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
divers though his too great Familiarity with the Queen his unpardonable Treachery to the King and his secret Services to David King of Scots were the chief having burnt the very Charters by which the Scotch King stood obliged to do Homage to the King of England and thereupon ensued a great War betwixt them for King David being spurred on by the French King invaded England and having made a great Inroad into the Northern Counties spoiling and burning all Places as he came along at length at Durham his Army was routed and himself taken Prisoner being first sent to the Tower afterwards committed to this Castle where during his Confinement he engraved upon the Walls of his Apartment the History of our Blessed Saviour's Death and Passion some of the Relicts of which are still there to be seen After Eleven Years Imprisonment he was restored again to his Kingdom by paying a good Ransom for his Liberty but before he returned he was one of the Four Kings that was nobly treated by Henry Picard a Vintner then Lord Mayor of London King Edward the Third John King of France and the King of Cyprus together with Edward the Black Prince all bearing him Company at the same Table This was about the Year 1358. But before I leave this Town I cannot but take notice of one thing more memorable in our Age this being the first place where King Charles the First set up his Royal Standard against the Rebels in the late unhappy Wars and when the King's Forces were forced to leave it the Castle was then quite demolished but of late it hath been curiously rebuilt beautified and furnished by his Grace the Duke of Newcastle Having pleasured our selves with the Antiquities of this Town we took Horse and went to visit the Well and ancient Chair of Robin Hood Robin Hood's Well and Chair in Sherwood Forest which is not far from hence within the Forest of Sherwood Being placed in the Chair we had a Cap which they say was his very formally put upon our Heads and having perform'd the usual Ceremonies befitting so great a Solemnity we receiv'd the freedom of the Chair and were incorporated into the Society of that Renowned Brotherhood But that we may not receive such Privileges without an honourable mentioning of the Persons that left them to Posterity know we must that the Patent was bequeathed to the inferiour Rangers of this Forest by Robin Hood and Little John honourable Personages indeed being the chief Lords of some most Renowned Robbers in the Reign of King Richard the First who descended from good Families as some averr but having wasted their Estates betook themselves afterward to such profligate Courses This same Robin Hood entertained One hundred tall Men all good Archers with the Spoil he daily made himself Master of upon whom Four hundred though very well accoutred to give Battel durst scarce make an Onset He suffered no Woman to be violated oppressed or any ways molested poor Mens Goods he spared and did relieve the necessitous very liberally with what he got from rich Carls and Misers he killed none willfully and by this means he did for a long time keep up the Order of his Knight Errants till King Richard issuing out a Proclamation to apprehend him it happened that he fell sick at a certain Benedictine Nunnery in Yorkshire called Kirkeley built by Reynerus Flandrensis to the Honour of the Blessed Virgin where being desirous to be let Blood he was betrayed and made bleed to Death Having for some short time pleased our selves with our new Fraternity we equipped again for a Journey and proceeded to find out new Adventures We travelled over the wide and desolate Forest of Sherwood for several Miles together but met with no place of any Note till we arrived at Alfretton Alfretton a Town within the Precincts of Darbyshire 't is a Market-Town and of considerable Antiquity being supposed first to have shewn its Head in the time of the Saxons and to have received its primary rise from the Noble and Heroick King Alfred The Inhabitants here as in divers other places of this County make a sort of Liquor which they call Ale which is very strong and nappy which as it hath been the old drink of England coming from the Danish word Oela so questionless in it self it is a very wholesom and sound sort of Drink and therefore however it pleased a Poet in the time of Henry the Third thus to descant on it Nescio quid monstrum Stygiae conforme paludi Cervisiam plerique vocant nil spissius illa Dum bibitur nil clarius est dum mingitur ergo Constat quod multas feces in ventre relinquit In English thus Of this strange Drink so like the Stygian Lake Men call it Ale I know not what to make Folk drink it thick and piss it very thin Therefore much Dregs must needs remain within I think it not amiss to invert a little his Stanza's in the Reign of King William the Third thus Nescio quid Stygiae monstrum conforme paludi Cervisiam plerique vocant nil spissius unquam Quam caput illius qui sic depinxerat unde Constat quod saeces quia non epota reliquit In English again thus They that will have our Ale so like the