the Bound-rod from Northumberland by the river Tweed running between them for about eight miles This river is one of the 3 that rise out of the same tract of hills Clide runs west towards Dumbarton Anand south towards Solway-sands and this east towards Berwick It is of a swift couâ—se environ'd with hills running through Tweedale-forest and Teviotdale before it go into the Ocean It 's current is above 50 miles in all which compass it hath only two bridges one at Peebles of 5 arches and another at Berwick of 15. It had one at Melross the pillars whereof are yet standing and another is intended at Kelso The length of this County is 20 miles from Lamberton to Ridpeth on the south-side and from Cockburns-path to Seeinghill-kirk on the north-side But take the length anglewise 't is from Lamberton to Lauclugh direct east and west 24 miles It 's breadth is about 14 miles whether you take it on the west-west-end south-south-end or middle of the Shire It is divided into three parts Mers â—â—â—s Lammermoor and Lauderdale The Mers is a pleasant low ground lying open to the influence of the sun and guarded from storms by Lammermoor So that the soil is fertil and affords great plenty of oats barley wheat pease c. with abundance of hay Lammermoor â—â—mmerâ—â—â—r is a great tract of hills on the north-side of the Shire above 16 miles in length and 6 at least in breadth abounding with moss and moor The west end of them for four miles together belongs to Lauderdale the rest of it eastward is almost equally parted between East-Lothian and Mers The peculiar use of this tract is pasturage in the summer time and the game it affords by the abundance of Partridge Moor-fowl Plover c. But the product of these parts is not reckoned so good as of others being generally sold at a lower rate Lauderdale â—â—uderâ—â—le is a tract of ground lying on each side of the water of Leider abounding with pleasant haughs green hills and some woods well stor'd also with corn and pasturage The Judicatories â—â—dicatoâ—â—â—â— in this Shire are 1. The Sherif-Court which sits at the town of Duns 2. The Commissariot which sits at Lawder 3. The Regality of Thirlstan belonging to the Earl of Lauderdale 4. The Regality of Preston and Forest of Dye belonging to the Marquiss of Douglas 5. The Lordship of Coldingham and Stewartry of March belonging to the Earl of Hume who is Sheriff and has his residence at Hirsell The more remarkable places besides those mentioned by our Author are Duns â—â—ns a burgh of Barony standing upon a rising ground in the midst of the Shire Every Wednesday it has a great market of Sheep Horses and Cows and is famous for being reputed the birth-place of Joannes Duns Scotus A Gentleman a Laird of that name is still there Eymouth â—â—mouth the only port in the Shire for shipping which was fortified by the French in Queen Mary's minority Ersilton â—â—silton or Earlstown famous for the birth of Thomas Lermouth called Thomas the Rymer Hume for the Castle now demolish'd Caldstream â—â—â—dâ—â—â—â—am a market town lying close upon Tweed Greenlaw â—â—â—enlaw a burgh of Barony with a weekly market Fouldon a large town Rosse â—â—â—se famous for it's harbour and plenty of fish Aton situate upon the water of Ey White-coat White-coat where is a harbour for herring-fishing About Bastenrig on the east-hand and the Moristons and Mellerstoun downs on the west they frequently take the Dotterel Dotterel a rare Fowl towards the latter end of April and beginning of May. d Next the Mers along the south of the Firth or Forth lies the country call'd LOTHIAN having Mers to the east part of Lammermoor and part of Lauderdale with the Forest and Tweedale to the south part of Clidsdale and Stirlingshire to the west and to the north the Firth or Forth It is in length from Cockburns-path in the east to the Shire of Clidsdale about 57 miles and where 't is broadest between 16 and 17 miles over To what our Author has said in commendation of it may be added it's number of Towns with seats of the Nobility and Gentry wherein it goes much beyond the rest of Scotland 'T is divided into 3 distinct Tracts call'd East-Lothian Mid-Lothian and West-Lothian East-Lothian East-Lothian or the Constabulary or Shire of Hadington so called from Hadington one of the three burghs-Royal and seat of the Courts is in length about 22 and in breadth about 12 miles bounded by the Firth on the north and east by a tract of hills called Lammermoor on the south and by Mid-Lothian on the West It abounds with corn of all sorts has good store of grass with some considerable woods as Prestmennan Colston Humbie and Ormestan and abundance of Coal and Lime-stone It has good store of Sheep especially towards the hills of Lammermoor and by west Lammerlaw and from the west part to the sea all along to the east it abounds with Conies It hath many Salt-pans wherein much white Salt is made and at New-Milns there is a considerable manufactory of broad-cloath The sea-coast is accommodated with many convenient harbours and has the advantage of several Fish-towns particularly at Dumbar and on the coast thereabout every year after Lammas there is a Herring-fishing where they take great numbers not only to serve the Inhabitants but also for exportation The first considerable place we meet with in this tract is Dunglas Dunglas a pleasant seat on the sea-coast which formerly belonged to the Earl of Hume but has now another owner In the time of the late Wars a garison was kept there by the Earl of Hadington for the Army who with 30 Knights and Gentlemen of the name of Hamilton besides several other considerable persons perished in the ruines of this house For it was designedly blown up in the year 1640 by Nathaniel Paris an Englishman one of his own servants while the Earl was reading a Letter in the Court which he had then received from the Army with all the Gentlemen about him Only four of the whole Company escaped who by the force of the powder were thrown to a great distance from the house 'T is now repaired and adorned by Sir John Hall the present possessor with curious Gardens spacious Courts and a large and pleasant Avenue They have here a Collegiate Church a goodly large building and vaulted but 't is now ruinous Along the Coast to Dunbar is a pleasant Country the most fruitful in the Kingdom especially in Wheat and Barley South-east of Dumbar a Burgh-royal in this Shire is Dunhill Dunhill memorable for the victory obtained Sept. 30. 1650. over the Scotch-Army under Lesly by a handful of men and those too but sickly under the command of Cromwell Which miscarriage if some ingenuous persons who were in the Action may be believed was rather owing to the treachery of some
the West of Kirkwal at the bottom of a large Bay lyes a little Isle called Damsey with a Holm beside it as big as it self To the North-north-west lyes Rousa a large Isle about six miles long full of heatherly hills well stored with Plover and Moor-fowl it is but thinly inhabited Betwixt it and the main land lyes Inhallo and toward Kirkwal lyes Wyre and Gairsa small but profitable Isles North from Kirkwal at eight miles distance stands Eglesha something more than two miles long but pleasant and fertile having a convenient road for ships betwixt it and Wyre there is in it a little handsome some Church where it is said that St. Magnus the Patron of this Country lyes buryed To the North of Eglisha is Westra seven miles long pleasant fertile and well inhabited it hath a convenient harbour for ships at Piriwa at the East end of it lyes Faira called for distinction Faira be North and to the north-and-by-North-and-by-east is Papa-Westra a pleasant Isle three miles in length famous for Saint Tredwel's Chapel and Loch of which many things are reported by the vulgar All these Isles are indifferently fruitful well stored with fields of Corn and herds of Cattle and abound with Rabbets but destitute of Wheat Rye and Pease The chief products of this country and which are exported yearly by the Merchant are Beer Malt Meal Fish Tallow Hides Stockings Butter Selch-skins Otter-skins Rabbet-skins Lamb-skins white Salt Stuffs Writing-Pens Downs Feathers Hams Wooll c. Thus much of the particular Islands They have good store of field and garden-plants and make great quantities of butter Their Ews are so fertile that most of them have two at a birth and some three nay Mr. Wallace affirms that he has seen four at a birth all living and following the Dam. Their horses are but little yet strong and lively they have great herds of Swine and Warrens almost in every Isle well stored with rabbets That they can want either fish or fowl considering the situation of the Country we cannot well imagine The Eagles and Kites are there in great plenty and are very troublesome seizing sometimes upon young Children and carrying them a good way off So that if any one kills an Eagle he may by law claim a hen out of every house in the parish where it is killed Hawks and Falcons have their nests in several parts of the Islands and the King's Falconer comes every year and takes the young who has twenty pound sterling in salary and a hen or a dog out of every house in the Country except some houses that are privileged They have several Mines of Silver Tin Lead and perhaps of other Metals but none are improved They find abundance of Marle which turns to good account to the Husbandman Free-stone quarries with grey and red slate are in many places and in some Marble and Alabaster When the winds are violent the sea casts in pieces of trees and sometimes hogsheads of wine and brandy Ambergreese exotick Fowls c. Forest or Wood they have none nor any Trees except in the Bishop's garden at Kirkwall where there are some Ashes Thorn and Plum-trees Here and there in a Gentleman's garden there are Apple and Cherry-trees but the fruit seldom comes to any maturity Yet it should seem there have been Woods formerly for they find Trees in the Mosses of twenty or thirty foot in length with their branches entire Where the Country is divided into so many small Islands it cannot be expected there should be any large rivers yet bourns and torrents they have well replenished with Trouts There are many Lochs but they serve to no further use than affording water to their Mills or Cattle The many excellent roads bays and ports make it exceeding commodious for navigation Thus much of the Country in general Particular places are no ways considerable except it be Kirkwall an account whereof take from my Author together with the ancient state of the Church of Orkney the Cathedral and Bishop's Palace being both in this Town Mr. Wallacâ—'s account of Kâ—râ—wall The only remarkable town in this Country is Kirkwall an ancient borough long possessed by the Danes by whom it was called Cracoviaca built upon a pleasant Oyse or inlet of the sea near the middle of the main land near a mile in length with narrow streets having a very safe harbor and road for ships Here is the seat of justice the Stewart Sheriff Commissary all of them keeping their several Courts in this place Almost all the houses in it are slated but the most remarkable edifices in it are St. Magnus's Church and the Bishop's Palace As for the King's Castle it is now demolished but by the ruines it appears to have been a strong and stately fort and probably built by some of the Bishops of Orkney as appears from a remarkable stone set in the midst of the wall that looks towards the Streat which has a Bishop's Miter and Arms engraven on it There is in it a publick School for the teaching of Grammar endowed with a competent salary and at the north end of the town is a place built by the English ditch'd about and on which in time of war they plant Cannons for the defence of the harbor against the ships of the enemy as it fell out anno 1666 when there was war between our King and the Hollanders a Dutch man of war coming to the road who shot many guns at the Town with a design to take away some of the ships that were in the harbor was by some Cannon from the Mount so bruised that he was forced to flee with the loss of many of his men This Town had been erected into a royal borough in the time of the Danes and Anno 1480 King James the third gave them a Charter confirming their old erection and privileges specifying their antiquity and giving them power to hold Borough-Courts to incarcerate and arrest to make laws and ordinances and to elect their own Magistrates yearly for the right government of the town to have a weekly Market on Tuesday and Friday and three Fairs in the year one about Palm-Sunday another at Lammas and the third at Martinmas each to continue three days He moreover disposed to them some lands about the town with the customs and shore-dues and the power of a Pitt and Gallows and all other privileges granted to any Royal Borough within the Kingdom exempting them from sending any Commissioners to Parliament unless their own necessities requir'd it This Charter is dated at Edinburgh the last of March 1486. And in the year 1536 February the 8th King James the fifth ratified the former charter by a new Charter of confirmation And in the year 1661 King Charles after his restoration ratified the former Charters by a signiture under his royal hand dated at Whitehall May the 25th whereupon the Parliament at Edinburgh the 22d of August 1670 confirmed all by their Act yet with this special provision
here a Castle now more than ruinous they were Founders of the adjacent Abby of Kingswood of the Cistercian order w 15 Derived from Tintern whom Maud the Empress greatly enriched The males of this House failed in the time of King Richard 2. and the Heir General was married to Cantelow Within one mile of this where the river Cam lately spoken of springeth is Uleigh a seat also of the Barkleys descended from the Barons Barkley styled of Uleigh and Stoke-Giffard who were found Coheirs to J. Baron Boutetort descended from the Baron Zouch of Richard Castles aliàs Mortimer and the Somerys Lords of Dueley And not far eastward we behold Beverstone-castle Beverston formerly belonging to the Gournys and Ab-Adams Ab-Adams who flourish'd under Edward 1. but afterwards to the Knightly family of the Berkleys x Hitherto I have made cursory remarks upon those places in this County which are situate beyond or upon Severn now I will pass forward to the easterly parts which I observ'd were hilly to wit Cotswold Cotswold which takes it's name from the hills and sheepcotes for mountains and hills 16 Without woods the Englishmen in old times termed Woulds Would what in English upon which account the ancient Glossary interprets the Alps of Italy the Woulds of Italy Upon these hills are fed large flocks of sheep with the whitest wool having long necks and square Bodies by reason as is supposed of their hilly and short pasture whose fine wool is much valued in foreign nations Under the side of these hills as it were in a neighbourhood together lye these following places most remarkable for their Antiquity y 17 Beginning at the north-north-east end of them Campden Campden commonly called Camden a noted market town where as John Castor averrs all the Kings of the Saxon Race had a congress in the year 689 and had a common consult how to carry on the war joyntly against the Britains which town 16 Weston and Biselay were in the possession of Hugh Earl of Chester in William the Conqueror's time Inq. 2. Ed. 2. was in the possession of Hugh Earl of Chester and from his posterity descended 17 By Nicolao de Albeniaco an Inheritrice to the ancient Earls of Arundel unto Roger de Somery by Nicholas de Albeniaco to Roger de Somery z h This place is in Warwickshire Adjoyning unto it is Weston of no great antiquity but now remarkable for the stately house there built by Ralph Sheldon for him and his posterity which at a great distance makes a fine prospect Hales Hales a most flourishing Abbey built by Richard Earl of Cornwal and King of the Romans 18 Who was there buried with his wife Sanchia daughter to the Earl of Provence famous for its scholar Alexander de Hales a great master of that knotty and subtile sort of school divinity aa 19 As he carried away the sirname of Doctor Irrefragabilis that is the Doctor ungainsaid as he that could not be gainsaid Sudley Sudley formerly Sudleagh i The neat Church here was ruin'd in the Civil wars and the best part of the Castle is since pull'd down a beautiful castle lately the seat 20 Of Sir Tho. Seimor Baron Seimor of Sudley and Admiral of England attainted in the time of K. Edw. 6 and afterward of Sir John Bruges whom Q. Mary c. of Giles Bruges Baron of Chandos Barons of Chandos whose grandfather John was honoured by Queen Mary with that title because he derived his pedigree from the ancient family of Chandos out of which there flourish'd in the reign of K. Edw. 3. 21 Sir John a famous Banneret L. of Caumont and Kerkitou in France John Chandos Viscount St. Saviours in France eminent for his services and great success in war The former Lords hence called Barons of Sudley Barons of Sudley that lived here were of an ancient English Race deducing their original from Goda the daughter of K. Aethelred whose son Ralph Medantinus Earl of Hereford was the father of Harold Lord of Sudley whose progeny long continued here until for want of issue male the heiress married with 22 Sir William William Butler of the family of Wem and brought him a son named Thomas He was father of Ralph Lord high Treasurer of England whom Hen. 6. created Baron of Sudley 23 With a fee of 200 marks yearly and who new built this castle His sisters were married into the families of Northbury and Belknape by which their possessions were in a short time divided into different families Hard by this is Toddington Toddington where the Tracies Tracies of a worshipful and ancient family have long flourished and formerly received many favours from the Barons of Sudley But how in the first reformation of religion William Tracy Lord of this place was censured after his death his body being dug up and burn'd publickly for some slight words in his last Will which those times call'd heretical or how in preceding times another William Tracy imbrued his hands in the blood of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury Ecclesiastical writers having told us at large is now no part of my business to relate Winchelcomb Winchelcomb is here seated which is a populous town where Kenulph the Mercian King erected a Monastery and upon the day of it's consecration freely dismissed Edbricth King of Kent then his prisoner without any ransome paid 'T is scarce credible in what great repute this monastery was for the sake of the reliques of K. Kenesm a child of 7 years old whom his sister privately bereaved of his life to gain the inheritance and who was by that age added to the number of martyrs The neighbourhood of this place was formerly reckoned as a County or Sheriffdom by it self for we find in an ancient manuscript belonging to the Church of Worcester these words Edric sirnamed Streona that is the * Adquisitor Acquirer who under Ethelred and afterwards under Cnute or Canute presided and reigned as a Viceroy over all England adjoyned the Sheriffdom of Winchelcombe which was then an entire thing in it self to the County of Glocester bb 24 Thence I found nothing memorable but near the fountain of Churn river Coberley a seat of a stem of Barkeleis so often named even from the Conquest which matched with an heir of Chandos and so came hereditarily to the Bruges progenitors to the Lords Chandos Then by Bird-lip-hill whereby we ascended to this high Coteswold Lower in the County lyeth Brimesfield Brimesfield where the Giffords were formerly Lords Giffords Barons to whom by marriage with the Cliffords came a plentiful Estate but soon after having only daughters it fell to the Lords Le Strange of Blackmer the Audleys and others cc These places are situate amongst the hills but under the hills upon the East-confines of the County I saw that famous Roman highway call'd the Fosse
