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

Part 17

Chapter 173,371 wordsPublic domain

[A] BABINGLEY. In this parish, the first Christian church in East Anglia is said to have been built. Several hills in the vicinity, called Christian Hills, render the opinion highly probable. The village is situated near that part of the Lincolnshire wash called Lynn Deeps.

[B] BABRAHAM, anciently Badburham, is situated in the hundred of Chilford. This place, which was one of the manors of Algar, Earl of Mercia, at the time of the Norman survey, formerly had a market on Mondays. About the year 1576, the whole manorial property in the parish fell into the possession of Sir Horatio Palavicini, a Genoese. According to the tradition of the neighbourhood, this gentleman was collector of the Pope's taxes in England, in the reign of Queen Mary, on whose death, and the consequent change in religion under Elizabeth, he (like the Vicar of Bray,) changed his faith, converted the Pope's money to his own use, and settled in this country. The following whimsical epitaph relates to this occurrence: it is printed in "Lord Orford's Anecdotes of Painting"--

"Here lyes Horatio Palavazine, Who robbed the Pope to lend the Queen. He was a thief--a thief? Thou lyest: For what! he robb'd but Antichrist, Him death with besome swept from Bab'ram. Into the bosom of ould Abraham: But then came Hercules with his club, And struck him down to Belzebub."

Sir Horatio was in great favour with Queen Elizabeth. He was naturalised, by patent, in 1516, and commanded one of the English men-of-war in the great battle with the Spanish Armada, in 1588; and he was employed by the Queen, in her negotiations with the German Princes: he died at his seat, in this parish, on the 6th of July, 1600. It appears by the register kept in the church, that his children were baptized and buried here: it is also recorded, that the marriage of Sir Horatio's widow with Sir Oliver Cromwell, the Protector's uncle, took place exactly a year and a day after her husband's decease. The poor of this parish are partly maintained by a bequest of £97. a year, expended under certain restrictions imposed by the donor. Here is an alms-house, and a free school, founded by Levinus Bush, Esq., and his sister, Mrs. Judith Bennet; and the yearly sum of £25. is appropriated to the apprenticing of children.

[Sidenote: Singular anecdote of the Pope's Tax-gatherer.]

[Sidenote: The Queen's favorite.]

|Dist.| Map|Names of Places.| Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population. +--+----------------+-------------------------+-----+-------+ 30|Babworth[A] pa|Worksop 7| 146| 449| 56|Bacheldre, or |Welshpool 12| 163| ...| | Bacheldref to| | | | 10|Bachymbyd to|Mold 11| 202| ...| 49|Bach-Yrys, or |Pont ar 7| 223| ...| | Machunis Isle|Dulas | | | 7|Backford to & pa|Liverpool 16| 186| 487| 34|Backwell, or |Axbridge 12| 125| 1038| 34| Bachwell pa| | | | 29|Backworth, or |Blyth 7| 281| 243| | Blackworth to| | | | 27|Baconsthorpe to|Aylsham 8| 121| 333| 22|Bacop chap|Burnley 6| 205| ...| 17|Bacton pa|Hay 14| 139| 178| 27|Bacton pa|Worsted 7| 128| 498| 36|Bacton pa|Ixworth 9| 76| 758| +--+----------------+-------------------------+-----+-------+

[A] BABWORTH. The hall is the seat of the Hon. J.B. Simpson; it a plain white-fronted edifice, the surrounding grounds which are very beautiful, were laid out by the celebrated Repton. Babworth church is a neat gothic building, with a small steeple; it is worthy of remark, that there are two trees growing out of the roof of the south porch. Near this village the ground begins to rise, and displays the most enchanting scenery of woods, lawns, glades, heaths, cultivated farms, and ornamental seats. The late Paul Sandby, Esq., R.A., who died on the 8th of November, 1809, was descended from a branch of the Sandby family, of Babworth, and was born at Nottingham, in 1732. In 1746 he went to London, and having an early bias towards the arts, he got introduced into the drawing room of the Tower. After two years he was appointed draughtsman, under the inspection of Mr. David Watson, who was employed by the late Duke of Cumberland to take a survey of the Highlands. During this excursion he made several sketches from the terrific scenery of that romantic country, from which he afterwards made a number of small etchings, which were published in a folio volume. From this circumstance, perhaps, we may account for the bold and striking style by which the paintings of this excellent artist are so peculiarly distinguished. In 1752, he quitted this employment and resided with his brother at Windsor. Several of the most beautiful views in the neighbourhood of Windsor and Eton, now became the subject of his pencil; here also he obtained that skill in depicting gothic architecture which gave so beautiful an effect to those landscapes that Sir Joseph Banks purchased them all at a very liberal price. Mr. Sandby published several prints in ridicule of the inimitable Hogarth's "Analysis of Beauty," but he afterwards declared, that had he known the merits of that exquisite painter at the time, he should not have dared to depreciate them. On the institution of "the Royal Academy," he was elected one of the Academicians. He was afterwards appointed chief drawing master of the Royal Academy at Woolwich, and held the office with honour and credit to the day of his death.

