Part 12 (2/2)
Names of Places.
County.
Number of Miles From
+--+----------------------+----------+-----------+-------------+ 8
Austell, or St. }
Austle[A] m.t. & pa}
Cornwall
Truro 14
Lostwithiel 9
45
Austerfield to & chap
W.R. York
Bawtry 2
Thorne 11
7
Austerson to
Chester
Northwich 4
Frodsham 6
+--+----------------------+----------+-----------+-------------+
Dist.
Map
Names of Places.
Number of Miles From
Lond.
Population.
+--+----------------------+----------------------+-----+-------+ 8
Austell, or St. }
Austle[A] m.t. & pa}
Grampound 6
243
8758
45
Austerfield to & chap
Doncaster 9
155
280
7
Austerson to
Tarporley 10
177
69
+--+----------------------+----------------------+-----+-------+
[A] ST. AUSTELL is a considerable market town, which belongs to the north-eastern division of the county, and is one of the polling places.
The petty sessions of the hundred of Powder are held here. Considerable quant.i.ties of corn and other articles are brought to the market. The town is seated on the eastern side of a hill which slopes gradually to a rivulet which runs along a narrow valley; this stream, and the inequality of the ground, have been rendered eminently useful to the manufactories of the neighbourhood. The water which has been conducted round the side of the hills, in its course impels the machinery of several stamping-mills, which have been erected on different levels. It is also employed to cleanse and separate the tin from the pounded ma.s.s.
Through its vicinity to the great tin mine of Polgooth, St. Austell has within the last sixty or seventy years, considerably increased in the number of its houses and inhabitants. The holding of the Blackmore Court here, which is the most considerable of the stannary courts, or courts relating to the tin works, have also contributed to augment its prosperity. The old town, or rather village, was at some little distance to the east, and its site is still marked by a few cottages; the present town is the regular thoroughfare for travellers from Plymouth to Falmouth; the streets are very narrow, and not having any pavement for foot pa.s.sengers are somewhat unsafe. The only blowing houses in the county are at the east end of this town; they are three in number, and very s.p.a.cious; the old smelting houses are supplied with coals, and are reverberatory; but in these blowing houses the fire is of charcoal, and ignited by air impelled through tubes by cylinders instead of bellows; this mode of fluxing the ore is considered by the workmen far preferable to the other. The inhabitants of this town, from its proximity to the sea, are princ.i.p.ally employed in the pilchard fishery and in mining; there is however a small manufactory of serges. The parish church is a fine old fabric, consisting of three aisles; the tower and some other parts of the structure are fancifully ornamented; various carvings, monstrous heads, angels, and other figures appear on the cornices. From the repet.i.tion of the shovel, pick, hammers, and other tools, it seems probable that the miners were the principle contributors towards the expences of the building. In the year 1774, as some tinners were searching for tin in a stream work near the town, about seventeen feet under the surface of the ground, they discovered a silver cup, which is now used for wine at the Communion table, in which were several ancient pieces of gold and silver ornaments; they consisted of bracelets, rings, and buckles, evidently for a person of high rank, with many of the most curious Saxon coins ever discovered at one time. All these articles fell out on moving the ground, and some were probably lost in shovelling out the rubbish; those which were picked up were dispersed about the country, and many of them broken. The celebrated Pentuan stone quarry, from which the materials of many churches and family seats have been taken, is in this parish. Polgooth mine (before mentioned) was considered the richest ever worked in England, and is situated about two miles south-west of the town. The surrounding country appears for many miles bleak, desolate, and barren, yet its bowels contain vast treasures; though, as a talented author has observed, ”like the shabby mien of a miser, its aspect does not correspond with its h.o.a.rds.” The shafts by which the miners descend, and through which the ore is raised to the surface, are scattered over a considerable extent of sterile ground, whose dreary appearance, and the sallow countenances of the miners, concur to excite ideas of gloom, apprehension, and melancholy.
The number of shafts is not less than fifty, from twenty to thirty of which are constantly in use. When a stranger is induced to descend, he is previously accoutred in a flannel s.h.i.+rt and trowsers, a close cap, an old hat to shelter his face from droppings, and a thick pair of shoes. A lighted candle is put into one hand, and a spare one suspended to a b.u.t.ton of his jacket. Every part of the ordinary clothing is laid aside, and the flannel dress worn close to the skin, in order to absorb the profuse perspiration which the closeness of the mine or the labour of mounting the ladders may occasion.
_Market_, Friday.--_Fairs_, Whit Thursday, and Nov. 30, for oxen, sheep, and cloth.--_Mail_ arrives 12.35 afternoon; departs 10.27.
morning.
[Sidenote: Blackmore Court held here.]
[Sidenote: Silver cup found 17 ft. under ground.]
Map
Names of Places.
County.