Catsfoot On Bernake heath not far from Stamford Pulsatilla Anglica purpurea Park parad flore clauso caeruleo J. B. Common Pasque-flower On the same heath in great plenty See the Synonymes in Cambridgeshire Millefolium palustre flore luteo galericulato Hooded Water-Milfoil In the ditches by the rivers-side as you go from Peterborough to Thorp LEICESTERSHIRE NORTH of Northamptonshire lies the County of Leicester In the Survey-Book which William the Norman made of England it is call'd Ledecesterscyre but now commonly Leicestershire It is all a champain country rich in corn and grain but the greatest part of it deficient in woods It is encompass'd on the east with Rutland and Lincolnshire on the north with Nottingham and Derbyshire on the west with Warwickshire from which it is parted by the Military-way of the old Romans call'd Watlingstreet which runs along the west skirts of this County and on the south as I observ'd before it is limited by Northamptonshire The river Soar passeth through the middle of this County to the Trent but in the east parts there gently runs a small stream call'd the Wreke which at last falls into the Soar On the South-side where the County is bounded on one hand with the river Avon the less and on the other with the Welland nothing worthy of note presents it self unless it be near the head and first rising of the Welland the town of Haverburg commonly call'd a Burton's Leicestershire p. 127. Harborrow Harborrow famous for its Fair for Cattle and not far distant from thence b Ibid. p. 67. Carleton Carleton Curleu that is the town of Husbandmen I know not whether it be worth relating but most of the natives of this town either from some peculiar quality of the soil or water or other unknown cause in nature have a harsh and ungrateful manner of speech with a guttural and difficult pronunciation and a strange * Rhotacismus wharling in the utterance of their words a Watling-street The Roman way before-mention'd whose cawsey being in other places worn away here shews it self very plainly runs north almost in a direct line along the west-side of this County You may perhaps laugh at my expensive diligence as vainly curious but I have follow'd the tract of this way very intently from the Thames into Wales for the discovery of places of Antiquity b nor could I expect to meet with any other more faithful guide 1 For the finding out of those said Towns which Antonine the Emperour specifieth in his Itinerary for that purpose This Way having past Dowbridge where it leaves Northamptonshire is first interrupted by the river Swift which is but a slow stream tho' the name imports the contrary but to that it answers only in the winter-time The bridge over which this road was heretofore continu'd they call Bransford-bridge and Bensford it was a long time broken down and that occasion'd this famous way to be for many years little frequented but now it is repair'd at the charge of the publick Adjoyning on the one hand westward lyes Cester-Over Cester-over but in Warwickshire a place worthy of note were it only for the Lord thereof Sir c He was created a Baron of this kingdom in the 18th year of King James 1. by the title of Lord Brook of Beauchamp's Court in the County of Warwick Fulk Grevill Kt. a person of extraordinary merit and yet the name speaks it a place of antiquity for our Ancestors never gave the name of Cester but only to ancient Cities or Castles On the other hand eastward on this side of Swift 2 Which springeth near Knaptoft the seat of the Turpins a knightly house descended from an heir of the Gobions lyes Misterton belonging to the famous and ancient family of the Poultneys 3 Who took that name of Poulteney a place now decay'd within the said Lordship and beyond the river Lutterworth a small market-town formerly as report says the possession of the Verdons 4 Which only sheweth a fair Church which hath been encreas'd by the Feldings of Knights Degree and ancient Gentry in this Shire A petrifying well Near which is a spring of water so very cold that in a little time it converts straws and sticks into stone Rector of this Church heretofore was the famous John Wickliff John Wickliff dy'd 1387. a man of a close subtil wit and very well verst in the sacred Scriptures who having sharpen'd his pen against the Pope's authority and the Roman Church 5 And Religious men was not only grievously persecuted in his life time but one and forty years after his death by command of the Council of Sienna his body was in a barbarous manner taken out of his grave and burnt From Bensford-bridge the Old-way goes up to High-cross so call'd because formerly a cross was erected in that high place instead of which there is now a high post set up with props to support it The neighbouring Inhabitants told me that the two principal ways of England did here cross and that in this place stood once a most flourishing city call d Cley-cester Cleycester which had a Senate of it 's own and that Cley-brook Cleybrook near a mile distant from hence was part of the old Cleycester They say also that on both sides of this way great foundations of squar'd-stone have been discover'd under ground and Roman coins frequently cast up by the plow However above ground as the Poet says Etiam ipsae periere ruinae The very ruins are decay'd and lost These things consider'd with its distance from Banaventa or Wedon which agrees exactly and that bridge call'd Bensford are inducements to believe that the Bennones Bennones or Venones which mansion Antoninus places next after Bannaventa were seated here And the rather because Antoninus tells us that the way here parted into two branches which also is the vulgar observation For North-east-ward the Fosse-way leads to Lincoln by Ratae and Vernometum of which places more hereafter and to the North-west Watlingstreet goes directly into Wales by Manvessedum of which in its proper place when I come to Warwickshire c More above on the side of the foresaid way stands Hinckley Hinckley formerly belonging to the Lord Hugh Grant-maisnill 6 A Norman High-steward or Seneschal of England in the reigns of William Rufus and Henry 1. He had two daughters Petronilla or Parnel marry'd to Robert Blanchemaines so call'd from the whiteness of his hands Earl of Leicester with whom he had the Stewardship of England and Alice married to Roger Bigot At the east-East-end of this Church are to be seen trenches and rampires cast up to a great height which the Inhabitants say was Hugh's-castle Three miles from hence lyes Bosworth Bosworth an ancient market-town d For distinction from another of the same name in the Hundred of Gartery it is call'd commonly Market-Bosworth Burton p. 47. which liberty
the Counties of Wilts and Somerset Provinces of the West-Saxon Kingdom u Mr. Camden having left the west-side of this County in a manner untouch'd it will be necessary to give a more particular view thereof The river Teme Teme in Latin Temedus waters the north-west part of this Shire taking its course into the Severn through rich meadows and the soil on both sides produceth excellent Syder and Hops in great abundance On the edge of Shropshire the river gives its name to Temebury a small but well-frequented market-town This town with most of the Lands between Teme and Herefordshire were held by Robert Fitz Richard Lord of Ricards Castle whose son Hugh marrying Eustachia de Say a great heiress the issue of that match took the sirname of Say These Lands by Margery an heir-female came to Robert Mortimer about K. John's time and the issue-male of the family of Mortimers failing the patrimony was divided between two daughters the elder of which being marry'd to Geoffry Cornwall part of it continues in the hands of their posterity but the rest hath often chang'd its Lords About 7 miles below Temebury the river passeth under Woodbery-hill Woodbery-hill remarkable for an old entrenchment on the top vulgarly call'd Owen Glendowr's Camp which notwithstanding is probably of greater antiquity Hence runs a continu'd ridge of hills from Teme almost to Severn and seems to have been the boundary of the Wiccian Province At the foot of Woodbery-hill stands Great-Witley Gâ—eâ—t â—â—â—ley where is a fair new-built house the chief seat of the Foleys who bought it of the Russels to whom it came about King Henry the 7th's time by marriage with one of the coheirs of Cassy who had marry'd the heir-general of the Coke-sayes it s more ancient Lords Under the west-side of Woodbery-hill lies Shelsley Beauchamp and over against it Shelsley Walsh Sheâ—â—ey Waâ—sh where dwelt Sir Richard Walsh the famous Sheriff of this County at the time of the Powder-plot who pursu'd the traytors into Staffordshire and took them there A little lower stood Hammme-castle and now in the place of it a fair seat which the ancient family of the Jeffreys have enjoy'd about 200 years Hence by Martley Teme passeth under Coderidge Coderiâ—â—â— a manour of the Berkleys formerly the Actons and in more ancient times belonging to the Mortimers and Says On the opposite bank stands Leigh Leâ—gh a manour of the Viscount of Hereford whence the river hasting to Powick falls into the Severn Continuation of the EARLS Henry son of Edward succeeding his father was created Marquiss of Worcester by K. Charles 1. which honour was after him enjoy'd by Edward his son and Henry his grandson who being created Duke of Beaufort by King Charles 2. the title of Marquiss of Worcester is now given to Charles Somerset his eldest son a Gentleman of great parts and worth who merits no less a character than that Mr. Camden gives his noble Ancestor with whom he concludes his description of Worcestershire More rare Plants growing wild in Worcestershire Colchicum vulgare seu Anglicum purpureum album Ger. Park Common meadow-Saffron I observed it growing most plentifully in the meadows of this County Cynoglossum folio virenti J. B. Cynoglossum minus folio virente Ger. semper virens C. B. Park The lesser green-leaved Hounds-tongue It hath been observed in some shady lanes near Worcester by Mr. Pitts an Apothecary and Alderman of that City Sorbus pyriformis D. Pitts which I suspect to be no other than the Sorbus sativa C. B. legitima Park That is the true or manured Service or Sorb-tree Found by the said Mr. Pits in a forest of this County Triticum majus glumâ foliaceâ seu Triticum Polonicum D. Bobert An Trit speciosum grano oblongo J. B Polonian Wheat It is found in the fields in this County and as Dr. Plot tells us in Staffordshire also STAFFORDSHIRE THE third part of that Country inhabited by the Cornavii now Staffordshire in Saxon Stafford-scyre the people whereof as living in the heart of England are call'd in Bede Angli Mediterranei Angli Mediterranei bounded on the east by Warwickshire and Derbyshire on the south by the County of Worcester and on the west by Shropshire lies from south to north almost in the form of a Rhombus being broad in the middle but narrow and contracted towards the ends of it The north part is mountainous and less fertile but the middle which is water'd by the Trent is fruitful woody and pleasant by an equal mixture of arable and meadow grounds so is also the south which has much pit-coal and mines of iron Iron but whether more to their loss or advantage the natives themselves are best Judges and so I refer it to them STAFFORD SHIRE by Robt. Morden After this we find memorable in this tract Chellington Chellington a very fine seat and the manour of that ancient and famous family the Giffards The Gâ—ffards given to Peter Giffard in the reign of Hen. 2. by Peter Corbuchin to whom also Richard Strongbow who conquer'd Ireland gave Tachmelin and other lands in that Country Vulfrunes-hampton so call'd from Vulfruna a very pious woman who built a Monastery in the town which before had the name of Hampton and hence for Vulfrunes-hampton it is corruptly call'd Wolverhampton Wâ—lverhampton which is chiefly remarkable for the College there annex'd to the Dean and Prebendaries of Windsor b Theoten-hall 〈…〉 that is to say a house of Pagans now Tetnall where many of the Danes were cut off in the year 911. by Edward the elder c Weadesburg now Weddsborrow Weddsborâ—ow heretofore fortified by Aethelfleda Governess of the Mercians and Walsall none of the meanest market-towns Near this lies the course of the river Tame Tame which rising not far off runs for some miles on the east-side of this County toward the Trent passing at some small distance by Draiton Basset â—â—set the seat of the Bassets who are descended from one Turstin Lord of this place in the reign of Hen. 1. and grown up into a numerous and famous family For this is the stock from which the Bassets of Welleden Wiccomb Sapcott Chedle and others of them are propagated But of these Bassets of Draiton Ralph was the last a very eminent Baron who marry'd the sister of John Montfort Duke of Bretagne and died without issue in the reign of Rich. 2. From hence the Tame passing thro' the bridge at Falkesley over which an ancient Roman-way lay runs by the lower part of Tamworth â—â—mworth in Saxon Tamapeord in Marianus Tamawordina so situated between the borders of the two Shires that the one part of it which formerly belong'd to the Marmions is counted in Warwickshire the other which belong'd to the Hastings is reckon'd in this County It takes its name from the river Tame which runs by it and the Saxon word Weorth which signifies
so that having climb'd up one Rock we come to a Valley and most commonly to a Lake and passing by that we ascend another and sometimes a third and a fourth before we arrive at the highest Peaks These Mountains as well as Kader Idris and some others in Meirionydhshire differ from those by Brecknock and elsewhere in South-Wales in that they abound much more with naked and inaccessible Rocks and that their lower skirts and valleys are always either cover'd or scatter'd over with fragments of Rocks of all magnitudes most of which I presume to have fall'n from the impendent Cliffs But of this something more particular may be seen in Mr. Ray's Physico-Theological Discourses pag. 285. wherefore I shall mention here only two places which seem'd to me more especially remarkable The first is the summit or utmost top of the Glyder a Mountain above-mention'd as one of the highest in these parts where I observ'd prodigious heaps of stones many of them of the largeness of those of Stone-honge * See Wiltshire but of all the irregular shapes imaginable and all lying in such confusion as the ruins of any building can be supposed to do Now I must confess I cannot well imagine how this hath happen'd for that ever they should be indeed the ruins of some Edifice I can by no means allow in regard that most of them are wholly as irregular as those that have fall'n to the Valleys We must then suppose them to be the Skeleton of the hill exposed to open view by rains snow c. but how then came they to lye across each other in this confusion some of them being of an oblong flat form having their two ends ex gr East and West others laid athwart these some flat but many inclining being supported by other stones at the one end whereas we find by Rocks and Quarries the natural position of stones is much more uniform Had they been in a valley I had concluded they had fall'n from the neighbouring Rocks because we find frequent examples of such heaps of stones augmented by accession of others tumbling on them but being on the highest part of the hill they seem'd to me much more remarkable The other place I thought no less observable tho' for contrary reasons that being as regular and uniform as this is disorder'd and confus'd On the West-side of the same hill there is amongst many others one naked Precipice †Thâ— Kâ—grâ— neaâ— sâ—vyâ—â—â— is peâ—â—â— one iâ— there 〈◊〉 dâ—tâ—â—â— by â—â— partiâ—â— name as steep as any I have seen but so adorn'd with numerous equidistant Pillars and these again slightly cross'd at certain joynts that such as would favour the Hypothesis of the ingenious Author of the Sacred Theory might suppose it one small pattern of the Antediluvian Earth But this seem'd to me much more accountable than the former for 't was evident that the gullets or interstices between the pillars were occasion'd by a continual dropping of water down this Cliff which proceeds from the frequent Clouds Rains and Snow that this high Rock expos'd to a westerly Sea-wind is subject to But that the effects of such storms are more remarkably regular on this Cliff than others proceeds partly from its situation and partly from the texture or constitution of the stone it consists of However we must allow a natural regularity in the frame of the Rock which the storms only render more conspicuous That these Mountains are throughout the year cover'd either with Snow or a harden'd crust of Snow of several years continuance c. was a wrong Information our Author probably receiv'd from some persons who had never been at them For generally speaking there 's no Snow here from the end of April to the midst of September Some heaps excepted which often remain near the tops of Moel y Wydhva and Karnedh Lhewelyn till the midst of June e're they are totally wasted It often snows on the tops of these Mountains in May and June but that Snow or rather Sleet melts as fast as it falls and the same shower that falls then in Snow on the high Mountains is but Rain in the Valleys As for an incrustation of Snow or Ice of several years continuance we know not in Wales what it means Tho' Wagnerus ‖ Jâ—â— Waâ—â—â— Haâ—t 〈◊〉 Heâ—â—â— Coâ—â—â— Seâ—â—â— tells us they are common in the Alps of Switzerland Tempore aestivo quoque suprema Alpium culmina aeternâ ac invictâ glacie rigent perpetuisque nivibus sunt obtecta And adds there are Mountains crown'd with hillocks or vast heaps of such Ice call'd by them Firn or Gletscher which may be presumed to have continued for two or three thousand years insomuch that for hardness it may seem to be rather Crystal than Ice c. The number of Lakes in this mountainous tract may be about fifty or threescore I took a Catalogue of fifteen visible from the top of Moel y Wydhva These are generally denominated either from the rivers they pour forth or from the colour of their water amongst which I observ'd one under the highest Peak of Snowdon call'd Fynon lâs that signifies the Green Fountain which I therefore thought remarkable because Mr. Ray * Obsertions Tâ— graph c. observes that the waters of some of the Alpine Lakes are also inclin'd to that colour Others receive their names from some Village or Parish-Church adjoyning or from a remarkable Mountain or Rock under which they are situated and some there are tho' very few distinguish'd by names scarce intelligible to the best Criticks in the British as Lhyn Teirn Lhyn Eigiau Lhyn Lhydaw â—â—me â—ight â—nâ—erpret the 〈◊〉 former Tâ—ngâ—-near â—nd Sâ—â—â—ieâ—â—â—r the â—â—ed Ieirn â—gâ—â—â—ing a â—â—a â—â—â—r and 〈◊〉 of Th. Lhyâ—â—s is the 〈◊〉 â—â—ereby â—e call Arâ—â—â—a but â—â—rifies â—â—thing â—e we â—â—w of c. Giraldus Cambrensis as our Author observes informs us of two Lakes on the highest tops of these Mountains one of which was remarkable for a wandring Island and the other no less strange for that all the fish in it tho' it abounded with Eels Trouts and Perch were monocular wanting the left eye To this we must beg leave to answer that amongst all the Lakes in this mountainous Country there is not one seated on the highest part of a hill all of them being spread in valleys either higher or lower and fed by the Springs and Rivulets of the Rocks and Cliffs that are above them The Lake wherein he tells us there 's a wandring Island is a small pond call'd Lhyn Å· Dywà rchen i.e. Lacus cespitis from a little green patch neaâ— the brink of it which is all the occasion of the fable of the wandring Island but whence that other of monocular Fish which he says were found also at two places in Scotland took beginning I cannot conjecture Most of these Lakes are well stor'd with fish but generally they afford no other kinds than Trout and Eel The Torgochiaid
