Part 19 (1/2)
[A] GREAT BARR is an agreeable village, which has long been the property of the Scott family, who have here one of the finest mansions in the county. This seat stands in a beautiful valley, affording the most delightful prospects of hill and dale, varied by wood and water. Shady walks and rustic seats furnish the most attractive conveniences for the promenade. One object in particular fixes the attention; it is an urn near the flower garden, to the memory of Miss Mary Dolman, the cousin of Shenstone, whose elegant pen supplied a beautiful tribute in Latin. The summit of Barr Beacon, which is 653 feet in height, was the spot from whence the Druids gave notice, by watch-fires, of their periodical sacrifices; and it was used both by the Saxons and the Danes, as a beacon to alarm the country in times of danger. The chapel of the village is of remarkable beauty; its eastern window contains a painting on gla.s.s by Mr. Eginton, who has improved upon the design of the Rev.
Mr. Peter's ”Spirit of a Child.”
[Sidenote: Barr Beacon, 653 feet high.]
[B] GREAT BARRINGTON is a parish containing about 1000 acres, including some portion of Oxfords.h.i.+re within its limits, as well as a small tract belonging to Berks.h.i.+re. Previous to the conquest, the manor was held by Earl Harold; the present owner is Lord Dynevor, Lord Lieut. and Cust.
Rot. of Carmarthen. Barrington church appears to have been erected about the time of Henry VII. Beneath one of the windows of the aisle are the monument and effigies of Captain Edward Bray, grandfather of Sir Giles Bray, lord of the manor, who is represented in armour, with a ruff round his neck and a sword girt on the ”right” side. This peculiarity originated from the captain having killed a man at Tilbury camp; and, in token of his sorrow, he determined never more to use his right hand.
Lord Chancellor Talbot was buried in this church; he was the son of William Talbot, Bishop of Durham, and was born in the year 1684. After being elected a fellow of All Soul's College, Oxford, he married, and consequently was compelled to give up his fellows.h.i.+p. When he left the university, he was admitted a member of the society of Lincoln's Inn, and was speedily called to the bar. He was chosen to represent the now disfranchised borough of Tregony, in Cornwall, and afterwards was made member for the city of Durham. He died in the enjoyment of the highest character, after a short illness, on the 14th of February, 1737. Few Chancellors have been more lamented, both in public and private life.
Lord Talbot acquired universal esteem. The Hall was built by him in the year 1734, soon after which it was destroyed by fire. The grounds furnish a good specimen of the ”ferme ornee,” (ornamental farm) and the park, about three miles in circ.u.mference, is well planted with a variety of beautiful trees.
[Sidenote: Capt. Edward Bray.]
Map
Names of Places.
County.
Number of Miles From
+--+-------------------------+---------+--------------+-------------+ 33
Barrow pa
Salop
M. Wenlock 4
Bridgenorth 6
36
Barrow pa
Suffolk
Bury 6
Newmarket 9
34
Barrow-Gourney pa
Somerset
Bristol 5
Axbridge 12
7
Barrow, Great pa & to
Chester
Chester 6
Northwich 13
24
Barrow-on-Humber pa
Lincoln
Barton 3
Grimsby 17
34
Barrow, North pa
Somerset
Castle Carey 3
Ilchester 8
34
Barrow, South pa
Somerset
... 4
... 7
23
Barrow-on-Soar[A] pa & to
Leicester
Mount Sorrel 2
Loughboro' 3
24
Barrowby pa
Lincoln
Grantham 2
Newark 12
32
Barrowden pa
Rutland
Uppingham 6
Stamford 8
22
Barrowford to
Lancaster
Colne 2
c.l.i.theroe 5
54
Barry pa
Glamorgan
Cardiff 9
Cowbridge 7
54
Barry Isle[B] Isle
Glamorgan
... 9
... 8
+--+-------------------------+---------+--------------+-------------+
Dist.
Map
Names of Places.
Number of Miles From
Lond.
Population.
