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

Part 8

Chapter 83,315 wordsPublic domain

[A] ANGLESEY (Isle and County of), forms one of the six counties of North Wales, and is situated at the north western extremity of the principality. It is watered on three sides by the Irish sea, and separated on the eastern side from Caernarvonshire, by the serpentine strait of Menai, from three-quarters to half a mile broad. Its form is irregular, being indented with many small bays and creeks, which gave it some maritime importance under its native princes. It has received numerous appellations from the ancient Britons; the most approved of which was Mon, signifying remote, Latinised by the Romans into Mona, the "nurse of Wales," from its fruitfulness; and changed by the Saxons into Angles-ey, or the Englishman's Island. It was the principal establishment of the Druids in Britain, until this island was invaded by the Romans, A.D. 59, under Suetonius Paulinus, who ordered their groves to be cut down, and stationed a garrison to insure obedience. The climate of Anglesey is mild, and the sea-breezes render the weather more temperate here than in the other counties of North Wales, although from the same cause it is less clear: that portion of the island which borders on the Menai, the site of the terrific Druidical groves, is richly wooded. The interior, on the contrary, owing to the great scarcity of fuel, has been rendered nearly devoid of wood; and the greater part of the island possesses little of hill and dale beyond a gentle and undiversified undulation of surface; its general aspect is uninviting and cheerless. The land, however, is good, and under proper management very productive, as respects both tillage and pasturage. About 25,000 head of black cattle (exclusive of sheep and hogs), are annually supplied to the English market, where they are much admired for their flavour and tenderness, occasioned by the short bite of the pasturage on which they feed. Before the erection of the suspension bridge, the passage of the numerous droves of cattle at the five authorized ferries of the Menai, was a very extraordinary sight; they were made to swim over, guided by the drovers in boats. Butter, cheese, hides, tallow, wax, and honey, form also great articles of trade here; throughout the island there are but few manufactures of any importance. The shore abounds in some of the most highly prized marine productions, and is especially celebrated for the variety and beauty of its sea shells. Anglesey is as interesting to the antiquary, as to the natural philosopher. The ancient British vestiges are very numerous; comprising no less than twenty-eight cromlechs, or Druidical altars, together with circles, monumental stones, entrenchments, and other remains of a similar description, both British and Roman, which will receive attention in their proper places; several of the parish churches (of which the whole, seventy-four, stand near the coast), with various monastic remains, also deserve examination on the score of antiquity. Mona, now Anglesey, was the chief seat of the Druids, A.D. 59. Suetonius Paulinus, in the reign of Nero, was invested with the command of an army, and prepared to signalize his name by victories over those barbarians. Finding this island the chief seat of the Druids, he resolved to attack it, and bring into subjection a place which was the centre of their superstition, and which afforded protection to all their baffled forces. The Britons endeavoured to obstruct his landing on this sacred island, both by the force of their arms, and the terrors of their religion. The women and priests were intermingled with the soldiers upon the shore; and running about with flaming torches in their hands, and tossing their disheveled hair, they struck greater terror into the astonished Romans by their howlings, cries and execrations, than the real danger from the armed forces was able to inspire. But Suetonius, exhorting his troops to disregard the menaces of a superstition which he despised, impelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the Druids in the same fires which those priests had prepared for their captive enemies; destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars--and having thus triumphed over the religion of the Britons, he thought his future progress would be easy in reducing the people to subjection; but in this expectation he was disappointed. The circumference of the island is seventy-six miles. The sea-passage from Holyhead to Dublin, is about sixty miles, which is now traversed by steam packets daily. Next to agriculture, and the rearing of cattle, mining affords most employment to the labouring population; a great number of persons are also engaged in fishing and catching wild-fowl, round the coast. It comprises 200,000 acres of land.

[Sidenote: Originally the principal establishment of the Druids.]

[Sidenote: Annual exportation of cattle.]

[Sidenote: Prized for its marine productions.]

[Sidenote: Invasion of the Romans]

[Sidenote: The Druids burnt in the fires they had prepared for their enemies.]

