huge and monstrous peece of work Stone-henge Within the circuit of a Ditch there are erected in manner of a Crown in three ranks or courses one within another certain mighty and unwrought Stones whereof some are eight and twenty foot high and seven foot broad upon the heads of which others like overthwart peeces do bear and rest crosse-wise with small tenents and mortesis so as the whole frame seemeth to hang Everly-Warren a Warren of Hares Savernac-Forest of great name for plenty of good game and for a kind of Ferne there that yeeldeth a most pleasing savour In remembrance whereof their Hunters-horn of a mighty bignesse and tipt with silver the Earl of Hertford keepeth unto this day as a Monument of his Progenitors Atibury an uplandish Village Rockley a little Village Kenet Marleborow It was most famous by reason of a Parliament there holden wherein by a general consent of the States of the Kingdome there assembled a Law passed for the appeasing of all Tumults commonly called The Statute of Marleborow Ramesbury a pretty Village which hath pretty Medows about it Littlecot a place worthy to be remembred because of the late Lord thereof Sir John Popham who being the chief Judge in the Kings-Bench executed Justice against malefactours to his high praise and commendation This County containeth in it three hundred and four Parishes Worcestershire SO called of the principal Town in it Here are many Salt-pits which the old Englishmen in their Language named Wiches Warwickshire confineth on the East of this County Glocestershire on the South it is bounded Westward with Herefordshire and Shropshire North-East with Staffordshire it hath so temperate an air and so favourable soil that for healthfulnesse and plenty it is not inferiour to the neighbour Countreys and in one part for dainty Cheese surpasseth them It yeeldeth store of Pears of which they make a bastard kind of Wine called Pyrry which they drink very much although it be as other drinks of that kind both cold and full of wind In every place there are sweet Rivers which afford a great abundance of the most delicate kind of fishes Severn that noble and renowned River carrieth his stream along through the midst of the Shire from North to South and Avon that cometh down out of Warwickshire to meet with Severn watereth the South-part thereof Beawdly worthily so called for the beautifull site thereof standeth most pleasantly upon the hanging of an Hill and hovereth over the River on the West-side on late dayes well known for the admirable talnesse of Trees growing in the Forest of Wyre adjoyning which now in manner be all gone Delicium rerum Bellus Locus undique floret Fronde Coronatus Virianae tempore Sylvae Kidderminster a fair Town and hath a great Mercat of all Commodities well frequented parted in twain by little River Stowre that runneth thorow it There is a very beautifull Church Hertlebury-Castle Holt-Castle so called of a very thick wood there Frankeley the Family of the Littletons planted by John Littleton aliàs Westcote the famous Lawyer Justice in the Kings-Bench in the time of King Edward the Fourth to whose Treatise of Tenures the Students of our Common-Law are no lesse beholden then the Civilians to Justinians Institutes Bromesgrove a Mercat Town Grafton Droitwich some term it Durtwich of the Salt-pits and the wettish ground on which it standeth where three fountains yeelding plenty of water to make salt of divided asunder by a little Brook of fresh water passing between by a peculiar gift of nature spring out out of which most pure white Salt is boiled for six Moneths every year viz. from Mid-sommer to mid-winter in many set furnaces round about Richard De la Wich Bishop of Chichester was here born whom Pope Urban the fourth canonized for a Saint Fekenham-Forest Worcester the principal City of this Shire an ancient and beautifull place It standeth in a place rising somewhat with a gentle ascent by the Rivers-side that hath a fair Bridge with a Tower over it it is well and strongly walled There are fair and neat Houses many Churches It is a Bishops See The Cathedral Church is a passing fair and stately building adorned with the Monuments and Tombs of King John Arthur Prince of Wales and divers of the Beauchamps Powick famous for Cherries Hanley-Castle Upton a Mercate Towne of great name Malvern-Hills great and high Mountains which for the space of seven miles or thereabout do as it were by degrees rise higher and higher dividing this Shire from the County of Hereford Bredon-Hills farre lesse Elmesley-Castle Washborn a Village whence came the surname to a very ancient and worshipfull Family in this Tract Eovesham so called as the Monks write of one Eoves Swinherd to Egwin Bishop of Worcester A very proper Town situate upon an Hill arising from the River A Town well known for the Vale under it named thereof The Vale of Evesham which for plentifull fertility hath well deserved to be called the Granary of all these Countreys so good and plentifull is the ground in yeelding the best Corn abundantly Charlton now the seat of the Dingleyes Oswaldslow-Hundred