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

Part 13

Chapter 133,292 wordsPublic domain

Map| Names of Places. | County. | Number of Miles From +--+-------------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+ 41|Ashton-Steeple[A] pa & ti|Wilts |Trowbridge 3|Melksham 4| 41|Ashton, West to|Wilts | ... 3| ... 5| 21|Ashurst pa|Kent |Tunbridge 7|Tunbr. Wells 5| 38|Ashurst pa|Sussex |Steyning 4|Henfield 3| 11|Ashwater pa|Devon |Holsworthy 7|Oakhampton 14| 18|Ashwell[B] pa|Herts |Baldock 4|Royston 6| 32|Ashwell pa|Rutland |Oakham 4|Cottesmere 3| 27|Ashwell-Thorpe pa|Norfolk |Wymondham 3|Attleburgh 7| 34|Ashwick pa|Somerset |Shepton Mall 4|Frome 9| 27|Ashwicken pa|Norfolk |Lynn 5|Castle Rising 5| 35|Ashwood ham|Stafford |Stourbridge 4|Dudley 3| 22|Ashworth chap|Lancaster|Rochdale 3|Bury 3| 43|Aske to|N.R. York|Richmond 2|Reeth 8| +--+-------------------------+---------+--------------+---------------+ |Dist.| Map| Names of Places. | Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population. +--+-------------------------+------------------------+-----+---------+ 41|Ashton-Steeple[A] pa & ti|Devizes 7| 96| 1754| 41|Ashton, West to| ... 9| 98| 374| 21|Ashurst pa|Groombridge 2| 34| 206| 38|Ashurst pa|W. Grinstead 4| 47| 423| 11|Ashwater pa|Launceston 8| 209| 862| 18|Ashwell[B] pa|Biggleswade 6| 41| 1072| 32|Ashwell pa|Overton 3| 99| 209| 27|Ashwell-Thorpe pa|Buckenham 7| 100| 471| 34|Ashwick pa|Wells 6| 118| 995| 27|Ashwicken pa|Swaffham 10| 98| 80| 35|Ashwood ham|Wolverhamp. 6| 123| ...| 22|Ashworth chap|Manchester 11| 192| 294| 43|Aske to|Darlington 11| 235| 105| +--+-------------------------+------------------------+-----+---------+

[A] ASHTON, or STEEPLE ASHTON is remarkable for its lofty and elegant church, which was built about the year 1480, though the chapels and a part of the chancel appear of a still earlier date. The tower which is high and handsome, was formerly surmounted by a spire or steeple, whence the village had its distinctive appellation. An inscription informs us that, in the year 1670, the spire being in height 93 feet above the tower, was rent by a violent thunder storm, and that in the same year, being almost re-erected, it was by a second storm again destroyed. The roof of the nave is formed by intersecting arches, which rest on canopied niches, adorned with whole length figures or flowers; and that of the aisles is profusely decorated with sculpture and tracery work, while the windows display some splendid remains of painted glass, the whole corresponding with the exterior in style and effect. Plot informs us that there was dug up at Steeple Ashton, a pavement, which he considered to be Roman, though different in materials and design from those commonly regarded as such. The Madrepore stone is found among the fossil productions of Ashton. Rowd Ashton, the seat of Richard Godolphin Long, Esq., is situated in a large and well wooded park. The Kennet and Avon canal from London to Bristol passes near this village.

[Sidenote: The church steeple twice thrown down by storms.]

[B] ASHWELL. This village, situate on the river Rhee, on the borders of Cambridgeshire, derives its present name from Escewelle, and is supposed by Camden to be of Roman origin, from the frequent discovery of Roman coins, and sepulchral urns, in an adjacent earthwork, or fortification, called Arbury banks. It is in a low situation on the northern edge of the county. Here a considerable spring breaks out from a rocky bank overhung with lofty ash-trees, from which a continued quantity of water flows, and being quickly collected into one channel, turns a mill, and soon after becomes a river. From this spring and these ash-trees, it is supposed the Saxons gave it the name of Ashwell. The village was anciently a demesne of the Saxon kings; but before the time of Edward the Confessor, it was granted to the Abbots of St. Peter's, at Westminster, to whom it continued to belong till the dissolution, when the Abbey was erected into a deanery, and after that into a bishopric; it, however, followed the fate of similar foundations; and when the bishopric was dissolved, in the reign of Edward VI., it was granted, with other manors, to the see of London, in which it is still invested. The church consists of a nave, aisle, and chancel, with a tower at the west-end, surmounted by a spire. In the chancel are several slabs, formerly inlaid with brasses. Among the inscriptions, Weever notices one with the words, "Orate pro--Walter Sommoner." "I reade," says Weever, "that one Walter Sumner held the manor of Ashwell of the King, by pettie sergeantie; viz. to find the king spits to rost his meate upon the day of his coronation: and John Sumner, his sonne, held the same manor by service, to turne a spit in the king's kitchen upon the day of his coronation."

