her storms and all her fears are gone In her glad look returning joys are shown Now her old honours are at last restor'd Securely now she serves her ancient Lord Bless'd with whose care united Britain rears Her lofty head among the rival-stars It may not be amiss to add here the account which Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pius the second who came Legate into Scotland about the year 1448. gives of the borderers in this Country The Coâmentâ iâ Pius 2. pââlish'd ãâã the ãâã Gebedâââ in his life written by himself since their manners still continue the same A certain * Twede River falling from a high mountain parts the two Kingdoms over which Aeneas ferry'd Manners ãâã the Baââârers and coming to a large village about sun-set he alighted at a country-man's house where he sup'd with the Curate of the place and his host The table was plentifully furnish'd with pottage hens and geese but nothing of either wine or bread appear'd All the men and women of the town flock'd in as to some strange sight and as our countrymen use to admire the Aethiopians or Indians so these people star'd at Aeneas asking the Curate what countryman he was what his errand could be and whether he were a Christian or no But Aeneas being aware of the scarcity he would meet with on this road was accommodated by a Monastery with a rundlet of red wine and some loaves of bread When these were brought to the table they were more astonish'd than before having never seen either wine or white bread Big-belly'd women with their husbands came to the table side and handling the bread and smelling to the wine beg'd a taste so that there was no avoiding the dealing of the whole amongst them After they had sate at supper till two hours within night the Curate and the Landlord with the children and all the men left Aeneas and rub'd off in haste They said they were going to shelter themselves in a certain tower at a good distance for fear of the Scots who at low water us'd to cross the river in the night and fall a plundering They would by no means be perswaded to take Aeneas along with them though he very importunately entreated them to do it Neither carry'd they off any of the women though several of them both wives and maids were very handsom for they believe the enemy will not harm them not looking upon whoredom as any ill thing Thus Aeneas was left alone with only two Servants and a Guide amongst a hundred women who sitting in a ring with a fire in the middle of 'em spent the night sleepless in dressing of hemp and chatting with the Interpreter When the night was well advanc'd they had a mighty noise of dogs barking and geese gagling whereupon the women slipt off several ways the guide run away and all was in such a confusion as if the enemy had been upon ' em But Aeneas thought it his wisest course to keep close in his Bed-chamber which was a Stable and there to await the issue lest running out and being unacquainted with the Country he should be robb'd by the first man he met Presently both the women and the guide return acquainting them that all was well and that they were Friends and no Enemies that were arriv'd ll There were in this Country certain petty Nations who were call'd dd The Fifburgingi or Fifburhingan as the Saxons call'd them were the Danish Inhabitants of the five Towns of Leicester Lincoln Nottingham Stanford and Derby To these were afterwards added the Cities of York and Chester and then the same people and for the like reason were call'd Seofenburgenses Sevenburgenses and dd The Fifburgingi or Fifburhingan as the Saxons call'd them were the Danish Inhabitants of the five Towns of Leicester Lincoln Nottingham Stanford and Derby To these were afterwards added the Cities of York and Chester and then the same people and for the like reason were call'd Seofenburgenses Fifburgingi âââburââes âââgingi but so dark is the account we have of 'em that I am not able to ascertain the true place of their residence nor tell you whether they were Danes or English Florence of Worcester publish'd by the right honourable the Lord William Howard says that whilst the Parliament sate at Oxenford Sigeferth and Morcar two eminent and mighty e Tha Yldestan Thaegenas says the Chronicle The Historian should have given the word a more honourable signification than Ministri for whatever the Saxon Thegn may signifie the old Danish Diagn which ought to have been known and consider'd here always imports Government and Power Ministers of the Seovenburgenses were privately murder'd by Edrick Streona And that Prince Edmund ârince of ãâã Edburââg contrary to the good liking of his father marry'd Alfrith the wife of Sigeferth and taking a progress as far as the Fifburgingi invaded Sigeferth 's Territories and subdu'd his People But let others make a further enquiry into these matters ââgs âkes and ââs of ââthumâârland This Province was first brought under the Saxon yoke by Osca the brother of Hengist and his son Jebusa and was for some time under the government of Dukes who were homagers to the Kings of Kent Afterwards when the Kingdom of the Bernicians ââânicians whom the Britains call Guir a Brinaich that is Mountainers was erected the best part of it lay between the Tees and the Scottish or Edinburg Frith and this was subject to the f The Kingdom of Northumberland is here very erroneously made a part of the Kingdom of Bernicia whereas in truth this was a part of that Kings of Northumberland When these had finish'd their fatal period all beyond Twede became part of Scotland and Egbert King of the East-Saxons had the surrender of this County and g Egbert did indeed so far subdue the Northumbrians that their King Eandred became Tributary to him but Northumberland continued a Kingdom long after that annex'd it to his own Dominions Alfred afterwards h Just as they assign'd the Kingdom of the West-Saxons c.