represented by them and hence that of Virgil Purpureaque intexti tollant aulaea Britanni And how the tap'stry where themselves are wrought The British slaves pull down And the Britains were not only appointed to serve the theater In the Gardens of Cardinal de Carpento but also tho' this is by the by the Emperor's Sedan as appears by an old Inscription of that age which makes mention of a Decurio over the British * Lecticartorum Sedan-men Of this Conquest of Caesar's thus an ancient poet Vis invicta viri reparata classe Britannos Vicit hostiles Rheni compescuit undas Unconquer'd force his fleet new rigg'd o'recame The British Troops and Rhine's rebellious Stream To this also may be referr'd that of Claudian concerning the Roman valour Nec stetit oceano remisque ingressa profundum Vincendos alio quaesivit in orbe Britannos Nor stop'd he here but urg'd the boundless flood And sought new British Worlds to be subdued Moreover Cicero in a poem now lost intitl'd Quadrigae extols Caesar for his exploits in Britain to the very skies in a poetical chariot as it were and this we have upon the authority of Ferrerius Pedemontanus For thus he writes I will draw Britain in your colours but with my own pencil However others are of opinion that he only frighted the Britains by a successful battle or as Lucan says who was hardly just to Caesar Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis Fled from the Britains whom his arms had sought Tacitus a grave solid Author writes that he did not conquer Britain but only shew'd it to the Romans Horace hints as if he only touch'd it when flattering Augustus he says the Britains were * Iâ—tactum not meddled withall Intactus aut Britannus ut descenderet Sacra catenatus via Or Britains yet untouch'd in chains should come To grace thy triumph through the streets of Rome And Propertius Te manet invictus Romano Marte Britannus Britain that scorn'd the yoak of our command Expects her fate from your victorious hand So far is that of the Court-historian Velleius Peterculus from being true Caesar pass'd twice through Britain when it was hardly ever enter'd by him For many years after this expedition of Caesar this Island was subject to its own Kings Dio. and govern'd by its own Laws Augustus Augustus seems out of policy to have neglected this Island for he calls it wisdom as Tacitus says and perhaps it really seem'd so to him that the Roman Empire should be bounded i.e. that the Ocean the Istre and the Euphrates were the limits which nature had set to it that so it might be an adamantine Empire for so Augustus expresses it in Julian and not In the Caeâ—ars like a ship which is too big prove unweildly and sink under its own weight and greatness as it has usually happen'd to other great States Or else as Strabo thinks he contemn'd it as if its enmity was neither worth fearing nor its benefit worth having and yet they thought no small damage might be done them by those other Countreys about it But whatever might be the cause this is certain that after Julius and the Civil Wars of the Empire broke out Britain for a long while was not heeded by the Romans even in peaceful times Yet at last Augustus was on his Journey from Rome to invade Britain Whereupon Horace at that time to Fortune at Antium Serves iturum Caesarem in ultimos Orbis Britannos Preserve great Caesar while his arms he bends To seek new foes in Britain's farthest lands And after he had gone as far as Gaul the Britains sent their addresses to him for peace and some petty Princes of them having obtained his favour by Embassies and their good services made oblations in the Capitol Strabo and made the whole Island almost intimate and familiar to the Romans so that they paid all imposts very contentedly as they do at this day for such commodities as were convey'd to and fro between Gaul and Britain Now these were ivory bridles * Torques Chains amber and glass Vessels and such like poor common sort of ware And therefore there needs no garison in that Island For it would require at least one Legion and some hâ—rse if tribute was to be rais'd out of it and that would hardly defray the charge of the garison for the imposts must necessarily be abated if a tribute was impos'd and when violent courses are once taken danger may be look'd for The next year likewise he intended to make a descent into Britain for breach of treaty and covenants but he was diverted by an insurrection of the Cantabri and others in Spain And therefore there is no reason to believe Landinus Servius or Philargirus who would conclude that Augustus triumph'd over the Britains from those verses of Virgil Et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste trophaea Bisque triumphatas utroque a littore gentes Gain'd from two foes two trophies in his hands Two nations conquer'd on the neighbouring strands To that surrender of the Britains without question this of Horace relates Caelo tonantem credidimus Jovem Regnare praesens divus habebitur Augustus adjectis Britannis Imperio gravibusque Persis When thundring Jove we heard before Trembling we own'd his heavenly power To Caesar now we 'll humbly bow Caesar's a greater god below When conquer'd Britain sheaths her sword And haughty Persia calls him Lord. Tiberius Tiberius seems to have follow'd the counsel of Augustus and not to have been ambitious of extending the bounds of his empire for he produc'd a book written by Augustus's own hand containing the account of the Empire how many citizens and allies were in arms the number of fleets kingdoms provinces tributes or imposts belonging to the State with his advice at last of keeping the Empire within bounds VVhich in particuar as Tacitus says pleas'd him so well that he made no attempt upon Britain nor kept any garison there For where Tacitus reckons up the legions and in what countreys they were garison'd at that time he makes no mention of Britain Yet the Britains seem to have continued in amity with the Romans For Germanicus being on a voyage at that time and some of his men being driven by stress of weather upon this Island the petty Princes here sent them home again It is evident enough that Caius Caesar did design to invade this Island C. Caligula but his own fickle and unsteady temper and the ill success of his great armies in Germany prevented it Suetonius in Caligula For to the end he might terrifie Britain and Germany to both which he threaten'd an invasion with the same of some prodigious work he made a bridge between the Baiae and the Piles of Puteoli three miles and six hundred paces in length But did nothing more in this expedition than receive Adminius Adminius the son of Cunobellin a King of the
Juvenal Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos Gaul's eloquence taught British Lawyers art did at last so reform and civilize them by these laws and the example of their other customs that for the modes of their dress and living they were not inferiour to those of any other Provinces â—he Rom. â—orks in â—ritain Their buildings and other works were so very stately that we cannot look upon the remains of them at this very day without great admiration and the common people will have these Roman fabricks to be the works of the Gyants whom in the North parts they call Ethnicus Eatons for Heathens if I mistake not They are without question very wonderful and stately particularly the Picts wall â—he Valâ—um or â—icts wall of which in its proper place and the High-ways throughout the whole country which lye sometimes through dreined fens sometimes through low valleys raised high for them â—he Roâ—an miliâ—ary ways and pav'd and withal are so broad that two carts may easily drive by one another without touching An account of them we have thus in Galen Galen l. 9. c. 8. methodi Trajan repair'd the ways paving such as were wet and miry or else raising them such as were rough â—â—d over-grown with thorns he clear'd and ridded and where rivers were not fordable he made bridges if a way lay too much about he made it more direct and short if it lay over a difficult or steep mountain he drew it through plâ—â—es more easie if a road was haunted by wild beasts or waâ— desolate he had it transferr'd through such parts of the câ—â—ntry as were better inhabited and if the way was ruggeâ— he took care to smooth and level it Yet these of ours are so pared in some places by the country people's digging sand out of them that they are hardly to be known though otherwise as they lye through by-grounds and pastures they plainly appear by their height These were call'd by the Romans Viae Consulares Regiae Praetoriae Militares Publicae Cursus publici and Actus as we find by Ulpian and Julius Frontinus Ammianus Marcellinus calls them Aggeres Itinerarii and publici Sidonius Apollinaris Aggeres and tellures inaggeratae Bede and modern Authors Stratae Our Historians who are without question in an error will have only four ways of this nature the first Watlingstreat so called from I know not what Vitellius to whose charge this way was committed and indeed the Britains call'd Vitellianus in their language Guetalin named also Warlaemstraet which lay by Verulam and in some places is also called High-dike High-ridge Forty-foot-way and Ridge-way by those that live thereabouts The second they commonly call Ikenild-streat which began in the country of the Iceni the third the Fosse because as some think it was ditch'd on both sides the fourth Erminstreat a German word deriv'd from Mercury as I am inform'd by the very learn'd J. Obsopaeus who was worship'd among our forefathers the Germans by the name of Irmunsul i.e. Mercury's Pillar And that Mercury presided over the high-ways the Greek word it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does sufficiently intimate and besides his square statues formerly called Hermae were every where erected in the high-ways Yet some imagine that these ways were made by one Mulmutius I know not who many ages before the birth of Christ but this is so far from finding credit with me that I positively affirm they were made from time to time by the Romans When Agricola was Lieutenant here Tacitus tells us that the people were commanded to carry their corn about and into the most distant countreys and not to the nearest Camps but to those that were far off and out of the way And the Britains as the same Author has it complain that the Romans put their hands and bodies to the drudgery of ridding out Woods and paving Fens with a great many stripes and indignities And we find in old Records that in the days of Honorius and Arcadius there were made in Britain certain High-ways from sea to sea That they were done by the Romans Bede himself tells us The Romans liv'd within that wall which as I have already took notice Severus drew cross the Island to the Southward as the Cities Temples Bridges and High-ways made there do now plainly shew us In laying such ways the Romans were wont to employ their Soldiers and the people that they might not grow factious by too much ease High-ways says Isodorus were made almost all the world over by the Romans for the convenience of travelling and to employ the common people And the condemnation of Criminals was many times to work at them as may be inferr'd from Suetonius in the life of Caius Cap. 27. And moreover we see the Via Salamantica or Silver-way in Spain and in France certain military ways made by the Romans not to mention the Via Appia Pompeia Valeria and others in Italy Along these High-ways Sueton. in Octavius Augustus at first had certain young men set at some small distance from one another but after that wagons instead of them that thus he might have quick and speedy intelligence from all parts of the Empire And near upon these roads were the cities built Mansions as also inns or mansions for the accommodation of travellers with all necessaries Mutaâ—ions or â—â—â—â—â—ing 〈◊〉 and mutations for so those places were then call'd where travellers could change their post-horses draught-beasts or wagons And therefore whosoever seeks for the places he finds mention'd in Antoninus's Itinerary any where but by these ways will certainly wander and run into mistakes And perhaps it may deserve our notice that at the end of every mile along these roads there were erected Pillars by the Emperors with figures cut in them to signifie the number of miles Hence Sidonius Apollinaris Antiquus tibi nec teratur agger Cujus per spatium satis vetustis Nomen Caesareum viret columnis Nor let the antient causey be defac't Where in old pillars Caesar 's name 's express't Varro lib. De lingua Lat. By the sides of them were also the graves and monuments of famous men to put the traveller in mind of his own mortality by that of theirs For the repairing of them there were standing laws as we may see in the Theodosian Code under the Title De Itinere muniendo to excite every one to further this business with the utmost zeal and readiness There were also Overseers appointed for them And in our ancient Laws Laws of S. Edward there is mention made De pace quatuor Cheminorum that is of the peace of the four principal roads Nerva During Nerva's time we have no account left us of this Island by Authors Under Trajan Trajan the Britains seem to have revolted and that they were subdued again Adrian Emp. J. Severus Propraetor appears by Spartian In Adrian's reign Julius Severus was Lieutenant here who
Ambri famous for the Monastery of 300 Monks founded here by Ambrosius on purpose that they should pray for the souls of those that were slain by the treachery of Hengist as also for being the burial-place of Quinever wife to the victorious King Arthur whose tomb was found here within this last Century and this Inscription on the wall in massy-gold letters R. G. A. C. 600. the antiquity of which is very suspicious not only because by this computation she must have liv'd almost 50 years after K. Arthur but also because several Historians of good credit affirm that she was bury'd at Glassenbury Here was a Synod held in King Edgar's reign and A. D. 995. Elfrick was elected Archbishop of Canterbury at this place It enjoy'd great Privileges at the time of the Conquest for in Domesday-book we find Amblesbury nunquam geldavit nec hidata fuit In the year 1177. the Abbess and 30 Nuns were for their incontinence and loose lives expell'd and dispers'd into other Religious Houses to be kept under stricter discipline whereupon King Henry gave this Monastery to the Abbey of Fontevralt and so a Convent of those Nuns were sent over the same year and admitted into full possession of this Abbey After it came to be in great repute and not only Q. Eleanor was Nun here but also Mary daughter of K. Edw. 1. and 13 Noblemen's daughters were veil'd here on Assumption-day A. D. 1285. ff Next is Everley Everley or Eburlegh the country-seat of King Ina above which in the way to Lurgeshall on the highest hill in Wiltshire call'd Suthbury-hill is a vast fortification encompass'd with two deep ditches and of an oval figure All along the declivity of the hill there runs a deep trench ditch'd on both sides made probably to secure their communication with some watering place in the neighbouring Bourn It certainly appears to have been a Danish Camp whereby they seem to have commanded all this part of the Country and 6 or 7 barrows in the plain beneath may be thought to preserve the memory of a battle here Near this place is Escourt Escourt where not far from a great Causey suppos'd to be a Roman Vicinal way there was dug up last summer a large earthen vessel with two lesser pots in it one of which was full of ashes or bones The largest of these might probably be an * Rigaltii observat in Auctores Agrarios Obruendarium of the Romans wherein they inclos'd their Vascula Cineraria c. About four miles north of this place is Great-Bedwyn which in the Saxon times †Monast Angl. T. 1. p. 97. Hist Abend was a Metropolis of the bounds of Cissa a Viceroy of Wiltshire and Berkshire under the King of the West-Saxons This Cissa built a Castle in the south part of that city and call'd it Cisse the ditches of which are yet to be seen Here it was that Wulfere and Escwin fought a bloody battle An. 675. and the place has been lately honour'd by giving to the world the most famous Physician of his time Dr. Thomas Willis Not far from hence eastward is Tokenham Tokenham the best seat of his Grace the Duke of Somerset Being now return'd to the banks of the Avon we meet with Uphaven Uphaven for which Peter de Manly procur'd a weekly market of Henry 3. by presenting to him a Palfrey About a mile to the west is a large irregular Camp call'd Casterley Casterley it has but a single trench and the name seems to point out to us something of Roman About 2 miles north-west is Merdon Meâ—don which might probably enough be the Meretune or Meredune of the Saxon Annals famous for the battle between King Etheldred and the Danes For here remain to this day the marks of entrenchments and the largest barrow in these parts except Silbury together with a tradition of a sight and of some great man's being bury'd under the barrow gg But Silbury Silbury is the largest and most uniform barrow in this County and perhaps in all England Upon what account it was rais'd we have no light from antiquity the tradition is that King Sill or King Silber was here bury'd which if compar'd with History comes nearest to Ceol King of the West-Saxons who might possibly be slain hereabouts as his Uncle and Predecessor Ceaulin was slain at Wodensdike unless one should say that it comes from sel great and beorg a hill or barrow And since our Author from this hint makes a digression about Barrows Several sorts of Barrows we may also take notice that there are several sorts of them upon these Downs 1. Small circular trenches with very little elevation in the middle 2. Ordinary barrows 3. Barrows with ditches round them 4. Large oblong barrows some with trenches round them others without 5. Oblong barrows with stones set up all round them There are grounds to believe that few or none of these are land-marks as Mr. Camden would have them About half a mile from Silbury is Aubury Aubury * Aubr Monument Britan. MS. a monument more considerable in it self than known to the world For a village of the same name being built within the circumference of it and by the by out of it's stones too what by gardens orchards inclosures and such like the prospect is so interrupted that 't is very hard to discover the form of it It is environ'd with an extraordinary Vallum or Rampart as great and as high as that at Winchester and within it is a graff of a depth and breadth proportionable from which Mr. Aubrey inferrs that it could not be design'd for a fortification because then the Graff would have been on the outside From the north to the south port are 60 paces and as many from the west port to the east The breadth of the Rampart is 4 perches and that of the graff the same The graff has been surrounded all along the edge of it with large stones pitch'd on end most of which are now taken away but some marks remaining give one the liberty to guess they stood quite round From this place to West-Kennet †Aubr ibid. West-Kennet is a walk that has been enclos'd on each side with large stones only one side at present wants a great many but the other is almost if not quite entire above which place on the brow of the hill is another Monument encompass'd with a circular trench and a double circle of stones four or five foot high tho' most of them are now fallen down the diameter of the outer circle 40 yards and of the inner 15. Between West-Kennet and this place is a walk much like that from Aubury thither at least a quarter of a mile in length About 80 yards from this monument in an exact plain round it there were some years ago great quantities of humane bones and skeletons dug up which probably were the bones of the Saxons and Danes slain at
