thing else contained therein by whom the Cathedral was built on the Elwy whence the Town is called Land Elwy by the Welsh and the Bishop Elwensis in the ancient Latin After that he returned into Scotland he deputed Asaph a Religious and Devout Man to succeed him in the Bishoprick from whom the Place received its Denomination But most remarkable is this County for a little Village called Holy-Well so famous for the strange Cures which have been wrought as is supposed by the Virtue and Intercession of St. Winifrid Holy-Well or St. Winefred 's Well who is the grand Patroness thereof The Water hereof is extreme cold and hath so great a Stream that flows from it that it is presently able to drive a Mill the Stones which are at the bottom being of a sanguine Colour are believed to have received that rubicund Tincture from the drops of Blood which trickled down this holy Virgin 's Body when she was here Beheaded by the Bloody Tyrant that would have ravished her and the Moss which grows upon the sides and bears a very fragrant smell is averred to have been the product of her Hair tho' I find by some we brought away with us that in process of time it looseth all its sweetness Over the Well stands a Chappel dedicated to her built of Stone after a curious manner to which formerly was much resorting by Pilgrims who came hither out of a blind Devotion and the generality of the Commonalty hereabouts who are too much addicted to Popish Superstition are so extremely credulous to believe the Legend of this Martyr'd Virgin and the great Miracle that was wrought by St. Benno who restored her to Life again as they say by clapping on her Head immediately after it was cut off upon her Shoulders that we happening to smile at this fabulous Relation which we had from an old Romish Zealot who gave his Attendance it seeming indeed as ridiculous to us as the Story of Garagantua or the Wandring Jew he presently observed us and replied That he supposed we e'er long would not believe the very Scriptures to be true as if the Holy and undoubted Oracles of God had now no more certain and infallible grounds of Veracity to enforce an assent to the Credibility thereof than such idle and extravagant Fables as these which have only been the Chymical Extracts of some Enthusiastick hot-brained Monks dress'd up finely with some outward shews of probability to cheat the Vulgar into a belief hereof At this place we met divers Persons of as different Qualities as Designs some came hither for the good of their Bodies and others as they hoped for the benefit of their Souls some we saw kneeling about the Well mumbling over their Beads with such profound Murmurs as the Conjurers did of old who used to invocate old Hecate's Assistance and kissing the Stones on which they kneeled with as great Reverence as if the sacred Feet of St. Winefrid or the Pope's Toe had been there present before others were crossing themselves from Head to Foot with the Holy Water in which they bathed supposing it as effectual to drive away all Evil Spirits from their Bodies as the Spaniard did in Flanders who seeing a Demoniack exorcised who looking earnestly upon him a thing which he had never seen before and being told that the Devil when dispossessed of his former hold had a very great mind to enter into his Posteriors leaps up immediately and clapp'd his Back-side into a Basin of Holy Water by that means hoping to keep it free from that Black intending Inmate Others were gathering up the bloody Stones and picking up the sweet Moss from the sides of the Well which Holy Reliques they resolved to treasure up as carefully as the Nuns in Britany did the Bones of the Eleven hundred Martyr'd Virgins And in fine others went in purely for their Pleasure and Diversion to cleanse and purifie themselves from bodily Pollutions reserving their Souls for other kind of Lustrations more suitable and congruous to their Divine Nature Amongst these Persons we passed away some days in which time by conversing with the Welsh we gathered up from them again an account of some Curiosities in these Northern Counties which we had not then time enough personally to survey which I shall next decypher with as much brevity as I can Montgomeryshire is a mountainous Country Montgomeryshire and yet very fruitful because well irrigated but in nothing more observable than for its excellent Breed of Horses which are of most excellent Shapes strong Limbs and very swift The Hill Plim-limmon raiseth it self up to a wonderful height The Hill Plim-limmon and on that part where it boundeth on this Shire it poureth forth the Severne the greatest River in Britain next the Thames as likewise in the other Parts of it riseth the River Wye and the River Rideal The Hill Cerdon Upon Cerdon-Hill are placed certain Stones in a round Circle like a Coronet in all probability to commemorate some notable Victory Merionethshire Merionethshire may have a wholesom Air but is very barren and exceeding full of spir'd Hills and good for little but Cattel It was not conquered by the English till the Reign of Edward the First A. D. 1283. And in the Reign of Henry the IVth Owen Glendover having drawn this and all Wales into a Combination against that Prince endangered the loss of the whole but that he had to do with too Martial a Prince The Pool near Bala Near Bala is a great Pool of Water that drowns at least 200 Acres of Ground whose Nature is such as they say that the High-land Floods cannot make this Pool swell bigger tho' never so great but if the Air be troubled with violent Tempests of Wind it riseth above the Banks the River Dee runneth into this Pool with a swift Stream and glides through it without mixture of Water for in this Pool is bred the Fish called Juiniad which is never seen in the Dee and in Dee Salmons are taken which are never found in the Pool Upon the Sea Coasts of this County great store of Herrings are taken at time of Year and upon the West side of it the Sea beats so sore and hard that it is thought it hath carried away part of it Anglesey Anglesey is a considerable Island in the North-West part of Wales parted from the Continent by a narrow Arm of the Sea named the Menay The Welsh call this Island Mon or Tie-Mon but since Edward the First conquered it from Llewellen King or Prince of north-North-Wales it got the Name of Anglesey that is the English Island 'T is in length about Twenty Miles though in breadth scarce Seventeen and herein are frequently found and digged up in the low Grounds Bodies of huge Trees with their Roots and Fir-Trees of a wonderful bigness and length which Trees some believe were cut down by the Romans so that it appears this Island was in