Map| Names of Places. | County. | Number of Miles From | +--+----------------------+----------+---------------+-------------+ 37 |Agmering pa|Sussex |L. Hampton 4|Arundel 4| 46 |Angram to|N.R. York |Tadcaster 3|Wetherby 7| 43 |Angram Grange to|N.R. York |Easingwold 4|Thirsk 7| 29 |Anick to|Northumb |Hexham 2|Corbridge 3| 29 |Anick Grange to|Northumb | ... 2| ... 3| 46 |Anlaby to|E.R. York |Hull 4|Beverley 7| 27 |Anmer pa|Norfolk |Castle Rising 6|Burnham M. 10| 30 |Annesley pa|Nottingham|Mansfield 6|Nottingham 10| 39 |Ansley[A] pa|Warwick |Nuneaton 5|Atherstone 3| 35 |Anslow, or Annesley to|Stafford |Burton-on-T. 3|Uttoxeter 9| +--+----------------------+----------+---------------+-------------+ |Dist.| Map| Names of Places. | Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population. +--+----------------------+--------------------------+-------------+ 37 |Agmering pa|Steyning 8| 58| 928| 46 |Angram to|York 6| 194| 67| 43 |Angram Grange to|Borobridge 11| 217| 28| 29 |Anick to|Newcastle 18| 278| 163| 29 |Anick Grange to| ... 18| 278| 36| 46 |Anlaby to|South Cave 7| 171| | 27 |Anmer pa|Lynn 11| 106| 132| 30 |Annesley pa|Newsted Ab. 3| 134| 402| 39 |Ansley[A] pa|Coventry 9| 101| 773| 35 |Anslow, or Annesley to|Abbots Brom 8| 128| 270| +--+----------------------+--------------------------+-----+-------+

[A] ANSLEY became the property of the Ludford family, by purchase, in 1613. Ansley Hall, an irregular but commodious residence, the manorial seat of John Newdigate Ludford, Esq., is situated in an extensive park, rich in natural and artificial beauties, containing a hermitage erected with the materials of an ancient oratory, in which Warton, who visited it in 1758, left his beautiful verses, beginning:--

Beneath this stony roof reclined, I sooth to peace my pensive mind.

On an insulated spot is also a Chinese temple, or cell, which contains a monument of the Purefoy family, removed from Caldecote Church in 1796. Ansley church has some remains of Saxon and early Norman architecture, and a square tower of remarkable beauty at the west end.

[Sidenote: A hermitage and Chinese temple.]

Map| Names of Places. | County. | Number of Miles From | +--+---------------------+----------+--------------+--------------+ 18|Anstey[A] pa|Herts |Barkway 3|Buntingford 4| 23|Anstey chap|Leicester |Leicester 4|Mount Sorrel 5| 39|Anstey pa|Warwick |Coventry 5|Nuneaton 6| 41|Anstey pa|Wilts |Hindon 5|Shaftesbury 6| 11|Anstey, East pa|Devon |Dulverton 3|S. Moulton 10| 11|Anstey, West pa|Devon | ... 4| ... 9| 45|Anston to & pa|W.R. York |Worksop 6|Tickhill 7| 8|Anthony, St. pa|Cornwall |Falmouth 5|Helston 8| 8|Anthony, St. pa|Cornwall |St. Mawes 2|Falmouth 3| 27|Antingham pa|Norfolk |N. Walsham 3|Cromer 6| 8|Anthony, West, or St.| | | | | Jacobs[B] pa|Cornwall |Devonport 4|Saltash 4| 7|Antrobus to|Chester |Northwich 4|Warrington 8| 24|Anwick pa|Lincoln |Sleaford 5|Tattershall 8| 28|Apethorpe chap|Northamp |Wandesford 4|Stamford 7| 24|Apley chap|Lincoln |Wragby 2|Lincoln 10| 15|Apperley ham|Gloucester|Tewkesbury 4|Cheltenham 6| 24|Appleby[C] pa|Lincoln |Glandford B. 7|Burton 5| +--+---------------------+----------+--------------+--------------+ |Dist.| Map| Names of Places. |Number of Miles From |Lond.|Population. +--+---------------------+-------------------------+-----+--------+ 18|Anstey[A] pa|Stocking Pel. 4| 33| 417| 23|Anstey chap|Loughboro' 8| 100| 850| 39|Anstey pa|Rugby 10| 93| 268| 41|Anstey pa|Wilton 9| 95| 348| 11|Anstey, East pa|Bampton 6| 169| 166| 11|Anstey, West pa| ... 7| 169| 226| 45|Anston to & pa|Sheffield 10| 152| 776| 8|Anthony, St. pa|Lizard Point 12| 275| 300| 8|Anthony, St. pa|Truro 9| 270| 144| 27|Antingham pa|Aylesham 6| 126| 248| 8|Anthony, West, or St.| | | | | Jacobs[B] pa|St. Germains 3| 123| 3099| 7|Antrobus to|Frodsham 11| 179| 476| 24|Anwick pa|Metheringh 9| 120| 235| 28|Apethorpe chap|Oundle 6| 84| 297| 24|Apley chap|Horncastle 12| 143| 152| 15|Apperley ham|Glocester 6| 104| 401| 24|Appleby[C] pa|Barton 8| 163| 517| +--+---------------------+-------------------------+-----+--------+