Number of Miles From
+--+-----------------------+----------+--------------+-------------+ 45
Austhorpe[A] to
W.R. York
Leeds 4
Wetherby 10
9
Austhwaite ham
c.u.mberland
Ravengla.s.s 11
Ulverston 10
45
Austonley to
W.R. York
Huddersfield 8
Barnsley 9
39
Austrey pa
Warwick
Tamworth 6
Atherstone 7
45
Austwick to
W.R. York
Settle 5
Ingleton 9
24
Authorpe pa
Lincoln
Alford 4
Louth 7
41
Avebury, or Abury[B] pa
Wilts
Marlborough 7
Swindon 11
14
Aveley pa
Ess.e.x
Purfleet 2
G. Thurrock 4
17
Avenbury pa
Hereford
Bromyard 2
Ledbury 13
15
Avening pa
Gloucester
Tetbury 4
M. Hampton 5
30
Averham[C] pa
Nottingham
Newark 3
Southwell 5
11
Aveton-Gifford pa
Devon
Modbury 3
Dartmouth 13
+--+-----------------------+----------+--------------+-------------+
Dist.
Map
Names of Places.
Number of Miles From
Lond.
Population.
+--+-----------------------+-------------------------+-------------+ 45
Austhorpe[A] to
Abberford 5
189
150
9
Austhwaite ham
Bootle 7
283
101
45
Austonley to
Wakefield 11
181
1420
39
Austrey pa
Orton 2
112
540
45
Austwick to
Hawes 20
241
614
24
Authorpe pa
Horncastle 13
144
121
41
Avebury, or Abury[B] pa
Calne 6
82
747
14
Aveley pa
Wennington 4
21
758
17
Avenbury pa
Hereford 15
125
314
15
Avening pa
Horseley 3
99
2396
30
Averham[C] pa
Tuxford 13
127
182
11
Aveton-Gifford pa
Kingsbridge 5
208
939
+--+-----------------------+-------------------------+-------------+
[A] AUSTHORPE. This towns.h.i.+p gave birth to the celebrated civil engineer John Smeaton, distinguished as the architect of Eddystone Light-house, and, as the conductor of various other important undertakings. He was the son of an attorney, who, observing that he had a strong taste for mechanics, wisely allowed him to follow the impulse of his genius, and become 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.
[Sidenote: Birth-place of Smeaton the architect.]
[B] 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 with broken ma.s.ses of these ponderous monuments; yet enough remains to excite curiosity and prompt research. The following is a description of this great temple, in its original state:--Immediately within the ditch, and encompa.s.sing 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 circ.u.mference. 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.
[Sidenote: A British temple formed of enormous stones.]
[C] AVERHAM. This place is princ.i.p.ally remarkable for a monument contained in the church erected to the memory of Sir William Sutton, once lord of the manor, on which it is quaintly recorded that he had sixteen children, and an equal number of each s.e.x; of whom the one half
”Ushered to heaven their father, and the other Remained behind him to attend their mother.”
Map
Names of Places.
County.
Number of Miles From
+--+------------------------+----------+-------------+--------------+ 4
Avington[A] pa
Berks
Hungerford 3
Newbury 6
18
Avington[B] pa
Hants
Winchester 5
Alresford 4
41
Avon chap
Wilts
Chippenham 3
Malmsbury 9
39
Avon Da.s.sett pa
Warwick
Banbury 6
Kineton 6
11
Awlis...o...b.. pa
Devon
Honiton 2
Ottery St.M. 6
16
Awre pa
Gloucester
Blakeney 3
Berkeley 3
34
Axbridge[C] bo. m.t. & p
Somerset
Wells 10
Chedder 2
41
Axford ti
Wilts
Marlborough 3
Ramsbury 4
+--+------------------------+----------+-------------+--------------+
Dist.
Map
Names of Places.
Number of Miles From
Lond.
Population.
+--+------------------------+------------------------+-----+--------+ 4
Avington[A] pa
Kintbury 2
62
191
18
Avington[B] pa
Basingstoke 14
60
26
41
Avon chap
Calne 7
94
226
39
Avon Da.s.sett pa
Southam 9
75
11
Awlis...o...b.. pa
Collumpton 10
154
598
16
Awre pa
Newnham 4
124
1309
34
Axbridge[C] bo. m.t. & p
Bristol 18
130
998
41
Axford ti
Albourne 5
73
450
+--+------------------------+------------------------+-----+--------+
[A] 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 zig-zag 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 centres.
In this church there is also a very singular font, of rude workmans.h.i.+p, surrounded with grotesque figures, executed in ba.s.s-relief; that is to say, sculpture, the figures of which do not stand out from the ground in their full proportion.
[Sidenote: Sir Francis Burdett.]
[B] AVINGTON, anciently Abyngton, is remarkable for its beautiful 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 pa.s.sed 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.
[Sidenote: Seat of the Duke of Buckingham.]
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