monastery in the infancy of the English Church which was for some time the burying-place of that most Religious King Henry 6. â—enry 6. whom the York-family after they had dethron'd him cut off to make themselves more secure of the Crown and bury'd him here without the least mark of honour But King Henry 7. removing him to Windsor bury'd him in a New Tomb with the solemnity becoming a King and was such an admirer of his Religion and Virtues for he was an exact pattern of Christian piety and patience that he apply'd himself to Pope Julius to have him put in the kalendar of the Saints â—tory of â—anterbury And this had certainly been done if the Pope's avarice had not stood in the way who demanded too large a summ for the King's Apotheosis or Canonization which would have made it look as if that honour had not been pay'd so much to the sanctity of the Prince as to gold Below this place the little river Wey empties it self into the Thames a which running out of Hamshire at it's first coming into Surrey visits Feornham commonly Farnham Farnham so nam'd as being a bed of ferns given by Aethelbald King of the West-Saxons to the Bishop and Congregation of the Church of Winchester In this place it was that about the year 893. King Alfred worsted the plundering Danes with a handful of men and afterwards when K. Stephen had granted licence to all those who sided with him to build Castles Henry of Blois brother to Stephen and Bishop of Winchester built a castle upon the hill that hangs over the town which because it was a harbour for sedition K. Henry 3. demolish'd but after a long time the Bishops of Winchester to whom it belongs to this day rebuilt it Not far from hence at Waverley Waverley William Gifford Bishop of Winchester built a little monastery for Cistercian Monks 1 Commonly called White-Monks which Abbey being a Grandchild as they term'd it from Cisterce in Burgundy was so fruitful here in England that it was nother to the Abbies of Gerondon Ford Tame Cumb and Grandmother to Bordesley Bidlesdon Bruer Bindon and Dunkeswell For so Religious Orders were wont to keep in Pedigree-manner the propagation of their Orders as a deduction of Colonies out of them From thence the Wey running by Godelminge which King Alfred gave by Will to Aethelwald his brother's son and not far from Catteshull-mannour Catteshull which Hamo de Catton held to be Marshal of the whores when the King should come into those parts and at a little distance from Loseley where within a park I saw a delicate seat of the family of the Mores by these I say it comes to Guilford Guilford in Saxon Gulde-ford and in some Copies Gegldford It is now a market-town of great resort and well stor'd with good Inns but was formerly a Village of the English-Saxon Kings and given by Will to Athelwald by his foresaid Uncle There is now a house of the King 's tho' gone much to decay and not far from the river the ruinous walls of an old castle which has been pretty large In the middle of the town is a Church the east end whereof being arch'd with stone seems to be very ancient Here as we learn by Domesday book the King had 75 Hagae i.e. houses Haga wherein 175 men dwelt But 't is famous for nothing so much as the treachery and inhumanity of Godwin Earl of Kent who in the year of our Lord 1036. when Alfred King Ethelred's son and heir to the Crown of England came out of Normandy to demand his right receiv'd him with an assurance of safety but treated him contrary to his promise For surprizing at a dead time of night the six hundred men which were the retinue of the Royal youth he punish'd them as our Writers word it by a Decimation Military Decimation Which was not according to the ancient Rules of War by drawing out every tenth man by lot and then killing him but dispatching nine dismissed every tenth and afterwards with the most extream cruelty * redecimavit retith'd those tenths he had sav'd And as to Aelfred himself he deliver'd him to Harold the Dane who first put out his eyes then clapt him in chains and kept him in prison to his dying day b From hence the Wey is carry'd towards the north for a long way together and meets with nothing worth mentioning except Sutton the seat of the Westons Knights 2 Better'd by an heir of T. Camel Woking a royal seat 3 Where K. Hen. 7. repair'd and enlarg'd the Maneur-house being the inheritance of the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond his mother who liv'd there in her later time Newark sometime a small Priory environ'd with divided streams and Pyriford where in our memory Edward Earl of Lincoln and Baron Clinton 4 And Admiral of England built him a house and in the neighbourhood Ockham William Ockham where William de Ockham that great Philosopher and Founder of the Nominals was born and had his name from the place 5 As of the next village Ripley G. de Ripley a Ring-leader of our Alchimists and a mystical Impostor So Holland This Sir George after 20 years study in Italy c. after the Philosopher's stone is said to have found it An. 1470. and well he might if he gave as a Record in the Isle of Malta declares an hundred thousand pound yearly to the Knights of Rhodes for carrying on the war againct the Turks See Full. Wor. p. 204. Com. Ebor. But where it comes to empty it self out at a double mouth into the Thames we see Otelandes c a pretty handsome seat of the King 's built within a park near which Caesar pass'd the Thames Where Caesar pass'd the Thames and enter'd the territories of Cassivelan For this was the only place in the Thames formerly fordable and that too not without great difficulty which the Britains in a manner pointed out to him For on the other side of the river a strong body of the British had planted themselves and the bank it self was senc'd with sharp stakes and some of the same sort fasten'd under water The footsteps whereof says Bede are seen at this day and it appears upon the view that each of them is as thick as a man's thigh and that soder'd with lead they stick in the bottom of the river immoveable But the Romans enter'd the river with so much vigour and resolution that tho' they had only their heads above water the Britains were not able to bear up against them but were forc'd to quit the bank and fly for it 'T is impossible I should be mistaken in the place because here the river is scarce six foot deep and the place at this day from those stakes is call'd Coway-stakes Câ—waystakes to which add that Caesar makes the bounds of Cassivelan where he settles this passage of
between the Houses of York and Lancaster was fought on a fair plain call'd Danes-more nigh Edgcot in the County of Northampton within three miles of Banbury But neither here do our Historians tells us the fortune of the day was decisive but the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Stafford taking up their quarters at Banbury quarrel'd for an Inn which gave the Earl of Warwick an opportunity to set upon them and to take the Earl of Pembroke and Sir Richard Herbert prisoners who were barbarously beheaded So after upon a treacherous overture of peace the Earl of Warwick surpris'd the King at Wolvey and carried him Prisoner to Warwick k There is a credible story that while Philemon Holland was carrying on his English edition of this Britannia Mr. Camden came accidentally to the Press when this sheet was working off and looking on he found that to his own observation of Banbury being famous for Cheese the Translator had added Cakes and Ale But Mr. Camden thinking it too light an expression chang'd the word Ale into Zeal and so it pass'd to the great indignation of the Puritans of this town l Upon the same river lyes Islip Islip call'd in the Pipe-rolls of Henry 2. Hiltesleape in a Charter of Henry 2. Ileslepe and in a Presentation of the Abbey of Westminster 6 Henr. 3. Ighteslep We meet with nothing of the Original Charter mention'd by our Author in Dugdale notwithstanding which Dr. Plot is enclin'd to believe there was really such an one extant and a palace here from the footsteps of that ancient building and of the Chapel as also the Town 's still belonging to the Church of Westminster But of late the Saxon-Copy of the greatest part of it has been discover'd by that excellent Antiquary Mr. Kennet who designs shortly to publish this among many other Original Instruments in his Parochial Antiquities of Ambrosden Burcester c. The place is there call'd Giðslepe which is easily melted into Islep or Islip by casting away the initial G. in the same manner that GypesÆ¿ic is changed into Ipswich and Gifteley near Oxford into Isley In the Chapel there which is call'd the King's Chapel there stood not many years since a Font the very same as Tradition has constantly deliver'd it down wherein Edward the Confessor was baptiz'd But this being put to an indecent use as well as the Chapel was at last piously rescu'd from it and remov'd to the garden of Sir Henry Brown Baronet of Nether Riddington in this County The Church continues in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster the present Rector is Dr. Robert South who at his own expence has built a new decent Chancel a beautiful Parsonage-house a spacious Barn c. to the interest of the Church the credit of the Clergy and his own immortal honour m Next is Hedindon Hedindon which tradition says was in the Saxon times a nursery of the King's children and it seems likewise to have had a Royal seat where K. Ethelred resided particularly when he granted a Charter to the Monastery of S. Frideswide wherein the date is thus mention'd This privilege was idith in Heddington and afterward in Latin Scripta fuit haec cedula jussu praefati Regis in villa Râ—gia quae appellatur Another argument of a Royal seat here was a Free-Chapel exempt from all customs due to the Bishop of Lincoln and Archdeacon of Oxford which Maud the Empress confirm'd to the Church of St. Frideswide n Hence going by Weston Weston the seat of Sir Edward Norris we come to Burcester Burcester where is a fair and spacious Church and in the division of kings-Kings-end stands a pleasant and convenient seat of Mr. John Coker Lord of that manour Most of the lands in market-Market-end are part of the estate of Sir William Glynne Baronet whose beautiful seat is within two miles at Ambrosden where the Parish-Church is neat and well-adorn'd and the Vicarage house adjoyning of great strength and good prospect built in the year 1638. at the sole charge of Dr. John Stubbing the then worthy Vicâ—r o A little way from hence is Alchester Alchester the bounds of which quadrangular Camp or garrison are still visible tho' the area or site of it has been for a long time a part of the common field of Wendlebury The reason of the name is an evidence of it's Antiquity whether we make it with our Author Aldchester or Allecti castrum from the Roman Allectus an opinion ingeniously deliver'd and maintain'd with much shew of truth in a short History of Alchester the original MS. whereof is in the hands of the learned and pious Mr. Samuel Blackwell B. D. late Vicar of Burcester now Rector of Brampton in the County of Northampton p But a better mark of it's Antiquity is the situation upon the Akemanstreat Akemanstreet the Consular way which does not as our Author has it pass thither through Otmore but coming down from Tuchwic-grounds in the common road from Ailsbury to Bisiter and passing over that marshy vale which gave name to the neighbouring town of Mersh it leaves there some tracts of a stony ridge yet visible and useful and crosses the rivulet at Worden-pool or Steanford where it enters the County of Oxford and parish of Ambrosden whence it ascends to Blackthorn-hill and passing cross Wrechwic green extends on the north-side of Gravenhull wood over the brook at Langford and so leads close by the north-bounds of Alchester as far as Chesterton ‖ Plot p. 319. whence it goes to Kirtlington towns end and so over Cherwell near Tackley to Woodstock park which it enters near Wooton-gate and passes out again at Mapleton-well near Stunsfield-stile whence it holds on again as far as Stunsfield and all this way in a rais'd bâ—nk But here breaking off tho' still keeping it's name it goes over the Evenlode to Wilcot and so to Ramsden a little beyond which village at a place call'd Witty-green it may be seen again for a little way but from thence to Astally over Astal-bridge and so through the fields till it comes to Brodwell-grove it is scarce visible but there 't is as plain again as any where else holding a strait course into Glocestershire and so towards Bathe the old Akeman-ceaster There is indeed an old way which seems to have lead from Alchester to Wallingford part whereof is to be seen at this day running quite cross Otmore but is not by any means the Akemanstreat tho' the people hereabouts call it by that name and this error of theirs seems to have made our Author fix upon the wrong road There are in this County several branches running from this great road which are describ'd at large by the curious Dr. Plot in his natural History of this County to whom I refer the Reader for a more distinct Information At a little distance is Merton Meâ—â—â— where was found a Danish spur answering the figure of that in â€
as unfortunate as could be Catharine of Spain and Mary Queen of Scots lye interr'd finding rest here from all their miseries g 〈◊〉 Penns Beneath Peterborow the Nen by this time remov'd about five and forty miles from its Spring-head and carrying along with it in its chanel all the little streams and land-floods occasion'd by rain divides it self into several branches And by this means finding no certain course for its stream diffuses its waters all abroad the plain Country and overflows it far and near in the winter nay and sometimes the greater part of the year so that it seems to be a vast level Ocean with here and there an Island bearing up and appearing above the surface of the waters The cause the neighbouring people alledge to be this that of the three chanels in which such a vast deal of waters was us'd to be convey'd the first that went to the Ocean by Thorney Abby and thence aside by Clowscross and Crow-land the second also by the cut made by Morton Bishop of Ely call'd the New Leame and then by Wisbich have a long time been neglected and upon this account that the third which bends its course down by Horsey-bridge Wittles-mere Ramsey-mere and Salters-load is not able to receive so much water so that it breaks out with more violence upon the adjoyning Flats And the Country complains of the injury done them as well by those who have neglected the keeping open and clearing the chanels as by others that have diverted the water to their private uses and as the Reatines in Tacitus they say That Nature her self hath well provided for man's use in giving all rivers their issues and courses and their endings as well as their springs But of this enough if not too much In this place the County is narrowest for between the Nen and the river Welland one of the boundaries on the North-side it is scarce five miles over Upon the Welland which Ethelwerd an ancient Writer calls c The Saxon-Annals p. 109. call it Weolud and Florence of Worcester Welund Weolod near its spring stands Braibrooke Castle B. brooke Lords of B. brooke built by Robert May alià s de Braibrok a great favourite of King John's whose son Henry having married Christiana Ledet an heiress of a great estate his eldest son took the sirname of Ledet From one of whose grand daughters by his son as I said before it fell to the Latimers and from them to the Griffins who now enjoy it h Hard by amongst the woods I saw some few remains of a Monastery call'd anciently De Divisis now Pipwell Pâ—pwell founded by William Buttevillein for Cistercian Monks in the reign of Henry the second From thence we have a sight of Rockingham a Castle sometime of the Earls of Albemarle built by King William the Conquerour at which time it was a Waste as we find in Domesday-book Domesday-book fortified with rampires bulwarks and a double range of battlements seated upon the side of an hill in a woody forest thereupon named Rockingham Forest i It runs next by Heringworth the seat formerly of the * De Cantempo Cantlows and now of the Lords Zouch who fetch their original from Eudo a younger son of Alan de la Zouch Lords Zouch of Ashby and have grown up to an honourable family of Barons having been much enobled by matches with one of the heirs of Cantlow and also with another of Baron †De Sancto Mauro Seymour who likewise drew his pedigree from the heir of the Lord Zouch of Ashby and the Lovels Lords of Castle-Cary in Somersetshire k Here also in this Forest I saw Deane belonging anciently to the Deanes afterwards to the Tindals which is worth mentioning if it were but for its being at present a pleasant seat of the Brudenels of which Family Sir Edmund Brudenel Kt. lately deceased was a great lover and admirer of venerable antiquity The family likewise of Engain Barons of Engain which was both ancient and honourable had their seat hard by at Blatherwic where now live the House of Staffords Knights descended from Ralph the first Earl of Stafford and converted their Castle named Hymel into a Monastery call'd Finisheved Their Issue-male fail'd about 200 years ago but of the daughters the eldest was married to Sir John Goldington the second to Sir Lawrence Pabenham and the third to Sir William Bernack Knights of great worth and honour Here also we see Apthorp d It is now the possession of the right honourable the Earl of Westmorland the seat of that worthy Knight Sir Anthony Mildemay whose father Walter Mildemay late Privy Councellor to Queen Elizabeth for his virtue wisdom piety favour to learning and learned men shown by founding Emanuel-College in Cambridg hath worthily deserv'd to be registred among the best men of this age In the neighbourhood stands Thornhaugh Thornhaugh belonging formerly to the family of ‖ De Sancto Medardo Semarc and now to the right honourable William Russel son of Francis Earl of Bedford descended of the same family of Semarc whom King James for his virtues and faithful service in Ireland while he was Lord Deputy there advanced to the dignity of Baron Russel of Thornhaugh Neither is the little Town of Welledon Welledon Bassets of Welledon to be past by considering that anciently it went for a Barony which by Maud daughter and heir of Geoffrey de Ridell who was drown'd with King Henry the first 's son descended to Richard Basset Lord Chief Justice of England in whose race it continued till K. Henry the fourth's time when Male-issue failing it fell by the females to the Knevetts and Alesburies From Heringworth the Welland visits Colliweston where the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond King Henry the seventh's mother built a fine house Beneath Colliweston the neighbouring inhabitants dig great store of Slates Slates for covering Houses for building From hence Wittering-heath a plain runs out a long way Eastward upon which the Inhabitants tell you the Danes receiv'd a memorable overthrow And now Welland arrives at Burghley a most beautiful seat from which that singularly wise and honourable Councellor Sir William Cecil Lord high Treasurer of England the great support of this Nation receiv'd the title of Baron Burghley Burghley Baron Burghley at the hands of Queen Elizabeth This house he adorn'd with the lustre of his own virtues and beautify'd with magnificent buildings laying to it a large Park for that †Parcus word Varro uses encompass'd with a Stone-wall of great circumference l Below this at Berneck lye the old Stone Quarries out of which the Abbies of Peterborow and Ramsey were built Here to use the very words of the History of Ramsey The toiling strength of the Quarriers is often exercis'd yet still there remains work whereon to employ them resting and refreshing them now and then by a cessation And we read in King Edward the
