Map| Names of Places. | County. |Number of Miles From _Curiosities of Great Britain: England and Wales Delineated Vol.1-11 Historical, Entertaining & Commercial; Alphabetically Arranged. 11 Volume set.

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|Dist.|

Map| Names of Places. | Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population.

+--+-----------------------+----------------------+-----+--------+

36|Bardwell pa|Thetford 9| 80| 799|

22|Bare to|K. Lonsdale 14| 243| 110|

23|Baresley to|M. Sorrel 10| 105| ...|

27|Barford pa|Norwich 10| 105| 420|

39|Barford pa|Kineton 8| 92| 748|

31|Barford,(Great)[A] pa|Potton 7| 53| 731|

3|Barford,(Great) pa|Chip Norton 11| 71| 350|

3|Barford,(Little)[B] pa|Biggleswade 9| 54| 176|

31|Barford, St. John's, ch|Chip Norton 11| 72| 131|

41|Barford, St. Martin, pa|Hindon 10| 87| 570|

43|Barforth to|Darlington 9| 243| 128|

+--+-----------------------+----------------------+-----+--------+

[A] BARFORD, (Great). At this place is a piece of land, called White

Bread Close, left, as is generally believed, by one of the Shepherd

family, formerly residents of considerable opulence in the parish, for

the purpose of purchasing loaves of white bread, to be thrown among the

populace from the church porch. This whimsical custom at last became

such a scene of scrambling, fighting, and disorder, that it was

prohibited by the curate, and the money applied towards the purchase of

coals for the poor, at Christmas. The boys, and even men, seemed to have

participated in this sport, the same as at a game at foot-ball, or other

play; and an old gentleman in the adjoining village fully remembers

taking an active part in the scramble, and bearing off the wheaten loaf

in triumph.

[Sidenote: Curious custom.]

[B] BARFORD, (Little), is situated in the hundred of Biggleswade, and is

chiefly celebrated as the birth-place of Rowe, the dramatic poet, who

was born here in the year 1673. His father having designed him for the

study of the law, took him from school at the age of sixteen, and

entered him a student in the Middle Temple. He made considerable

progress, and was called to the bar, but Homer and Virgil had more

charms for him than either Coke or Littleton. He was strongly solicited

by his friends to practice, but nothing could overcome his affection for

the muses; and his play, the "Ambitious Step-mother," having been

received with great applause, he resolved to make poetry his profession.

He had imbibed in his youth the most noble sentiments of liberty, of

which he gave a specimen in his Tragedy of "Tamerlane." This was the

second play that he wrote, and until of late years it was usual to

perform it on the 4th and 5th of November, in commemoration of the

gunpowder treason, and the landing of King William. Mr. Rowe being out

of all employment, went one day to wait on the Earl of Oxford, Lord High

Treasurer of England, when, among other things his Lordship asked him,

whether he understood Spanish. He replied in the negative, and his

Lordship said he would advise him to learn it as soon as possible. Rowe

took his leave, applied himself to the study of that language, and

expecting some lucrative employment, again waited upon him. How great

was his disappointment, when his Lordship, on being informed of his

acquisition, merely exclaimed, "How happy are you, Mr. Rowe, that you

can now enjoy the pleasure of reading "Don Quixote" in the original!"

His death took place on the 6th of December, 1718, in the 45th year of

his age, and he was buried with great funeral pomp, in Westminster

Abbey, where a handsome monument is erected to his memory.

[Sidenote: Rowe, the Dramatist.]

[Sidenote: Anecdote.]

Map| Names of Places. | County. | Number of Miles From |

+--+--------------------+----------+------------+-------------+

23|Barkby-Thorpe to|Leicester | 4| 12|

+--+--------------------+----------+------------+-------------+

|Dist.|

Map| Names of Places. | Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population.

