45 Austhorpe 9 Austhwaite. 45 Austonley 39 Austrey 45 Austwick 24 Authorpe County. to W. R. York ..ham Cumberland .to W. R. York .pa Warwick. to W. R. York pa Lincoln 41 Avebury, or Aburyt pa Wilts 14 Aveley. 17 Avenbury 15 Avening. 30 Averham pa Essex ...... pa Hereford pa Gloucester 11 Aveton-Gifford. Number of Miles from .4 Louth Leeds from twenty to thirty of which are constantly in use. Market, Friday.-Fairs, Whit Thursday, and Nov. 30, for oxen, sheep, and cloth.-Mail arrives 12.35 afternoon; departs 10.27. morning. tect. * AUSTHORPE. This township gave birth to the celebrated civil engineer John Smeaton, distinguished as the architect of Eddystone Lighthouse, and, as the conductor of various other important undertakings. He Birth-place was the son of an attorney, who, observing that he had a strong taste for of Smeaton mechanics, wisely allowed him to follow the impulse of his genius, and the archibecome a mathematical instrument maker. He commenced business in that capacity, in Holborn, London, in 1750. His great undertaking— the erection of the light-house on the Eddystone rock, was accomplished in the year 1759, and it was executed in such a manner as almost to bid defiance to the power of time or accident. His death took place in his native village, September 8, 1792.—See Eddystone Light-house. enormous ↑ AVEBURY or ABURY, is situated within the very area of a British temple, and claims the particular attention of the topographer and antiquary. The enclosure, which is formed by a wide and deep ditch, and a lofty external vallum, contains many large stones, some of which are erect, and the others lying on the ground. Southward of this place, at some distance, are other large stones, erect or prostrate; and, westward, are two others, erect. Several walls and houses of the village are constructed A British with broken masses of these ponderous monuments; yet enough remains temple to excite curiosity and prompt research. The following is a description formed of of this great temple, in its original state :-Immediately within the ditch, stones. and encompassing the whole area, was a continued series of large upright stones, consisting of one hundred in number; these stones were placed at the distance of twenty-seven feet from each other, and usually measured from fifteen to seventeen feet in height, and about forty feet in circumference. Within the area of this circle, the diameter of which was about 1400 feet, were two double circles; the exterior circles were about 466 feet in diameter, and formed by thirty stones of similar dimensions equally distant from each other, as in the large enclosing circle. Of these singular stones there are but few remaining; but from the extraordinary dimension of these relics of antiquity, the traveller may judge for himself the correctness of our notice. Mail arrives at Beckhampton Inn, (1 mile distant,) at 5.20 morning; departs 9.45 night. AVERHAM. This place is principally remarkable for a monument contained in the church erected to the memory of Sir William Sutton, AVERHAM. Sir Francis Duke of Buckingham. once lord of the manor, on which it is quaintly recorded that he had six- AVINGTON. Sir Francis Burdett is lord of this manor, and patron of the rectory. The church, which remains nearly in its original state, exhibits a curious specimen of Saxon architecture. Within the walls it measures 75 feet by 14 feet and a half. The nave is separated from the chancel by an arch richly ornamented by a zigzag moulding, and a great variety of grotesque heads springing from two enriched piers; the arch is formed of the segments of two circles, each having different centers. In this church there is also a very singular font, of rude workmanship, surrounded with grotesque figures, executed in bass-relief; that is to say, sculpture, the figures of which do not stand out from the ground in their full proportion. ↑ AVINGTON, anciently Abyngton, is remarkable for its beautiful Seat of the park, the seat of Chandos Grenville, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Bucks. The manor was originally a royal demesne, or estate in lands, and was given by king Edgar to the monastery of St. Swithin at Winchester, in the year 961; it continued in the possession of that house until the dissolution of monasteries, when it became the property of the clerks of Mitcheldever, (a village about five miles distant,) with whom it remained until the reign of Elizabeth; and then passed to the Bruges, or Brydges family, afterwards raised to the dukedom of Chandos. Anna Maria Brudenell, the infamous Countess of Shrewsbury, married one of this family; her former husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, died from a wound received in a duel with the Duke of Buckingham, during the fighting of which the Countess had the audacity to hold the horse of her gallant, disguised as a page. Charles the Second was frequently the guest of this notorious woman at the mansion of Avington, which thus became the scene of that licentious monarch's pleasures. The mansion, which is mostly built of brick, has been greatly improved since it came into the possession of the present proprietor. It is situated in a well planted and secluded valley, nearly environed with high downs, which from their bare and open state, form a singular though not unpleasing contrast with the scenery immediately contiguous to the house. Several of the apartments are fitted up with great elegance, and enriched by a choice collection of valuable paintings. A seat of one of the paramours of Charles II. A borough excused on a plea of poverty. AXBRIDGE. This town is one of the polling places for the eastern division of the county of Somerset, but the court for the election of the Knights of the Shire is at Wells. The borough sent members to parliament during the reigns of the three first Edwards, but was afterwards excused on the plea of poverty. It consists chiefly of one street, winding from east to west, about half a mile in length. The shambles and market are towards the east end. Although so small, it is governed by a corporation, consisting of a mayor, bailiff, and ten aldermen, and twentytwo burgesses, with a recorder, town-clerk, and other officers. Knit hose are manufactured in this town. The church, occupying an eminence, near the market-house, is a large and handsome gothic structure, in the form of a cross. Colyton The cloth of the communion table is elegantly wrought in silk, by Mrs. Abigail, who employed seven years in completing it. This lady, and several of her family, have monuments in the church. Market, Saturday.