was the first Bishop here say the Annals of Worcecester Angl. Sacr. pars prima about the year 680 under the high Altar whereof lies the Body of King John wrapped in a Monk's Cowl which the Superstition of that time accounted Sacred and a very necessary Defensative against all evil Spirits Here is likewise to be seen the Tomb of Arthur Prince of Wales the eldest Son of Henry VII with divers Monuments belonging to the ancient Family of the Beauchamps It was formerly a Cloyster for Monks but King Henry VIII did substitute in their Room a Dean and Prebendaries and erected a free School for the Education of the Citizen's Children It hath suffered great Calamities by Fire being burnt down by the Danes about the year 104.1 after this by an unknown Casualty under the Reign of Henry I. and once again in King Stephen's days and sure I am it hath of later years fall'n into the Hands of some merciless Men who were as raging as the Flames and whose Fury was as unquenchable as the Fire it self Witness the grievous Pressures it groaned under for its Loyalty to the King in the year 1651 For here it was that after his long Exile King Charles the Second arrived with an Army of Scots and some English the 22. of August and by the Assistance of the Citizens beat but the Soldiers who kept it for the Common-wealth and being proclaimed by the Mayor that then was and Sheriffs King of England c. Nevertheless was attended with the same ill Fortune and Success which was at that time his chief Attendants and having but a small Army in comparison of the numberless number of Rebels that were poured in upon him was totally defeated at this City several of his Nobles Slain and took Prisoners the rest forced to fly for their Lives and himself constrain'd to make his Escape as privately as he could and to betake himself into a Wood in Staffordshire where hiding himself in the shady Boughs of a well-spread Oak he found more Pity and Security from Trees and Woods than from some of his own unnatural and bloody Subjects However this City is now again restored to its Lustre and like the Phoenix being revived out of its own Ashes is raised up to its Prestine Splendour and Magnificence Having sufficiently satisfied our selves with the Varieties of that City we came into the Confines of the Eastern part of Herefordshire Herefordshire which appeared very Rocky and Mountainous at the first but having passed those Rocky parts we began to find the Country more pleasant to the Eye for we discovered it to be a Fertile Soil the Valleys thick with Corn and the Meadows abounding with Grass and well watered with Rivers the Hills covered with Sheep and the Hedges full of Apple-Trees which bear a sort of Fruit called Redstreaks of which they make the best Syder in England In a word we found it according to the usual Report which is made of it to yield to no Country in this Nation for three W. W. W Wheat Wool and Water to which formerly might have been added Wood but that the Iron Works have since destroyed it very much and made it become less plentiful Passing through Bramyard a small Market-Town of no great Consequence Mereford we came to Hereford the chief City of this County which is situated almost in the middle of it and watered by two pleasant Rivers Wye and Lugg which by their happy Union not far from this place advance her Felicity and enrich her Soil Antiquaries are of Opinion That this City had its Rise from Ariconium which hath at this day no manner of Form of a Town as having been thrown down by an Earthquake only some do imagine it to have stood in a place which they now call Kenchester three Miles distant from this City Kenchester and they do build their Conjectures from the Ruines of old Walls which are there Conspicuous as likewise from some four-square paving Tiles and thick Bricks as well as several Roman Coins digged up thereabouts though now the place which they mention is all over-grown with Shrubs Bushes and Brambles We observed when we went to visit this place three or four Receptacles in an old piece of Ruin'd Wall in which the Owners had found some Urns which argues the place to have been of great Antiquity however her Sister Hereford which is now become Beautiful by the others Decay justly claims the Pre-eminence above all other Places within this County She is thought first to have shown her Head under the Saxon Heptarchy and is supposed to have received great Helps and Increase by Religion and the Martyrdom of Ethelbert King of the East Angles who when he Courted the Daughter of Offa King of the Mercians was treacherously put to Death by Quendred Offa's Wife Hereupon being Registred as a Martyr he had a Church built and Dedicated to him by Milfrid King of the Mercians A. D. 825. which after the Establishment of a Bishop's See in it grew to great Wealth and Honour through the Devout and Pious Liberality of the Mercians and then of the West Saxons and is thought never to have suffered any Misfortune untill Edward the Confessor's time when Griffith Prince of South Wales and Algarus having raised a Rebellion against King Edward and led away Captive Leofgarus the Bishop sacked the City and burnt the Cathedral Afterward the Normans at the East End of the Church by the River Wye built a strong Castle Fortified the City with a Wall and by the Trench near the Castle is a very fine Spring call'd St. Ethelbert's Well St. Ethelbert's Well famous formerly for Miracles to which no question but in that Superstitious Age there was a great Resort of the Lame and the Blind with their Vows and their Offerings the Sanctity of Waters being such a Devout Fancy among our Ancestors as has been truly observed by that Indefatigable Searcher into Antiquity the Ingenious Mr. White Kennet that after Ages were forced to restrain the horrid Superstition of Well-Worship by a Canon in a Council under Edgar and after this too by some other Episcopal Injunctions Within this City are four Parish Churches and Bishop Reinelme in the Reign of King Henry I. founded the Cathedral that now is being a beautiful and magnificent Structure adorned with divers Monuments of ancient Prelates and Abbots To this adjoyns divers Houses for the Dignitaries of the Church and a College for 12 Vicars who live after an Academical way under a Praefectus who presides over them and supplies them with all Necessaries to encourage their Attendance upon all Divine Offices So ready were our Ancestors to promote Learning and advance such Persons whose quick and acute Parts were eclipsed under mean and slender Fortunes The City is govern'd by a Mayor who is Annually sworn upon Michaelmas-Day 12 Aldermen a Recorder and divers Common-Council Men and by their Charter have Privileges for particular Companies and Societies
