redeem it at a price with Money In witness whereof there are many Horse-shooes nailed upon the Shire-hall door some of large size and ancient fashion Leicester-shire KIng Richard the third vid. Crouch-back Richard the Usurper who from the City of Leicester set forth in one day in great Pomp and in battel-aray to keep the Crown sure upon his own helmet in a sore fought field yielded both it and his life unto the Head and Hands of Henry of Richmond his Conquerour and the next day was brought back like a Hog naked and torn and with contempt without tears obscurely buryed in the Gray-Fryers in this City whose suppression hath suppressed the Plot place of his Grave and only the Stone-Chest wherein he was laid a drinking trough now for Horses in a common Inn retaineth the Memory of that great Monarchs Funeral And so did a Stone in the Church and Chappel of St. Maries inclose the Corps of the proud and pontifical Cardinal Wolsey who had prepared for himself a far more richer Monument Lutterworth Where the famous John Wickliffe Englands Morning-Star dispersed the clouds of all Papistical darkness by preaching the Gospel in that his charge and stile of his Pen so piercing in power that the Man of sin ever since hath been better known to the world Lincoln-shire THis Country affordeth great Plenty of Fowl and Fish exceeding any other in the Realm wherein at some times and season of the year hath been taken in Nets In August at one draught above three thousand Mallards and other Fowls of the like kind At Harlaxton was plowed up a brazen Vessel wherein was inclosed a Golden Helmet of an ancient fashion set with precious stones which was presented to Katherine of Spain Wife and Dowager to King Henry the eight At Bullingbrooke was King John poysoned by Simon a Monk of Sâ—â—nsted Abbey and of Queen Eleanor wife to King Edward the first the Mirrour of Wedlock and Love to the Commons who at Harby near Bullingbrooke his Birth place ended her life Nottingham-shire IN this Town are many strange Vaults hewed out of the Rocks and those under the Castle of an espâ—cial note one for the story of Christs passion engraven in the Walls and cut by the hand of David the second King of Scots whilst he was therein detained prisoner Another wherein the Lord Mortimer was surprized in the Non-age of King Edward the third ever since bearing the name of Mortimers Hole these have their stairs and several rooms made artificially even out of the Rocks as also in that Hill are dwelling Houses with winding stairs windows chimneys and room above room wrought all out of the same Rock Darby-shire THings of strange note are the hot water Springs bursting forth of the ground at Buxton where out of the Rock within the compass of eight yards nine Springs arise eight of them warm but the ninth very cold These run from under a fair square building of free stone and about threescore paces off receive another hot Spring from a well near unto which another very cold Spring bubled up daily experience sheweth they are good for the stomach and sinews and very pleasant to bathe the body in Not far thence is Elden hole the Waters that trickle from the top of that Cave which indeed is very spacious but of a low and narrow entrance do congeal into stone and hang as Ickles in the roof very white and somewhat Christal-like And seven miles thence upon a Mounted hill standeth a Castle under which there is a hole or Cave in the ground of a marvellous capacity which is commonly called the Devils Arse in the Peak Shrop-shire hath nothing remarkable The County Palatine of Chester CHeshire having been made a Principality by Richard the 2d and styled himself Prince of Chester King Henry the 3d. gave it to his eldest Son Prince Edward against whom Lewlin Prince of Wales gathered a mighty Band and with them did the Country much harm even unto the Cities gates With the like Skar Fiers it had oft times been afrighted which they lastly defenced with a Wall made of the Welsh mens heads on the South side of Dee in Hanbridge Chester in the days of King Edgar was in most flourishing Estate wherein he had the Homage of eight other Kings who rowed his Barge from St. Johns to his Pallace himself holding the Helm as their Supreme Lancashire BY the civil Wars of York and Lancaster was bred and brought forth that bloudy division and fatal strife of the Noble Houses which for many years together molested the peace and quiet of the Land and defiled the earth with bloud there were thirteen fields fought and three Kings of England one Prince of Wales twelve Dukes one Marquess eighteen Earls one Viscount and three and twenty Barons besides Knights and Gentlemen lost their lives in the same yet at last by the happy Marriage of Henry the seventh King of England next heir to the house of Lancaster with Elizabeth Daughter and heir to Edward the fourth of the house of York the White and red Roses were conjoyned in the happy uniting of those two divided Families York-shire HAlifax once called Horton and touching the alteration of the name this pretty story is related of it namely that