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-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 Câ—â—burgâ—ers 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 Burroâ—g Eng â—â— 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
Monument there is a place call'd Kevn Varehen which may seem to be denominated either from this Barcun or some other of the same name The third and fourth Inscription was copied by my above-mention'd friend Mr. Erasmus Saunders from a polish'd Free-stone at the West-end of the Church of Lhan Vihangel Gerwerth The fourth which seems less intelligible than the rest was also communicated by the same hand The stone whence he copied it is neatly carv'd about 6 foot high and 2 foot broad and has a cavity on the top which makes me suspect it to have been no other than the Pedestal of a Cross It may be seen at a place denominated from it Kae'r Maen not far from Aber Sannan but for the meaning of the Inscription if it be any other than the Stone-cutter's name tho' I confess I know no name like it I must leave it to the Reader 's conjecture In the Parish of Lhan Vair y Bryn we find manifest signs of a place possess'd by the Romans For not far from the East-end of the Church Labourers frequently dig up bricks and meet with some other marks of Roman Antiquitiy and there is a very notable Roman way of Gravel and small Pebles continued from that Church to Lhan Brân the seat of the worshipful Sackvil Gwyn Esq which as I am told may be also trac'd betwixt this Lhan Vair and Lhan Deilaw vawr and is visible in several other places This Country abounds with ancient Forts Camps and Tumuli or Barrows which we have not room here to take notice of I shall therefore mention only one Barrow call'd Krîg y Dyrn in the Parish of Tre'lech which seems particularly remarkable The circumference of it at bottom may be about 60 paces the height about 6 yards It rises with an easie ascent and is hollow on the top gently inclining from the circumference to the center This Barrow is not a mount of Earth as others generally are but seems to have been such a heap of stones as are call'd in Wales Karnedheu whereof the Reader may see some account in Radnorshire cover'd with Turf At the center of the cavity on the top we find a vast rude Lhech or flat stone somewhat of an oval form about three yards in length five foot over where broadest and about ten or twelve inches thick A * Mâ—â—â— an 〈◊〉 of Lâ—â—â—â— Dâ—â—â— Gentleman to satisfie my curiosity having employ'd some Labourers to search under it found it after removing much stone to be the covering of such a barbarous Monument as we call Kist-vaen or Stone-chest which was about four foot and a half in length and about three foot broad but somewhat narrower at the East than west-West-end 'T is made up of 7 stones viz. the covering-stone already mention'd two side-stones one at each end and one behind each of these for the better securing or bolstering of them all equally rude and about the same thickness the two last excepted which are considerably thicker They found as well within the Chest as without some rude pieces of brick or stones burnt like them and free-stone some of which were wrought They observ'd also some pieces of bones but such as they supposed only brought in by Foxes but not sinking to the bottom of the Chest we know not what else it may afford Krîg y Dyrn the name of this Tumulus is now scarce intelligible but if a conjecture may be allow'd I should be apt to interpret it King's Barrow I am sensible that even such as are well acquainted with the Welsh Tongue maâ— at first view think this a groundless opinion and wonder what I aim at but when they consider that the common word Teyrnas which signifies a Kingdom is only a derivative from the old word Teyrn which was originally the same with Tyrannus and signified a King or Prince they will perhaps acknowledge it not altogether improbable And considering the rudeness of the Monument describ'd and yet the labour and force required in erecting it I am apt to suspect it the Barrow of some British Prince who might live probably before the Roman Conquest For seeing it is much too barbarous to be supposed Roman and that we do not find in History that the Saxons were ever concern'd here or the Danes any farther than in plundering the Sea-coasts it seems necessary to conclude it British That it was a Royal Sepulchre I am apt to infer partly from the signification of the name which being not understood in these ages could not therefore be any novel invention of the vulgar and partly for that as I hinted already more labour and force was required here than we can suppose to be allow'd to persons of inferiour quality That 't is older than Christianity there 's no room to doubt but that it was before the Roman Conquest is only my conjecture supposing that after the Britains were reduced by the Romans they had none whom they could call Teyrn or King whose corps or ashes might be reposited here Gwâly Vilast or Bwrdh Arthur in Lhan Boudy parish is a monument in some respect like that we have described at this Barrow viz. a rude stone about ten yards in circumference and above three foot thick supported by four pillars which are about two foot and a half in length But Buarth Arthur or Meineu Gŵyr on a Mountain near Kîl y maen lhŵyd is one of that kind of circular Stone-monuments our English Historians ascribe to the Danes The Diameter of the Circle is about twenty yards The stones are as rude as may be and pitch'd on end at uncertain distances from each other some at three or four foot but others about two yards and are also of several heights some being about three or four foot high and others five or six There are now standing here fifteen of them but there seem to be seven or eight carried off The entry into it for about the space of three yards is guarded on each side with stones much lower and less than those of the circle pitch'd so close as to be contiguous And over against this avenue at the distance of about 200 paces there stand on end three other large rude stones which I therefore note particularly because there are also four or five stones erected at such a distance from that circular Monument they call King's-stones near Little Rolrich in Oxfordshire As for the name of Bruarth Arthur 't is only a nick name of the vulgar whose humour it is though not so much as some have imagin'd out of ignorance and credulity as a kind of Rustick diversion to dedicate many unaccountable Monuments to the memory of that Hero calling some stones of several tun weight his Coits others his Tables Chairs c. But Meineu gŵyr is so old a name that it seems scarce intelligible Meineu is indeed our common word for large stones but gŵyr in the present British signifies only crooked which is scarce applicable to these stones unless we
and Aldermen having sometimes been deceiv'd in their choice admit none into their Alms-houses but such as will give Bond to leave their effects to the poor when they dye a good example to other places The principal trade of the town is making Malt Oat-meal and Tann'd-leather but the poor people mostly support themselves by working of Bone-lace which of late has met with particular encouragement the children being maintain'd at school to learn to read and to work this sort of lace The Cloath-trade was formerly follow'd in this town but †â—in MS Leland tells us that even in his time it was very much decay'd They have several Fairs but one more especially remarkable beginning about nine days before Ascension-day and kept in a street leading to the Minster-garth call'd Londoner-street For then the Londoners bring down their Wares and furnish the Country-Tradesmen by whole-sale About a mile from Beverley to the east in a pasture belonging to the town is a kind of Spaw tho' they say it cannot be judg'd by the taste whether or no it comes from any Mineral Yet taken inwardly it is a great dryer and wash d in dries scoâ—butick scurf and all sorts of scabs and also very much helps the King 's Evil. h At the mouth of the river Hull is Kingston Kingâ—â—â— upon Hâ—â—â— call'd in all writings of Concernment Kingston super Hull The walls and town-ditch were made by leave from King Edward 2. but Richard 2. gave them the present haven which now it 's fear'd will shortly be warp'd up at the mouth if speedy care be not taken about it 'T is a town very considerable for merchandise being the scale of trade to York Leeds Nottingham Gainsborough and several other places as also for importing goods from beyond sea And for the better convenience of managing their trade they have an Exchange for Merchants built in 1621. and much beautify'd in 1673. Above that is the Custom-house and near these the Wool-house made use of formerly without all doubt for the selling and weighing of wool as well as lead but now only for the latter when 't is to be sold or ship'd here On the east-side of the river is built a strong Citadel begun in the year 1681. and including the Castle and south-blockhouse It hath convenient apartments for lodging a good many souldiers with distinct houses for the Officers has also an engine for making salt-water fresh and is well-furnish'd with Ordnance But yet the strength of the town does not consist so much in it's walls or fortifications as it 's situation for all the Country being a perfect level by cutting the sea-banks they can let in the â—â—ood and lay it for five miles round under water Which the Governour of the place at the late Revolution had designed to do if the then Prince of Orange had landed there as was once thought For he had caus'd several Flood-gates to be made and pitch'd upon certain places about the town and on the bank of Humber for cutting The town hath two Churches one call'd the High-Church a very spacious and beautiful building on the south-side of the Quire whereof is a place now alter'd into a neat Library consisting mostly of modern books The other is the Low-Church the steeple whereof Henry 8. is said to have order'd to be pull'd down to the ground because it spoil'd the prospect of his house over against it wherein he had his residence for some months An. 1538. Near the High Church is the Free-school first founded by John Aâ—â—â—ck Bishop of Worcester and then of Ely and in the year 1583. built by Mr. William Gee with the Merchants Hall over it North-west of the said Church is the Trinity-house begun at first by a joint contribution of well-disposed persons for the relief of distressed Sea-men and their wives But afterward they got a Patent from the Crown with several privileges by the advantage of which they maintain mâ—ny distressed Sea-men with their widows both aâ— Hull and other places members of the Port of Hull The Government is by twelve elder brethren with six Assistants out of the twelve by the major vote of them and of the 6 Assistants and the younger brethren are annually chose two Wardens and two Stewards out of the younger brethren These Governours have a power to determine matters in sea-affairs not contrary to Law chiefly between Masters and Sea-men and also in Tryals at law in sea-affairs their judgments are much regarded But here take the accurate description of this place as I had it from the curious and ingenious Mr. Ray who actually view'd it The Trinity-house belongs to a Society of Merchants and is endow'd with good revenues There are maintained 30 poor Women called Sisters each of whom hath a little chamber or cell to live in The building consists of a chapel two rows of chambers beneath stairs for the sisters and two rooms above stairs one in which the brethren of the Society have their meetings and another large one wherein they make sails with which the town drives a good trade In the midst of this room hangs the effigies of a native of Groenland with a loose skin-coat upon him sitting in a small boat or Canoe cover'd with skins and having his lower part under deck For the boat is deck'd or cover'd above with the same whereof it is made having only a round hole fitted to his body through which he puts down his legs and lower parts into the boat He had in his right-hand as I then thought a pair of wooden oars whereby he rowed and managed his boat and in his left a dart with which he strikes fishes But it appearing by the Supplement to the north-North-East Voyages lately publish'd that they have but one oar about six foot long with a paddle six inches broad at either end I am inclin'd to think that the boat hanging so high I might be mistaken The same book has given us an account of their make to which I refer you This on his forehead had a bonnet like a trencher to fence his eyes from sun or water Behind him lay a bladder or bag of skins in which I supposed he bestowed the fish he caught Some told us it was a bladder full of oyl wherewith he allured the fish to him This is the same individual Canoe that was taken in the year 1613. by Andrew Barkar with all its furniture and boat man The Groenlander that was taken refused to eat and died within three days after I have since seen several of these boats in publick Town-houses and Cabinets of the Virtuosi Here I cannot but reflect upon and admire the hardiness and audaciousness of these petty water-men who dare venture out to sea single in such pitiful vessels as are not sufficient to support much more than the weight of one man in the water and which if they happen to be over-turned the rower must needs be lost And a wonder it is to me that
original Charter it self still extant in the Cottonian Library and publisht by Sir Roger Twisden at the end of the Hist Eccles Sim Dunelm abundantly testifie 684 gave with the ground three miles round it to S. Cuthbert by whom it came to the Church of Durham Scarce four miles from hence Sherry-hutton Sherry-hutton a very neat Castle built by 9 Sir Bertrand Bulmer Bertrand de Bulmer and repair'd by Ralph Nevill first Earl of Westmorland is pleasantly seated among the woods near which is †This Castle was a great part of it lately burnt down Hinderskell Hinderskel a Castle built by the Barons of Greystock which others call ‖ Centum fontes Hunderd-skell from the many fountains that spring there Behind the hills to the Westward where the Country falls again into a level and the fields are more fruitful North Alvertonshire lyes Alvertonshire commonly North-Allerton a small territory water'd by the little river Wiske It takes its name from the town of Northalverton formerly Ealfertun which is nothing but a long street yet the most throng Beast-fair upon St. Bartholomew's day that ever I saw King William Rufus gave this place with the fields about it to the Church of Durham to the Bishops whereof it is much obliged For William Comin who forcibly possess'd himself of the See of Durham built the Castle there and gave it to his nephew which is almost decay'd The Bishops likewise his Successors endow'd it with some privileges For in the Book of Durham Cap. 1â— we find that Hugh de Puteaco Bishop of Durham fortified the Town having obtain'd this favour of the King that of all those unlawful Castles which by his order were then destroy'd up and down throughout England this alone should still be permitted to remain entire which notwithstanding the King afterwards commanded to be rased 113â— and laid even with the ground The Bâ— of Staâ—â—ard Near this was fought the battel commonly call d c One part of the History written by Richard Prior of Hexham bears the title De Bello Standardi Pits de Script Angl. p. 259. The Standard wherein David King of Scotland who by his unheaâ—d of cruelty had made this Country a mere desert Hovedâ— was put to flight with such slaughter of his men that the English themselves thought their revenge then at last sufficiently completed For what Ralph the Bishop said in his Exhortation to the English befoâ—e the fight was fully effected A multitude without discipline is a hindrance to it self either to hurt when they conquer or to escape when they are conquer'd This was call'd the Battel of Standard because the English being rang'd into a body about their Standard there receiv'd and bore the onset of the Scots and at last routed them Now this Standard as I have seen it dâ—awn in old books was a huge Chariot upon wheels with a * Maâ—â— mast of great height fix'd in it on the top whereof was a cross and under that hung a banner This was a