Parliament The Parliament by the same name as it is in England and hath the same absolute Authority It consists of three States of the Lords Spiritual that is the Bishops Abbots and Priors of the Lords Temporal viz. Dukes Marquisses Earls Viscounts and Barons and the Commissioners for the Cities and Buroughs To whom were joyned not long since for every County also two * Delegati Commissioners It is called by the King at pleasure allowing a certain time for notice before it is to sit When they are convened and the causes of their meeting are declared by the King and the Chancellour the Lords Spiritual retire apart and choose eight of the Lords Temporal the Lords Temporal likewise as many out of the Lords Spiritual Then all these together nominate eight of the Knights of the Shires and as many of the Burgesses which all together make 32. and are called Lords of the Articles and with the Chancellor Treasurer Privy-Seal the King's Secretary c. admit or reject all matters that are propos'd to the States after they have been first communicated to the King After they are approved by the whole Assembly of the States they are throughly examined and such as pass by a majority of Votes are presented to the King who by touching them with his Scepter signifies the confirming or vacating of them But if the King dislikes any thing it is first razed out Next to the Parliament is the College of Justice The College of Justice or as they call it the Session which King James 5. instituted An. 1532. after the manner of the Parliament at Paris consisting of a President fourteen Senators seven of the Clergy and as many of the Laity to whom was afterwards added the Chancellor who takes place first and five other Senators three principal Clerks and as many Advocates as the Senators shall think convenient These are to administer justice not according to the rigour of the Law but with reason and equity every day except Sunday and Monday from the first of November to the fifteenth of March and from Trinity Sunday to the first of August All the space between as being the times of sowing and harvest is Vacation and intermission from Suits and matters of Law They give judgment according to Acts of Parliament and where they are defective according to the Civil Law There are besides in every County inferiour Civil Courts wherein the Sheriff or his deputy decides controversies amongst the inhabitants about ejections intrusions damages debts c. from whom upon suspicion of partiality or alliance they appeal sometimes to the Session These Sheriffs are all for the most part hereditary For the Kings of Scotland as well as of England to oblige the better sort of Gentlemen more closely to them by their favours in old time made these Sheriffs hereditary and perpetual But the English Kings soon perceiving the inconveniencies happening thereupon purposely changed them into annual There are Civil Courts held also in the Fiefs of the Crown by their respective Bailiffs to whom the King hath graciously granted Royal privileges as also in free Boroughs and Cities by their Magistrates There are likewise Courts called The Commissariat the highest of which is kept at Edenborough wherein before four Judges actions are pleaded concerning matters relating to Wills the right of Ecclesiastical Benefices Tythes Divorces c. and Ecclesiastical Causes of like nature But in almost all the other parts of the Kingdom there sits but one Judge on these Causes In criminal Causes the King 's Chief Justice holds his Courts generally at Edenborough which Office hath for some time been executed by the Earls of Argyle who depute two or three Counsellors to take cognizance of actions of life and death loss of limbs or of goods and chattels In this Court likewise the Defendant is permitted even in case of High Treason to retain an Advocate to plead for him Moreover in criminal matters Justices are sometimes appointed by the King's Commission for deciding this or that particular cause Also the Sheriffs in their territories and Magistrates in some Boroughs may sit in judgment of Manslaughter in case the Manslayer be apprehended in the space of 24 hours and having found him guilty by a Jury may put him to death But if that time be once overpast the cause is referred to the King's Justice or his Deputies The same privilege also some of the Nobility and Gentry enjoy against Thieves taken within their own Jurisdictions There are likewise who have such Royalties that in criminal causes they may exercise a jurisdiction within their own limits and in some cases recall those that dwell within their own liberties from the King's Justice provided they judge according to Law These matters as having had but a transient view of them I have lightly touched upon What manner of Country Scotland is and what men it breeds Pomponius Mela. as of old that excellent Geographer writ of Britain will in a little time more certainly and evidently be shown since the greatest of Princes hath opened a passage to it which was so long shut up In the Interim I will proceed to the Places which is a subject I am more immediately concern'd in GADENI or LADENI UPon the Ottadini or Northumberland bordered the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gadeni who by the turning of one letter upside down are called in some Copies of Ptolemy Ladeni seated in that Country lying between the mouth of the River Tweed and Edenborough-Frith Joh. Skene de Verborum significatione which is now cantoned into many petty Countries The principal of them are Teifidale Twedale Merch and Lothien in Latin Lodeneium under which general name the Writers of the middle age comprised them all a TEIFIDALE TEifidale that is to say the Valley or Dale by the River d This river divideth that part of the shire properly called Teviotdale into that which lyeth on the South and that which lyeth on the North. Tefy or Teviot lying next to England amongst cliffs of craggy hills and rocks is inhabited by a warlike people who by reason of so frequent encounters between the Scots and English in former ages are always very ready for service and sudden invasions The first place we meet with amongst these is Jedburg a Borough well frequented standing near the confluence of the Tefy and Jed from whence it takes its name and Mailros ââââross a very ancient Monastery wherein in the Church's infancy were Monks of that antient instituion that gave themselves to prayer and with the labour of their hands earn'd their living And more Eastward where the Twede and the Tefy joyn in one stream âââoâââh e The Royalty of this place was transmitted to the town of Iedburgh the chief burgh-royal of the shire Rosburg called also Roxburgh and in antient times Marchidun from its being seated in the Marches where stands a Castle that by its natural situation and tow'red fortifications