so called of Oswald Bishop of Worcester who obtained it for himself of King Edgar Augustines-Oke at which Augustine the Apostle of the Englishmen and the Bishops of Britain met and after they had disputed and debated the matter hotly for a good while touching the Celebration of Easter preaching Gods Word also to the English Nation and of administring Baptisme according to the Rites of the Roman Church in the end when they could not agree they departed on both sides with discontented minds upon their dissenting opinions There are in this Shire an hundred fifty and two Parishes Yorkshire THe County of York the greatest Shire by farre of all England is thought to be in a temperate measure fruitfull If in one place there be stony and sandy barren ground in another place there are for it Corn-fields as rich and fruitfull if it be void and destitute of woods here you shall find it shadowed there with most thick Forests So providently useth nature such a temperature that the whole Countrey may seem by reason also of that variety more gracefull and delectable It is farre greater and more numerous in the circuit of her miles then any Shire of England The length extended from Hart-Hill in the South to the mouth of Tees in the North is neer unto seventy miles the breadth from Flambrough-head to Horn-Castle upon the River Lun is eighty the whole circumference three hundred and eight miles Speed Helmsley a Mannor in Yorkshire hath two Parks and a Chase in it it is said to be about an hundred fourty six miles compasse it had fourty thousand timber Trees and two hundred Acres of wood There are many Free-holders there It is famous for Wool Grasing Corn Rivers and Fountains There are the Gips upon Yorkshire Woolds which in the drought of Summer when
Parishes Buckinghamshire IT brings forth Beech-trees plentitifully which the English Saxons in elder times called Bucken whence Buckingham the chief Town and so the whole Shire took the name from Beech-trees The Countrey generally is of a rich plentifull soil and passing full of inhabitants who chiefly imploy themselves in grazing of Cattel there is store of Mutton and Beef Chiltern got that name according to the very nature of the soile of Chalkie Marle which the ancient Englishmen termed Cylt or Chilt Marlow a pretty Town of no mean credit taking name of the said Chalk commonly termed Marle which being spread upon Corn-ground eaten out of heart with long tillage doth quicken the same again so as that after one yeers rest it never lieth fallow but yeeldeth again to the Husbandman his seed in plentifull measure High Wickham or Wicombe rather from the turning of the River Thames the Germane Saxons term any winding reach of River and Sea a Wick and Comb a low valle This Town for largenesse and fair building is equal to the greatest Town in this Shire and in that it hath a Maior for the Head Magistrate Colbroke-Pontes is parted into four chanels over which stand as many Bridges for the commodity of passengers whence it tooke its name Hamden gave name to an ancient and well spread Family in these parts Some say one of that name was High-Sheriff when William the Conquerour came into England There is part of the House at great Hamden yet standing which hath been built ever since the time of William the Conquerour They have ancient Records one of which runs thus Osbert Hamden Lord of Great Hamden one of the Commissioners for expulsion of the Danes Ailesbury a fair Market Town compassed about with many most pleasant green Medows and Pastures of which the whole Vale is termed the Vale of Ailesbury Ascot the principal mansion house of the Dormers from whence descended the Dutches of Feria in Spain and others of noble note Stony Stratford named so of Stones the Streetway and a Fourd The houses are built of a certain rough stone which is digged forth in great abundance at Caversham hard by and it standeth upon the publick street commonly called Watling-street which was a military high-way made by the Romans and is evidently to be seen yet beyond the Town with the Bank or Causey thereof and hath a ford but now hardly passable Newport-Painel so called of Sir Fulcod Painel the Lord thereof Here are an eleven Market Towns and an hundred and eighty five Parishes Cambridgeshire CAmbridgeshire is famous for fish and fowl Cambridge a most famous Mart and Store-house of good Literature and Godlinesse standeth upon the River Cam which turning into the East divideth it into two parts and hath a Bridge over it whence arose the name Cambridge Neither is there wanting any thing here that a man may require in a most flourishing University were it not that the Air is somewhat unhealthfull arising as it doth out of a fenny ground hard by There are sixteen Colledges in it Saint Ides is one of the famousest Markets of England it serves several Counties The Isle of Ely There are several Etymologies of it given by Camden Ely a Bishops See * the City hath an unwholsome Air by reason of the fens round about although it be seated somewhat higher Hard under Cambridge Eastward neer unto Sture a little brook