+--+--------------------+-----------------------+-----+-------+

21|Barfreston pa|Canterbury 10| 65| 114|

19|Barham pa|Huntingdon 10| 68| 73|

21|Barham pa|Sandwich 11| 62| 1053|

36|Barham pa|Debenham 9| 74| 825|

24|Barholm pa|Bourn 8| 94| 155|

23|Barkby pa|Houghton 5| 100| 806|

23|Barkby-Thorpe to| 5| 100| 72|

4|Barkham pa|Bagshot 11| 35| 247|

14|Barking[A] m.t. & pa|Ilford 2| 7| 8036|

36|Barking pa|Ipswich 10| 70| 1884|

+--+--------------------+-----------------------+-----+-------+

[A] BARKING, in the hundred of Beacontree. The name is derived,

according to some writers, from the Saxon words Beorce--a birch tree,

and Ing--a meadow; but the most natural presumption is, that it takes

its name from Berging, signifying a fortification in a meadow, and which

seems to be borne out, as there is an encampment still to be traced, of

the most extensive dimensions, being more than forty-eight acres in the

area; near to which is a spring of fine water, which no doubt supplied

the inmates. In 870, Barking was burnt by the Danes, and the abbey

destroyed, and the nuns either murdered or dispersed. Soon after the

conquest, King William retired to this place, while the Tower of London

was being erected, not deeming it safe to continue in that city; and

here he was visited during the preparation for his coronation, by Earl

Edwin, of Mercia; Morcar, Earl of Northumberland; and many others of the

nobility, who swore fealty to him, on the restoration of their estates.

It is situated on the river Roding, which branches off in two different

streams, and unites with the Thames about two miles distant. Barking

Creek is navigable for ships of 80 tons burden, and the coal and timber,

together with the fishing trade, is carried on to a considerable extent.

About a hundred fishing smacks sail from this town. Near the creek is a

large flour mill, formerly belonging to the abbey; and in the vicinity

of the town are extensive potatoe grounds for the supply of the London

market. Barking is rather a dull town, from the want of a main

thoroughfare; it has the appearance of antiquity stamped upon it,

particularly the market-house, which is an extensive and ancient

building of timber and plaster, of the age of Elizabeth. Here is a

town-hall and work-house. A free quay for landing goods, subject to a

table of regulations, and a spacious new road from the Commercial-road,

through Eastham and Wallend to Barking. The church is dedicated to St.