great men than any conduct or bravery of the Enemies The most considerable Houses Houses are Brocksmouth the chief residence of the Earl of Roxburgh Tiningham the residence of the Earl of Hadington near which there is a quarry of Marble Seaton and Winton the houses of the Earl of Winton The Templars and after them the Knights of Rhodes and Malta had a residence in this Shire at St. Germains It has at present two Presbyteries of Hadington and Dunbar e The Sheriffdom of Edenburgh commonly called Mid-Lothian Mid-Lothian is the principal Shire of the Kingdom and is in length 20 or 21 miles the breadth of it is different according to the several parts in some 16 or 17 miles in others not above 5 or 6. On the south it is bounded with the Sheriffdom of Hadington for 13 miles together on the east with the Baillery of Lauderdale for about four on the south with the Sheriffdom of Twedale for 13 miles on the south-west with the Sheriffdom of Lanerick for 6 or 7 miles and on the west for two miles by the said Sheriffdom on the north-west with the Sheriffdom of Linlithgow for 14 miles and on the north with the Firth or Forth for the space of 8 miles This tract is abundantly furnished with all necessaries producing a great deal of corn of all sorts and affording good pasture for cattle It has very much coal and lime-stone as also a sort of soft black marble and some few miles from Edenburgh near the water of Leith they have a Copper-mine Edenburgh * Theatrum Scotiae p. 7. is not only the most considerable place in those parts but the chief City of the Kingdom of Scotland The Romans could not well have made choice of a better place for a Fortification for the rock on which the present Castle is situated is inaccessible on all sides except the East The first building of a Fort here seems to have given Rise to the town and to have encouraged the neighbours to fix under the protection of it So that the houses and inhabitants by little and little increasing have brought it down to the very foot of the ascent toward the east and made it an entire Scotch mile in length and half a mile in breadth The ascent upon which the City stands has on the north-side a pool call'd the North-Loch and was formerly guarded by another on the south call'd the South-Loch as appears from the leases of some houses of S. Ninian's Row that are let with the privilege of a boat annext But this is drain'd many years ago and upon the banks of it are built two several tracts of houses The City has six Gates the principal whereof to the East was magnificently rebuilt in the year 1616 and adorned with Towers on both sides Two streets run along the whole length of the town The High-street from the Castle to the Abby said to be the broadest in Europe is of late built of hewen stone since by an Act of the Town-Council they have been prohibited to build any more of Timber either in the City or Suburbs upon account of the many Fires which have happened And as the private Buildings Publick Buildings so also the publick do very much exceed those in other parts of that Kingdom In the middle of the City is St. Giles's Church Churches a Cathedral built of hewn stone and adorned with stone pillars and vaultings 'T is so large as to be divided into 3 Churches each whereof has its Parish Besides this Grey-friers they have the South-Church in the Church-yard whereof amongst many other monuments is that of Sir George Mackenzy The Trone-Church built in 1641. The Collegiate Church of the Sacred Trinity built by Mary of Gueldres King James the Second's Queen The Lady Yester's Church built and endowed by one of the Lady Yesters and another very beautiful one built within these 5 years To these we must add two Chapels St. Magdalens and St. Mary's with another at the foot of the Canon-gate Next to these are their Hospitals Hospitals St. Thomas's and Heriot's Hospital In the first the poorer sort of Inhabitants are maintained very handsomly and have their own proper Chaplain The second so called from the founder George Heriot Jeweller to James 6. is a stately Fabrick like a Palace In the inner Frontispiece is the Statue of the Founder erected and round about the houses are pleasant gardens adorned with large Walks and Greens 'T is a Nursery for boys wherein the children of the poorer Citizens have their education till they be fit for the publick Schools and Colleges Other Buildings Near the Cathedral-Chuch is the Parliament-house standing in a great Court which on one side is enclosed with the upper and lower Exchange and with a tract of very stately buildings Here is one of the highest houses perhaps in the world mounting seven stories above the Parliament-Court and being built upon the descent of a hill the back-part is as far below it so that from the bottom to the top one stair-case ascends 14 stories high In the middle of the Court is the Statue of King Charles II. in brass erected upon a stately Pedestal at the charge of the City On the South-side is the College of King James the sixth founded in the year 1580 and endowed with all the Privileges of an University The precincts are very large and the whole is divided into 3 Courts adorned on all sides with excellent buildings two lower and one higher which is as large as both the other They have their publick Schools and a Common-hall wherein Divinity Hebrew and Mathematicks are taught Their Library is well stor'd with printed books and and has some Manuscripts under that is the King's Printing-house The Students have very good accommodation and the Professors neat and handsom Lodgings with very good Gardens for their recreation The Royal-Palace Palace whereof his Grace the Duke of Hamilton is hereditary Keeper hath four Courts The Outer-Court which is as big as all the rest has four principal Entries 'T is on all hands bounded with lovely Gardens on the south lies the King's Park which hath great variety of medicinal plants The Entry of the Palace is adorned with great pillars of hewn stone and a Cùpilo in fashion of a Crown above it The forepart is terminated by four high towers two towards the north erected by King James V. and the rest by King Charles II. The Inner-Court has Piazza's round it all of hewn stone But above all the Long-Gallery is most remarkable being adorned with the pictures of all the Kings of Scotland from Fergus I. About 20 years ago Water the Magistrates were at great expence to bring one of the best Springs of Scotland into the City which they did by leaden Pipes from a Hill at above 3 miles distance And to make it more convenient they have erected several stately Fountains in the middle of the