is kept every yeer in the Moneth of September the greatest Fair of all England whether you respect the multitude of buyers and sellers resorting thither or the store of Commodities there to be vented Neer unto Cambridge on the South-East side there appear aloft certain high Hils called Gogmagog On the top of them is a very large Fort entrenched strengthened with a three-fold Rampire Wisbich amongst Fennes and waters It hath eight Market Towns and an hundred and sixty three Parishes Cheshire IT is very pleasant and plenteous in all things needfull for mans use and therefore had the name of the Vale Royal of England from Edward the First The Grasse and Fodder there is of that goodnesse and vertue that Cheeses are made there in great number of a most pleasing and delicate taste such as all England again affordeth not the like no though the best dayriwomen otherwise and skilfullest in Chees-making be had from hence This Region hath alwayes bred more Gentry than the other Countreys in England For you have not in all England again any one Province beside that in old time either brought more valorous Gentlemen into the field or had more families in it of Knights degree The Breretons Manwarings and Venables are the most noble Families in that County On the South-side it is hemmed in with Shropshire on the East-side with Staffordshire and Darbyshire on the North with Lancashire and on the West with Denbigh and Flintshire The River Dee called in Latine Deva breeding very great plenty of Salmons ariseth out of two fountains in Wales and thereof men think it took the name for Dwy in their tongue signifieth two This River no sooner is entered into Cheshire but it passeth by Banchor a famous Monastery It fostered and brought up as some write the most wicked Arch-heretique Pelagius who injuriously derogating from the grace of God troubled a long time the west Church with his pestiferous Doctrine Prosper Aquitanus in this Verse of his termeth him the British Adder Pestifero vomuit coluber sermone Britannus A British Snake with venemous tongue Hath vomited his poison strong Chester * or West-Chester of the West situation Cestria de castris nomen quasi castria sumpsit This City built in form of a quadrant four square is enclosed with a wall that taketh up more then two miles in compasse and hath eleven Parishes Neer unto the River standeth the Castle upon a rocky Hill built by the Earls where the Courts Palatine and the Assizes as they call them are kept twice a year The Houses are very fair built and along the chief streets are Galleries or Walking-places they call them Rows having shops on both sides through which a man may walk dry from one end to another It is called the County Palatine of Chester because the Earls thereof had Royalties and Princely priviledges belonging to them and all the Inhabitants owed Allegiance and Fealty to them as they did to the King One Hugh Wolf was made Earl of Chester by William the First and the County given him in Fee Tenendum sibi Haeredibus it a vere ad Gladium sicut ipse Rex tenebat Angliam ad Coronam And as the King so he for his Heirs had their Barons by that name specially known King Edgar in magnificent manner triumphed over the British Princes For sitting himself in a Barge at the fore-deck Kennadie King of the Scots Malcoline King of Cumberland Macon King of Mann and of the Islands with all the Princes of Wales
and the strongest hold in all Britain It is well neer compassed about with the Sea and Twede together Upon the West parts of Northumberland the Picts-Wall is in some of the waste ground the Wall is to be seen of great height and almost whole The Roman Britains being continually molested by the often incursions of the barbarous people called Picts The Emperour Severus built a Wall of stone with great wisdome and industry to strengthen the Northern parts of Britain against the many inrodes of the Picts At every miles end of this Wall was a Tower and in the Wall a Pipe of Mettal betwixt the Tower or Sentinel-houses that so soon as a man had set his mouth to this Pipe they might hear through all the Sentinels where the enemy was and so in a short time giving warning from one end of the Wall to the other There are about fourty six Parishes in Northumberland Oxfordshire ON the West-side it joyneth upon Glocestershire on the South which way it runneth out farthest in breadth it is dissevered from Barkshire by the River Isis or Tamis Eastward it bordereth upon Buckinghamshire and Northward where it endeth pointed in manner of a Cone or Pineapple hath Northamtonshire of one side and Warwickshire on the otherside confining with it It is a fertile Countrey and plentifull wherein the plains are garnished with Corn-fields and Medows the Hils beset with Woods stored in every place not only with Corn and Fruits but also with all kind of Game for Hound or Hawk and well watered with fish-full Rivers Hoch-Norton for the rustical behaviour of the Inhabitants in the age afore-going it grew to be a Proverb when folk would say of one rudely demeaning himself and unmannerly after an Hoggish