Margaret, and is a spacious ancient structure, with a lofty embattled

tower at the west end, having a beacon turret at one corner. A

free-school, which now occupies part of the work-house, was founded by

Sir James Campbell, in 1641, who bequeathed a sum of L666. 13s. 4d. for

that purpose. John Fowke, Esq., bequeathed certain lands for the

maintenance of eight boys in Christ's Hospital, two of whom are chosen

from this parish. The importance formerly attached to the town of

Barking was almost entirely to be attributed to the magnificent abbey

that was established here in the year 670, by Erkenwald, Bishop of

London, for nuns of the Benedictine order: it was dedicated to the

Virgin Mary. This abbey was governed by a succession of Abbesses, of

noble, and even royal descent After the destruction of the establishment

by the Danes, in the year 870, it was again rebuilt in a style of

greater splendour than before, and on the death of King Edgar, in 970,

his queen became Abbess. From the earliest period to the time of its

dissolution, it may be said to have been a seminary for the principal

gentry of England. Its revenues amounted, at the suppression of the

religious houses, to L1084. 6s. 2-3/4d. Destruction has done its worst

to this beautiful abbey, for at present little or nothing remains but

the gateway, an interesting object, and in good preservation; over which

is a room, called the Chapel of the Holy Ghost. This gateway was

denominated the fire-bell gate, from its having anciently contained the

curfew; it is a square embattled structure, with an octagonal turret at

one of the angles. The arch of the entrance is finely pointed, and

enriched with deeply receding mouldings; above is a canopied niche,

under a fine gothic window of three lights. Among the ruins of the abbey

were discovered a fibula, and a gold ring, on which were engraved, the

Salutation of the Virgin Mary, and the initials I.M. The tyranny

exercised over the tenants of this manor by the fraternity, would almost

create a feeling of surprise in our present liberal and enlightened age,

were they not perfectly well known in a thousand other instances. The

manor of Clayhall was held under the Abbess and convent of Barking, by

the following services: viz. that every tenant should come in person to

the Abbey Church, on the vigil of St. Ethelburg the Virgin, and there

attend and guard the high altar, from the first hours of Vespers till

nine the next morning; and that he should be ready at all times, with a

horse and a man, to attend the Abbess and her steward, when going upon

the business of the convent, any where within the four seas. And,

lastly, that the Abbess should have by way of herriot, upon the death of

every tenant, his best horse and accoutrements: these services, however,

did not exempt them from the quit rents. Besides the above tenure, there

were other vexatious contingencies; viz. one (Robert Gerard) was among

other services, to gather a full measure of nuts, called a pybot, four

of which should make a bushel; to go a long journey on foot once a year

to Colchester, Chelmsford, Ely, or the like distances, on the business

of the convent, carrying a pack; and other shorter distances, such as

Brentford, &c., and maintaining himself upon the road. He was to pay a

fine upon the marriage of his daughter, if she married beyond the limits

of the manor. If his daughter had an illegitimate child, he was to make

the best terms he could with the Abbess, for the fine called Kyldwyte.

It appears also, that he could not even sell his ox fed by himself,

without the Abbess's permission. Some of the tenants, according to

Blount, were obliged to watch and guard thieves in the Abbess's prison.

A few miles distant, in a glade in Hainhault Forest, formerly stood an

oak, famed through many centuries, and known by the name of Fairlop Oak.

Its age is traced by the traditions of the country half way through the

Christian era. Part of this noble tree has been converted into the

pulpit of St. Pancras new church. Its rough fluted stem was 36 feet in

circumference, and about a yard from the ground, divided into eleven

immense arms; yet not in the horizontal manner of an oak, but rather

that of a beech. Beneath its shade, which formerly overspread an area of

three hundred feet in circuit, an annual fair was held on the 2nd of

July, and no booth was suffered to be raised beyond the extent of its

boughs. The fair is still continued on the same spot the first Friday in

July.

_Market_ disused.--_Fair_, October 22, for toys. It lies within the

three-penny post delivery.

[Sidenote: Origin of its name.]

[Sidenote: Burnt by the Danes.]

[Sidenote: Once a town of importance.]

[Sidenote: Singular services by which the manor of Clayhall was held.]

[Sidenote: Fairlop oak.]

Map| Names of Places. | County. | Number of Miles From |

+--+-------------------+---------+--------------+--------------+

24|Barkwith, West pa|Lincoln | 3| 8|

10|Barlow, Little to|Derby | 5| 3|

+--+-------------------+---------+--------------+--------------+

|Dist.|

Map| Names of Places. | Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population.

+--+-------------------+------------------------+-----+--------+

45|Barkisland to|Rochdale 13| 196| 2292|

23|Barkston pa|Bingham 7| 115| 297|

24|Barkstone pa|Folkingham 11| 114| 430|

46|Barkstone Ash to|York 15| 185| 265|

18|Barkway to & pa|Cambridge 17| 35| 1108|

24|Barkwith, East pa|Louth 12| 147| 187|

24|Barkwith, West pa| 11| 146| 113|

35|Barlaston pa|Cheadle 8| 145| 514|

38|Barlavington pa|Arundel 8| 54| 111|

10|Barlborough pa|Sheffield 17| 150| 713|

46|Barlby chap|Howden 12| 183| 348|

23|Barleston chap|Ashby 9| 109| 582|

18|Barley pa|Ware 16| 37| 704|

22|Barley to|Burnley 5| 217| 707|

32|Barleythorpe chap|Stamford 13| 96| ...|

14|Barling pa|Southend 6| 45| 317|

24|Barlings pa|Bardney 8| 140| 280|

46|Barlow to|Howden 8| 179| 225|

10|Barlow, Great chap|Sheffield 10| 154| 581|

10|Barlow, Little to| 10| 155| 58|

+--+-------------------+------------------------+-----+--------+

Map| Names of Places. | County. | Number of Miles From |

+--+-----------------------+---------+-------------+-------------+

+--+-----------------------+---------+-------------+-------------+

|Dist.|

Map| Names of Places. | Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population.