Sir Reginald Bray Who this St. George was we have now mentioned Mr. Sands in his Travels gives us the best account That he was a Cappadocian advanced in the Wars to the Dignity of a Tribune who afterward became a Soldier of Christ and is said in Lydda to have suffered Martyrdom under Dioclesian where stands a Temple built to his Honour as they say by a King of England which Church the Greeks have the Custody of and do shew a Skull therein which they affirm to be St. George's On this St. George's Day which is April 23. King Edward the Third that he might give to true Chivalry that Honour and ample Reward it deserves constituted first the most noble Order of the Garter appointing a select number of Twenty-six Persons of Honour to wear a blue Garter on their left Leg with this Motto in French * Evil be to him that evil thinks Hony soit qui maly pense and these he call'd Knights of the Garter Of this Order are and have been the most Puissant and Renown'd Princes in Christendom this Honour being deriv'd to them from the King of England who is the first and chief thereof but because the Occasion of the constitution of this most Noble Order as well as a List of the Persons that are Honoured therewith are given us already by Elias Ashmole Esq and others I shall not actum agere but rather declare who were the Principuli and had the Honour to stand Rank'd in the first Front of this Order and they are these who follow who being very Renowned in their Generation it is pity they should be Buried in the Grave of Oblivion 1. Edward the Third King of England 2. Edward the Prince of Wales 3. Henry Duke of Lancaster 4. Thomas Earl of Warwick 5. Captain de Bouch. 6. Ralph Earl of Stafford 7. William Mountague Earl of Salisbury 8. Roger Mortimer Earl of March 10. Sir John Lisle 11. Sir Bartholomew Burwash 12. Sir John Beauchamp 13. Sir Hugh Courtney 14. Sir Thomas Holland 15. Sir John Grey 16. Sir Richard Fitz-Simon 17. Sir Miles Stapleton 18. Sir Thomas Walle 19. Sir Hugh Wrothesley 20. Sir Neel Loring 21. Sir John Chandos 22. Sir James Audley 23. Sir Otho Holland 24. Sir Henry Eme. 25. Sir Zanchet D'Brigecoure 26. Sir Walter Paveley All these as likewise all other Knights of the Garter have their several Stalls allotted them in St. George's Chapel over which hang their Escutcheons and their Arms and when they are present they are all arrayed with Robes and Mantles peculiar to their Order and upon their day of admission to this Dignity which is usually on St. George's Day they are generally Installed either by themselves or their Proxies by the Prelate of the Garter which Office is setled upon the Bishop of Winchester and the Chancellour belonging to it is the Bishop of Salisbury On one side of the Church stand the Houses of the Dean and Prebendaries who are Twelve in number and on the other side an House not unlike the Graecian Prytaneum for the comfortable Maintenance of Twenty-six poor Knights who being all clad in long purple Gowns bearing the Badge of the Cross upon them are daily to be present Morning and Night at Divine Service Betwixt the two Courts ariseth up a high Mount on which is set a round Tower and hard by it riseth another lofty Pinnacle called Winchester Tower of William Wickam Bishop of Winchester whom King Edward the Third made Overseer of this Work when he Built the Castle There is a Rumour of a certain Inscription that was engraven by this Wickam upon the inner part of the Wall after the finishing of the Tower in these Words This made Wickam which bearing a dubious meaning some of the Courtiers that were his Enemies represented them in such a sense to the King as if he had arrogated to himself all the Glory and Magnificence of the Structure and so had eclipsed the King's Honour at which the King being incensed and rebuking him for the Fact he replied That he did not mean that he had made the Castle but that the Castle had made him having raised him from a mean and low Condition to the King's Favour and thereby to great Wealth and Dignity But before I leave this Bishop I cannot omit one very remarkable Story which I find Recorded of him by John de Pontoys in his History of the Bishops of Winchester how this Renowned Prelate discovered a notorious Cheat to Edward the Third put upon him by his own Queen Philippa for that John Duke of Lancaster who then went for his Son was never Born of that Queen but was really Supposititious which she still concealed for fear of the King's Anger but afterward a little before her Death she declared the whole Truth to this Bishop and commanded him to tell the King the whole Matter when he should find the most convenient Opportunity Mr. Wharton's Anglia Sacra pars prima p. 318. New-Windsor That which the Inhabitants call now New-Windsor standing South-West from the Castle began to flourish in the Reign of King Henry the Third and the Daughter hath now quite eclipsed the Glory and Honour of the Mother for 't is grown very Beautiful and Populous adorned with handsom Buildings and a regular Corporation and sends from thence constantly two Burgesses to the Parliament Aeton College There is one thing still more here which is remarkable opposite to Windsor on the other side of the River Thames a fair Bridge of Wood leads you on to Aeton where stands a famous College erected by that most Charitable Prince King Henry the Sixth in which besides a very honourable Allowance for the Provost there is a handsom Pension for Eight Fellows and a creditable Subsistence for Sixty Scholars who having received here the first Rudiments of Grammar and Rhetorick are afterwards translated to King's-College in Cambridge where they are certainly preferred according to their civil and studious Deportment Having satisfied our Curiosities with these pleasant Prospects we took our Farewell of the Muses Athenaeum as well as Mars his Cittadel and crossing again the River arrived at Colebrook Colebrook three or four Miles distant from this place so called from the River Cole which gently glides along through Bucks and Middlesex 't is parted into several Channels over which stand as many Bridges and by the several partitions of its Streams it encompasseth several little pretty Islands into which the Danes fled about the Year 894. whither King Alfred pursued them and endeavoured what he could to annoy them till at last for want of Provision he was enforced to quit that most advantageous Post We passed on from hence to Brentford Brentford which receives its name from the Rivolet Brent running by it Here in the Year 1016 Edmund Ironside did so overpower the Danes that they fled away very ingloriously being quite routed by him and leaving a great many Men slain behind them This