kind That he was born at Hocknorton Woodstock a woody place Here is one of the Kings Houses full of state and magnificence built by King Henry the First who adjoyned also thereunto a very large Park compassed round about with a stone wall which John Rosse writeth to have been the first Park in England Our Historians report that King Henry the Second being enamoured upon Rosamond Clifford a Damsel so fair so comely and well-favoured without comparison that her beauty did put all other women out of the Princes mind insomuch as she was termed Rosa mundi the Rose of the world and to hide her out of the sight of his jealous Juno the Queen he built a Labyrinth in this House with many inextricable windings backward and forward which notwithstanding is no where to be seen at this day She was buried at Godstow with this Epitaph in Rhyme Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi non Rosa munda Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet The Town it self having nothing at all to shew glorieth yet in this that Jeffrey Chaucer our English Homer was there bred and brought up Banbury a fair large Town It is famous for Cheese and Cakes Hanwell where the Family of Cope hath flourished many yeers in great and good esteem Broughton the seat of my Lord Say and Sele Islip the native place of that King Edward whom for his religious piety and continency our Ancestours and the Popes vouchsafed the name of Edward the Confessor Oxford a fair and goodly City whether a man respect the seemly beauty of private houses or the stately magnificence of publick buildings together with the wholsome site or pleasant prospect thereof It was from its situation in ancient times called Bello situm Isidis vadum Saxonice Ouseford Ousenford corrupte Oxford Historia circumfertur adfirmans hanc urbem olim ab amaenitate sitûs Bellositum dictum fuisse Joannes Rossus hinc edoctus hoc idem affirmat Let. Comment in Cygn. Cant. Oxoniensis Universitas Schola secunda Ecclesiae imo Ecclesiae fundamentum Matthew Paris Hist. Angl. pag. 945. In the Councel of Vienna it was ordained that there should be erected Schools for the Hebrew Greek Arabick and Chaldaean Tongues in the studies of Paris Oxford Bonony and Salamanca as the most famous of all others to the end that the knowledge of these Tongues might by effectual instruction be throughly learned Here are 17 Colledges and 7 Hals Dorchester a Town known in times past to the Romans Vide Lel. Commentin Cygn. Cant. Henley upon Tamis The Inhabitants of it for the most part are watermen This County containeth two hundred and eighty Parish Churches Richmondshire IT takes the name from a Castle Most of it lieth very high with ragged Rocks and swelling Mountains whose sloping sides in some places bear good Grasse the bottom and Valleys are not altogether unfruitfull The Hils themselves within are stored with Lead Pit-coal and Copper Nappa an house built with Turrets and the chief seat of the Medcalfs thought to be not long since the greatest Family for multitude of the same name in all England For I have heard that Sir Christopher Medcalf Knight and the top of this kindred being of late High-Sheriff of the Shire accompanied with three hundred men of the same House all on Horse-back and in a Livery met and received the Justices of Assizes and so brought them to York So Camden Bolton-Castle a stately Castle Richmond the chief Town of the Countrey well peopled and frequented Hourby-Castle There are contained in this Shire an hundred and four Parishes besides Chappels Rutlandshire IT is the least County of all England Lying in form almost round like a circle it is in compasse so farre about as a Light-horsman will ride in one day It was called Rutland as one would say Red-land the Earth in this Shire is every where red and so red that even the Sheeps fleeces are thereby coloured red the English-Saxons called Red in their tongue Roet and Rud. Uppingham a place upon an high ascent whence that name was imposed a well frequented Mercat Town The Vale of Catmose a field full of Woods Okeham is in the midst of it so called from Oaks This small Shire hath Parish Churches fourty eight Shropshire ON the East-side it hath Staffordshire on the West Mongomeryshire and Denbighshire on the South-side Worcester Hereford and Radnorshires and on the North Cheshire It is replenished with Towns and Castles standing thick on every side in regard of repelling and repressing the Welshmen in the Marches bordering hereupon Whence our Ancestours by an ancient word named the Confines of this Shire toward Wales the Marches because they were Bounds and Limits between the Welsh and English and divers Noblemen in this Tract were called Barons of the March and Lords Marchers who had every one in their Territory a certain peculiar jurisdiction and in their own Courts ministred Law unto the Inhabitants with sundry Priviledges and Immunities Bishops-Castle so called because it belonged to the Bishops of Hereford whose Diocesse and Jurisdiction was large in this Shire Clun-Castle so called from the River Clun Ludlow it standeth upon an Hill a Town