[A] ANSTEY. In this village are the remains of a castle, built in the reign of the Conqueror, by Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, for the purpose of keeping the English in greater subjection; it was demolished in the time of Henry III., and the parish church formed of its materials. The moat surrounding the mount upon which the keep was built, with additional works made in the reign of King John, still remains. In the south aisle of the church is an ancient monument, with the effigies, as traditionally reported, of Richard de Anstre the founder. The Roman road called Ermine Street, passes through this village.

[Sidenote: Ruins of a Castle.]

[B] ST. ANTHONY, consists of the two manors of East and West Anthony, formerly in the Dawney family, but now in that of the Carews. East Anthony House, the seat of the Right Hon. Reginald Pole Carew, M.P., is situated on a branch of the Lynher Creek, nearly opposite Trematon Castle. It is a large square building, of Pentuan stone, finished by Gibbs the architect, about the year 1721. This mansion contains a respectable collection of old portraits, amongst which is one of Richard Carew, the historian, with a device of a diamond on an anvil, with a hammer suspended over it. The church contains several monuments well deserving attention. Besides numerous memorials of the Carew family, there is in the chancel, the form of a lady, on a brass plate, beneath an elegant gothic canopy, in memory of Margery Arundell, who died Lady of the Manor in the early part of the fifteenth century. Sir Alexander Carew, a gentleman of large property, and one of the representatives of the county, at the commencement of the civil wars, being averse to the measures of the court, and having been intrusted by Parliament with the command of St. Michael's Island and Fort, he attempted to deliver them into the King's possession; but the design being discovered to the Parliament, he was suddenly seized and carried prisoner to Plymouth, and there the women were so enraged against him, that it was with difficulty he was rescued from their vengeance. From thence he was conveyed by sea to London, where he was expelled by the Commons, and being tried by a court-martial, was found guilty and beheaded on Tower Hill, December 23, 1644. WEST ANTHONY, or St. Jacobs. This is a very pleasing village, which has risen into importance from its proximity to the towns of Devonport, Plymouth and Stonehouse; it is a favourite residence of the officers connected with the dockyards and navy at these important towns. Near this place is Mount Edgecomb, the residence of the Earl of that title; it is celebrated for the beauty of its situation, near the sea, and being a much admired stroll for the inhabitants of, and visitors to Plymouth.

[Sidenote: Mount Edgecomb.]

[Sidenote: Seat of the Carew family.]

[Sidenote: Sir A. Crew beheaded.]

[C] APPLEBY is situate on the river Ancholme, which rises in the wolds near Market Raisin, whence, it takes a northerly direction near Glandford Bridge, it is navigable to the Humber for barges of small burden. That very ancient British road--the Ermine-street--passes through the village. This line of road was afterwards adopted by the Romans; it enters the county to the west of Stamford, and preserving nearly a due northerly direction, passing through the city of Lincoln, continues its course to the banks of the Humber; it is cast up to a great height, and is in some places seven yards in breadth.

[A] APPLEBY, a populous village, which connects the four counties of Leicester, Derby, Stafford, and Warwick. Here is a free grammar school for 100 boys, founded by Sir John Moore, in 1697.