a Clerk for so they call him being far in Love with a Maid and by no means either of long praises or large promises able to gain like affection at her hands when he saw his hopes frustrate and that he was not like to have his purpose of her turned his love into rage and cut of the Maids head which being afterwards hung upon an Ewe tree common people counted it as an hallowed Relique till it was rotten And afterward such was the credulity of that time it maintained the opinion of reverence and Religion still for the people resorted thither on Pilgrimage and perswaded themselves that the little veins that spread out between the bark and body of the Ewe-tree like fine threds were the very hairs of the Maids head Hereupon it was called by this name Haligfax or Haly-fax that is Holy-hair Under Knaushrouh there is a Well called Dropping-well in which the Waters spring not out of the veins of the earth but distil and trickle down from the Rocks that hang over it it is of that vertue and efficacy that it turns Wood into Stone for what Wood soever is put into it will be shortly covered over with a stony bark and be turned into stone as hath been often observed St. Wilfrids Needle a place very famous in times past for the narrow hole in the close vaulted room under the ground by which womens honesties were wont to be tryed for such as were chaste pass through with much facility but as many as had plaid false were miraculously held fast and could not creep through The West Riding of York-shire THose Mountains near unto Richmond on the top whereof are found certain stones much like unto seawinkles Cockles and
unkind division that shortly should arise Buckingham-shire A Shridge Town hath been in great repute for the bloud supposed out of Christs sides brought out of Germany by Henry the Eldest son of Richard King of the Romans and Earl of Cornwal whereunto resorted great concourse of people for Devotion and Adoration thereof But when the Sun-shine of the Gospel had pierced through such clouds of darkness it was perceived apparently to be only Honey clarified and coloured with Saffron as was openly shewed at Pauls Cross by the Bishop of Rochester the twenty fourth of February 1538. Oxford shire MEmorable places of Note either for Actions therein happening or for their own famous esteem are the Roll-rich-stones standing near unto Enisham in the South of this shire a Monument of huge stones set round in compass in manner of Stone-henge of which fabulous Tradition hath reported for sooth that they were Metamorphosed from men but in truth were there erected upon some great Victory obtained in the year 876. Wood-stock is a most ancient and Magnificent Pallace built to that glory by King Henry the first and enlarged with a Labyrinth of many windings by King Henry the second to hide from his jealous Juno his intirely beloved Concubine Rosamond Clifford a Damosel of surpassing beauty where notwithstanding followed by a Clew of silk that fell from her lap she was surprized and poysoned by Queen Eleanor his Wife and was buryed at God-stow Nunnery in the midst of the Quire under a hearse of silk set about with lights Glocester-shire THe Inhabitants in some parts of this shire injoy a private custom to this day that the Goods and Lands of condemned persons fall unto the Crown but only for a year and a day and then return to the next Heirs contrary to the custom of all England besides Glocester City In this Church the unfortunate Prince King Edward the second under a Monument of Alablaster doth lye who being murdered at Barkly Castle by the cruelty of French Isabel his Wife was there Intombed And not far from him another Prince as unfortunate namely Robert Curthoise the Eldest son of William the Conquerour lyeth in a painted Wooden tomb in the midst of the Quire whose eyes were pluckt out in Cardiff Castle wherein he was kept prisoner twenty six years with all contumelious indignities until through extream Anguish he ended his life Barkley Castle where King Edward the second was through his Fundament run into his bowels with a red burning spit Tewkesbury the fatal period of King Henry the sixth his Government and the wound of the Lancastrian cause for in a Battel there fought in 1471. Prince Edward the only Son of King Henry had his brains dashed out in a most shameful manner the Queen his Mother taken prisoner and most of the Favourites slain and beheaded And at Alderley a little Town standing eight miles from the Severn upon the hills to this day are found Cockles Periwinckles and Oisters of sollid stone which whether they have been shell-fish and living Creatures or else the sports of Nature in her Works Let the Natural Philosophers dispute and Judge Hereford-shire OF rare Note in this shire are said to be Bone-well a Spring not far from Richards Castle wherein are continually found little fishes bones but not a fin seen and being wholly cleansed thereof will notwithstanding have again the like whether naturally produced or in veins thither brought no man knoweth But more admirable was the Work of the Omnipotent in