-Fairs, Feb. 23, and March 25, for cattle, sheep, cheese, and toys. -Mail arrives 2.0 afternoon; departs 11.0 morning. AXBRIDGE. Trade. • AXMINSTER is very irregularly built, and the houses are inelegant, but the air of the town is reckoned highly salubrious. The petty sessions of the hundred of Axminster are held here. The lower orders are mostly employed in manufacturing carpets, leather breeches, gloves, &c. The manner of weaving carpets here is different from that pursued at most other places; the carpets being woven in the piece, and several hands employed at the same loom. The common patterns are flowers, roses, &c., though the Turkey and Persian carpets have been imitated with success. In many large pieces Roman tesselated pavements have been copied, which have produced a very rich effect. The tunnel between Charmouth and Axminster was opened in the month of January, 1832. This improvement is substantially constructed with an elliptic arch, capable of allowing two stage waggons of the largest size to pass on it, and is rather more than seventy yards in length. By the completion of this tunnel the longest through a and steepest hill between London and Exeter is avoided. A gentle-lofty hill. man who visited the tunnel during the height of the ensuing summer, remarked the astonishing coolness which he felt within this hill's enclosed semi-cylinder; no sooner, however, had he left it, than he fainted from the difference of temperature between this subterraneous passage and that of the open air. Market, Saturday.-Fairs, St. Mark's Day; April 30; Wednesday after June 24; Wednesday after Oct. 10.-Mail arrives 1.20 afternoon; departs 12.51 afternoon. + AYLESBURY. The Æglesbury of the Saxons, is a considerable market town, situated near the centre of the county, rising gradually on all sides in a rich and extensive tract, denominated the "Vale of Aylesbury." Drayton in his Poly-Albion, has the following lines descriptive of this celebrated vale : Aylesbury's vale that walloweth in her wealth, Is lusty, firm, and fat; and holds her youthful strength. This was originally a strong British town, which maintained its independence till the year 571, when it was reduced by the West Saxons. In the year 600, it became famous as the burial place of St. Osyth, who was born at Quarrendon, two miles distant, and beheaded in Essex by the Pagans. Her relics were interred in this church, and are said to have performed many miracles; a religious house was founded in honour of her memory, said to have been situated on the spot where the parsonage now stands. Her sisters Editha, and Eadburga, are also mentioned by historians as having contributed to render Aylesbury a place of religious consequence. Aylesbury was made a royal manor in the time of William the Conqueror, who parcelled it out under the singular tenure: -that the tenants should find litter or straw for the king's bedchamber three times a year, if he came that way so often, and provide him with three eels in winter, and three green geese in summer. In the reign of A remarkable tunnel St. Osyth. Singular tenure of this manor. Remark mentary writ. .to & pa Leicester. G. Grimsby..4 3 pa Norfolk Barton .17 Caistor AYLESBURY Henry VIII., the manor was sold by Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wilts, father of Queen Anne Boleyn, to Sir John Baldwin, whose daughter took it in marriage to Robert Pakington, who was murdered in the year 1537, on account of his zeal for the reformed religion. It continued in this family till the year 1801, when it was sold by Sir John Pakington, Bart., to the Marquis of Buckingham. How completely the manor and the town itself were in the possession of the Pakington family, will appear from the following remarkable letter preserved in the Chapel of the Rolls, among the returns of Parliament writs of the fourteenth of Queen Elizabeth :To all Christian people, to whom this present writing shall come: I, able Parlia- Dorothy Pakington, late wife of Sir John Pakington, lord and owner of the town of Aylesbury, send greeting. Know ye me, the said Dorothy Pakington, to have chosen, named, and appointed my trusty and wellbeloved Thomas Litchfield, and George Burden, Esqrs., to be my burgesses of my said town of Aylesbury; and whatever the said Thomas and George, burgesses, shall do in the service of the Queen's Highness in the Parliament to be holden at Westminster on the 8th of May next ensuing the date hereof, I the same Dorothy Pakington do ratify and approve to be of my own act as fully and wholly as if I were witness or present there. In witness whereof, to these presents, I have set my seal, this 4th day of May, in the 14th year of the reign of my Sovereign Lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God, of England, France, and Ireland, Queen, &c." Aylesbury was made a borough town by a charter of Queen Mary, in 1554. The Reform Bill has made no alteration in the number of members. The electors are those of the old constituency, consisting of freeholders of the hundred, and housekeepers not receiving alms; the freeholders of the hundred are estimated at 838; and the ten pound householders at 314; total 1152. The limits of the borough are unaltered, and the returning officers are the constables of the borough. The town is also one of the polling places for this county, which now returns three members. The county gaol is still at Aylesbury, but the Summer Assizes were restored to Buckingham, through the exertions of Lord Cobham and the Grenville family in the year 1758. The only manufacture at Aylesbury is that of lace-making: the weekly market is a very plentiful one for provision, and much business is done here at the annual fairs. The site of a Saxon battle. Market, Saturday.