Alliance is in these parts of great name Chartley there is a Castle Beaudesert the House of the Lord Paget Lichfield This City is low seated of good largeness and fair withall divided into two parts with a shallow pool of clear water which parts notwithstanding joyn in one by the means of two Bridges or Causeys made over that have their sluces to let out the water It was beautified with a very goodly Cathedral Church which being round about compassed with a fair Wall Castle-like and garnished besides with fair Houses of Prebendaries and with the Bishops Palace also mounting upon high with three Pyramids or Spires of stone making an elegant shew and for elegant and proportional building it did yeeld to few Cathedral Churches but is now demolished Burton upon Trent a famous Market the Bridge there hath 38 Arches Blithfield a fair House of the ancient Family of the Bagots Needwood-Forest was very large Moorland so called because it riseth higher into hils and mountains and is less fruitfull which kind of places we call Moors Leek a well known Market Town Wotton a little Countrey Village there lying under Weverhill Wotton under Wever Where God came never This fond Rime the neighbour Inhabitants use of it Yet in so hard a soil it breedeth and feedeth beasts of large bulk and fair spread The River Dow or Dove doth swiftly runne along the most part of the East-side of this County and separateth it from Darbyshire if it chance to swell above the banks and overflow the Medows in April it maketh them so fruitfull that the Inhabitants use commonly to chant this joyfull note In April Doves flood Is worth a Kings good Utcester it is situate upon the side of an Hill with a gentle ascent a Town more rich in gay flowring Medows and in Cattel than fair built Tutbury-Castle in times past large and stately There are accounted an hundred and thirty Parishes in this Shire Suffolk IT hath on the West-side Cambridgeshire on the South the River Stour which divideth it from Essex on the East-side the German-Sea and on the North two little Rivers ouse the least and Waveney which flowing out as it were of the same fountain runne divers wayes and sever it apart from Norfolk It was famous for worthy Ministers in the very beginning of Reformation In the entrance of Queen Elizabeth to the Crown it was moved at the Council-Table Whether it was not dangerous for some Politick respects to alter the Religion before established Sir Nicholas Bacon who was of the County of Suffolk demanded Which was the true Religion acccording to Scripture the Protestant or Popish it being answered the Protestant Leave that to God then said he to defend it It is a large Countrey and full of Havens of a fat and fertile soil unlesse it be Eastward being compounded of Clay and Marle by means whereof there are every where most rich and goodly Corn-fields with Pastures as battable for grazing and feeding of Cattel Great store of Cheeses are there made which to the great commodity of the Inhabitants are vented into all parts of England nay into Germany France and Spain also There are also Woods and Parks New-Market a Town lately built as the very name imports Here lieth out a great way round about a large plain named of this Town New-Market-Heath consisting of a sandy and barren ground yet green withall There are great Ditches called The Devils Ditches St. Edmunds-Bury or Bury a renowned Town A place for situation and wholsomenesse of air so excellent that Camden saith Sol non vidit urbem situ elegantiorem Many of the Gentry live there There are two Churches in one Churchyard where there are Lectures several dayes in the week Here was born Richardus de Bury Bishop of Durham the Governour of Edward the Third when young and famous especially for a work which he entituled Philobiblos in the Preface of which he confesseth Ecstatico quodam librorum amore potenter se abreptum He was well acquainted with Petrark the Italian and other learned men of that age Bradwardine Archbishop of Canterbury and Richard Fitzralph Armachanus Walter Burleigh Robert Halcot and other most famous men of that age were his Chaplains Lidgate a small Village yet in this respect not to be passed over in silence because it brought into the world John Lidgate the Monk whose wit may seem to have been framed and shapen to the very Muses themselves so brightly reshine in his English Verses all the pleasant graces and elegancies of speech according to that age Clare a noble Village it gave name to the right noble Family of the Clares Earls of Clare Sudbury that is the South-Burgh it is populous and wealthy by reason of cloathing there Mont-chensie Nettlested Offton the Town of Off a King of the Mercians Lancham a pretty Mercat Hadley a Town of good note for making of cloaths Higham Bentley Walpet that is the Wolves-pit a Mercat Town Stow and Needham two little Mercat Towns Ipswich * a fair Town resembling a City situate in a ground somewhat low which is the Eye of this Shire as having an Haven commodious enough fenced in times past with a trench and rampire of good trade and stored with