the year 1571. When the Macley-Hill in the East of the shire rouzed it self out of a dead sleep with a roaring noise removed from the place where it stood and for three days together travelled from her first site to the great amazement and fear of the beholders It began to journey upon the 7 th day of February being Saturday at six of the Clock at night and by seven the next morning had gone forty paces carrying with it sheep in their Coats hedge-rows and trees whereof some were over-turned and some that stood upon the Plain are firmly growing upon the Hill those that were East were turned West and those in the West were set in the East in which remove it overthrew Kinnaston Chappel and turned two High-ways near a hundred yards from their usual place paths formerly trod The ground thus travelling was about twenty six Acres which opening her self with Rocks and all bare the Earth before it four hundred yards space without any stay leaving that which was Pasturage in place of the Tillage and the Tillage over-spread with Pasturage Lastly over-whelmed her lower parts mounted to an Hill of twelve Fathoms high and there rested her self after three days travel remaining his mark that so laid his hand upon this Rock whose power hath poysed the Hills in his ballance Worcester-shire IN the midst of the Quire in St. Marys Church in Worcester City resteth the body of King John the great withstander of the Popes proceedings under a Monument of white Marble in Princely Vestures with his Portraiture thereon according to life Warwick-shire COventry City The Citizens having highly offended their first Lord Leofrick had their privileges infringed and themselves oppressed with many heavy Tributes whose Wife Lady Godiva pitying their Estates uncessantly sued for their Peace and that with such importunacy as hardly could be said whether was greater his hatred or her love at last over-come with her continual intercessions he granted her suit upon an uncivil and as he thought an unacceptable condition which was that she should Ride naked through the face of the City and that openly at high Noon-day This notwithstanding she thankfully accepted and performed the Act accordingly injoyed for this Lady Godiva stripping her self of all rich attire let loose the tresses of her fair hair which on every side so covered her nakedness that no part of her body was uncivil to sight whereby she redeemed the former freedom and remissions of such heavy Tributes At Gofford Gate in Coventry did hang the shield-bone of a Wild-bore far bigger then the greatest Ox bone with whose snout the great pit called Swanswell was turned up and was slain by the famous Guy At Leamington far from the Sea a Spring of Salt water boileth up and Newenham Regis most soveraign water against the Stone green Wounds Ulcers and Impostumes and drank with Salt looseth but with Sugar bindeth the body and turneth Wood into Stone Northampton-shire NOtwithstanding the simple and gentle sheep of all Creatures the most harmless are now become so Ravenous that they begin to devour men waste fields and depopulate houses if not whole Town-ships as one merrily hath written Rutland-shire NEar the Lord Harringtons house Burley standeth Okham a fair Market-town which Lordship the said Lord Baron enjoyeth with a Royalty somewhat extraordinary which is this If any Noble by birth come within the precinct of the same Lordship he shall forfeit as an homage a shooe from the Horse whereon he rideth unless he
is found a hard stone which we term Emerill This stone is serviceable for many purposes and many Trades as Glasiers c. but especially for the Gold-smiths and Lapidaries to cut their precious stones Jersey THis Island is in length ten miles and in bredth six miles the whole circuit of the Island being thirty eight miles Pembroke-shire in this shire nothing remarkable Caermarden-shire IN the ruins of Carreg-Castle which stood mounted on a high hill under which many Vaults and spacious Caves far into the ground are seen wherein is thought the people unable to fight were therein secured in time of their Wars Where also is a Well that in this place twice in four and twenty hours ebbing and twice flowing resembleth the unstable Motions of the main Sea Glamorgan-shire THings of strange note that in a Rock or Cliff upon the Sea-side and Island of Barry lying near the South-east point of this Country is heard out of a little chink the noise as it were of Smiths at their work one while the blowing of Bellows to increase the heat then the stroaks of the hammer and sound of the Anvil sometimes the noise of the Grind-stone in grinding of Iron Tools then the hissing sparks of Steel-gads as they fly from their beating with the puffing noise of flames in a Furnace More Westward from hence upon the River Ogmore and near unto Newton in a sandy plain about an hundred paces from Severn there springeth a Well though not of the clearest water whereat the flowing and fulness of the Sea can hardly any water be gotten but at the ebb and fall of the Tide it walloweth up a main And upon the same shore