signal only us'd in the greatest Expeditions and was lookt upon as the sacred Altar being indeed the very same with the Carrocium Carrocâ—â—â— among the Italians which was never to be used but when the very Empire it self lay at stake There is farther remarkable in this division Thresk Thresk commonly Thrusk which had formerly a very strong Castle where Roger de Mowbray began his rebellion and call d in the King of Scots to the destruction of his Country King Henry the second having very unadvisedly digg'd his own grave by taking his son into an equal share of the Government and Royalty But this Sedition was at last as it were quencht with blood and the Castle utterly demolisht so that I could see nothing of it there besides the rampire Another flame of Rebellion likewise broke out here in King Henry the seventh's reign For the lawless Rabble repining most grievously at that time that a small subsidy was laid on them by the Parliament drove away the Collectors of it and forthwith as such madness upon the least success spurs on without end or aim fell here upon Henry Percie Earl of Northumberland who was Lieutenant of this County Earl of Northâ—â—berland slain by 〈◊〉 Rebels and kill'd him then under the conduct of John Egremond their Leader took up Arms against their King and Country Yet it was not long before they were brought to such heavy punishments as were due to them Here hard by stands Soureby and Brakenbak belonging to the truly ancient and famous family of Lascelles Lascellâ—â— and more to the Southward Sezay formerly the estate of the Darells after that of the Dawnies who flourish'd long under the title of Knights The first and only Earl of Yorkshire after William Mallet and one or two Estotevills Earls 〈◊〉 Dukes oâ— York both of Norman extraction whom some would have to have been hereditary Viscounts here was Otho son of Henry Leon Duke of Bavaria and Saxony An. 1 R Hovedâ— by Maud the daughter of Henry the second King of England who was afterwards greeted Emperour by the name of Otho the fourth From whose brother William another son by Maud the Dukes of Brunswick Dukes oâ— Brunsâ—â—â—â— and Lunenburgh in Germany are descended who as an instance of this relation of theirs to the Kings of England us'd the same Arms with the first Kings of England that were of Norman descent namely two Leopards or Lions Or in a Shield Gules Long after this King Richard the second made Edmund of Langley fifth son to King Edward the third Duke of York who by one of the daughters of Peter King of Castile and Leon had two sons Edward the eldest in the life time of his father was first Earl of Cambridge after that Duke of Albemarle and last of all Duke of York who without issue lost his life valiantly in the battel of Agincourt in France Richard the second son was Earl of Cambridge he married Ann sister of Edmund Mortimer Earl of March whose grandmother likewise was the only daughter and heir of Leonel Duke of Clarence and attempting to set the Crown upon the head of his wife's brother Edmund was presently found out and beheaded as if he had been hired by the French to destroy King Henry the fifth Richard his son in the sixteenth year after by the great but unwary generosity of Henry the sixth â— 10 H. was fully restored as son of Richard the brother of Edward Duke of York and Cousin German to Edmund Earl of March. And now being Duke of York Earl of March and Ulster Lord of Wigmore Clare Trim and Conaght he grew to that pitch of boldness that whereas formerly he had sought the Kingdom privately by ill practices complaining of male-administration dispersing seditious rumours and libels entring into secret combinations by raising broils next to wars against the Government at last he claims it publickly
receiv'd from our Ancestors by tradition to be almost full of Roman Coins mostly copper but some of silver Great quantities have been given away by the Predecessors of Sir John Lawson and he himself gave a good number to be preserv'd among other Rarities in King Charles's Closet The pot was redeem'd at the price of 8 l. from the Sequestrators of Sir John Lawson's estate in the late Civil War the metal being an unusual sort of composition It was fixt in a Furnace to brew in and contains some 24 gallons of water Now from all this why should not we conclude that Thornburrow belonging to Burgh hall was the Vicus juxta Catarractam since Catarick-bridge and the grounds adjoyning belong not to Catarick but to Brough Upon the South-end of the bridge stands a little Chapel of stone where tradition says that formerly Mass was said every day at eleven a clock for the Benefit of Travellers that would stay and hear it n The Oath of Allegiance taken by the Nobility of Northumberland to Eldred is by our Author referr'd to Topcliffe or Tadencliffe upon the authority of Marianus But H◠〈…〉 Ingulfus who had better opportunities than Marianus to know that matter says the business was dispatch'd by Chancellor Turketyl at York Continuation of the DUKES of RICHMOND Next after Henry-Fitz-Roy Lodowick Duke of Leonox was created Earl of Richmond 11 Jac. 1. Oct. 6. and afterwards in 1623. Duke of Richmond After him James Stewart Duke of Lennox and Earl of March was created Duke of Richmond by Charles the first Aug. 8. and was succeeded by his son Esme who dying young in the year 1660. was succeeded by Charles Earl of Lichfield his Cousin-german Which said Charles dying without issue Charles Lenos natural son to King Charles the second was created Aug. 9. 1675. Baron of Setrington Earl of March and Duke of Richmond More rare Plants growing wild in Yorkshire Allium montanum bicorne purpureum proliserum Purple-flower'd mountain Garlick On the scars of the Mountains near Settle See the description of it in Synopsis method stirpium Britannicarum Alsine pusilla pulchro flore folio tenuissimo nostras Small fine Mountain-chickweed with a milk-white flower In the Mountains about Settle plentifully Bifolium minimum J. B. Ophris minima C.B. The least Twayblade On the Heaths and Moors among the Furze in many places As on Blakay-moor in the way to Gisburgh near Scaling-damm and in the Moor near Almondbury Calceolus Mariae Ger. Damasonii species quibusdam seu Calceolus D. Mariae J. B. Elleborine major seu Calceolus Mariae Park Ladies slipper At the end of Helks-wood near Ingleborough Campanula cymbalaria foliis Ger. Park Tender Ivy-leav d Bell-flower I have observed it in watery places about Sheffield Cannabis spuria flore luteo amplo labio purpureo Fair-flower'd Nettle-hemp In the mountainous parts of this Country among the Corn plentifully Carum seu Careum Ger. Carum vulgare Park Caraways In the pastures about Hull plentifully so that they gather the Seed there for the use of the shops Caryophyllata montana purpurea Ger. emac. montana seu palustris purpurea Park aquatica nutante flore C. B. aquatica flore rubro striato J. B. Purple-Avens In the Mountains near the Rivulets and Water-courses about Settle Ingleborough and other places in the West and North-ridings of this County Mr. Lawson hath observed this with three or four rows of leaves in the flower Caryophyllus marinus minimus Ger. montanus minor C. B. Thrift or Sea-Gillyflower Mr. Lawson found this in Bleaberry-gill at the head of Stockdale-fields not far from Settle so that it may not improperly be call'd mountainous as well as maritime Cerasus avium nigra racemosa Ger. racemosa fructu non eduli C. B. avium racemosa Park racemosa quibusdam aliis Padus J. B. The Wild-cluster-cherry or Birds-cherry In the mountainous parts of the West-riding of this County Christophoriana Ger. vulgaris Park Aconitum racemosum Actaea quibusdam J. B. racemosum an Actaea Plinii l. 27 c. 7. C. B. Herb-Christopher or Bane-berries In Haselwood-woods near Sir Walter Vavasor's Park pale also among the Shrubs by Malham-Cave Cirsium Britannicum repens Clusii J.B. aliud Anglicum Park singulari capitulo squamato vel incanum alterum C.B. The great English soft or gentle Thistle or Melancholy Thistle In the Mountains about Ingleborough and elsewhere in the West-riding of Yorkshire Cochlearia rotundifolia Ger. folio subrotundo C.B. Common round leav'd Scurvy-grass This tho' it usually be accounted a Sea-plant yet we found it growing plentifully upon Stanemore near the Spittle and upon Penigent and Ingleborough-hills in which places by reason of the coldness of the air it is so little that it hath been taken for a distinct Species and call'd Cochlearia minor rotundisolia but its Seed being taken and sown in a warm Garden it soon confesses its Species growing to the dimensions of the common Garden Scurvy-grass Conyza Helenitis foliis laciniatis Jagged-leav'd Fleabane-mullet About a stones-cast from the East-end of Shirley-Pool near Rushy moor P. B. This hath been already mention'd in several Counties Erica baccifera procumbens nigra C. B. Black-berried heath Crow-berries or Crake-berrìes On the boggy mountains or moors plentifully Fucus sive Alga tinctoria P. B. Diers wrack It is often cast on the shore near Bridlington Fungus piperatus albus lacteo succo turgens C. B. Pepper-Mushrome with a milky juyce Found by Dr. Lister in Marton woods under Pinno-moor in Craven plentifully Geranium batrachioides montanum nostras An batrachiodes minus seu alterum Clus hist. batrachoides minus Park batrachiodes folio Aconiti C. B. batrach aliud folio Aconiti nitente Clusii J. B. Mountain Crowfoot-Cranesbill In the mountainous meadows and bushets in the West-Riding G. Geranium moschatum Ger. Park Musked Cranes-bill commonly called Musk or Muscovy It is to be found growing common in Craven Dr. Lister is my Author C. Gnaphalium montanum album sive Pes cati Mountain-Cudweed or Cats-foot Upon Ingleborough and other hills in the West-Riding also in Scosby-leas near Doncaster Helleborine foliis longis augustis acutis Bastard Hellebore with long narrow sharp pointed leaves Under Bracken-brow near Ingleton At the end of a wood near Ingleborough where the Calceolus Mariae grows Helleborine altera atro-rubente flore C. B. Elleborine flore atro-rubente Park Bastard Hellebore with a blackish flower In the sides of the mountains near Malham four miles from Settle plentifully especially at a place called Cordil or the Whern Hieracium montanum Cichorei folio nostras An Hieracium Britannicum Clus Succory-leaved mountain Hawkweed In moist and boggy places in some woods about Burnley Hordeum polystichon J. B. polystichon hybernum C. B. polystichon vel hybernum Park Winter or square Barley or Bear-barley called in the North country Big This endures the winter and is not so tender as the common Barley and is therefore sown instead of it in the mountainous part of this country
and all the North over M. Lilium convallium Ger. Lilly convally or May-lilly On Ingleborough and other hills Lunaria minor Ger. Park botrytis J. B. racemosa minor vel vulgaris C. B. Moonwort Though this grows somewhere or other in most Counties of England yet have I not found it any where in that plenty and so rank and large as on the tops of some mountains near Settle Lysimachia Chamaenerion dicta latifolia C. B. Chamaenerion Ger. Chamaenerion flore Delphinii Park minùs recté Rose-bay Willow-herb In the meadows near Sheffield and in divers other places Lysimachia lutea flore globoso Ger. Park bifolia flore globoso luteo C. B. altera lutea Lobelii flore quasi spicato J. B. Yellow loose strife with a globular spike or tuft of flowers Found by Mr. Dodsworth in the East-Riding of this County M. Muscus clavatus sive Lycopodium Ger. Park Club-moss or Wolfs-claw Muscus clavatus foliis Cupressi C. B. Ger. emac. clavatus cupressiformis Park terrestris ramosus pulcher J. B. Sabina sylvestris Trag. Selaginis Plinianae prima species Thal. Cypress moss or Heath-cypress Muscus terrestris repens clavis singularibus foliosis erectis Smaller creeping Club-moss with erect heads Muscus erectus Abietiformis nobis terrestris rectus J. B. Selago 3. Thalii Upright fir-moss Muscus terrestris rectus minor polyspermos Seeding mountain mosse All these sorts are found upon Ingleborough hill The last about springs and watery places The first and third are common to most of the moores and fells in the north of England Ornithogalum luteum C. B. Park luteum seu Cepe agraria Ger. Bulbus sylvestris Fuchsii flore luteo seu Ornithogalum luteum J. B. Yellow Star of Bethlehem In the woods in the northern part of Yorkshire by the Tees side near Greta bridge and Brignall Pentaphylloides fructicosa Shrub-Cinquefoil On the south bank of the river Tees below a village called Thorp as also below Eggleston Abbey At Mickle Force in Teesdale there are thousands of these plants Pentaphyllum parvum hirsutum J. B. Small rough Cinquefoil In the pastures about Kippax a village three miles distant from Pontefraict Pyrola Ger. J. B. nostras vulgaris Park Common Winter-green We found it near Halifax by the way leading to Kighley but most plentifully on the moors south of Heptenstall in the way to Burnley for near a mile's riding Pyrola folio mucronato serrato C. B. serrato J. B. tenerior Park Secunda tenerior Clusii Ger. Sharp-pointed Winter-green with serrate leaves In Haselwood-woods near Sir Walter Vavasor's park Polygonatum floribus ex singularibus pediculis J. B. latifolium flore majore odoro C. B. majus flore majore Park latifolium 2. Clusii Ger. Sweet smelling Solomon's seal with flowers on single foot-stalks On the ledges of the scars or cliffs near Settle and Wharf Primula veris flore rubro Ger. Clus Paralysis minor flore rubro Park-parad Verbasculum umbellatum Alpinum minus C. B Birds-eyn In the mountainous meadows about Ingleborough and elsewhere in moist and watery places Pyrola Alsines flore Europaea C. B. Park Herba trientalis J. B. Winter green with Chickweed flowers At the east end of Rumbles-mear near Helwick Pyrola Alsines flore Brasiliana C. B. prod Winter green Chickweed of Brasil Found near Gisburgh in Cleveland as was attested to me by Mr. Lawson Ranunculus globosus Ger. Park parad flore globoso quibusdam Trollius flos J. B. montanus Aconiti folio flore globoso C. B. Indeed it ought rather to be entitled an Aconite or Wolfsbane with a Crowfoot flower The Globe-flower or Locker gowlons In the mountainous meadows and by the sides of the mountains and near water-courses plentifully Ribes vulgaris fructu rubro Ger. vulgaris acidus ruber J. B. fructu rubro Park Grossularia sylvestris rubra C. B. Red Currans In the woods in the northern part of this County about Greta-bridge c. Ribes Alpinus dulcis J. B. Sweet Mountain-Currans Found in this County by Mr. Dodsworth Rhodia radix omnium Autorum Telephium roseum rectius Rosewort On the rocks on the north-side of Ingleborough hill plentifully Rosa sylvestris pomifera major nostras Rosa pomifera major Park parad The greater English Apple-Rose In the mountainous parts of this County it is very frequent Rosmarinum sylvestre minus nostras Park Ledum palustre potiùs dicendum Wild Rosemary or Marsh Holy Rose On Mosses and moorish grounds Rubus saxatilis Ger. Alpinus saxatilis Park Alpinus humilis J. B. Chamaerubus saxatilis C. B. The stone-Bramble or Raspis On the sides of Ingleborough hill and other hills in the West-Riding Salix folio laureo seu lato glabro odorato Bay-leav'd sweet Willow In the mountainous parts of the West-Riding by the rivers and rivulets Salix pumila montana folio rotundo J. B. Round-leaved mountainous dwarf Willow On the rocks upon the top of Ingleborough hill on the north-side and on an hill called Whernside over against Ingleborough on the other side of the subterraneous river Sedum Alpinum ericoides caeruleum C. B. J. B. Mountain Sengreen with Heath-like leaves and large purple flowers On the uppermost rocks on the north-side of Ingleborough Sedum minus Alpinum luteum nostras Small yellow mountain-Sengreen On the sides of Ingleborough-hill about the rivers and springing waters on the north-side of the hill plentifully Sedum Alpinum trifido folio C. B. Alpinum laciniatis Ajugae foliis Park Sedis affinis trisulca Alpina flore albo J. B. Small mountain-Sengreen with jagged leaves On Ingleborough and many other hills in the north part of this County Sedum purpureum pratense J. B. minus palustre Ger arvense seu palustre flore rubente Park palustre subhirsutum purpureum C. B. Small Marsh-Sengreen On the moist Rocks about Ingleborough-hill as you go from the hill to Horton in Ribbles-dale in a ground where Peat is got in great plenty Sideritis arvensis latifolia hirsuta flore luteo Broad-leav'd rough Field-Ironwort with a large flower In the West-riding of Yorkshire about Sheffield Darfield Wakefield c. among the Corn plentifully Trachelium majus Belgarum Giant Throatwort Every where among the Mountains Thalictrum minus Ger. Park C. B. The lesser Meadow-rue Nothing more common on the Rocks about Malham and Wharfe Thlaspi foliis Globulariae J. B. montanum Glasti folio minus Park C. B. opp In the mountainous pastures going from Settle to Malham plentifully Thlaspi vel potiùs Leucoium sive Lunaria vasculo sublongo intorto Lunar Violet with an oblong wreathen cod On the sides of the Mountains Ingleborough and Hinckel-haugh in moist places and where waters spring Vaccinia Nubis Ger. Chamaemorus Clus Anglica Park item Cambro-britannica ejusdem Rubo Idaeo minori affinis Chamaemorus J. B. Chamaemorus folio Ribes Anglica C. B. Cloud-berries Knot-berries or Knout-berries This I found plentifully growing and bearing fruit on Hinckel-haugh near Settle I have found it also in Ingleborough and Pendle hills but not in