wares well peopled and full of Inhabitants adorned with twelve Churches and with goodly large and stately Edifices plentifull in shipping Mendlesham there is a Market and Fair Ufford the seat in times past of Robert de Ufford Earl of Suffolk The roof of this Church and other parts of the Quire are curiously engraven with sundry kinds of Works and Pictures all burnisht and guilt with gold Weevers Ancient Funer Mon. Rendelisham that is Rendils Mansion place Woodbridge a little Town beautified with fair houses Framlingham-Castle a very fair and beautifull Castle fortified with Bank Ditch and Walls of great thicknesse wherein are thirteen Towers and inwardly furnished with buildings right commodious and necessary Parrham a little Town Barons Willoughbey of Parrham Oreford Aldburgh that is the old Burgh or the Burgh upon the River Ald. An Harbour very commodious for Sailers and Fishermen and thereby well frequented Dunwich it lieth now desolate Blithborow a small Town it hath a Mercat and a Fair Southwold a Town well frequented through the benefit of an Haven Wingfield it hath given name to an ancient and renowned Family Dunnington the habitation of the ancient Family of the Rousses Heuningham the residence of a Family of that name of very great Antiquity Halesworth a Mercat Town Hoxon ennobled by reason of King Edmunds Martyrdom Brome there dwelt a long time the Family of Cornwalleis of Knights degree of whom Sir John Cornwalleis was Steward of Edward the Sixth his houshold while he was Prince and his Sonne Sir Thomas for his wisdom and faithfulnesse became one of the Privy-Councel to Queen Mary and Controller of her Royal House Eaye an Island Beddingfield it gave the name to an ancient
dwelleth whom we call in Latine Vicecomitem as one would say the Deputy of the Comes or Earl and in our tongue Sheriff It is his duty to gather the common moneys of the Prince in his County to collect and bring into the Exchequer all fines imposed even by distreining to be attendant upon the Judges and to execute their commandments to assemble and empanel the twelve men which in causes do enquire of the Fact and make relation thereof and give in their Verdict to the Judges for Judges with us sit upon the right onely of a cause and not upon the fact to see condemned persons executèd and to examine and determine certain smaller actions OF THE Several Counties IN ENGLAND CAmden begins with Cornwall and ends with Northumberland I shall mention the Counties of England rather according to the Letters of the Alphabet Barkshire IT is called in Latine Berkeria It is bounded upon the East with Surrey upon the North with the River of Thames from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire upon the West with Wiltshire and upon the South with Hantshire Abbendune or Abington so called of the Abbay rather than of one Abben an Irish Eremite of the Abby there See Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 97. Farendon famous now for a Mercate there kept Wadley It is situate in a vale though not so fertile a soil as some vales afford yet a most commodious site wholsome in a delicious air a rich and pleasant seat Newbury as much as the Newburgh a fair Town well seated in a Champion plain Reading of the Brittish word Redin which signifieth Fearn that growing here plentifully excelleth all other Towns of this Shire in fair streets and goodly houses for wealth also of the Townsmen and their name in making of Cloath There is a very great Market Maidenhead so named of the superstitious worshipping of I wot not what British Maidens-Head Camd. Brit. Maidenhead or Maidenhith Hith in the old Saxon did signifie a Wharf Haven or Landing-place It had its name from the Wharf or Ferry belonging at that time to some neighbouring Nunnery or to some private Maidens dwelling thereabout who then received the profits of it So Queen-Hith in London took that appellation because the profits of the Wharf were anciently accounted for to the Queens of England Dr. Heylins Animadvers on the Church Hist. of Brit. lib. 1. p. 20. See Camden of Maiden-bradly in Wiltshire fol. 243. Windesore A Royal Castle and House of the Kings with the Town adjoyning A Princes Seat cannot have a more pleasant situation For from a high Hill that riseth with a gentle ascent it enjoyeth a most delightfull Prospect round about With the pleasantnesse of this place Princes were allured very often to retire themselves hither and here was Edward the Third that most puissant King borne who here built new out of the ground a most strong Castle in bignesse equal to a pretty City fortified with Ditches and Bulwarks made of stone and forthwith after he had subdued the French and Scots held at one and the self same time John King of France and David King of Scotland prisoners together in the same In this place King Edward the Third for to adorn Martial Prowesse with Honours the Guerdon of Vertue ordained the most Noble Order and Society of Knights whom he called Knights of the Garter who wear on their left Legge somewhat under the knee a Blew Garter with these golden Letters in French HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENS'E Shame to him that evil thinks and fasten the same with a Buckle of Gold as with the Band of a most inward Society in token of Concord and Unity that there might be among them a certain Consociation and Communion of Vertues Some attribute the original of it unto the Garter of the Queen or rather Joan Countesse of Salisbury a Lady of incomparable beauty which fell from her as she danced and the King took up from the floor for when a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by laughed thereat he made answer again That shortly it would come to passe that Garter should be in high honour and estimation This is the most common and most received report There is a Book entituled Catechismus ordinis Equitum Perifcelidis written long since by Belvaleti the Popes Nuncio here and published in the year 1631. by Bosquierus wherein the Authour makes an Allegory on the whole habit of the Order the Matter Colour Fashion Wearing to the very Girdle Dr. Heylins Antidotum Lincolniense Sect. 3. ch. 10. The mightiest Princes in Christendome reputed it amongst their greatest honour to be chosen and admitted into this Company and since the first Institution thereof there have been already received and enrolled into this Order which consisteth of six and twenty Knights two and twenty Kings or thereabout besides our Kings of England who are named Sovereigns thereof to speak nothing of Dukes and others of most high calling very many The Founders of the Order which in those dayes for stout courage and warlike Prowesse had few or no Peers and were in that regard advanced to that honour Edward the Third King of England Edward his eldest Sonne and Prince of Wales Henry Duke of Lancaster Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick Peter Copit de la Bouche Ralph Earl of Stafford William de Montacute Earl of Sarisbury Roger Mortimer Earl of March John Lord Lisle Sir Bartholomew de Burgherst Sir John Beauchamp John Lord Mohun of Dunstere Sir Hugh Courtne Sir Thomas and Sir Otho Holland Sir John Gray of Codnor Sir Richard Fitz Simon Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Walle Sir Hugh Wrothesly Sir Neel Lorenge Sir John Chandos Sir James Audley Sir Henry Eswi◠Sir Sanchio Dampredicourt Sir Walter Pavely There is an honourable Family of Barons surnamed of Windsore Eaton is hereto adjoyned by a wooden Bridge over the Thames and in it a fair Colledge and a famous School of good literature founded and built by King Henry the Sixth wherein besides the Provost eight Fellows and the singing Choristers there are threescore Scholars instructed in Grammar and in due time preferred to the University of Cambridge It containeth twenty Hundreds twelve Market Towns and an hundred and forty Parishes Bedfordshire BEdford is the principal Town whereof the Shire also taketh name A Town to be commended more for the pleasant situation and antiquity thereof then for beauty or largenesse although a man may tell five Churches in it Hockley in the Hole so named of the miry way in Winter time very troublesome to travellers for the old Englishmen our Progenitors called deep mire Hock and Hocks Dunstable This Town seated in a Chalky ground well inhabited and full of Innes hath four streets answering to the four quarters of the world in every one of which there is a large Pond of standing water for the publique use of the Inhabitants It contains ten Market Towns an hundred and sixteen
brought to do homage and like Watermen working at the Oar rowed him along the River Dee in a triumphant shew to his great glory and joy of the beholders King Henry the Seventh made it a County by it self incorporate Bunbury contractly so called or Boniface-Bury Boniface was the Patron Saint there Beeston-Castle hath a wall of a great circuit Here are very famous Salt-pits or Salt-wiches five or six miles distant asunder where brine or salt water is drawn out of pits which they boile over the fire to make salt thereof These were known unto the Romanes and from hence was usually paid the Custome for salt called Salarium Nantwich Middle-wich Nortwich Nantwich which the River Wever first visiteth is reputed the greatest and fairest built Town of all this Shire after Chester It is called the White-wich or Salt-pit because the whitest salt is there boiled North-wich is called the Black-salt pit Congleton a Mercat Town famous for Gloves Purses and Points of Leather Kinderton the old seat of the ancient race of the Venables who ever since the first coming in of the Normans have been of name and reputation here and commonly are called Barons of Kinderton Brereton hath given Name to the worshipfull ancient and numerous Family of the Breretons Knights Before any Heir of this House of the Breretons dieth there are seen in a Pool adjoyning bodies of trees swimming for certaine dayes together so Camden but some deny this Middle-wich there are two Wels of salt water parted one from the other by a small brook Maclesfield one of the fairest Towns of this County Lee from whence there is a Family bearing the same