called Yarmouth but the Inhabitants finding both the Air and Soil very prejudicial to them transplanted themselves to the other side of the River called from the same Cerdick Cerdick-Sand and built this new Town which in a short time grew so potent and populous that they strengthened it with a Wall and were able to make up so strong a Body of Seamen as would frequently make Incursions upon the Neighbourhood of Lestoff and the adjacent Cinque-Ports against whom they had a particular Antipathy because they were excluded by them from many advantageous Privileges which their Ancestors had enjoyed But these private Feuds did at last end by an express Order from the King and their Courage was quelled by a sudden and fearful Pestilence which in the space of one Year brought above Seven thousand Men and Women to their Graves all which was faithfully Recorded in an ancient Chronographical Table which formerly used to hang up in their Church since which time as their Grudges have ceased so their Wealth hath encreased and 't is now a place of great Merchandize and Traffick but especially renown'd for its Fishery of Herrings of which at the season there is usually such plenty that they do not only supply our own but Foreign Nations too after they have been by their great care and industry dried and salted in particular Houses set apart for that purpose The Haven it self is capacious enough for Vessels of great Burdens and standing well for Holland affords a ready passage to it and is a frequent Shelter for the Newcastle Coal Fleet when distressed by Weather but the North-East Wind being subject frequently to annoy this Coast and drive in the Sand and Beach in great heaps the Townsmen are forced to be at a great Expence by removing all such Obstacles to clear their Haven From this place we hastned to Norwich Norwich which is the Metropolis of the County situate at the influx of the Winsder into the Yare and sprung up out of the Ruins of Venta Icenorum now called Castor about three Miles distance from it in which not many years since was found a great number of Roman Urns And from Wic which in the Saxon Tongue signifies a Castle the Learned Mr. Gibson in his Explication of Places not improbably guesseth that it might receive its denomination This is one of the most Renowned Cities in our British Island for whether we consider the Wealth of the Citizens the number of Inhabitants the great confluence of Foreigners the stately Structures and beautiful Churches the obliging deportment of the Gentry and the laudable Industry of the Commonalty they do all concur to illustrate and dignifie it 't is situated on the brow of a Hill and environed with a Wall upon which were placed divers Turrets and Twelve Gates to give entrance into the Town unless it be on the East side where the River after it hath with many windings watered the North part of the City having four Bridges over it is a defence by reason of its deep Channel and high Banks 't is reputed a Mile and half in length and half as much in breadth drawing in it self at the South side till it almost appear in the form of a Cone The great Damages it sustained and Misfortunes it was exposed to when Sucnus the Dane with his Bloody Crew took his range in these Parts and after that William the Conqueror had settled the British Crown upon his Head were too doleful and tragical a Story to relate Nor were the Calamities it underwent less deplorable when Hugh Bigod Earl of Norfolk sided with Young Prince Henry against his Father and as 't is supposed re-edified the Castle which stands upon a high Hill and was once thought impregnable till Lewis the French Monsieur by the assistance of the Seditious Barons won it at last by Siege And as if the Plague and the Sword had made a Conspiracy together utterly to subvert and destroy it the Pestilence in the Reign of King Edward the Third consumed no less than 57374 besides Ecclesiastick Mendicants and Dominicans But after this in succeeding Ages it began again to flourish whilst to recruit their strength which was much impair'd King Henry the First permitted the Citizens to Wall the City and King Richard the Second gave them a Grant for the Transportation of Worsted and to advance their Trade which was extreamly eclipsed King Henry the Fourth renewed their Charter and conferred on them the Honour to chuse every Year a Mayor whereas by a former Order from King Stephen they were only govern'd by Coroners and Bayliffs And as if the Fates with no less eagerness designed their Felicity than before they consulted their Misery the Dutch who flock'd over hither during the Bloody Inquisition of Duke Alva have made it very opulent by the great Trade of Says Bays and other curious Stuffs which here occasion a considerable Merchandize Here is an Hospital where above an Hundred Men and Women are maintained and A. D. 1094. the Episcopal See was translated hither being first placed at Dunwich about the Year 636. by Felix the Burgundian who established the East-Angles in the Christian Faith and here it continued till Bisus the fourth Bishop from him removed it to North-Elmham in Norfolk in 673. leaving a Suffragan Bishop at Domor or Dunwich afterwards both Sees becoming vacant for the space of 100 Years after the Death of St Humbert alias Humbritt who suffered Martyrdom with King Edmund by the Bloody Danes in 995. Adulphus alias Athulphus seu Eadulphus who lived in the time of King Edwin became Bishop of both Sees under the Title of North-Elmham but in the Eleventh Century Herfastus by Bartholomew Cotton in his History of the Bishops of Norwich called Arfattus who was Chaplain to William the Conqueror and a great Favourite of that Prince before the Conquest as is observed by the Learned Mr. Wharton in his Notes on that place Angl. Sacr. par prima p. 403 404 406. was the Person that removed the See to Thetford according to the Canon made in the Council of London by Arch-Bishop Lanfrank A. D. 1075. by which it was provided that all Episcopal Sees should be translated from smaller Villages to more eminent Cities But his next Successor to him save one Herbert Losing settled it at last in Norwich A. D. 1094 where it has continued ever since founding a Cathedral Church to the Honour of the Holy Trinity in which he placed Benedictine Monks who continued till the Dissolution at which time King Henry the Eighth put in their Room a Dean and six Prebendaries This Church is a very stately and magnificent Structure and famous not only for its Cross and Cloyster but for the Roof likewise which runs aloft over the Body of it on which is pourtrayed to the Life the History of the Bible in divers little Images curiously carved and adorned from the Creation of the World to the Ascension of our Blessed Saviour and the