[Sidenote: Powerful spring oozing from a rock.]

[A] ASKERNE. This village is one of the numerous places in the West Riding, which enjoys the distinction of a mineral spring. The water resembles that of Harrowgate Spa; but taken internally, differs materially in its operation, acting chiefly as a diuretic without any of that cathartic or purgative power, for which the Harrowgate waters are so remarkable. The village is situated at the foot of a hill; the spring rises at the distance of a few yards only from a piece of water called Askerne Pool, seven acres in extent, and is much frequented by rheumatic or scorbutic patients, who seldom fail to obtain the relief which they seek. Near this place it is said the British Prince Ambrosius defeated and put to death the fierce Saxon leader Hengist.

[Sidenote: The Saxon leader Hengist put to death.]

[B] ASKERTON. At this village there is a castle which was built by the Barons Dacre. This well known name is derived from the exploits of one of their ancestors at the siege of Acre, or Ptolemais, under Richard Coeur de Lion. There were two powerful branches of that name. The first family, called Lord Dacres of the South, held the castle of the same name, and are ancestors to the present Lord Dacre. The other family, descended from the same stock, were called Lord Dacres of the North, and were Barons of Gillesland and Graystock. A chieftain of the latter branch was warden of the West Marshes, during the reign of Edward VI. He was a man of a hot and obstinate character, as appears from some particulars of Lord Surrey's letter to Henry VIII., giving an account of his behaviour at the siege and storm of Jedburgh. The castle was formerly garrisoned by the Serjeant of Gillesland, who sometimes commanded and led the inhabitants against the Scots.

[Sidenote: Seat of Lord Dacre.]

[C] ASKHAM. This place consists of two manors. The hall, built in 1574, on the river Lowther, has an embattled roof, and a sombre aspect well suited to the gloom of the surrounding scenery. Several remarkable heaps of stones, among which, one is called the Druid's Cross, are in this neighbourhood; and also a large cairn, called the White-raise.

_Mail_ arrives at Lowther 1-1/2 miles distant 2.30 morning; departs 8 evening.

[Sidenote: Druid's Cross.]

[D] ASKRIGG. This ancient market town is situated near the river Ure and Swaledale Forest: it resembles a large village, and the occupations of the inhabitants are principally the knitting of stockings and making butter or cheese. It is remarkable, chiefly, for some considerable cataracts in its neighbourhood: as Millgill Force, a fall of from twenty to thirty yards; Whitfields Force, a grand specimen of the picturesque; and Hardrow Force, where the water falls in one grand sheet from a perpendicular height of one hundred feet. This town is one of the polling places appointed under the Reform Bill of 1832, for the North Riding.

_Market_, Thursday.--_Fairs_, May 10, horned cattle; May 12, and first Thursday in June, woollen cloth, pewter, brass, and milliners' goods; October 28, horned cattle; October 29, woollens, &c.

[Sidenote: Cataract 100 feet in height.]

[A] ASLACKBY. In this village, which is on the direct road from London to Lincoln, there was a commandery, or associated body of Knights Templars, founded in the time of Richard I., by John le Mareshall. It afterwards served for the hospitallers, and at the suppression of this society, the property was transferred to Edward, Lord Clinton. A farm-house, which now occupies the site of the old circular church, is called the temple. Of that ancient structure there yet remains a square embattled tower of two stories. The lower story is vaulted, and formed of eight groins, in the centre of which is displayed eight shields, and various coats of arms. The parish church is a handsome building, with an embattled tower at the west end. A castle formerly stood here, but no vestiges of the walls can now be seen: remnants, however, of the foss and earthworks point out the spot where it was situated.

_Mail_ arrives 7.40 morn.; departs 6.45 evening.

[Sidenote: Ancient village.]