surname that is not only of gentle bloud and of especial note but also farre and fairly propagated into a number of branches Camd Britan. High Leigh in Cheshire I think gave Names to all the renowned Races of that Name in this County Two distinct Descents of the same Name have their seats in the same place and there have continued in a long succession of their Ancestors Knights and Esquires of much worth one is Thomas Leigh the other is Peter Leigh Esquires King of Cheshire Lime in Cheshire a great Family of the Name of the Leighs of whom there have been many famous Knights Sir Peter now the Possessor thereof King of Cheshire Nor thou magnanimous Leigh must not be left In darkness for thy rare fidelity To save thy faith content to lose thy head That reverent head of good men honored Daniels Second Book of Civil Warres Cholmundeston or Cholmeston anciently the Lands of the Leighs of Rushall in Staffordshire King of Cheshire pag. 74. It containeth thirteen Market Towns and sixty eight Parishes Cornwall IT extends in length to about seventy miles the breadth in the largest place passeth not thirty Carews Surveigh of Cornwall Speed computes the length sixty miles and the breadth forty It is called by later Writers Cornubia in Latine of all Britain it doth bear most Westward because it waxeth smaller and smaller in manner of an Horn and runneth forth into the Sea with little promontories as if they were Horns on every side Others would have it so called of one Corin and do call it Corinea Camd. Brit. There is digged here wonderfull store of Tin yeelding exceeding much profit and commodity whereof are made houshold Pewter vessels which are used thorowout many parts of Europe in service of the Table and for their glittering brightnesse compared with silver-plate Terra admodum sterilis fructum magis ex cultorum industria quam ex sua bonitate praebet sed fert uberius plumbum nigrum album hoc est stannum in quo effodiendo maximè consistit vita incolarum Polyd. Verg. Angl. Hist. l. 1. The Kings of England and Dukes of Cornwall in their times have reserved to themselves a praeemption of Tinne by the opinion of the learned in the Law as well in regard of the Propriety as being chief Lords and Proprietaries as of their Royal Prerogative Not only Tin is here found but therewith also Gold and Silver yea and Dyamonds shaped and pointed angle-wise smoothed also by Nature it self whereof some are as big as Wall-nuts and inferiour to the orient Dyamonds in blacknesse and hardnesse only So plentifull is this Countrey of grain although not without great toil of the Husbandman that it hath not only sufficient to maintain it self but also affordeth often times great store of Corn into Spain Besides a most rich Revenue and Commodity they have by those little Fishes that they call Pilchards which swarming as one would say in mighty great skuls about the shores from July unto November are there taken garbaged falted hanged in the smoke laid up pressed and by infinite numbers carried over into France Spain and Italy unto which Countreys they be very good chaffer and right welcome merchandize and are there named Fumados Michael a Cornish Poet and of Rhymers in his time the chies hath these Verses of Cornwall Non opus est ut opes numerem quibus est opulenta Et per quas inopes sustentat non opulenta Piscibus stanno nusquam tam fertilis ora The people thre are civil valiant hardy well pitcht in stature brawny and strong limbed such as for wrestling to speak nothing of that manly exercise and feat of hurling the Ball which they use so farre excell that for slight and clean strength together they justly winne the prize and praise from other Nations in that behalf Godolphin-Hill right famous for plentifull veins of Tin but much more renowned in regard of the Lords thereof bearing the same name who with their vertues have equalled the ancientnesse of that House and Linage That name in the Cornish Language came of a white Eagle and this Family hath anciently born for their Arms in a Shield Gules an Aegle displayed Argent between three Flower-deluces of the same Shield Falemouth-Haven is as noble as Brundusium it self in Italy of exceeding great capacity for it is able to receive an hundred Ships which may ride therein so apart by themselves that out of never an one of them the top of anothers Mast can be seen and most safe withall under the wind by reason that it is enclosed on every side with brims of high rising banks The Gullet on either hand as well for the defence and safety of the place as for terrour to enemies is fortified with Block-houses to wit the Castle of Maudit Eastward and toward the West the Fort Pendinaes both built by King Henry the Eighth Foy a Town most renowned in former ages for Sea fights which the very Arms of the Town do witnesse as being compounded of the Cinque-ports Arms Padstow a pretty Market Town so called short for Petrockstow of one Petroch a Britan canonized a Saint by the people who spent his dayes here in the service of God Edward the Third erected Cornwall into a Dukedome and invested Edward his Sonne