diffus'd her Charity all over the Country This Castle is washt on the East by the river Eden and on the other sides there are great trenches as if the first builder had intended to draw the water round it But the attempt prov d ineffectual from whence they have an old rhyme hereabouts Let Uter Pendragon do what he he can The river Eden will run where it ran h The Barons of Wharton are still possess'd of Wharton-hall Whaâ—â—-haâ—â— Philip the last Baron mention'd by our Author was succeeded in this Honour by Philip his grandchild son of Sir Thomas his eldest son who dy'd in his father's life time who still enjoys it i Instead of saying with our Author that the Musgraves Musgâ—â—â— were so calld from the towns of that name 't is more probable the towns had their name from the Family For the name of Musgrave is to be reckon'd among those which have been taken from Offices and Civil or Military Honours and is of the like original as Landtgraff Markgraff Burggraff c. among the Germans And indeed this name and Markgraff now turn'd into Marquis are probably the same The signification of both is Dux Limitaneus and anciently Musgrave or Mosgrave was all one as in our later language a Lord Warden of the Marches 'T is therefore no Compliment to this honourable Family to foist the name as some have done into one or two Copies of Battle-Abbey-Roll having enough of true old English honour and not needing to borrow any of its lustre from the Normans Yet even this opinion if it should prevail destroys our Author's that the Family of the Musgraves had their name from these villages k Not far from hence is Brough 〈◊〉 consisting at present of two good villages Upper otherwise Church-Brough where the Church standeth whereof Robert Eglesfield Founder of Queens-College in Oxford was Rector and procur'd the appropriation thereof from King Edward the third to the said College Here also stands the Castle of Brough and a tower call'd Caesar's tower which is probably the Propugnaculum our Author speaks of because the Castle was in his time raz'd to the ground the walls of the Tower only remaining which was lately rebuilt by the Countess of Pembroke before-mention'd Near the bridge there is a Spaw-well lately discover'd by the present Vicar of the place the Reverend Mr. John Harrison The other village is call'd Lower-Brough from its situation and Market-brough from a Market held there every Thursday l The next old town is Apleby Aâ—â—â— which hath several testimonies of its ancient splendour tho' at present it be very much decay'd Henry the first gave them privileges equal to York that City's Charter being granted as 't is said in the fore-noon and this in the afternoon Henry the second granted them another Charter of the like Immunities and Henry the third in whose time there was an Exchequer here call'd Scaccarium de Apleby a third Which were in omnibus sicut Eboracum and confirm'd by the succeeding Kings of England When it was first govern'd by a Mayor does not appear but 't is certain that in the reign of Edward the first they had a Mayor and two Provosts which seem to have been formerly men of principal note i.e. Sheriffs or the same as we now call Bailiffs and sign'd the publick Acts of the Town along with the Mayor * 〈…〉 tho' at present they only attend the body of the Mayor with two Halberds Brompton makes mention of Apleby-schire which should seem to imply that at that time it had Sheriffs of its own as most Citieâ— had though we now call them Bailiffs For in the second year of Edward the first in a confirmation-Charter to Shap-Abbey we find this Subscription Teste Thomâ filio Johannis tunc Vice-Comite de Apelby Unless one should 〈◊〉 that Westmoreland was call'd the County of Apelby or Apelby-schire as indeed Brompton seems to intimate But the Scotch-wars by degrees reduc'd it to a much lower condition †〈…〉 In the 22th of Henry the second it was set on fire by them and again in the 1â—th of Richard the second when of 2200 Burgages by due computation of the Fee-farm-rents there remain'd not above a tenth part as appears by Inquisitions in the Town-chest Since which it never recover'd it self but lay as it were dismember'd and sâ—atter'd one street from another like so many several villages and one could not know but by Records that they belong'd to the same body For which reason it is that Mr. Camden mentions no more than Burgh-gate whereas Bongate Battle-burgh Dungate Scattergate are all of them members of this ancient Town and probably the Burrals also which may be an evidence of its having been wall'd round that word implying Burrow-walls and the rather because at Bath in Somersetshire they call the town walls by the same name of Burrals Concerning the condition and misfortunes of this place take this Inscription placed in the Garden belonging to the School-house amongst many others of Roman antiquity collected by Mr. Bainbrigg of whom our Author makes an honourable mention ABALLABA QVAM C. C. FLVIT ITVNA STATIO FVIT RO. TEM MAVR AVREL. HANC VASTAVIT FF GVIL R. SCOT 1176. HIC PESTISSAEVIT 1598. OPP. DESERT MERCATVS AD GILSHAVGHLIN F. DEVM TIME The CC. in the first line is Circumfluit the F F in the fourth Funditus and the F in the end Fuit So that here we have its situation its Roman Antiquity and the devastations made in it by War and Pestilence together with the remove of the Market to Gilshaughlin four or five miles north-west of the town 'T is said that the present Earl of Thanet whose Ancestors on the mother's side the Viponts and Cliffords have been Lords of this Country and flourish'd at Apelby for above 480. years designs to set up and encourage the Cloath-working-trade in this town m The endowment made to the School by the two persons mention'd in our Author was far short of what has been added since by some modern Benefactors the chief whereof was Dr. Thomas Smith the present Bishop of Carlisle who particularly along with Mr. Rand. Sanderson erected a new dwelling house for the use of the School-master 〈◊〉 castle n From Apleby the river carries us to Buley-Castle which is now set in farm to the Musgraves but was no doubt formerly a seat of the Bishops of Carlisle as our Author observes For it is said to have been erected at several times by two or three Bishops and there is still in being an account of several Ordinations held there 〈…〉 Next Eden runs to Crakenthorp hall a pleasant seat the East-side of it where the chief branch of the Machels a family of good note in this Country ‖ Gâ—illanâ—s Heraldry have always resided from the Conquest downwards to this very day nor do any Records afford an account how much longer they have flourish'd here The present Lord of the
Northumberland More rare Plants growing wild in Northumberland Chamaepericlymenum Park Ger. Periclymenum humile C. B. parvum Prutenicum Clusii J. B. Dwarf Honey-suckle On the West-side of the north-North-end of the highest of Cheviot-hills in great plenty Echium marinum B. P. Sea-Buglosse At Scrammerston-mill between the Salt-pans and Barwick on the Seabaich about a mile and a half from Barwick Lysimachia siliquosa glabra minor latifolia The lesser smooth broad-leav'd codded Willow-herb On Cheviot-hills by the Springs and Rivulets of water Pyrola Alsines flore Europaea C.B. Park Herba trientalis J. B. Winter-green with Chick-weed flowers On the other side the Picts-wall five miles beyond Hexham Northwards And among the Heath upon the moist Mountains not far from Harbottle westward Rhaphanus rusticanus Ger. Park C. B. sylvestris sive Armoracia multis J. B. Horse-radish We observ'd it about Alnwick and elsewhere in this County in the ditches and by the water-sides growing in great plenty Eryngium vulgare J. B. vulgare Camerarii C. B. mediterraneum Ger. mediterraneum seu campestre Park Common Eryngo of the Midland On the shore call'd Friar-goose near New-castle upon Tyne SCOTLAND IRELAND AND THE BRITISH ISLANDS THE GENERAL HEADS IN Scotland Ireland and the Islands SCOTLAND 581  Its Division 885  Its Degrees 891  Its Courts of Justice ibid. Gadeni 893 Teifidale 893 Merch 893 Lauden 895 Selgovae 905 Annandale 907 Nidisdale 907 Novantes 909 Galloway 909 Carrict 911 Kyle 911 Cunningham 913 Glotta 913 Damnii 925 Cluydesdale 915 Lennox 917 Sterling 919 Caledonia 925 Fife 927 Strathern 929 Argile 931 Cantire 931 Lorn 933 Braidalbin 933 Perth-shire 935 Angus 937 Mernis 939 Marr 939 Buquhan 941 Murray 943 Loqhabre 945 Rosse 945 Sutherland 947 Cathnes 947 Strath-navern 947  The Roman Wall 957 IRELAND 961 The British Ocean 961 The Government of Ireland 973  The Courts 973  The Division 973 Munster 975 Kerry 975 Desmond 977 Voidiae 979 Cork 979 Waterford 981 Limerick 983 Tipperary 983 Leinster 985 Birgantes 985 Kilkenny 985 Caterlogh 987 Queens County 987 Kings County 989 Kildar 989 Weisford 991 Cauci 991 Dublin 993 Meth 997 East-Meth 997 West-Meth 997 Longford 999 Conaght 999 Twomond 1001 Gallway 1001 Maio 1003 Slego 1005 Letrim 1005 Roscoman 1005 Lords of Conaght 1007 Vlster 1007 Louth 1007 Cavon 1009 Fermanagh 1009 Monaghan 1011 Armagh 1011 Down 1013 Antrim 1015 Colran 1017 Tir-Oen 1019 Tir-Conel 1019 The Rebellion of the O-Neal's 1023 The Manners of the Irish 1041 The smaller Islands in the British Ocean 1049 The Annals of Ireland SCOTLAND By Rob t Morden SCOTLAND NOW I am bound for Scotland whither I go with a willing mind but shall with gentle touches lightly pass it over Not forgetting that Minus notis minus diu insistendum The less we know things the less we are to insist upon them and that advice of the Grecian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not too busie where thou art not acquainted For it would certainly be impudent to treat copiously where our notices have been but little But since this too is honour'd with the name of Britain may I have liberty with due respect to the Scottish Nation in pursuance of my bold design of illustrating Britain to prosecute my undertaking with their good leave and drawing aside as it were the Curtains of obsure Antiquity to point out according to my ability some places of ancient note and memory I assure my self of a certain pardon both from the good nature of the people themselves and the extraordinary happiness of these times when by a divine providence that is fallen into our hands which we hardly ever hoped for and our Ancestors so often and so earnestly wished to see that is that Britain so mâ—ny Ages divided in it self and unsociable should all in general like one uniform City under one most August Monarch the founder of an eternal peace be conjoyned in one entire body Who being through the propitious goodness of Almighty God elected born and preserved to the good of both Nations as he is a Prince of singular wisdom and fatherly affection to all his subjects doth so cut off all occasions of fear hope revenge and complaint that the fatal Discord which hath so long engaged these Nations otherwise invincible in mutual Wars is stifled and suppressed for ever and Concord rejoyces exceedingly as it were keeps Holiday and Triumphs because as the Poet sings Jam cuncti Gens una sumus Now all one Nation we 're united fast To which we answer by way of Chorus Et simus in aevum And may that union for ever last But before I enter upon Scotland I think it not amiss to advertise the Reader thus much before-hand that I leave the first Original of the Scottish Nation and the Etymology of their Name banishing all conjectures of others which as well in former Ages as these our days owe their birth either to hasty credulity or careless negligence to be discussed by their own Historians and the Learned of that Nation And following the same method I took in England I shall premise something in short touching the division of Scotland the States of the Kingdom and the Courts of Justice and then briefly touch upon the Situation and Commodities of every several County which are the Places of most Note what Families are most eminent and have flourished with the title and honour of Earls and Barons of Parliament so far forth as by reading and enquiry I cou'd possibly procure information and that cautiously taking all imaginable care by an ingenuous and sincere regard for truth not to give the least offence to the most malicious and by so compendious a brevity as not to prevent the curious diligence of those who may possibly attempt this with a fuller stroke and finish the same with more lively and lasting colours Additions concerning SCOTLAND in general SINCE our Author has profess'd himself at a loss in the affairs of Scotland and for that reason has but touch'd very lightly upon each part of it it will be so much the more necessary to continue our method through this Kingdom and add such things as seem proper and agreeable to the design Especially being encourag'd and assisted herein by the Informations of the very learned Sir Robert Sibbald Dr. of Physick who has given sufficient testimonies to the world of his knowledge of Antiquities and particularly those of his own Country As Albion was the first and most ancient name that we meet with of Great Britain in the old Greek and Latin Authors so was Albania Albania of that northern part that lay beyond the Humber and Deva The Learned have deliver'd various reasons why it should be so call'd but the most probable of them is from the ancient Inhabitants calling themselves Albanich who likewise term'd their Country Albin and their posterity the High-landers do still retain the name in a part of their Country call'd Braid-Albin The Country which now makes the Kingdom
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 Theatrâ—â— 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-Lotâ—ian 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 â—â—nlithâ—â—w mentioned by our Author * â—heatr â—â—â—â—ae 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 â—â—â—â—â—stoâ—â—â—â— 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 â—â—â—phiâ—â—â—n 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 Dolzâ—ll 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
Trepidus rapid but most famous for as glorious a victory as ever the Scots obtained when Edward 2. King of England was put to flight and forc'd to save himself in a Boat and for the routing of as fine an Army as ever England sent out before that by the valiant conduct of King Robert Brus. Insomuch that for a year or two the English did not in the least disturb the Scots Ptolemy seems somewhere about Sterling to place his Alauna Alauna which was either upon Alon a little River that hath its influx here into the Forth or at Alway a seat of the Ereskins hereditary Sheriffs of all the County without the Borough f 'T is now an Earldom in the Family of the Alexanders But I have not yet read of any one honoured with the title of Earl of Sterling d Additions to the DAMNII a CLYDSDALE Cydsdale called also the Sheriffdom of Lanrick from the town of Lanrick where the Sheriff keeps his courts is bounded on the South-East with the Stewartry of Annandale on the South with the Sheriffdom of Dumfrise on the South-west with that of Aire on the North-west with that of Ranfrew on the North with that of Dumbarton on the North-east with that of Sterling on the East with that of Linlithgow a little to the South-east with that of Mid-Lothian 'T is in length about 40 miles in breadth where broadest some 24. and where narrowest 16 miles The countrey abounds with Coal Peets and Lime-stone but what turns to the greatest account are the Lead-mines belonging to Hopton not far from which after rains the country people find pieces of gold some of which are of a considerable bigness I suppose 't is the same place our Author has mentioned upon this account It is divided into two Wards the Overward and Netherward this hilly and full of heaths and fit for pasturage the other plain and proper for grain It is watered with the pleasant River of Clide which gives name to the shire it rises at Errick-hill and running through the whole County glideth by many pleasant seats of the nobility and gentry and several considerable towns till it fall into its own Firth at Dumbarton The great ornament of these parts is the Palace of Hamilton Hamilton the residence of the Dutchess of Hamilton * Theatrum Scotiae the Court whereof is on all sides adorned with very noble buildings It has a magnificent Avenue and a Frontispiece towards the East of excellent workmanship On one hand of the Avenue is a hedge on the other fair large gardens well furnished with fruit-trees and flowers The Park famous for its tall oaks is six or seven miles round and has the Brook Aven running through it Near the Palace is the Church the Vault whereof is the buryal-place of the Dukes of Hamilton Upon the East bank of Clyde stands Glasgow Glasgow †Ibid. in respect of largeness buildings trade and wealth the chief City in the Kingdom next Edinburgh The river carries vessels of small burthen up to the very tower but New-Glasgow which stands on the mouth of Clyde is a haven for vessels of the largest size Most part of the City stands on a plain and is almost four-square In the very middle of it where is the Tolbooth a very stately building of hewn-stone four principal streets crossing each other divide the city as it were into four equal parts In the higher part of it stands the Cathedral Church commonly called St. Mungo's consisting indeed of two Churches one whereof is over the other The Architecture of the pillars and towers is said to be very exact and curious Near the Church is the Archbishop's Castle fenc'd with a wall of hewn stone but it s greatest ornament is the College separated from the rest of the town by an exceeding high wall the precincts whereof are enlarged with some Acres of ground lately purchased and the buildings repaired and adorned by the care and prudent administration of the Principal the Learned Doctor Fall Roman-Highway Nor does this tract want some remains of Roman Antiquity For from Errickstone in the one end to Mauls Mire in the other where it borders upon Reinfraw there are evident footsteps of a Roman Causey or military way called to this day the Watlin-street This in some parts is visible for whole miles together and the people have a tradition that another Roman Street went from Lanrick to the Roman Camp near Falkirk At Lismehago a town in this shire was a Priory and Convent of the Monks of the order Vallis Caulium a sort of Cistercians founded by Fergus Lord of Galloway a Cell of Kelso b RANFREW Ranfâ—ew or Reinfraw is the next branch of the Damnii and is separated from the shire of Dumbarton on the West by the River Clyde which carries up ships of great burden for 10 miles On the East 't is joyned to the shire of Lanrick and on the West and South to the Sheriffdom of Aire It is in length twenty miles and in breadth eight but where broadest thirteen That part which lyeth near Clyde is pleasant and fertil without mountains only has some small risings but that to the South South-west and West is more barren hilly and moorish Our Author has observ'd this tract to be full of Nobility and Gentry who almost keep up a constant relation by marriage one with another The convenience of the Frith of Clyde the Coast whereof is all along very safe to ride in has caused good improvements in these parts At the West end of a fair Bay stand Gumrock Gumrock town and castle where there is a good road and a harbour lately contrived and a village is now in building More inward stands Greenock Greenock a good road and well built town of best account on all this Coast 'T is the chief seat of the herring-fishing and the Royal Company of Fishers have built a house at it for the convenience of trade Near this is Crawfird-Dyke Crawfird-Dyke where good houses are in building and a little more to the South New-work New-work where the town of Glasgow hath built a new port and called it Port-Glasgow with a large publick house Here is the Custom-house for all this Coast and the town of Glasgow hath obliged the Merchants to load and unload here But Pasly Pasly for antient Grandeur is the most considerable The Abbey and Church with fair gardens and orchards and a little Park for Fallow-deer are all enclosed with a stone-wall about a mile in circuit The Monastery here was of the Order of the Cluniacenses founded by Walter the second great Steward of King Malcolm the fourth The Chancel of the Church standeth yet where lye buried Robert 2. and his mother At this town there is a large Roman Camp the Praetorium is at the West end on a rising ground upon the descent whereof the town of Pasly stands This Praetorium