bounded with the sea to the south with the water of North-Esk to the west with the Gransbain-hills and to the north with the River of Dee In length it is about twenty six miles or as some say twenty eight miles in breadth about twenty Upon the sea-coasts they have several convenient Crecks and some good harbours whereof Stone-hive is one of the best and for its greater safety the Earl Marshal who has a Salmon-fishing upon the north side of the harbour is now raising a Peer of stone Where the water of Cowy falls into the sea stands Cowy ãâã a free burgh Beneath the town are to be seen the ruines of a Castle built as 't is reported by Malcolm Kenmore who made the town a free Burgh On the Lands of Arduthie and Redcloak are some trenches to be seen cast up by the Danes at one of their Invasions made upon those parts and round the hill of Urie there is a deep ditch where the Scots encamped ââtyr Dunnotyr-Castle stands upon a rock washed by the sea on three sides and joyned to the Land only by a narrow neck Towards the entrance of the Gate is a huge rock near forty ells high which one would think were always just ready to fall The Court is a large plot of green ground and the old buildings seven story high have exceeding thick walls It had once a Church which was demolished in the late Civil wars In the new buildings there are some rooms very stately and a Closet wherein is the Library of the family Within the Close there is a large Cistern about thirty cubits about Not far from this place is a dropping Cave where the water petrifies St. Padie's Church here is famous for being the burial place of St. Palladius ââdeen-â k ABERDEEN-SHIRE so called from the chief burgh in it contains the Countries or Marre Fourmanteen Garioch Strathbogie and that part of Buchan which lyeth south to the water of Ugie To the South it is bounded with the River Dee and the Gransbain mountains to the north-west and west it hath Bamf-shire and the river of Doverne to the east the Ocean and to the north part of Murray-Firth In length it 's about forty six miles and in breadth twenty eight The Inhabitants are generally very civil and polite They find here a spotted sort of Marble and much Slate and in the waters abundance of Pearls some of them very big and of a fine colour They have Deer in great abundance And the Eagles have their Nests upon the Craigs of Pennan Old Aberdeen ãâã Aberââââââeatr âa â 28. is the Bishop's Seat and hath a Cathedral Church commonly call'd St. Machars large and stately built by several Bishops of this See In this Church was formerly a Library but about the year 1560 it was almost wholly destroyed so that now only the ruines remain The King's College so called from King James the fourth who assumed the Patronage of it is seated upon the south side of the town and for neatness and stateliness much exceeds the rest of the houses One side is covered with Slate the rest with Lead The windows of the Church wherein is a fine monument of Bishop Elphingston the Founder were formerly very remarkable for their painted glass and something of their ancient splendor still remains The Steeple besides others hath two bells of a very extraordinary bigness the top is vaulted with a double cross Arch above which is a King's crown having eight corners upheld by as many pillars of stone a round globe of stone with two gilded crosses closing the crown Hard by the Church there is a Library well stock'd with Books enlarged lately by those which Doctor Henry Scougal Professor of Divinity there and his Father Bishop of Aberdeen gave to it The College has a Primate or Principal a Professor of Divinity a Professor of the Civil Law a Professor of Physick a Sub-Principal who is also Professor of Philosophy three other Philosophy Professors and a Professor of the Languages New Aberdeen New Aberdeen * Theatrum Scotiae p. 29. about a mile from the Old as it is the Capital of the Sheriffdom of Aberdeen and the Seat of the Sheriff for tryal of causes so does it much exceed the rest of the Cities in the north of Scotland in bigness trade and beauty The air is wholsome and the Inhabitants well bred The Streets are paved with flint or a very hard sort of stone like it and the houses are very beautiful generally four Stories high or more which having for the most part Gardens and Orchards behind them make the whole City at a distance look like a Wood. In the High street there is a Church of Franciscans of free-stone begun by Bishop Elphingston and finished by Gavin Dumbar Bishop of the place The same Gavin built also a bridge of seven Arches over the river Dee about a mile from the City But the greatest ornament of this City is its College called the Mareshallian Academy as being founded by George Keith Earl Marshal in the year 1693 which the City of Aberdeen hath very much adorned with several additional buildings Besides a Primary-Professor who is called Principal it has four Professors of Philosophy one of Divinity and one of Mathematicks There is also a famous Library founded by the City supplied with Books by the benefactions of several learned men and well furnished with mathematical Instruments This College with that in the New Town make up one University called the University of King Charles Add to these the School-house founded by Dr. Dune which has one head Master and three Ushers and the Musick-School St. Nicholas's Church the Cathedral is built of Free-stone and covered with lead Formerly it was divided into three Churches the biggest was called the Old Church another the New Church and a third the Arch'd-Church They have also an Alms-house for the maintenance of such Inhabitants as are old and poor with three Hospitals founded by several Persons The City is built upon three hills but the greatest part upon the highest and the outer parts are spread out upon the plain from whence there is an easie access by an ascent every way It had formerly a Mint as appears by silver Coins stamped there with this Inscription Urbs Aberdeae which are still preserved in the Closets of the curious At the West end of the City is a little round hill at the foot whereof there breaks out a fountain of clear water And in the middle another spring bubbles out called the Aberdonian-Spaw coming near the Spaw-water in the Bishoprick of Liege both in taste and quality Besides Aberdeen Kintor is a Burgh-Royal upon the Don and giveth title to the Earl of Kintor Kintor And Inerurie Inerurie erected into a Burgh-Royal by King Robert Bruce upon account of his having gain'd a signal victory at it Upon the South side of the water of Ugie stands Peterhead which has a Road