[Sidenote: Trees grow out of the roof of the church.]

[Sidenote: Paul Sandby, Esq.]

[Sidenote: Sandby the painter.]

[A] BADBY. This extensive village is situated on the brow of a hill, in the large uninclosed district of Badby-Down. Here are numerous springs, and several quarries of flag-stone, which, from its excellence, is very extensively employed for the purposes of building and paving. On the summit of Arbury Hill, in this parish, is a large encampment, which is attributed to the Romans: the ramparts are very steep, and the whole is encompassed by a very wide and deep foss.

[Sidenote: Quarries.]

[B] BADDESLEY. This village was celebrated a short time ago for a singular tree it contained, from which was frequently heard to issue groans as though uttered by a person in acute agony. The tree was an elm, young, vigorous, and to all appearance perfectly sound; and what is most wonderful, naturalists could assign no physical reason for the phenomena. Its fame spread far and wide; a pamphlet was written with an account of it, and persons came miles to visit it. The tree, however, it would seem with the fickleness attendant too often upon those who have gained celebrity, would not always groan, yet no cause could be assigned for its temporary cessations, either from seasons or weather. Many superstitious tales were raised by the country people and alleged as reasons for this singular occurrence; and for eighteen or twenty months it continued an object of considerable interest; a gentleman of the name of Forbes, making an experiment to discover its cause, by boring a hole in its trunk, put a period to its agonies, it never groaned again. It was afterwards rooted up with a further view to make a discovery, but in vain. It is universally believed that there was no trick in the affair, but that some natural cause really existed, though never understood.

[Sidenote: The groaning tree.]

[C] BADDILEY. A parish in the hundred of Nantwich. This place is principally remarkable for its church, standing on a small green surrounded by farm buildings. It consists of a small nave and chancel, and was constructed entirely of English oak; it is of the most remote antiquity, and presented a most unique specimen of ecclesiastical buildings of timber, previous to the introduction of stone; the upright timbers being much decayed were cased with brick in 1811, it having stood so many centuries that it was in danger of falling; the roof and ceiling are still in fine preservation. In the chancel are remains of some ancient stalls, and two elegant marble monuments, erected to the Mainwaring family, who were lords of the manor. Baddiley Hall, the former residence of this family, was a very old irregular building of timber and plaister, but has been lately pulled down.

[Sidenote: An oaken church.]

[D] BADDOW. (Great). This extensive, populous, and genteel village, from its peculiarly delightful situation, has become the residence of a considerable number of highly respectable families. Previous to the conquest, the manor was part of the possessions of Algar, Earl of Mercia. In consequence, however, of the rebellion of his son and successor, Earl Eadwine, who was slain in battle, this lordship, with other estates, was granted by King William to the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Caen, in Normandy. In the reign of Henry I., the crown was again possessed of it, and about the same period, the Earls of Gloucester became its proprietors; from which time, after having been vested in many noble families, it is now in the possession of the family of Houblon. Two chauntries of some value were formerly in the church.

[A] BADDOW, (Little). The church at this place contains a rich and splendid monument to the memory of Sir Henry Mildmay, Knight, who died in October, 1639. He is represented in a full suit of armour, reposing under a dome, which rests upon black marble pillars; two female figures kneel at his feet; the one elderly, and dressed in a scarf and hood, the other young, and magnificently attired in the fashion of the time. The head of the knight is supported by a pillow. From a latin inscription upon an oval tablet, we learn that Sir Henry having served as a soldier in the Irish wars, was for his gallantry knighted in the field. The carved effigies of two female figures, said by tradition to have been sisters and founders of this church, occupy recesses in the south wall of the centre aisle. Upon examining the two graves in which it was supposed that the corpses of the persons whose figures stood in the niches were interred, in one of them were found three skeletons, and two in the other, but without the slightest vestige of wood, linen, coffin, or any other covering to the bodies. In the year 1817, Edward Bullin, Esq., bequeathed 196 acres of land, and a wood containing thirty-six acres, for the purpose of clothing and educating the children in this parish and that of Boreham.

[Sidenote: Sir Henry Mildmay.]

[Sidenote: Skeletons found.]