Lake Of Styx I know not what of them to make Their Skulls are thick nor can be rinsed clear If Ale ben't drank but dregs will still appear After a little pause we rode on two or three Miles further Darbyshire till we came into the edge of those wide and dangerous Moors which extend many Miles both in length and breadth throughout this County where being several Bogs and dangerous Rocks which do much annoy the Roads that lie through them and the Roads themselves very cross and irksom to Strangers we resolved to take a Guide to conduct us safe over them and the Guide we happened to make choice of was a plain but sensible Peasant going homeward with his Cart loaded with Stones the poor Man readily complied with our Proposals whereupon taking a Horse out of his own Team and leaving the rest to graze thereabouts till his return our Pilot began to steer forward As we rode along we became very inquisitive after the nature of the Soil and the modes of the Country of which our Guide gave us the best account which he could The Country saith he Eastward is fruitful and pleasant abounding with all sorts of Grain but more particularly with Barley which makes many of the Inhabitants considerable Maltsters but the Western into which we are now entring and is commonly called the Peak is Mountainous as you see and Rocky though Nature makes a sufficient amends for the Barrenness of the Soil by her hidden Treasures which are here frequently discovered It s length from North to South is about 30 Miles and its breadth about 20 and the Moors upon which we now are are of an unknown Longitude
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
sooner melt the Snow and Ice in this County than in places further of the Soil is very Rich and is observed to be more kindly and natural for Pasturage than Corn which occasions here great plenty of most excellent Cheese which together with Salt are the two grand Commodities of this County both Men and Women have here a general commendation for Beauty and Handsome proportion and for Meers and Pools Heaths and Mosses Woods and Parks they are more frequent here than in many other Counties besides that it is in great request for the two famous Forests Delamere and Macclesfield Forests of Delamere and Macklesfield River Dee In the River Dee is plenty of Salmons and Giraldus Cambrensis who lived about the Year 1200 tells us that this River prognosticated a certain Victory to the Inhabitants living upon it when they were in Hostility one against another according as it inclined more on this side or that after it had left the Channel and it is still observed that the same River upon the fall of much Rain riseth but little but if the South Wind beats long upon it it swells and extreamly overflows the Grounds adjacent Salt Springs at Nantwich c. At Nantwich Northwich and Middlewich are the Famous Salt-Pits of this shire the whitest Salt is made at Nantwich which is reputed the greatest and fairest built Town of all this shire after Chester it hath only one Pit called the Brine-Pit about some fourteen Foot from the River Wever out of which they convey Salt-water by troughs of Wood into the Houses adjoining wherein there stands little Barrels pitched fast in the ground which they fill with that Water and at the ringing of a Bell they begin to make a Fire under the leads whereof they have six in an House and in them they seeth the Water then certain Women which they call Wallers with little wooden rakes fetch up the Salt from the bottom and put it in baskets which they term Salt-barrows out of which the Liquor runneth and the pure Salt remaineth Chester or West Chester as being in the Western part of the Kingdom is the Metropolis of this County Chester it was in ancient times called Legacestre Caerleon and Caerlegion for wherever the Britains built a Town they gave it the name of Caer which is derived of the Hebrew Kir and signifies a Wall in both Languages and wheresoever the English coming in found the Word Caer in the name of any Town they Translated it by the Word Chester or Cestor which was the same to them as Caer to the old Britains which undoubtedly occasion'd the denomination of this Place and the addition of Legion to it was because the Twentieth Roman Legion was here placed so that it is a City as famous for its Antiquity as Situation and of no less Renown of old for its Roman * At Caerleon was formerly an ancient School of Learning placed here for the Britains by the Roman Powers Bishop Stillingfleet Antiq. of the British Churches P. 215. than 't is now for a Dutch Colony a People who carry Trade and Industry along with them where-e'er they go 'T is seated on the Banks of the River Dee over which it has a fair Stone Bridge with eight Arches and a Gate at each end its distance from the River's Mouth is about 25 Miles and from the new Key where the Ships ride 6 Miles 'T is built in the form of a Quadrant and environed with strong Walls about two Miles in compass wth Towers and Battlements and withal so broad and spatious that in some places two or three may walk a-breast upon it The Castle