[B] APPLEBY. This town is situated on the river Eden, by which it is almost surrounded, and by some antiquaries it is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman station Aballaba. It has been the county town since the reign of Edward the Confessor. It is governed by a Mayor, Aldermen, and capital Burgesses; the Mayor having authority to arrest for any sum without limitation. Appleby did send two representatives to Parliament, but has been disfranchised by the Reform Bill. It has many times been assailed by the Scots, who burnt it in 1388; and in 1598 it suffered seriously by a pestilence, from which time it has never recovered its former size and consequence. The town at present consists of one broad street, built irregularly on the slope of a hill, at the upper part of which stands the castle, which is of early Norman, if not of Saxon origin; and at the lower end the parish church. The ancient market houses or cloisters, were pulled down in 1811, and a handsome gothic building, erected by Smirke, in their stead. Here are also a town-hall and gaol; and at each end of the town stands a stone obelisk or cross. Appleby received charters from Hen. II., John, and Hen. III., all which were given up to James II., since which period it has subsisted as a borough by prescription. Crackenthorpe Hall, a manorial residence in this parish, was from the earliest period of authenticated record, the mansion of the Machels, a Saxon family, who eventually alienated it to the late Earl of Lonsdale. Near this seat, which is at present neglected, is a Roman camp 300 yards long and 150 yards broad, with three entrances, and a watch tower or fort, at the distance of bow-shot. Appleby has produced some eminent characters, among whom should be noticed Thomas de Veripont, Bishop of Carlisle, in 1255. Thomas de Appleby, Bishop of Carlisle, in 1363. Roger de Appleby, Bishop of Ossory, in 1404; and Dr. Christopher Potter, Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, Prebendary of Windsor, and Dean of Worcester; the last named was vice-chancellor of Oxford when the civil wars of Charles I. broke out, and sent all his plate to the king, stating that he would drink as Diogenes did, from the hollow of his hand, before his majesty should want. Here is a free Grammar School, richly endowed, which is open to all the children of the town upon paying 2s. 6d. per quarter to the Master; and also five scholarships, founded by the Earl of Thanet at Queen's College, Oxford, and entitled to participate in five exhibitions of £60. per annum at the same college, on the foundation of Lady Elizabeth Hastings. An Hospital for thirteen widows, founded by the celebrated Anne, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery, heiress of the Cliffords, the possessors of the castle for several centuries; by the marriage of whose eldest daughter it became the property of the family of Tufton, Earl of Thanet. The main portion of the present castle which is of a square form, was built in 1686 out of the ruins of a part of the former, by Thomas, Earl of Thanet. Appleby Castle survived the attacks of the Parliamentary Army, under the influence of its owner, the aforesaid Countess Anne, but was compelled to yield in 1648. The church of St. Lawrence, which was partly built by the same spirited lady, contains a noble monument to her memory. The market is one of the best supplied with corn in its vicinity. It however possesses but little trade, and no manufacture of importance.

_Market_, Saturday--_Mail_ arrives at 1-1/2 A.M., departs 11-3/4 P.M.--_Fairs_, October 7 and 8, for sheep, &c; November 24, for sheep and oxen; November 5, for pigs.

[Sidenote: Burnt by the Scots.]

[Sidenote: Eminent characters born here.]

[Sidenote: Appleby castle.]

[A] APPLEDORE is situated on the banks of the river Rother, in the hundred of Blackburn, lathe of Scray, and was a place of some maritime consequence in the reign of Alfred. The town is at present chiefly inhabited by graziers and others employed in the marshes, to which it is very near. The church is built on the foundation of a castle or fort, which had been erected by the Danes, who sailed up to this town in the year 893.

_Market_. Tuesday.--_Fairs_. Jan. 11, and 4th Mon. in June for cattle and pedlery.

[Sidenote: Principally inhabited by Graziers.]

[B] APPLESHAW.--Great Show Fair, Friday and Saturday before Weyhill Fair. Nov. 4 and 5, all for sheep.

[C] APPLETHWAITE. All the fisheries on the lovely lake of Winandermere belong to the inhabitants of this thriving village, and subject only to a tithe of the fish caught to the Rector of Winandermere, who makes composition for the same, by a sum prescribed by each boat. The red char, esteemed so great a delicacy, is said to be peculiar to the lakes of Winandermere and Ullswater; this delicious fish is taken in nets during the months of October and May, when they are potted and sent to different parts of the kingdom. About the beginning of September a grand regatta is given on the lucid waters of the lake, attended by families of the first distinction.

[Sidenote: Lake of Winandermere.]

[Sidenote: Grand Regatta.]