afterward Earl of Northumberland pretending to deliver to him the Keys of the Castle upon the top of a Spear ran him through the left Eye * Mowbray was for that reason called afterward Pearce-Eie of which he died immediately and so relieved the Town again from all Extremity and his Son Prince Edward coming hither to revenge his Father's Death met with the same fatal Doom After this in the Reign of King Henry the Second the English Forces behaved themselves so bravely that they took Prisoner William King of Scots and presented him as a Captive to their Victorious Prince having fortified this place with a strong Garrison and in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth the Scots coming against it with another Army were in hopes to have taken it but the English Army retreating as if they had deserted it by that means discouraged the Scots from any further Onsets who supposing it to have been a Stratagem of the English and that they had only retreated Scythico more the more easily to entrap them very fairly left it to the possession of those Persons in which at first they found it Bamborough Castle Ten Miles further upon the Sea stands the Castle of Bamborough called formerly Bebbanbur from Queen Bebba who gave it that name Some Writers say that it was built by King Ebrank others by Ida * Saxon Cron. A. D. 547. the first King of Northumberland who fenced it at first with great Stakes and Piles of Timber and afterwards with a Wall It was one of the Receptacles of Robert Mawbray Earl of Northumberland in his Rebellion against King William Rufus over against which the King plac'd a Fort to annoy him which it did so effectually that it forced him to desert it In the Reign of Edward the Fourth when the Scots invaded England in the behalf of Queen Margaret they took this Castle but were quickly dispossessed of it by the English Forces who recovered it again for the King's Service and delivered up the Governor Sir Ralph Grey to the King who was afterward executed for holding it out against his Sovereign but both its Beauty and Strength began visibly to decay during the Wars betwixt York and Lancaster and since that Time and Age have more prevailed against it than all the Attacks of its most furious Enemies for the Rampires are broken down and the Trenches filled up and there is little now remaining of that famous Fortress About a League from this Castle we saw Farne-Island Farne-Island being a little spot of Land inclosed with the Ocean and encircled about with craggy Cliffs which render it almost every where inaccessible Hither did St. Cuthbert about the Year 676 retire from Lindisfarne for Devotion desiring to sequester himself from the rest of the World where for nine Years together he lived a very solitary and religious Life till by the great importunity of King Eegfrid and Trumwine Bishop of the Picts who came hither to him for that very intent and purpose he was at last persuaded to remove to Hexham where he succeeded Bishop Eata in that See After two Years spent in this Bishoprick this Holy Man foreseeing his Death approaching betook himself again to this very Island where in the space of two Months through the Malignancy of his Distemper he at last breathed out his pious Soul on the 20th of March A. D. 687. We once resolved to visit this place but the unseasonableness of the Weather which happened at that time prohibited our Passage the Wind being so high and the Sea so rough that none of their small Cobble Boats durst venture off to Sea but we were inform'd that there was then but one House standing upon the Island and continually such flocks of wild Fowl who laid generally in that place that it was not possible to walk far upon it without treading upon some of their Eggs of which here the Fishermen make a considerable advantage by selling them abroad to the Neighbourhood they are of all sizes and colours we saw some that were much speckled about the bigness of Hens Eggs and some larger than the Eggs of our ordinary Turkeys and Geese but both were no less pleasing and grateful to the Palate As to the Air of this place whatever it was formerly it is now reputed very unhealthy subject to the Dysentery or Bloody Flux and other Diseases by reason of the frequent Fogs that happen here and 't is no less troubled with Tempests of Wind Storms of Rain and Rage of the Sea the Soil is barren and good for little but what is gotten from the Fowl and the Fish which swim in shoals round about it Berwick upon Tweed We coasted on for Berwick which is one of the strongest Holds in all Britain and is almost environed with the Sea and the River Tweed whence the Town took its name is not so well agreed upon as that 't is a large and populous Town well Built and strongly Fortified 't is situated betwixt the two great Kingdoms of England and Scotland and hereupon was always the first place they took care of whenever they began to be at open variance with each other and according to the various and inconstant Successes ef each Nation hath been held in possession by one and sometimes kept under the power of the other Before the Reign of Henry the Second we find little or nothing Recorded of it for William King of Scots being taken Prisoner by the English did first surrender it into King Henry's hands upon condition that unless by such a day he paid the Ransom that was demanded for his Liberty it should always belong to the Crown of England hereupon the King built a Castle to strengthen it all which was afterward released to the Scots by King Richard the First upon the payment of that Money which before had been promised Afterward King John upon a great distast he took against the Northumbers for doing homage to the Scotch King won it again and not many Years after when Baliol King of Scots had violated his Oath King Edward the First brought it under his Subjection yet within a while after when the Fortune of the War began to smile upon the Scots it was unawares surprized but in a few days the English regained it afterward in that loose Reign of Richard the Second it was betrayed to the Scots and for a long time after it was in vain besieged by the English Forces until King Edward the Third that most Puissant Prince came thundering against it and forced his entrance Notwithstanding in the Reign of Richard the Second the Castle was surprized by certain Scotch Robbers but they could not hold it long for the Earl of Northumberland in a few days dislodged them of their Fortress Scarce seven Years were over passed when the Scots recovered it again not by force but by Money for which cause the aforesaid Earl was Impeached of High Treason but he being a very politick Man