[B] BADLESMERE. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, lord of the manor in the reign of Edward the Second, obtained a license for founding a house of regular canons in this place. The church is a small and very plain Saxon structure. In the porch are the fronts of two ancient wooden seats, carved in high relief; one represents a shield, on which are the star, ribbon, and motto of the order of the garter: on the other are some Scriptural sentences, relative to the Holy Trinity, in four circles, united by bands; so that the words Pater, Filius, Spisces and Deus, though only once repeated in the circles, form a part of every sentence.

[Sidenote: Curious carvings in wood.]

[C] BADMINTON, (Great) has been the seat of the ducal family of Beaufort, ever since the demolition of Ragland Castle, in the civil wars. Badminton House, the family residence of the duke, is situated in a noble park nearly nine miles in circumference, through which various avenues have been formed. It was erected by the first duke of Beaufort in the year 1682. It is a very extensive building, on the French model. In the hall is a large sarcophagus of Roman sculpture, representing a bacchanalian procession; this was given to the third duke of Beaufort, by Cardinal Alberoni. By that distinguished prelate, who died in 1745, many curious and original paintings were procured during his residence in Italy; among them is a Holy Family, by Raphael; and several by Guido and Carlo Dolci are much esteemed. He also purchased the very singular and finely painted satirical picture by Salvator Rosa, for which that artist was expelled Rome. "The Sovereigns of the different nations are here depicted by different animals, as an eagle, a wolf, a sheep, a hog, a fox, a cow, and an ass; the latter has the pontifical pall thrown over him, and the blind goddess, Fortune, is represented showering her gifts over the whole group." Some excellent landscapes, by the Italian masters, are also preserved here; and a very fine series of fourteen portraits, of the Beauforts, from John of Gaunt, from whom they trace their genealogy. Badminton church is an elegant structure; it was built by the late duke in 1785, and contains many monuments of the Beaufort family.

[Sidenote: Duke of Beaufort's seat.]

[Sidenote: Fine paintings.]

[A] BAGINTON. The Hall, a seat of a descendant of the Bromley family, who purchased the estate in the reign of James I., was built by secretary Bromley. This gentleman, one of the most honest and able servants of Queen Anne, was Speaker of the House of Commons. In proof of the high estimation in which he was held, it is necessary only to cite a memorable circumstance relative to the residence under notice. In 1706, the family seat at Baginton was reduced to the ground by fire. Intelligence of this calamity was conveyed to the owner while attending his duty in the House of Commons, and a considerable sum was immediately voted by parliament towards a restoration of the structure. Here is barely to be traced the site of the castellated residence of Sir William Bagot, a firm adherent of Richard II., at which the Duke of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV., lodged the night previous to his projected personal contest with Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in the presence of the King on Gosford Green, where the lists were formed; the scene is admirably described by Shakespeare.

[Sidenote: Once destroyed by fire].

[B] BAGLAN is a parish in the hundred of Neath. The village is of the most romantic beauty, and the scenery in the neighbourhood is of a delightful character. Near this place is Britton Ferry, which is interesting, not only on account of its sylvan fascinations, but as being the domain of Lord Jersey, whose extensive plantations spread over several bold hills westward of the Neath river, a stream which here emerges in a fine sweep, between woody banks, partly broken into cliffs and at a short distance descends into the sea. "From a delightful shady walk over the stream, we branched off," says Mr. Barber, "into an 'alley green,' which led us up a steep hill, covered with large trees, and tangled underwood; the ascent was judiciously traced, where several bare crags, projecting from the soil, formed an opposite contrast to the luxuriant verdure which prevailed around. On gaining the summit, the charms of Britton Ferry disclosed themselves in 'an ample theatre of sylvan grace,' of more than common beauty: beyond which, the Bristol Channel, bounded by the aerial tint of its opposite coast, formed the distance. From this roaming prospect, however, the eye gladly returned to gaze on the local beauties of the scene, the tufted knoll, the dark glade, and the majestic river." The mansion is a very ordinary building; the house is low having two wings, with attic windows in the roof, ornamented with a bullustraded parapet. The neat simplicity of the hamlet deserves remark; perhaps the church is unrivalled, both for its picturesque situation, and moral interest. The custom of planting evergreens over the remains of departed friends, and bedecking them with flowers at certain seasons of the year, is here attended to with peculiar care; and to this pleasing tribute of tenderness and affection the "Bard of Avon" refers in the following beautiful lines:--

"With fairest flowers while summer lasts, I'll sweeten thy sad grave, thou shalt not lack The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose: nor The azured harebell, like thy veins: no, nor The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, Out-sweetened not thy breath."