title of Earl of Wiltshire given by King H. the 6th to him and the heirs of his body but being Lord Deputy of Ireland as some others of this family have been and Treasurer of England he was banish'd by Edw. the fourth and soon after taken and beheaded His brothers were banished likewise and absconded John died at Jerusalem without children Thomas by the favour of H. the 7th had his attainder reversed and died in the year 1515 leaving two daughters Ann married to 10 Sir James James de S. Leger and Margaret the wife of William de Bullein who had issue 11 Sir Thomas Thomas Bullein made first Viscount of Rochfort and after Earl of Wilton and Ormond by King Hen. the 8th upon his marriage with Ann Bullein the Earl's daughter by her he had Elizabeth Queen of England whose memory will be ever sacred to the English After the death of Thomas Bullein 12 Without issue male Sir Pierce c. Peter or Peirce Butler a man of great power in Ireland and of the Earl's family who had been before created Earl of Ossery by K. Henry the 8th was now also preferr'd to the Earldom of Ormond He dying left it to his son James who by the daughter and heir of James Earl of Desmond had a son Thomas Earl of Ormond now living whose fidelity and loyalty has been render'd eminent by many tryals He has married his only daughter to Theobald Butler his Brother's son upon whom King James has lately conferr'd the title of Viscount Tullo As for the story of some Irish and those too Men turned into wolves such as would be thought creditable that certain men in these parts are every year converted into wolves 't is without question fabulous unless perhaps through excess of melancholy they may be affected with that distemper which the Physicians call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which will make them fancy and imagine themselves thus transformed As for those metamorphos'd Lycaones in Livonia so much talked of I cannot but have the same opinion of them Thus far we have continued in the Province of Mounster which Queen Elizabeth with great wisdom Presidents of Munster in order to advance the wealth and happiness of this Kingdom committed to the government of a Lord President that with one Assistant two Lawyers and a Secretary he might correct the insolencies of this Province and keep them to their duty The first President was Wartham St. Leger Kt. who was constituted in the year 1565 a man of great experience in the affairs of Ireland LAGENIA or LEINSTER THE second part of Ireland called by the inhabitants Leighnigh by the British Lein by the English Leinster by the Latins Lagenia and by the old Legends Lagen lies to the east entirely upon the sea bounded towards Mounster by the river Neor though in many places it reaches beyond it towards Conaught 't is bounded for a good way by the Shannon and towards Meath by its own limits The soil is rich and fruitful the air very warm and temperate and the inhabitants very near as civil and gentile in their mode of living as their neighbours in England from whence they are generally descended In Ptolemie's time it was peopled by the Brigantes Minapii Cauci and Blani From these Blani perhaps are derived and contracted those modern names Lein Leinigh and Leinster a At this day Leinster contains the Counties of Dublin Wicklow Wexford Caterlogh Kilkenny Kings-County Queens-County Kildare Meath West-Meath and Longford The whole Province is at present subdivided into the Counties of Kilkennigh Caterlogh Queens-County Kings-County Kildare Weisford and Dublin not to mention Wicklo and Fernes which either are already or will be added BRIGANTES or BIRGANTES THE Brigantes seem to have been seated between the mouth of the river Swire and the confluence of the Neor and Barrow called by Ptolemy Brigus And because there was an ancient city of the Brigantes in Spain called Brigantia Birgus now Barrow Florianus del Campo takes a great deal of pains to derive these Brigantes from his own country of Spain But allowing conjectures others may as likely derive them from the Brigantes of Britain a nation both near and populous However if what I find in some copies be true that these people were called Birgantes both he and others are plainly out for these take their denomination from the river a Now call'd Barrow Birgus about which they inhabit as the name it self may convince us These Brigantes or Birgantes Birgantes which you please peopled the Counties of Kilkenny Ossery and Caterlogh all watered by the river Birgus The County of KILKENNY THE County of Kilkenny is bounded on the west with the County of Tipperary on the east with the Counties of Weisford and Caterlogh on the south with the County of Waterford on the north with the Queens-County and on the north-west with the Upper-Ossery well beautified on all sides with towns and castles and more plentiful in every thing than any of the rest Near Ossery are those huge copling mountains Sleiew Bloemy which Giraldus calls Bladinae Montes of a vast height Bladin hills out of the bowels whereof springs the river Swire aforesaid as also the Neor and Barrow These descend in three several chanels but join in one before they fall into the sea which made the Ancients call them The three sisters The Neor commonly called the Neure in a manner cuts this County in two and when with a swift stream it has passed the Upper-Ossery the first Baron whereof was Barnabas Fitz-Patrick Upper-Ossery Barons of the Upper-Ossery raised to that honour by K. Edward the 6th and many forts on both sides it arrives at Kilkenny Kilkenny or as the word signifies the Cell or Church of Canic who was eminent for a pious and solitary life in this country The a It is now a City town is neat fair-built plentiful and by much the best midland town in this Island divided into the English-town and the Irish-town The Irish-town is as it were the suburbs where stands the said Canic's Church which hath both given name to the town and afforded a seat for the Bishops of Ossery The English-town is much newer built as I have read by Ranulph the third Earl of Chester wall'd on the west by Robert Talbot a noble man and fortified with a castle by the Butlers When the daughters of William Mareschal Earl of Pembroke made a partition of the lands among them 't is certain this fell to the share of the third sister married to Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester Lower down upon the same river stands a little fortified town called in English Thomas-town Thomas-town in Irish Bala-mac-Andan i.e. the town of Anthony's son both derived from the founder Thomas Fitz-Anthony an Englishman who flourished in Henry the third's time whose heirs are at this day Lords of the place Below this the river Callan Calâan runs
Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland erected a large and magnificent Pile and designed to make it the seat of his Family principal and head town of this County is Kildar Kildar eminent in the first ages of the Irish Church for Brigid â Brigid a virgin of great esteem for her devotion and chastity not she who about 240 years since instituted the Order of the Nuns of S. Brigid namely that within one Monastery both Men and Women should live together in their several apartments without seeing one another but one more ancient who lived about a thousand years ago was a disciple of S. Patrick and very famous both in Ireland Scotland and England Her miracles and the fire which never goes out being preserved and cherished in the * Adytis âââtraliâââ inner sanctuary like that of Vesta by the sacred Virgins and still burns without any addition or increase of ashes are related by some Authors This town has the honour of being a Bishops See formerly stil'd in the Pope's Letters Episcopatus Darensis 14 And after the entrance of the English into Ireland was c. and was first the habitation of Richard Earl of Pembrook afterwards of William Marshall Earl of Pembrook his son in law by whose fourth daughter Sibill it came to William Ferrars Earl of Derby and by a daughter of his by her likewise to William Vescy whose son 15 William Lord Vescy William Vescy Lord Chief Justice of Ireland being out of favour with King Edward the first upon a quarrel between him and John the son of Thomas Fitz-Girald and having lost his only legitimate son gave Kildare and other lands of his in Ireland Aâchivâââgeta to the King upon condition he should infeoff his natural son sirnamed de Kildare with all his other lands in England A little after that the said John son to Thomas Fitz-Girald whose ancestors descended from Girald Windesor Castellan of Pembrook by their great valour did much service in the conquest of Ireland had the castle and town of Kildare together with the title and name of Earl of Kildare Earls of Kildar bestow'd upon him by King Edward the second These Fitz-Giralds or Geraldins as they now call them were very great men and particularly eminent for their brave actions who of themselves as one says preserved the sea-coasts of Wales and conquered Ireland And this family of Kildare flourished with their honour and reputation unsullied for a long time having never any hand in rebellions till Thomas Fitz-Girald son of Girald-Fitz-Girald Earl of Kildare and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Henry the eighth's time upon the news that his father who was sent for into England and charg'd with male-administration was executed was so far transported by the heat of youth upon this false rumour that he rashly took up arms against his King and Country invited Charles the 5th to take possession of Ireland wasted the Country with fire and sword besieged Dublin and put the Archbishop thereof to death for which outrage he was soon after hang'd with five of his uncles his father being dead before of grief and trouble at these proceedings However this family was restored by Queen Mary to its ancient grandeur who promoted Girald brother of the said Thomas to the Earldom of Kildare and the Barony of Offaly 16 He ended this life about the year 1558. His eldest Son Girald died before his father leaving only one daughter married to Sir Robert Digby Henry his second son succeeded who when he had by his wife Lady Frances daughter to Charles Earl of Nottingham only two daughters William the third son succeeded to the Earldom who was drowned in passing into Ireland in the year 1599 having no issue And then the title of Earl of Kildare came to Girald Fiâz Girald son to Edward their uncle who wan restored to his blood in lineage to make title by descent lineal or collateral from his father and brother and all his ancestors any attainder or corruption of blood to the contrary notwithstanding his two sons Henry and William having both succeeded him without issue male the title of Earl fell to Girald Fitz-Girald their Cousin-german 17 With a fair patrimony seduced by the Religious pretext into Rebellion Other eminent towns in this county are Naas a market town Athie situate upon the river Barrow Mainoth a castle of the Earls of Kildare and endowed with the priviledge of a market and a fair by King Edw. the first in favour of Girald Fitz-Moris Castle-Martin the chief seat of the family of the Fitz-Eustaces descended from the Poers in the County of Waterford of whom Rowland Fitz-Eustace Barons Fitz Eustace for his great worth was made a Baron of Parliament by Edward the fourth and had the manour of Portlester bestow'd upon him as also the title of Vicount Baltinglas by Henry the eighth Pat. 2. Ed. 4. Viscounts Baltinglas all which dignities Rowland Fitz-Eustace lost 7 being banish'd in Q. Elizabeth's time for his treachery The more considerable families here besides the Fitz-Giralds are all likewise English the Ougans De-la-Hides Ailmers Walshes Boisels Whites Suttons c. As for the Gyant 's dance which Merlin by art magick transferred as they say out of this territory to Salisbury-plain as also the bloody battle to be fought hereafter between the English and the Irish at Molleaghmast I leave them for the credulous and such as doat upon the fabulous part of antiquity and vainly admire prophesies For it is not answerable to my design to dilate upon stories of this nature These are the midland Counties of Leinster now for those upon the sea coast The County of WEISFORD BElow that mouth from which the three sister-rivers the Barrow the Neore and the Swire empty themselves into the sea upon a Promontory eastward where the shore is rounding lies the County of Weisford or Wexford in Irish County a Which signifies Coarse or rough Reogh where the Menapii Menapii are placed by Ptolemy That these Menapii were the off-spring of the Menapii that peopled the sea-coast in the Lower Germany the name it self seems to intimate But whether that Carausius Carausius who put up for Emperor and held Britain against Dioclesian were of this or that nation Published by Sâhottus I leave to the discovery of others For * Aurelius Victor calls him a citizen of Menapia and the city Menapia is in Ireland and not in the Low-Countreys of Germany according to Geographers Upon the river Barrow in this County formerly flourished Ross a large b Now a burrough city of good trade and well inhabited fortified with a wall of great compass by Isabel the daughter of Earl Richard Strongbow which is the only remains of it at this day For the dissention between the citizens and the religious here has long since ruined the town and reduced it to little or nothing More eastward Duncanon Duncanon
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 Wâââlo ãâã a Coâty 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 âld 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 âwers ââârt 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 ãâã v. Lifâây Giâius Aââ 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 Abloâeus 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 â 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 tâan 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