They Report likewise that after a long Frost when the Ice of this Lake breaks it makes a fearful Noise like Thunder possibly because the Lake is encompass'd with high steep Hills which pen in the Sound and multiply it or else the Ground may be hollow underneath or near the Lake Levenny River Through this Lake runs a River called Levenny without mixtures of its Waters as may be perceived both by the Colour of the Water and also by the quantity of it because it is no greater afterward than when it entred the Lake Cadier Arthur Cadier Arthur or Arthur's Chair is a Hill so called on the Southside of this County from the Tops resembling the form of a Chair proportionate to the Dimensions of that great and mighty Person upon the Top whereof riseth a Spring as deep as a Well four-square having no Streams issuing from it and yet there are plenty of Trouts to be found therein Radnorshire in the East and South parts thereof is more fruitful than the rest Radnorshire but is uneven and rough with Mountains yet it is well stored with Woods watered with running Rivers and in some places with standing Pools the Air is cold and sharp because the Snow continues long unmelted under the shady Hills and hanging Rocks whereof there are many and upon the Borders of it which lies next to Herefordshire runs a long famous Ditch which Offa King of the Mercians with great Toil and Labour caused to be cast up from Deermouth to Wymouth for the space of 90 Miles to separate the Britains from the English There are in it four Market-Towns amongst which Radnor is the Principal Radnor being seated in a pleasant Valley near the River Somergil which runs at the foot of a Hill on the Top whereof stands the Ruines of an ancient Castle demolished by that notorious Rebel Owen Glendore Glamorganshire hath a temperate Air Glamorganshire and is generally the most pleasant part of all South Wales it is replenished with divers convenient Towns amongst which Cardiff Cardiff which stands near the Sea where Robert the Eldest Son of William the Conqueror died after a long Imprisonment is reputed the most Eminent a Mile above which stands also on the River Taff Landaff Landaff one of the four Episcopal Sees of Wales 'T is one of the most ancient Sees either in England or Wales claiming a direct Succession from the Arch-Bishops of Caer-leon upon Vske it is adorned with a Cathedral consecrated to St. Telran who was Bishop here which Church Germanus and Lupus French Bishops then Erected when they had suppressed the Pelagian Heresie preferring Dubritius a very devout Person to this Bishoprick unto whom Meurick a British Lord gave all the Lands which lie betwixt the two Rivers Taff and Elri * Mr. Wharton's Angl. Sacr. Pars Secunda p. 667. Minyd-Morgan Hill On the top of a certain Hill called Minyd-Morgan in this County is a Monument with a strange Character which the Dwellers thereabouts say if any Man read the same he will die shortly after The Springs by Newton Upon the River Ogmore and near unto Newton in a Sandy Plain about a hundred Paces from the Severn Springs a Well in which at full Sea in Summer-time can hardly any Water be took up but at the Ebb it bubleth up amain 't is most observable in Summer for in Winter the Ebbing and Flowing is nothing so evident because of the Veins of Water coming in by Showers or otherwise besides it is observed that this Spring never riseth up to the Spring or overfloweth and Polybius relates the same of a certain Well at Cadiz Clemens Alexandrinus saith That in Britain is a Cave under the bottom of a Hill and on the top of it a gaping Chink where when the Wind is gathered into that Hole and toss'd to fro in the Womb of it there is heard as it were a Musical sound like that of Cymbals It is not unlikely that he might point at the Cave at Aberbarry in this Shire Aberbarry Cave the Story agreeing very near with the Quality of this Cave It is mention'd by my Lord Bacon in his History of Winds to this effect That in a certain Rocky Cliff in which there are Holes if a Man lay his Ears to them he shall hear divers Noises and rumbling of Winds now these Noises Cambden saith are as well to be heard at the lowest Ebb as the highest Flood Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire though a most Hilly Country yet it hath a wholsom Air and though the Soil be not very fruitful in Corn 't is well stored with Cattle and in some places yields good Pit-Coal for Fuel On the South side the Ocean hath with so great Violence encroached upon the Land that the Country seems to have shrunk back in a fright and withdrawn it self more inwardly for Security Carmarthen Carmarthen the chief place of it being a pretty distance from the Sea is situated between pleasant Meadows and Woods The Residence kept here by the Princes of South Wales made it anciently very Eminent and it became a Prey to the Normans in the Reign of William the Conqueror Near Carreg-Castle are many Caves of great wideness within the Ground now covered all over with green Swerd and Turf The Caves and VVell near Carreg-Castle wherein 't is probable the Multitude when unable to bear Arms when the Normans made their first Incursions into these parts hid themselves during the heat of the War where also is a Well that like the Sea Ebbs and Flows twice in 24 hours That Cardiganshire being a Hilly Maritime Country was not formerly planted Cardiganshire or garnished with Cities may be gathered from that Speech of their Prince Caratacus who being taken Prisoner by the Romans and carried to Rome when he had throughly viewed the Magnificence of that City What mean you saith he when you have such stately Buildings of your own to covet such poor and mean Cottages as ours are It s chief Town is Cardigan Cardigan pleasantly seated upon the Tivy near its fall into the Sea which River parts this County from Pembrokeshire and over it here is a Stone-Bridge supported by several Arches Pembrokeshire hath a good temperate Air Pembrokeshire considering it lies so near to Ireland the Inhabitants are now many of them Dutch Men and formerly as it appears from Giraldus Cambrensis they were like the Romans of old very skilful in Soothsaying by looking narrowly into the Entrails of Beasts and by their Manners and Language are so near akin to the English that upon this Account this Country is call'd Little England beyond Wales About Three hundred years ago it was reported That for five Generations the Father of the Family in the Earldom of Pembroke whose Names then were Hastings never saw his Son the Father dying always before the Son was Born At the time when Henry II. made his Abode in