+--+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----+-------+

46|Barmby on the M. chap|Snaith 6| 180| 525|

46|Barnby on Don to & pa| 9| 168| 617|

46|Barmby on Moor, to & p|M. Weighton 8| 210| 440|

53|Barmele to|Flint 8| 196| 115|

27|Barmer pa|Lynn 18| 115| 43|

21|Barming[A] pa|Chatham 13| 33| 565|

55|Barmouth[B] to|Towyn 11| 222 |1980|

13|Barmpton to|Durham 18| 244| 90|

13|Barmston to|Newcastle 7| 269| 73|

43|Barmston pa|Hornsea 8| 200| 223|

39|Barnacle ham|Rugby 12| 95| 219|

30|Barnack pa|Peterboro' 11| 88| 812|

22|Barnaker to|Preston 15| 232| 519|

13|Barnard Castle[C] t & p|Staindrop 6| 246| 4430|

+--+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----+-------+

[A] BARMING. Of this village the learned antiquarian, Mark Noble, was

rector. His principal works were a history of the College of Arms, a

Genealogical History of the Royal Families of Europe, Memoirs of the

Protectorate House of Cromwell; and, also, of the illustrious house of

Medici. On St. Thomas's Day there is an annual solicitation for charity,

and with the money raised loaves of bread are purchased, and distributed

to the resident poor. Great quantities of hops, cherries, and filberts,

are grown in this parish.

[Sidenote: Mark Noble.]

[B] BARMOUTH, near the conflux of the river Maw, or Mawddach, is a

village singularly situated; the houses are disposed, either among the

sand, in a low situation, or at different heights on the side of a huge

rock, like a part of the city of Edinburgh, and are said to resemble the

town of Gibraltar. These houses form eight tiers, to which there is no

approach, but by steps cut in the rock. The floors of one row are about

level with the tops of the chimnies immediately in front; so that a

person standing at his door may look down the chimnies of the

neighbourhood below. The first range regales the second with its smoke,

the second the third, &c. till we arrive at the uppermost, which, in a

westerly wind, takes the mixed perfume of all. Barmouth is the port of

Merionethshire, not far from which the river Mawddach has its

commencement. "Proceeding along the banks of this river towards

Dolgelly," says Mr. Bingley, "when it was high water, the whole bed of

the river being filled, made the different landscapes in the scene

appear truly picturesque. The first two miles which lay along, what the

inhabitants of Barmouth call, the Beach, formed the most interesting

part of the journey. In the composition of the views, scarcely any thing

appeared wanting; there was every requisite of mountain and vale, wood,

water, meadows, and rocks, arranged in beautiful order. Beyond the

beach, the road winds at a little distance from the river, among the low

mountains; and from different stations, I had views of the most elegant

and picturesque landscapes, the river partly hidden by intervening

mountains. This stream is much diminished in width and depth: at present

it will not admit so much as a pleasure-boat to reach Dolgelly, which

obliges company to walk three-quarters of a mile to the town."

[Sidenote: A very curiously built town.]

[C] BARNARD CASTLE. The castle from which the town appears to have

derived its name, was founded by Barnard, son of Guy Baliol, who

accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and to whom William Rufus

granted the noble forests of Teesdale and Marwood. Edward the First,

determined to mortify the Bishop of Durham and to abridge his power; he,

therefore, gave this castle to Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in whose

family it continued for five generations. It afterwards came to the

crown, and the tyrant Richard III. who took very great delight in this

place, contributed much to its beauty by the most tasteful

embellishments; his armorial bearings still appear, not only on the

castle but over many parts of the town, and it has been a crown domain

ever since. Hutchinson in his history of the county of Durham, describes

the remains of the castle as covering about six acres and three quarters

of ground. The parts which were of chief strength, stand on the very

brink of a steep rock, about eighty feet above the level of the river

Tees, commanding a most beautiful prospect up the river. The area on the

side of the market-place, appears not to have had any communication with

the chief strongholds and bulwarks of the fortress, and is separated

from the interior buildings by a deep fosse which surrounds the rest of

the castle. In an adjoining ground called the Flatts, is a large

reservoir cut in swampy ground; water was collected and conveyed to the

castle in pipes, to supply the garrison and cattle enclosed within the

walls of the outer areas in times of public danger. This area is now a

pasture for sheep, and other parts enclosed by the walls have been

converted into orchards.