the same river not far from the mouth it self which Ptolemy calls Seteia for Deia stands that noble city which the same Ptolemy writes Deunana ââana ãâã and Antoninus Deva from the river the Britains Caer-Legion Caer-Leon-Vaur Caer-Leon ar Dufyr Dwy and by way of preheminence Caer as our Ancestors the Saxons Legeacester from the Legion's camp there and we more contractly ââer West-chester from its westwardly situation and simply Chester according to that verse Cestria de Castris nomen quasi Castria sumpsit Chester from Caster or the Camp was nam'd And without question these names were derived from the twentieth Legion call'd Victrix For in the second Consulship of Galba the Emperor with Titus Vinius that Legion was transported into Britain where growing too heady and too formidable to the Lieutenants as well to those of Consular dignity as those who had been only Praetors Vespasian the Emperor made Julius Agricola Lieutenant over them and they were at last seated in this City which I believe had not been then long built for a check and barriere to the Ordovices Tho' I know some do aver it to be older than the Moon to have been built many thousands of years ago by the gyant Leon Vaur But these are young Antiquaries and the name it self may convince them of the greatness of this errour For they cannot deny but that Leon Vaur in British signifies a great Legion and whether it is more natural to derive the name of this City from a great Legion or from the gyant Leon let the world judge considering that in Hispania Tarraconensis we find a territory call'd Leon from the seventh Legio Germanica and that the twentieth Legion call'd Britannica Valens Victrix and falsly by some Valeria Victrix was quarter'd in this City as Ptolemy Antoninus and the coins of Septimius Geta testifie c By the coins last mention'd it appears also that Chester was a Colony Chester â Roman Colony for the reverse of them is inscribed COL DIVANA LEG XX. VICTRIX And tho' at this day there remain here few memorials of the Roman magnificence besides some pavements of Chequer-works yet in the last age it afforded many as Ranulph a Monk of this City tells us in his Polychronicon There are ways here under ground wonderfully arched with stone work vaulted Dining-rooms huge stones engraven with the names of the Ancients and sometimes coins digged up with the Inscriptions of Julius Caesar and other famous men Likewise Roger of Chester in his Polycraticon c This passage is likewise in the Polychronicon When I beheld the foundation of vast buildings up and down in the streets it seemed rather the effect of the Roman strength and the work of Giants than of the British industry The City is of a square form surrounded with a wall two miles in compass and contains eleven Parish-Churches 2 But that of St. John's without the North-gate was the fairest being a stately and solemn building as appears by the remains wherein were anciently Prebendaries and as some write the Bishop's See Upon a rising ground near the river stands the Castle built by the Earl of this place wherein the Courts Palatine and the Assizes were held twice a year The buildings are neat The Rowes and there are Piazza's on both sides along the chief street 3 They call them Rowes having shops on both sides through which a man may walk dry from one end unto the other The City has not been equally prosperous at all times first it was demolish'd by Egfrid the Northumbrian then by the Danes but repair'd by Aedelfleda * Domina Governess of the Mercians and soon after saw King Eadgar gloriously triumphing over the British Princes For being seated in a triumphal Barge at the fore-deck Kinnadius King of Scotland Malcolin King of Cumberland Circ An. 960. Macon King of Man and of the Islands with all the Princes of Wales brought to do him homage like Bargemen row'd him up the river Dee to the great joy of the Spectators Afterwards Churches restor'd Glaber Rodolphus about the year 1094. when as one says by a pious kind of contest the fabricks of Cathedrals and other Churches began to be more decent and stately and the Christian world began to raise it self from the old dejected state and sordidness to the decency and splendour of white Vestments Hugh the first of Norman blood that was Earl of Chester repaired the Church which Leofrick had formerly founded here in honour of the Virgin Saint Werburga and by the advice of Anselm whom he had invited out of Normandy granted the same unto the Monks Now the town is famous for the tomb of Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany who is said to have abdicated his Empire and become an Hermite here and also for its being an Episcopal See This See was immediately after the Conquest translated from Lichfield hither by Peter Bishop of Lichfield after it was transferred to Coventry and from thence into the ancient Seat again so that Chester continu'd without this dignity till the last age when King Henry the eighth displaced the Monks instituted Prebends and raised it again to a Bishop's See to contain within it's jurisdiction this County Lancashire Richmond c. and to be it self contained within the Province of York But now let us come to points of higher antiquity When the Cathedral here was built the Earls who were then Normans fortified the town with a wall and castle For as the Bishop held of the King that which belonged to his Bishoprick these are the very words of Domesday book made by William the Conquerour so the Earls with their men held of the King wholly all the rest of the city It paid gelt for fifty hides and there were 431 houses geldable and 7 Mint-masters When the King came in person here every Carrucat paid him 200 Hestha's one Cuna of Ale and one Rusca of Butter And in the same place For the repairing the city-wall and bridge the Provost gave warning by Edict that out of every hide of the County one man should come and whosoever sent not his man he was amerced 40 shillings to the King and Earl If I should particularly relate the skirmishes here between the Welsh and English in the beginning of the Norman times the many inroads and excursions the frequent firings of the suburbs of Hanbrid beyond the bridge whereupon the Welsh-men call it Treboeth that is the burnt town and tell you of the long wall made there of Welsh-mens skuls I should seem to forget my self and run too far into the business of an Historian From that time the town of Chester hath very much flourished and K. Hen. 7. incorporated it into a distinct County Nor is there now any requisite wanting to make it a flourishing city only the sea indeed is not so favourable as it has been to some few Mills that were formerly situated upon the river d ee for it