more North and by West on the top of a hill called Minyd-Margan is erected a Monument inscribed with a strange Character and as strange a conceit held thereof by the by-dwellers whose opinions are possessed that if any Man read the same he shall shortly after dye Monmouth OUr King Henry the V the great Triumpher over France was born in Monmouth Brecknock-shire THe Welshmen relate of a Prince named Brechavius the Father of an holy off-spring whose twenty four Daughters were all of them Saints From the top of a Hill in Welsh called Mounch-devuy or Cadier Arthur if any man from the North-east Rock cast their Cloaks Hats and Staves notwithstanding will never fall but with the Air and wind return back and blow up neither will any descend from that Cliff being so cast unless it be stone or some Metalline substance affirming the cause to be the Clouds which are seen to rack much lower than the top of that hill As strange a tale is told of the Mâ—â—y Llynsavathan two Miles East from Brecâ—nock which at the breaking of her frozen Ice maketh a fearful sound like unto Thunder In which place as is reported sometimes stood a fair City which was swallowed up in an Earthquake and resigned her Stone-walls unto this deep and broad water Radnor-shire NEar Knigton a Market Town is Offaes Ditch which runs along by the Mountain which was a bound set to separate the Welsh from the English A Law was made that it should be present death for the Welsh to pass over the same Cardigan-shire IN Tyui the Beaver hath been found a Creature living both by land and water whose stones the Physicians hold in great price His fore-feet are like unto a Dogs but the hinder whole skinned as is the Goose like Oars giving him swift motion in swiming his tail broad and Gristly he useth a stern wherewith on the sudden he can divert his swift floating course Mount-Gomery-shire nothing there remarkable Merioneth-shire HIlls there are so high as it is affirmed by one that shepherds upon their tops falling at odds in the Morning and challenging the field for fight before they can come together to try out the Quarrel the day will be spent and the heat of their fury shut up with their sleep Denbigh-shire THis is worth observing both for Admiration and Antiquity that in the Parish of Llan-sunan within this County there is a place compass cut out of the main Rock by mans hand in the side of a stony hill wherein there be four and twenty seats to sit in some less some bigger where Children and young men coming to seek their Cattel use to sit and to have their sports And at this day they commonly call it King Arthurs Round Table Flint-shire THis Country hath many shallow Rivers in it but none of fame and note but d ee and Cluyde How he it there is a Spring not far from Rudland Castle of great report and antiquity which is termed Holy-well and is commonly called St. Winefrids Well of whom antiquity thus reporteth that Winefrid a Christian Virgin very fair and vertuous was doted upon by a young lustful Prince or Lord of the Country who not being able to rule his head-strong affections having many times in vain attempted and tryed her chastity both by rich Gifts and large Promises could not by any means obtain his desires he therefore in a place of advantage suddenly surprized and ravished her weak yet resisting body After the deed done the cruel Tyrant to stop her crys and acclamations slew her and cut off her head out of which place did suddenly arise a Spring that continueth to this day carrying from the Fountain such a forcible stream and currant as the like is not found in Christendom Over the head of the Spring there is built a Chappel of Free-stone with Pillars curiously wrought and ingraved in the Chancel whereof and Glass window the Picture of the Virgin is drawn together with the Memorial of her life and death To this Fountain Pilgrims are accustomed to repair in their zealous but blind devotion and divers others resort to Bathe in holding firmly that the water is of much vertue There be many Red stones in the bottom of this Well and much green Moss growing upon the sides the superstition of the people holding that these Red spots in the stones were drops of the Ladies bloud which all the water in the Spring can never wash away and that the Moss about the Wall was her hair which though some of it be given to every stranger that comes yet it never wasteth But howsoever this be carryed for truth by the Tradition of time the Moss it self smells exceeding sweet Carnaervon-shire KIng Edward the second was born at Carnaervon in a Tower of the Castle he was the first Prince of Wales of the English Line There are in this shire two Pools called the Mears the one of which produceth great store of fish but all having only one eye and in the other there is a moveable Island which as soon as a man treadeth on it forthwith floateth a great way off whereby the Welsh are said to have often escaped and deluded their Enemies assailing them Anglesea-Island THe length of this Island is twenty miles in bredth seventeen miles the whole circumference amounting