_Market_, Wednesday.--_Fairs_, Wednesday in Easter and Whitsun Week,

St. James's Day, and July 25, for horses, cattle, and

sheep.--_Bankers_, W. Skinner and Co. draw on Barclay and

Co.--_Inns_, King's Head, and Rose and Crown.--_Mail_ arrives 6.40

morning; departs 2.40 afternoon.

[Sidenote: Guy Baliol.]

Map| Names of Places.| County. | Number of Miles From |

+--+-----------------+----------+--------------+-----------+

+--+-----------------+----------+--------------+-----------+

|Dist.|

Map| Names of Places.| Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population.

+--+-----------------+-------------------------+-----+-----+

36|Barnardiston pa|Newmarket 12| 59| 206|

45|Barnbow to|Abberford 4| 190| |

45|Barnbrough[A] pa|Barnsley 10| 167| 520|

36|Barnby pa|Bungay 11| 111| 303|

43|Barnby to|Scarborough 23| 238| 224|

30|Barnby-on-Moor to|Blyth 3| 148| 206|

+--+-----------------+-------------------------+-----+-----+

[A] BARNBROUGH. The church is dedicated to Saint Peter, and contains a

rude painting commemorative of "a serious contest that took place

between a man and a wild cat." This conflict, which every body in

Barnbrough firmly believes, is said to have occurred about the middle of

the fifteenth century, between Percival Cresacre, lord of the manor, and

a wild cat o' mountain. He is reported to have been attacked in one of

the little woods in the neighbourhood, by this furious animal, and a

running fight was kept up till they reached the church porch, where the

mortal combat ended in the death of both. That some such circumstance

did occur, is conjectured from the crest which the family afterwards

adopted, viz. a cat o' mountain, which is still to be seen on the tower

of the church; and the tradition is said to be further confirmed by the

figure of an animal at the foot of the oak statue of this Cresacre, and

also a rubiginous stone in the pavement of the porch of the church. We

have many evidences in history that cats were beasts of chase,

particularly in the charter of Ranulph Piperking, granted by Edward the

Confessor:--

Hart and hind, doe and bock,

Fox and cat, hare and brock.

and again,

Four greyhounds and six raches,

For hare and fox and wild cates.

In the church is an ancient monument of Alicia Cresacre, wife of the

above gentleman, who died in 1450, on which is carved in old text:--

Our bodys in stonys lye full still,

Our saulys in wandyr at Godys will.

In the north chancel is the monument of Percival Cresacre, a richly

decorated altar-tomb under a flat arch, at the crown of which is the

family arms, viz. three lions rampant, purple, on a gold shield. The

effigies of Cresacre is in fine preservation, composed of carved oak,

and representing a knight in a suite of plate armour, with his arms

painted on a shield, and an animal (supposed to be a lion) at his feet.

His sword which hung from his belt has been taken away, and both

monuments are decorated with the favorite device of the family, a rosary

of beads.

[Sidenote: Contest between the lord of the manor and a wild cat.]

Map| Names of Places. | County. |Number of Miles From |

+--+--------------------+----------+----------+----------+

37|Barn-Elms[A] ham|Surrey | ... 6| ... 2|

+--+--------------------+----------+----------+----------+

|Dist.|

Map| Names of Places. |Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population.

+--+--------------------+---------------------+-----+----+

30|Barnby-in-Willows pa|Grantham 14| 124| 237|

37|Barnes pa|Wandsworth 3| 5|1417|

37|Barn-Elms[A] ham| ... 3| 5| |

+--+--------------------+---------------------+-----+----+

Curiosities of Great Britain: England and Wales Delineated Vol.1-11 Historical, Entertaining & Commercial; Alphabetically Arranged. 11 Volume set. · 第 17 / 31 段