High-street to serve the town with water There is here also a College of Justice which hath its Dean of faculty They try their Intrants or Candidates and have a Bibliotheque well furnished with Books of Law and History King Charles the second did likewise erect at Edinburg a College of Physicians giving them by a Patent under the Great Seal an ample Jurisdiction within this City and the Liberties thereof appointing the Judicatures to concur to the execution of their Decreets by a latter Grant they have the faculty of professing Physick They have their conferences once a month for the improvement of Medicine and have begun to erect a Library Near to this City is Leith a convenient harbour for Ships As this Country has at present several considerable Houses whereof Hawthornden is famous for its caves hewen out of the rock and Roslin for the * Vide Theatrââ Scotiae stately Chapel so can it produce some remains of Antiquity For near the Town of Cramond at which Salmon and several other Fish are taken many stones have been dug up with Roman Inscriptions Also in the grounds of Inglistown belonging to Hugh Wallace were found not long ago two stones parts of a Pillar upon one of which is a Lawrel-Crown upon the other the longest of the two there is on each side the Roman Securis The name of the Emperor is broken off but by the progress of the Roman Arms described by Tacitus it appears to have been set up in the time of Julius Agricola's government And since only the Emperor's name is struck off and it appears that by order of the Senate the Statues and Inscriptions of Domitian were defaced one may probably conclude that 't was erected in honour of that Emperor What remains of it is this AVG. COS. IV. GERMANICVS PONTIFEX MAX. These Stones are to be seen in the Garden at Edinburgh belonging to Sir Robert Sibbalds Doctor of Physick Next the Antiquities * Scotia Ilustrat Cap. 10. p 24. that noted spring two miles south of Edinburgh deserves our notice The name of it is St. Catharine's-Well though 't is commonly call'd The Oily Well because it sends up along with the water an Oil or Balsom which swims upon it 'T is found by experience to be exceeding good not only for the cure of Scabs but likewise of any pains proceeding from cold as also for strengthening and putting life into any decaying part It has two Presbyteries Edinburg and Dalkeith f The Shire of LINLITHGOW call'd West-Lothian West-Lotâian takes it's name from Linlithgow the head burgh and has on the north the Forth is divided from Mid-Lothian toawrds the south and east by the waters of Almond and Breichwater to the north-west it meeteth with part of Stirlingshire and to the west with part of Clidisdale 'T is in length 14 miles and in breadth about nine It affords great plenty of Coal Lime-stone and of White Salt and in the reign of King James 6. a Silver Mine was found in it out of which they got a great deal of Silver The Town of Linlithgow âânlithââw mentioned by our Author * âheatr ââââae is a Royal-burgh well built and is accommodated with Fountains that furnish water to the Inhabitants with a stately Town-house for the meeting of the Gentry and Citizens and with a harbour at Blackness But it 's greatest ornament is the King's house which stands upon a rising ground that runs almost into the middle of the Loch and looks like an Amphitheater having Terras-walks as it were and a descent from them but upon the top where the Castle stands it is a plain The Court has apartments like towers upon the four corners and in the midst of it a stately fountain adorned with several curious statues the water whereof rises to a good height The Levingstons Earls of this place are hereditary Keepers of it as they are also hereditary Bailifs of the King's Bailifry and hereditary Constables of the King's Castle of Blackness Near the Palace upon a level with it stands the Church a curious work of fine stone Nor ought we to omit Borrostoness âââââstoââââ north from hence upon the sea-coast erected into a burgh of Regality by his Grace the Duke of Hamilton who hath in the neighbourhood his castle of Kineil of late adorned with large Parks and stately Avenues Torphichen âââphiââân to the south of Linlithgow deserves also our notice as being a burgh of Regality and once the residence of the Knights of Malta but now giveth the title of Lord to the chief of the name of Sandilands And Bathgate Bathgate the parish whereof is erected into a Sherifdom by it self And as the Towns so also some Houses of note require our mention Nidry-Castle Nidry southwest from Linlithgow upon a river the Manor of Sir Charles Hope who by these lands is hereditary Bailif of the Regality of Kirkliston and by the Barony of Abercorn is hereditary Sheriff of the Shire And north from thence Dundass Dundass formerly a fortification now adorned with parks and fine gardens wherein are many curious Plants by the care of that worthy Gentleman Mr. Patrick Murray the owner thereof who whilst he lived was the ornament of his Countrey From whence to the west between this and Linlithgow is the Bins Bins the residence of General Dolzâll adorned by his Excellence with Avenues large Parks and fine Gardens After he had procured himself a lasting name in the Wars here it was that he fix'd his old Age and pleased himself with the culture of curious Flowers and Plants And upon the same coast Medop Medop the residence of the Earl of Linlithgow famous likewise for its fine Gardens which the father of the present Earl enclosed with high walls furnish'd with Orange-trees and such like curious Exoticks But from the present places to descend to those of Antiquity at the east end of the enclosure of the Kipps Kipps south from Linlithgow there is an ancient Altar of great stones unpolish'd so placed as each of them does support another and no one could stand without leaning upon another Hard by it there are several great stones set in a Circle and in the two adjacent hills the remains of old Camps with great heaps of stones and ancient Graves Some miles also to the west of Queens-Ferry upon the sea-coast is Abercorn-Castle Abercorn Castle near which place Bede tells us the Roman wall began One may trace it along towards Cariddin where a figured stone is to be seen and a gold Medal was found In a line parallel about a mile to the south of this there is a Village which still keeps the remains of the old wall being called Walltoun From the name and the artificial Mount cast up there one would believe it to be the very place which Bede calls Penvalltoun The track of the wall appears in several places between this and Kinweill and from thence to