which stands upon an high Hill near to the River with its thundring Peals of Ordnance prohibits access to any insolent Invaders whilst the sweetness and commodiousness of the City within affords great pleasure to the Natives and no less satisfaction to all foreigners who visit it for besides the prospect of fair and uniform Houses all along the chief Streets are Galleries or walking places which are called Rows having Shops on both sides through which a Man may walk dry in the most rainy Weather from one end to the other Here are several Churches which are very ancient and goodly Fabricks and though St. John's without Northgate had formerly the preeminence yet now the Cathedral founded in Honour to St. Werburga Daughter to Wulpherus King of Mercia by Earl Leofrich and afterward repaired by Hugh the first of the Norman Blood that was Earl of Chester doth deservedly bear away the Bell of great repute for the Tomb of Henry the Fourth Emperour of Almain who as they say gave over his Empire and led here an Heremites Life The Bishop's See was first placed here by Peter Bishop of Litchfield who translated it from thence but being afterwards conveyed to Coventry and from thence setled in its primitive Station this place continued devoid of all Episcopal Honour till King Henry the Eighth's Reign who having dispossessed the Benedictine Monks of their Mansions placed in their Room a Dean and Prebendaries and made it for ever a Bishop's See The City is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen and was made a County incorporate by King Henry the Seventh and glories in nothing more than that this was the place where the Saxon King Edgar in triumph had his Barge rowed in the way of homage by seven petty Kings or Princes Kenneth the Third King of Scots being one from St. John's Church to his own Palace himself as supreme Lord alone holding the Helm and here is farther a Tragical Story reported how Ethelfred King of the Northumbers who murdered at this place barbarosly some hundreds of Christian Monks was here afterwards slain himself by Redwald King of the East-Angles When we left this City we took the opportunity of the Sands and passed with a Guide over the Washes into Flintshire in North-Wales Flintshire in North-Wales where Flint Castle saluted us upon our first arrival ' This Castle was begun by King Henry the Second and finished by Edward the First where King Richard the Second ws deposed and King Edward the Second met his great Favourite Gaveston at his return out of Ireland The Air is healthy without any Fogs or Vapours and the People generally very aged and hearty the Snow lies long upon the Hills the Country affords great plenty of Cattel but they are small Millstones are also digged up in these Parts as well as in Anglesey Towards the River Dee the Fields bear in some Parts Barley in others Wheat but generally throughout Rye with very great encrease and especially the first Year of their breaking up their Land and afterwards two or three crops together of Oats Upon the River Cluyd is situated St. Asaph anciently Elwy a Town of greater Antiquity than Beauty and more Honourable for a Bishop's See St. Asaph placed here about 560 by Kentigerne a Scot Bishop of Glascow than for any
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-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
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
Ships are under Sail dancing along the proud Billows of the Ocean After we had travelled some few Miles from hence we came in little time within the Liberties of the Bishoprick of Durham Bishoprick of Durham a County very rich in its Mountains which are inlayed with Iron Lead and Coals and very fruitful in its Valleys with Grass and Corn. It was formerly the Patrimony of St. Cuthbert who being Bishop of Lindisferne and afterward Patron of the Church of Durham led a Life of such wonderful Piety and Holiness that he was Canonized for a Saint and Invocated by some of the Kings and Princes of this Nation as their Tutelary Saint and Protector against the Picts and Scots who formerly did grievously infest these Parts upon which account upon him and his Successors was not only conferred and setled all the County between the Tees and the Tine while he lived but after his Death came divers Princes and other Potentates with the greatest Devotion imaginable in Pilgrimage to visit his Body and offered at his Shrine an inestimable Mass of Treasure To which many other great Privileges and Immunities being daily added at the coming in of the Norman Conqueror the Bishop was reputed for a Count Palatine and did ingrave upon his Seal an Armed Knight holding a naked Sword in one hand and the Bishops Arms in the other Nay it was once adjudged in Law that this Bishop was to have Forfeitures and Escheats within the Liberties as the King had without in short the Bishops hereof have had the Royalties of Princes having their own Courts of Judicature both for Civil and Criminal Causes and Coining their own Coins But these Royalties have been since taken off in a great measure and reannexed