[B] ASPATRIA, or ASPATRIC, is a long straggling village on the side of a hill, about five miles distant from the Irish sea. It now forms part of the estate of the Earl of Egremont, but is supposed to have derived its name from Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar. On removing the earth of a barrow, which stood at Beacon-hill, an eminence about 200 yards to the north of the village, in the year 1790, a human skeleton was found in a kind of chest, or kistvaen, formed by two large cobblestones at each end, and the same on each side. The feet were decayed and rotted off, but from the head to the ancle-bone, the skeleton measured seven feet. On exposure to the atmospheric air the other bones soon mouldered away. Near the shoulder, on the left side, was a broad sword five feet long, the guard of which was elegantly inlaid with silver flowers: a dirk, or dagger, lay on the right side; it was one foot and a half long, and the handle seemed to have been studded with silver. There were likewise found part of a golden fibula, or buckle, a broken battle-axe, an ornament for the end of a belt, a part of which yet remained, part of a spur, and a bit resembling a modern snaffle. Various figures, rudely sculptured, remained on the stones which enclosed the left side of the chest; they chiefly represented circles, each having within a cross in relief. Hayman Rooke, Esq., the learned antiquary, from whose account the above particulars are taken, supposed that the personage whose remains were found was buried soon after the first dawning of Christianity; and also, inferred from the rich ornaments found in the tomb, that he was a chieftain of high rank.

[Sidenote: Prodigious skeleton, 7ft. from the head to the ancle-bone.]

[Sidenote: Ancient relics found.]

[C] ASSENDON. At this township is a land spring, reputed the most eminent of its kind in England. The water only appears after a continuance of wet weather, but then issues forth in such abundance, that mills might be turned by the current, and the adjacent lowlands are inundated. This spring has been supposed by some to act on the principle of a natural syphon, and to be supplied from subterranean sources; but this is evidently erroneous, as the seasons of its flowing are uniformly after heavy rains.

[Sidenote: Wonderful spring.]

[A] ASTBURY, or AUSTBURY, is an extensive village and contains several gentlemen's seats. The church is a handsome gothic structure, with a lofty steeple. In the church yard are two ancient monuments, ornamented with the insignia of knighthood, but the names of the families whose memories they were intended to record are now lost. The parish of Astbury contains no less than twelve townships, of which the market town of Congleton is one. Each of these townships has its overseer and other officers, but the whole parish is under the government of one church-warden, the office of which is served in rotation by eight persons, vulgarly denominated the "Posts of the Parish;" though they should properly be called Provosts.

[Sidenote: Contains 12 townships.]

[B] ASTHALL. At this village is an old manorial mansion, now used as a farm-house, which was formerly the residence of Sir Richard Jones, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in the reign of Charles the First. In the north aisle of the church stands a large stone coffin, said to contain the remains of Alice Corbett, concubine to Henry I.

_Mail_ arrives 5 morning; departs 9.35 evening.

[Sidenote: Alice Corbett.]

[C] ASTLEY. This manor was held, in the reign of Henry II., by Philip de Estley, of the Earl of Warwick, by the service of holding the Earl's stirrup when he mounted or alighted from his horse. From this person are descended two families, seated at Hill Morton, in this county, and at Patshull, in Staffordshire. In the reign of Henry V. the estate passed by marriage to the Greys of Ruthin, from whom it descended to Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, and Duke of Suffolk, beheaded in the reign of Queen Mary, for an attempt to make Lady Jane Grey queen. The manor belongs at present to F.P. Newdigate, Esq. Astley Castle is surrounded by a moat, along the inner edge of which lie the remains of massive walls. The habitable part of the mansion is probably not older than the time of Mary; but it is clad in a garb of ivy, and other evergreens, which renders it singularly picturesque. In one room is preserved a portrait of the factious Suffolk, respecting whose capture the following particulars are related:--"Finding that he was forsaken, he put himself under the trust of one Underwood, as it is said, a keeper of his park here at Astley, who hid him for some few days in a large hollow tree, standing about two bow-shots from the church; but, being promised a reward, he betrayed him." The church of Astley having been made collegiate, by Lord Thomas de Astley, was by him rebuilt, and adorned with a spire, so lofty that it served as a land-mark in the deep wood-lands of the district, and was popularly termed "The lanthorn of Arden."--The interior is curious and interesting, although many monuments and decorations have been removed or destroyed at various times. On an altar-tomb at the west-end are the effigies, in alabaster, of a warrior and a lady; and on another, is the mutilated figure of a female in a recumbent posture: both are without inscription.

[Sidenote: Singular tenure.]

[Sidenote: Lord Suffolk betrayed by his keeper.]

[D] ASTLEY. This village is situated on the Severn, it was noted before the dissolution, for its priory of Benedictines, and is now remarkable chiefly for a hermitage formed in the living rock, and recently converted into an ale-house. The church, built in the Saxon style of architecture, contains some monuments and a few fragments of stained glass. Here is the ancient seat called Glasshampton.

[Sidenote: Hermitage.]