akin to the famous Bell called Great Tom of Lincoln we went to view the Slitting Mills which slit Iron in sunder being but a small distance from this place but the noise was so terrible before we came at them that one would have thought the Clouds had been running Re-encounters and Jove with his Thunder-Claps had utterly prohibited us any further access and when we came near there was such flashes of Lightning such hot Vapours and Steams that we might justly conclude we were got within the Territories of Vulcan and that these were some of the Cyclopean Race who were here employed to hammer out their Livings with Fire and Smoke the Wheels of the Mill are put in motion by a current of Water that streams along by it the Hammers which are continually redoubling their strokes are ponderous and massy and the Men which are at work seem to be in no happier a Condition than they who dig at the Mines or tug at the Galleys for they work Night and Day after so indefatigable a manner that the very Heat preys upon their Bodies and shortens their Days the place was soon too hot for us and the noise too troublesom and therefore we journeyed on to visit more of the County The Country appear'd to us no less pleasant than its Neighbours Shropshire and is of a wholesom and temperate Air affording Health to the Inhabitants at all Seasons of the Year this was sufficiently verified in old Thomas Parr of Alderbury who lived 152 Years and saw no less than ten Reigns he was born here in 1483 in the Reign of Edward the Fourth and died in 1635 and lies buried at Westminster The Soil is generally fertile standing most upon a reddish Clay and yields plenty of Pit-Coals and Iron and has ever been in great repute for its populous Towns and Castles for bordering upon Wales the Noblemen here and Persons of Quality were very sollicitous to preserve themselves secure against any Incursions of the Welsh and hereupon they fortified their Houses to prevent all Dangers and this dividing England from Wales was call'd the Marches for the defence of which the Lords here and Gentlemen have enjoy'd formerly very great Privileges and Immunities but since the Union of these two Kingdoms as all Hostilities have ceased so their ancient Rights and Privileges are not now so much insisted on Here are found in divers parts of this County several large Elms and other Trees under Ground which have been supposed to lie there ever since the General Deluge they are so dry that being slit into small shivers they burn like Candles and are made use of sometimes by the poorer sort instead of the other Shrewsbury In the midst of the County upon the Banks of the Severne is seated upon a Hill the famous City of Shrewsbury by the Britains named Caerpengren by the Saxons called Scrobbesbirig and by the Normans Sloppesbury and Salop 't is almost surrounded with the River and strengthened with a large and broad Wall where in some places two or three may walk abreast and upon that part of it which looks towards Wales stands the Water-House in which is a Well many fathoms deep from which the Water drawn up there by Horses in great Buckets is conveyed by Pipes into all parts of the City there being convenient steps contrived from the bottom of the Ground to the top of the Well for the Beasts to go forward and backward from their accustom'd Labours Roger Montgomery in the Reign of William the Conqueror built on the North-side of it a strong Castle and founded here A. D. 1083. a Benedictine Abbey to the Honour of St. Peter and St. Paul Besides which here were likewise two Colleges of St. Mary and St. Chad. The School was Founded by the most Heroick Queen Elizabeth which being a fair and uniform Structure built of Free-stone is govern'd by a Master and two Ushers and well furnished with a useful Library As to the neatness of its Streets and Buildings it yields to few other Cities in England and for publick Devotion it has five Parish Churches two of which are beautified with lofty Spires the City is governed by a Mayor Recorder and two Sheriffs who live generally in great Repute and Grandeur and the three Market-Days which are here every Week cause a very great Concourse both of the Welsh and other Persons and occasions a considerable Trade in this place Near to which a sharp Battel was fought A. D. 1673. between Henry IV. and Henry Piercy Earl of Northumberland which place was called Battle-Field where the King erected a College of Secular Canons to the Honour of St. Mary Magdalen for the Honour of that Victory But I must not omit to speak of one thing more that in the Year 1551 the Sweating-Sickness which destroyed so many breaking forth first here dispersed it self at length over the whole Nation Passing from hence we rode through Stretton Stretton ten Miles distant from this City and there being three of them which join close to one another Little-Stretton Church-Stretton and All-Stretton the middlemost being a Market Town is of greatest Note But finding here nothing to detain us we made no stop till we arrived at Ludlow Ludlow the chief Town in this County 't is of greater Antiquity than Beauty situated by the River Corve defended by a Wall and Castle both built by Roger Earl of Montgomery When Robert de Belasme Earl of Shrewsbury and Son to Montgomery was taken Prisoner in his Rebellion against Henry the First the King then seised it after this it was given away from the Crown by Henry the Second and came into the Possession of the Lacys from thence to the Mortimers and at last it became the Inheritance of the Princes of Wales and by this means beginning to come into great Repute the Inhabitants erected here a very stately Church so that in a little time it excelled all its Neighbourhood Kenry Henry the Eighth instituting here the Council of the Marches Here was Young Edward the Fifth at the Death of his Father and here died Prince Arthur eldest Son of Henry the Seventh both being sent hither by their Fathers for the same end viz. by their Presence to satisfie and keep in order the unruly Welsh But before I leave this County I must not forget Pitchford Pitchford a Village very eminent for its Well of Pitch which though it be scumm'd off returns again and swims aloft upon the Surface of the Water Cambden is of Opinion that it is rather a Bituminous kind of Matter such as is in the Lake Asphaltites in Palestine or in a Fountain by the Hill Agragas in Sicily however the Inhabitants are said to make the same use of it which they do of Pitch but whether like that in Jewry it hath the same Balsamick Virtues of drawing out Corruption or healing Wounds or is of any efficacy against the Falling-Sickness I have yet met with none