to the Crown However the Bishop is still Earl of Sadberg a place in this Bishoprick and takes place in the Episcopal College next to the Bishop of London but he is subordinate to the Arch-Bishop of York Darlington We took up our first Station at Darlington on the Skerne over which it hath a Stone-Bridge 'T is a Market-Town of good resort which Seir an English-Saxon the Son of Vlph having obtained leave of King Ethelred gave unto the Church of Durham and Hugh Pudsey adorned it with a fair Church and other Edifices Here was also formerly a College for a Dean and six Prebendaries In the Precincts of this place are to be seen three Pits full of Water of a wonderful depth called by the common People Hell-Kettles Hell-Kettles concerning which Sir Richard Baker in his Chronicle gives us this following Account That in the 24th Year of King Henry the Second the Earth in this place lifted up it self in the manner of a high Tower and so remained immovable from Morning until Evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it afrighted all the Inhabitants thereabouts and the Earth swallowing it up made there a deep Pit which is still to be seen to this day That these Pits have Passages under Ground was first experimented they say by Bishop Tunstall who to satisfie his Curiosity herein marked a Goose and let her down into them which very Goose he found afterwards in the River Tees which runs along not far from this place Bishop-Aukland From hence we bent our course to Bishop-Aukland upon the Ware over which it has a Bridge 't is a Town pleasantly seated in a good Air upon the side of a Hill and as it was formerly adorned with a Collegiate Church dedicated to St. Andrew Founded by Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham for twelve Prebendaries so is it likewise graced with the Bishop's Palace built at first by the same Bishop Beck with divers Pillars of Black and White Marble and re-edified since by that Munificent Prelate Dr. Cosins one of the Miracles of our Age for his great and unbounded Works of Charity He likewise rebuilt the Chapel and very gloriously adorned it with the most costly Habiliments that are any way befitting so Sacred a place and the Plate which was bestowed upon it by him for religious Uses was of a great value Nor was his Charity confined at home but dispersed and diffused it self as liberally abroad having erected here an Alms-House as he did likewise another at Durham for divers poor People for whom he hath allotted a comfortable subsistence He erected at Durham a Library very spacious and uniform to which he bequeathed several Volumes of choice Books he raised there a new Structure for the use of the Country in which are held the Assizes and Sessions he made the Castle formerly built by William the Conqueror which was quite gone to Ruin very useful again and magnificent besides all this he gave some new Fellowships and Exhibitions to St. Peter's-College in Cambrige where himself had been Master He expended vast Sums of Money in publick Benevolences to the King in redeeming Christian Captives at Algiers in relieving the distressed Loyal Subjects and in many other publick and pious Uses So that both the City and Country have sufficient reason gratefully to remember him and to wish that such Prelates may continually succeed him who may approve themselves such Worthy Fathers of the Church such Noble Patrons to their Country and such Glorious Pillars of Religion Some three or four Miles distance from this Place is Binchester Binchester now a small Village of little repute save for its relicts of old Walls and pieces of Roman Coin often digged up here called Binchester Pennies by which it appears to have been formerly an eminent Station of the Romans though now 't is nothing but a rude heap of Rubbish And about the same distance from Binchester stands Durham the most flourishing and principal City of this Province Durham is a City whose Situation is upon Hills and bottoms of Hills Durham and all surrounded with Hills but the lower parts watered by the River Ware which encircles the best part of it and over which there are two Stone Bridges so that it is a Peninsula which Dunholme a name by which it was formerly called doth denote for the Saxons called an Hill Dun and a River-Island Holme from whence the Latins have made Dunelmum the Normans Duresme and the Commonalty corruptly Durham The Town is pretty large but of no great Beauty nor seems to bear any considerable stamp of Antiquity but to have received its first Original from the distressed Monks of Lindisferne who being driven thence by the Fury of the Danes came hither with the Body of St. Cuthbert which they preserved with great care and honoured with the greatest Veneration imaginable at which time the See being removed hither by Bishop Aldwin A. D. 995. he built a small Oratory of wreathen Wands and Hurdles over the Body of St. Cuthbert on the South-side of the City which continued for some time till William de Careleph pulling down that began a new Foundation which was afterward finished by Ralph his Successor after this