-Fairs, Friday after Jan. 18; Saturday before Palm Sunday: May 8; June 14; September 25; October 12, for cattle. Bankers, Rickford and Son, draw on Praed's and Co.-Mail arrives 12.40 morning; departs 2.19 morning.-Inns, George, and White Hart. * AYLESFORD is seated on the banks of the Medway, by which the parish is divided. The church is so singularly situated, from being placed on a rising ground, that persons in the churchyard can almost look down the chimnies of the houses. The neighbourhood is famed as having been the spot where, we are told by ancient historians, a sanguinary battle was fought in 445, between the Britons and Saxons; the conflict having taken place about five years after the first landing of the latter in Britain. It appears from our chronicles that Vortimer, then monarch of this island, having first defeated his enemies on the banks of the Darent, in Kent, pursued their routed forces to Aylesford; at which place the Saxons had passed to the eastern side of the Medway, where a most obstinate and bloody battle took place between the contending armies, when the fate of the day, having long remained undecided, at length terminated favourably for the Britons. In that decisive affair, Horsa, brother of Hengist, the Saxon chief, and Catigrinus, brother to King Vortimer, are said to have 27 Aylsham*...m. t. & pa 17 Aylton 17 Aymestery....to & pa 18 Ayott, St. Lawrence pa Dist. PopuLond. lation County. Number of Miles from Norfolk N. R. York. ..pa Rutland to N. R. York. ..2 Hatfield .5 .7 25 271 .4 Reeth. .7 217 360 .5 ..16 .20 N. R. York. .10 240 68 W. R. York Ripon.. ..4 "the 43 Ayton East....to & pa 43 Ayton West 43 Ayton Great...to & pa 43 Ayton Little...to & pa 45 Azerley, or Cozenley.to contended hand to hand, when both died bravely upon the spot. Horsa, if tradition may be credited, was interred about three miles north of Aylesford, at a spot still bearing the name of Horsted; that is to say, place of Horsa;" where, in the adjoining fields, large stones are still dispersed over the soil; some in erect positions, while others, from lapse of time, have been thrown down; being, there is little doubt, placed there as memorials of the Saxon warriors slain in that famous encounter. Prince Cartigrinus is supposed to have been inhumed still nearer the field of slaughter, on the summit of an acclivity, about one mile north of Aylesford, and a quarter of a mile west from the high road leading from Rochester to Maidstone; at which place, Kitt's Cotty House still stands, as Kitt's Cotty represented in our engraving. This memorial consists of four large stones, of the pebble kind, two placed in the ground, being partly upright, forming two sides, a third standing in the middle between them, while the fourth, being the largest, is laid transversely over them, thus forming a covering. None of these stones bear the imprint of the chisel, or any sign whatsoever of manual labour. Alfred and Edmund Ironside defeated the Danes in this vicinity. Sir Charles Sedley, of poetical and dissolute notoriety, was a native of this place; as was also Sir Paul Rycaut, the celebrated eastern traveller. House • AYLSHAM is situated on the southern side of the river Brue, which is navigable hence to Yarmouth, for barges of about 13 tons burthen. Aylsham during the reigns of Edward II. and III., was the chief town in this part of the kingdom for the linen manufacture; but in succeeding Trade. reigns, that business was superseded by the woollen manufacture; and in the time of James I., the inhabitants were principally employed in knitting worsted stockings, breeches, and waistcoat pieces. Since the introduction of frame knitting, that trade has also been lost; the town is governed by a bailiff. Aylsham church is said to have been erected by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the court of which duchy was at one period held here. There is a spa in the neighbourhood, the water of which has obtained considerable reputation for its medicinal properties in chronic disorders. Market, Tuesday.-Fairs, March 23; last Tuesday in September for lean cattle, ordinary horses, and pedlary; and October 6, for cattle.-Mail arrives 12.30 afternoon; departs 2.0 afternoon.-Bankers, Copeman and Co., draw upon Hankey and Co. ↑ AYNHO is a large and respectable village seated on a rock, below which issues a powerful spring of water, called the Town Well, which after running through the vale below, contributes to the supply of the Charwell. The church contains numerous monuments, several of which belong to the Cartwright family, who have long been in possession of the manor, and whose descendant R. W. Cartwright, Esq., has a handsome seat, the interior of which is adorned with a fine collection of paintings. An hospital was founded here for poor and sick travellers. The building is still standing, but is now occupied as a private house. K Town Well. |