Spring is later in Cornwall than in the East Parts of England the Summer temperate but Harvest late especially in the middle of the Shire where they seldom get in their Corn till Michaelmas The Winter is milder than elsewhere for the Frost and Snow come very seldom and never stay long when they do come But this Country is much subject to Storms lying as I said open to the Sea so that their Hedges are pared and their Trees Dwarf-grown and the hard Stones and Iron Bars of Windows are fretted with the Weather one kind of these Storms they call a Flaw and so indeed in some Countrys they call any Storm of Wind which is a mighty Gale of Wind passing suddenly to the Shore with great violence This Country is Hilly which is one cause of the temperate Heat of the Summer and the lateness of Harvest even as its Maritime Situation is the cause of the gentleness of Winter Hilly I say parted with short and narrow Valleys the Earth is but shallow underneath which is Rocks and Shelves so that 't is hard to be Tilled and apt to be parched by a dry Summer The middle of the Shire lies open the Earth being of a blackish colour and bears Heath and spiry Grass there is but little Meadow Ground but store of Pasture for Cattel and Sheep and plenty of Corn. They have a Stone called Moor-stone found upon Moors and wast Ground which serves them instead of Free-stone for Windows Doors and Chimneys it is white with certain glimmering Sparkles They have a Stone digged out of the Sea Cliffs of the colour of grey Marble and another Stone black as Jet and out of the Inland Quarries they dig Free-stone They have a Slate of three sorts Blue Sage-leaf coloured and Grey which last is the worst and all these Slates are commonly found under another kind of Slate that they Wall with when the depth hath brought the Workmen to the Water They also make Lime of a kind of Marble-stone either by burning a great quantity together with Furze or with Coal in small Kilns which is the cheaper way but the first Lime is always the whitest For Metals they find Copper here in sundry Places and the Ore is sometimes shipped off to be refined in VVales And though Cicero will have none in Britain yet Silver hath been found in this County in the time of Edward the First and Third who reaped good profit by it nay Tinners do now and then find little quantities of Gold and sometimes Silver amongst the Tin Ore but for the generality the Metal that the Earth abounds with here is Tin which they discover by certain Tin-stones which are something round and smooth lying on the Ground which they call Shoad In their Tin-works amongst the Rubbish they find sometimes Pick-Axes of Holm Box and Harts-horns and sometimes little Tool-heads of Brass and there was once found a Brass Coin of the Emperor Domitian's in one of the Works an Argument that the Romans wrought in those Tin-Mines in times past Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother to Henry the Third was the first that began to make Ordinances for these Tin-Works and afterward Edmund his Son granted a Charter and certain Liberties and prescribed withal certain Laws concerning the same which he ratified and strengthned under his Seal and imposed a Rent or Tribute upon Tin to be paid unto the Earls these Liberties Privileges and Laws King Edward the Third afterward confirmed and augmented On Hengsten-Down a little above Plimouth are found Cornish Diamonds wanting nothing but hardness to make them valuable being of great Beauty some of them as big as a Nut and which is most admirable ready shaped and polished by Nature and in some Places on the Sea Coasts there are Pearls found that breed in Oysters and Muscles which though they are great are yet not very good here is also sometimes Agat and white Coral as they report It is likewise very famous for those little Fish which they call Pilchars swarming in mighty great Shoals about the Shore from July to November when being taken and garbaged and salted and hanged up in smoak they are in infinite numbers carried over into France Spain and Italy where they are very welcom Commodities and are called there Fumados Taking our leave of these Parts and returning by Ashburton a noted Market Town Ashburton we came back to Exeter where passing away the time with some Friends we met with there till the Assizes were over we departed for Honniton Honniton a Town not unknown to such as travel into the West from whence passing through Axminster Axminster called by the Saxons Exan-minster from the River Axi which runs by it a place famous for the Tombs of some Saxon Princes who were slain in the bloody Battel at Bennaburg and translated hither we came quickly into Dorsetshire Dorsetshire a fertile County well shaded with Woods enriched with Pasture and covered with innumerable Flocks of Sheep where coasting along by the Sea side Lyme Lyme was the first Place of Note which here appeared to us to which there is a very troublesom access by reason of its Situation under a high and steep Rock This Town though it was formerly a poor Receptacle for Fisher-men is of late Years reduced to a more flourishing Condition the Houses which are built of Stone and covered with Slate stand thick and in that part which lies near to the Sea they are sometimes washed ten or twelve Foot high to the great damage of the lower Rooms Here is a little kind of Harbour called the Cobb which being sufficiently defended from the Violence of Wind and Weather with Rocks and high Trees which hang over it doth cause many Vessels to put in hither for shelter 'T is a Corporation governed by a Mayor but of late Years for nothing more famous than that it was the landing Place of James the late Duke of Monmouth who landing here with a few Forces out of Holland was quickly defeated and himself brought shortly after to a very Tragical end Bridport Six Miles farther we saw Bridport placed betwixt two small Rivers that there met together in this Town saith Cambden in the Days of Edward the Confessor were reckoned an Hundred and twenty Houses but in William the Conqueror's Reign One hundred and no more it is now in great Vogue for yielding the best Hemp and the great Skill of its Inhabitants in twisting Cables for the Royal Navy for the Monopoly of which they had once a peculiar Patent granted them Here was formerly an Alien Priory dedicated to St. John Baptist From hence the Shore after several crooked flexures shooteth forth into the Sea and a Bank of Sand called Chesil heaped up thick together with a narrow Frith between lies in length for nine Miles which the South Wind when it is up they say commonly cuts in sunder and dissperseth but the Northern Wind binds and hardens again By this Bank