Ocean to the North the country of Assint to the West Rosse to the South and the German sea to the East and South-east From West to East it is in length about 55 miles and in breadth from South to North 22 miles but taking in Strathnaver 33. The inhabitants of these parts are much given to hunting and will endure a great deal of labour and toil The shire affords white marble in some hills in the parish of Creigh plenty of iron-ore and some pearls They have coal free-stone lime-stone and good solate in abundance 't is said also that they find some silver and it is supposed that there is gold in Durinesse In several parts of the country they have much Salmon-fishing and are also well provided with other fishes Dornoch Dornâ—â—â— the chief Burgh of the shire is a Burgh-Royal standing between the rivers of Portnecouter and Unes Besides the Castle belonging to the Earl of Sutherland it has a Cathedral-Church being the seat of the Bishop of Cathnesse A little East of this town there is a monument like a Cross called the Thane or Earl's Cross Earâ—'s-cross and another beside Eubo called the King's Cross where one of the Kings or chief Commanders of the Danes is said to have been slain and buried Dunrobin Dunr mentioned by our Author the special residence of the Earl of Sutherland is seated upon a mote hard by the sea and is remarkable for its fine gardens In this country the days are very long in summer and during that season they have little or no dark night â—â—riv 'T is said that the river of Shin never freezes â—â—hnesse p CATHNESSE called also the shire of Wike to the South and South-west is divided from Sutherland by the Ord and a continued ridge of hills as far as the hill of Knook-finn Then along the course of the river of Hollowdail from the rise to the mouth of it and the mountains Drumna Hollowdale The same river is the bound between it and Strathnaver To the East it is washt with the Ocean to the North it hath Pen-Iland-Frith which divideth it from Orknay It s length from South to North is 35 miles its breadth about 20. The woods here are but few and small being rather Copices of birch In the forest of Moravins and Berridale there is great plenty of Red-deer and Roe-bucks They have good store of cows sheep goats and wild-fowl At Dennet there is lead at Old-wike copper and iron-ore in several places â—ron-â—â—â— The whole coast except the bays is high rocks so that they have a great number of promontories Sandsidehead at the west-West-end of Cathnesse pointing North to the opening of Pentland-Firth Holborn-head and Dinnet-head both pointing North to the Firth Duncans-bay-head which is the North-east point of Cathnesse where the Firth is but 12 miles over Near which is the ordinary ferry to Orknay called Duncan's-bay Noshead pointing North-east Clytheness pointing East Though Wick be a Royal Burgh Wick Thurso and the head Courts kept there yet Thurso only a Burgh of Barony is more populous where also the Judges reside It is a secure place for ships of any burthen to ride at being defended by Holburn-head In these parts there are many foundations of antient houses now ruinous supposed to have formerly belonged to the Picts Many obelisks also are erected here and there and in some places several of them together The Roman Wall in SCOTLAND THe first occasion of building the Roman Wall which now goes by the name of Graham's dike was given by Julius Agricola of whom Tacitus has left us this character Non alium Ducem opportunitates locorum sapientius elegisse That never a General used more discretion in the choice of places And here particularly he made good his claim to that piece of conduct for that Isthmus or neck of land upon which it was built is not above 16 miles over betwixt the rivers of Forth and Clyde So that having fortified that slip of ground with garisons the Enemies were as Tacitus has observed summoti velut in aliam Insulam But here we must not imagine that Agricola built a wall along this tract since neither Historians nor Inscriptions give us any reason to suspect it Tacitus only observes that this Angustum terrarum spatium Praesidiis firmabatur and we may be sure if there had been any thing of a wall in the case he would not have omitted the mention of it So that 't is probable he contented himself with placing garisons at such convenient distances as that the forces might easily draw together upon the first apprehension of danger Whether or no some of the Forts that are plac'd upon the wall were built by him at that time or by others afterwards is not certain however it seems probable that he built these following garisons 1. That which our Author calls from the Water of Caron which runs near it Coria Damniorum The neighbours thereabouts at this day call it Camelon not that 't is to be imagin'd this is the Camulodunum mentioned by Tacitus which is some hundreds of miles distant from hence but rather the Camunlodunum which Ptolemy makes a town of the Brigantes whom he placeth sub Iâ—lgovis Ottadinis ad utraque maria and sets the town in the 57th Degree of Latitude And indeed the Gadeni which we placed here were a tribe of the Brigantes that possess'd the country betwixt the Irish Sea and the Firth of Forth Camalodunum likewise is thought to import the Palace of the Prince and it may be gathered from History that this was the Palace of the Picts But by whomsoever it was built the remains of the fortification and the vestigia of the streets are yet to be seen and there is a Roman military way begins here and runs South In antient times it was wash'd by the sea which is confirm'd by an anchor discover'd near it within this hundred years As a farther confirmation of its antiquity they discover old Vaults and meet with several Roman Coins about it one particularly of brass about the bigness of a Half-crown with a Shield on one side and above it a Lion but the Impression on the other side is not legible Here it is that Ptolemy places the Legio Sexta Victrix and it seems to have been their head-quarters The Duni Pacis mention'd by our Author are very near it and just over against it on the North side of Carron-water is the Aedes Termini the figure whereof with a distinct description may be expected in Sir Robert Sibbalds's Scotia Antiqua 2. The second seems to have been some six miles distant to the North-west where the town of Sterling is now For besides that the narrowness of the river of Forth which hath now a bridge over it in this place required a garison there is upon a rock this Inscription IN EXCV AGIT LE. LEG Which sheweth that a Legion kept garison here 'T is most
be found out as in the isle of Sanda it flows two hours sooner on the west side than it does on the east side and in North Faira which lies betwixt Eda and Westra the sea ebbs nine hours and flows but three And at Hammoness in Sanda both ebb and flood runs one way except at the beginning of a quick stream when for two or three hours the flood runs south The sea here is very turbulent in a storm and as pleasant in a calm The tides are very swift and violent by reason of the multitude of the isles and narrowness of the passage for when all the rest of the sea is smooth these tides carry their waves and billows high The tides run with such violence that they cause a contrary motion in the sea adjoining to the land which they call Easter-birth or Wester-birth according to its course Yet notwithstanding all this rapidity of these tides and births the inhabitants daily almost travel from isle to isle about their several business in their little cockboats Whatever the ancients have written of the number of the isles of Orkney it 's certain there are but 26 at present inhabited viz. South Ronaldsha Swinnà Hoy Burra Lambholm Flotta Faira Cava Gramsey Mainland Copinsha Shapinsha Damsey Inhallo Stronsa Papa-Stronsa Sanda North Ronaldsha Eda Rousa-Wyre Gairsa Eglesha North-Faira Westra Papa Westra The rest of the isles are called Holms and are only used for pasturage all of them being separated from one another by some narrow streights where you may remark that the most of these names end in A or Ey which in the Teutonick Tongue signifieth water to shew that these isles are pieces of land surrounded with water They are of different natures some sandy some marish some abounding in moss and some that have none some mountainous and some plain Of these some are called the south isles and others the north-isles and that as they stand to the south or north of the greatest isle called the Mainland South Ronalsha is the Southermost of these Isles five miles long fertile in Corn and abounding with People To the South-east lye the Pightland-Skerries dangerous to Seamen but to the North is St. Margarets Hope a very safe Harbour for ships which has no difficulty in coming to it save a Rock in the midst of the Sound betwixt this Isle and Burra called Lippa From Burwick in this Isle is the usual ferry to Duncans-bay in Caithness A little separated from this to the South-west lyes Swinna a little Isle and only considerable for a part of Pightland Firth lying a little to the West of it called the Wells of Swinna which are two whirlpools in the sea occasioned as it is thought through some hiatus that is in the earth below that turn about with such a violence that if any boat or ship come within their reach they will whirl it about till it be swallowed up and drowned They are only dangerous in a dead Calm for if there be any wind and the boat under sail there is no danger to go over them If a boat happen to come near them in a Calm through the force of the tide the Boats-men take this way for their preservation they throw a barrel or oar or any thing that comes next to hand into the Wells and when it is swallowed up the sea remains smooth for a time for any boat to pass over Beyond this and to the West of South-Ronaldsha lyes Waes and Hoy thought to be the Dumna of Pliny which are but one Isle about 12 miles long full of high mountains and but thinly inhabited unless in Waes where the ground is more pleasant and fertile From Snel-setter there is the other ferry out of this country to Ham in Caithness Here are several good harbours Kirk-hope North-hope Ore-hope and others but not much frequented To the North of South Ronaldsha about a mile lyes Burra a pleasant little Isle fruitful of Corn and abounding with Rabbets Betwixt it and the Main-land is Lambholm and to the West toward Hoy-mouth lyes Flotta Faira Cava and Graâ—nsey all of them fruitful and pleasant Isles though they be not large Next to these is the Main-land called by the antients Pomona or Pomonia about 24 miles long and well inhabited About the middle of this Isle looking to the North stands Kirkwall the only town in all this country There are in it especially four excellent harbours for ships one at Kirkwall both large and safe without any danger of shoals or blind rocks as they come to it unless they come from the West by Inhallo and Gairsa another is at Deirsound which is a great bay and a very safe road for ships having good anchoring ground and capable to give shelter to the greatest Navies The third is at Grahamshall toward the East side of this Isle where is a convenient road but the ship that sails to it from the East would do well to keep betwixt Lambholm and the Main-land for the other way betwixt Lambholm and Burra which appears to them to be the only open is very shallow and dangerous even for small ships The fourth is at Kairston a small village at the West end of the Main-land where is a very safe and commodious harbour well fenced against all winds and weathers by two small Holms that stand at the entry To the East of the Main-land lyes Copinsha a little Isle but very conspicuous to sea-men in which and in several other places of this countrey are to be found in great plenty excellent stones for the game called Curling To the North-east of this Isle is a Holm called The horse of Copinsha To the North of the Main-land lye the North Isles the first of which is Shapinsha betwixt five and six miles long and hath a safe harbour for ships at Elwick Of an equal bigness to that toward the South-east lyes Stronsa which hath two convenient harbours one at Lingasound fenced with Linga-holm the other at Strynie fenced with a little pleasant Isle to the North of it called Papa-stronsa Beyond these toward the North at a pretty distance lyes Sanda of about 11 or 12 miles in length but very narrow well stored with Corn and Rabbets It hath two roads for ships one at Kitle-toft guarded by a little Holm called The Holm of Elness the other at Otterswick guarded by the most Northern Isle in all this country called North-Ronalsha which is a little fruitful Isle but both it and Sanda are destitute of moss-ground and are forced to bring their peits or turfs a great way off from the adjacent Isle Eda This Eda lyeth to the South east of Sanda thought to be the Ocetis of Ptolemy near five miles in length full of moss and hills and but thinly inhabited unless it be about the skirts of it it hath a safe road to the North called Calf-sound guarded by a large Holm called The Calf of Eda in which there is a good Salt Pan. Three miles to
the reflection causeth that admirable splendour At Stennis where the Loch is narrowest in the middle having a Causey of stones over it for a bridge there is at the South end of the bridge a Round set about with high smooth stones or flags without any engraving about 20 foot high above ground six foot broad and a foot or two thick Betwixt that Round and the bridge are two stones standing of the same largeness with the rest whereof one hath a round hole in the midst of it And at the other end of the bridge about half a mile removed from it is a larger Round about an hundred and ten paces diameter set about with such stones as the former save that some of them are fallen down and both East and West of this bigger round are two artificial as is thought green mounts Both these rounds are ditched about Some conceive that these rounds have been places wherein two opposite Armies encamped but others more probably think that they were the High-places in the Pagan times whereon Sacrifices were offered and that these two mounts were the places where the Ashes of the Sacrifices were flung And this is the more probable because Boethius in the life of Mainus King of Scots makes mention of that kind of high stones calling them the Temples of the Gods His words are these In memory of what King Mainus ordained anent the worship of the Gods there remains yet in our days many huge stones drawn together inform of a Circle named by the people The antient Temples of the Gods and it is no small admiration to consider by what art or strength so huge stones have been brought together You will find besides in many other places of this country Obelisks or huge high stones set in the ground like the former and standing apart and indeed they are so large that none sees them but wonders by what engines they have been erected which are thought to be set up either as a memorial of some famous battle or as a monument of some remarkable person that has been buried there that way of honouring deserving and valiant men being the invention of King Reutha as Boethius says There is in Rousay betwixt high mountains a place called The Camps of Jupiter Fring the name is strange and should import some notable accident but what it was I could not learn At the West end of the Main-land near Skeall on the top of high rocks above a quarter of a mile in length there is something like a street all set in red clay with a sort of reddish stones of several figures and magnitudes having the images and representations of several things as it were engraven upon them And which is very strange most of these stones when they are raised up have that same image engraven under which they had above That they are so figured by art is not probable nor can the reason of nature's way in their engraving be readily given In the Links of Skeall where sand is blown away with the wind are sound several places built quadrangularly about a foot square with stones about well-cemented together and a stone lying in the mouth having some black earth in them The like of which are found in the Links of Rousum in Stronsa where also is found a remarkable monument It is a whole round stone like a barrel hollow within sharp edged at the top having the bottom joyned like the bottom of a barrel On the mouth was a round stone answerable to the mouth of the monument and above that a large stone for the preservation of the whole within was nothing but red clay and burnt bones which I sent to Sir Robert Sibbald to whom also I thought to have sent the whole monument had it not broken in pieces as they were taking it from its seat It 's like that this as also the other four-square monuments have been some of those antient Urns wherein the Romans when they were in this country laid up the ashes of their dead Likewise in the Links of Tranabie in Westra have been found graves in the sand after the sand hath been blown away by the wind in one of which was seen a man lying with his sword on the one hand and a Danish ax on the other and others that have had dogs and combs and knives buried with them Which seems to be an instance of the way how the Danes when they were in this country buried their dead as the former was of the Romans Beside in many places of the country are found little hillocks which may be supposed to be the Sepulchers of the antient Peights For Tacitus tells us that it was the way of the antient Romans and Verstegan that it was the way of the antient Germans and Saxons to lay dead bodies on the ground and cover them over with turfs and clods of earth in the fashion of a little hillock Hence it seems that the many houses and villages in this country which are called by the name of Brogh and which all of them are built upon or beside some such hillock have been cemeteries for the burying of the dead in the time of the Pights and Saxons for the word Brogh in the Tentonick language signifies a burying place In one of these Hillocks near the circle of high stones at the North end of the bridge of Stennis there were found nine Fibulae of silver of the shape of a Horse-shoe but round Moreover in many places of this country are to be seen the ruines and vestiges of great but antique buildings most of them now covered over with earth and called Pight-houses some of which it 's like have been the sorts and residences of the Pights or Danes when they possessed this country Among the rest there is one in the Isle of Wyre called The Castle of Cubberow or rather Coppirow which in the Teutonick language signifies a tower of security from outward violence It is trenched about of this nothing now remains but the first story it is a perfect square the wall being eight foot thick strongly built and cemented with lime the breadth or length within the walls not being above ten foot having a large door and a small slit for the window Of this Cubbirow the common people report many idle fables not fit to be inserted here In the Parish of Evie near the sea are some small hillocks which frequently in the night time appear all in a fire Likewise the Kirk of Evie called St. Nicholas is seen full of lights as if torches or candles were burning in it all night This amazes the people greatly but possibly it is nothing else but some thick glutinous meteor that receives that light in the Night-time At the Noup-head in Westra is a rock surrounded with the sea called Less which the inhabitants of that Isle say has this strange property that if a man go upon it having any Iron upon him if it were an Iron nail in his shoe