+--+-------------------------+------------------------+-----+-------+ 33
Barrow pa
Broseley 2
146
351
36
Barrow pa
Mildenhall 9
69
856
34
Barrow-Gourney pa
Pensford 7
120
279
7
Barrow, Great pa & to
Tarporley 5
183
436
24
Barrow-on-Humber pa
Brigg 11
167
1334
34
Barrow, North pa
Wincanton 8
116
150
34
Barrow, South pa
... 9
117
139
23
Barrow-on-Soar[A] pa & to
Leicester 9
107
6254
24
Barrowby pa
Colterswor 10
112
687
32
Barrowden pa
Oakham 8
92
485
22
Barrowford to
Burnley 6
216
2633
54
Barry pa
Llandaff 9
169
72
54
Barry Isle[B] Isle
... 9
169
...
+--+-------------------------+------------------------+-----+-------+
[A] BARROW. This large and pleasant village appears to have taken its name from an ancient tumulus. It is occupied princ.i.p.ally by gentlemen farmers, many of whom, however, derive great profit from the quant.i.ties of lime which they get up and burn. This village having been for many centuries celebrated for a hard blue stone, similar to that in the vale of Belvoir, and when calcined, produces a very fine matter, from which is prepared a particularly hard, firm, and greatly esteemed cement.
Various fossil remains are found amongst the limestone. One of the petrifactions, still preserved at Cambridge, with Dr. Woodward's fossils, is a plain and bold representation of a flat-fish, about twelve inches long. Mr. Jones, in his ”Philosophical Disquisitions,” notices it by saying, that ”our country hath lately afforded what I apprehend to be the greatest curiosity of the sort that ever appeared. It is the entire figure of a bream, more than a foot in length, and of a proportionable depth, with the scales, fins, and gills, fairly projecting from the surface, like a sculpture in relievo, and with all the lineaments, even to the most minute fibres of the tail, so complete, that the like was never seen before.” Dr. William Beveridge, one of the most learned prelates of the English church, was born here in the year 1638. At St.
John's College, Cambridge, he applied himself with intense application to the study of oriental literature. He reviewed the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan tongues, and produced a Syriac grammar. He was raised to the see of St. Asaph, in the year 1704, but he enjoyed his new dignity for a short period,--his death took place in the year 1708.
In his divinity he was Calvinistic; from the simplicity and piety of his character, he was beloved by all parties. He lies buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
[Sidenote: Superior lime quarries.]
[Sidenote: The pious Beveridge born here.]
[B] BARRY ISLAND, the name of which has been thought to have been derived from St. Baroche, a hermit, who, according to Cressy, died here in the year 700. This island, which lets for about 80. a year, is estimated to contain about 300 acres. In Leland's time there was, in the middle of it, a ”fair little chapel used,” but there was no dwelling.
Since that period, however, a house has been erected for the residence of a farmer, which, in the summer, is converted into a boarding-house, for the reception of sea-bathers. The family of Giraldus de Barri, are said to have taken their t.i.tle from this island, of which they were once lords. ”It is remarkable,” observes Giraldus, ”that in a rock near the entrance of the island, there is a small cavity, to which, if the ear is applied, a noise is heard like that of smiths at work--the blowing of bellows, strokes of hammers, grinding of tools, and roaring of furnaces; and it might easily have been imagined, that such noises which are continued at the ebb and flow of the tides, were occasioned by the influx of the sea under the cavities of the rocks.” Sir Richard h.o.a.re, in his additions to Giraldus, observes as follows:--”Towards the southern part of the island, on a spot called Nell's Point, is a fine well, to which great numbers of women resort on Holy Thursday, and, having washed their eyes at the spring, each drops a pin into it. The landlord of the boarding-house told me, that on clearing out the well he took out a pint full of these votive offerings.” On the main land, opposite the western extremity of the island, lies the village of Barry, near which are some remains of the castle. A few miles north-westward from Barry are the remains of Penmark castle, anciently the property of Sir Gilbert Humphreville, one of the followers of Fitzhamon. Llancarvan, in this vicinity, was once the seat of a religious house, said to have been founded by Cadoc the Wise, in the 6th century. Llancarvan is also distinguished as the birth-place of Caradoc, the Welsh annalist, who compiled a history of the Princ.i.p.ality, from the abdication of Cadwaladyr, 686, to his own time. Tref Walter, or Walterston, in this parish, was the residence of Walter de Mapes, a writer of some note towards the middle of the 12th century. He was Archdeacon of Oxford, and Chaplain to Henry I. He built the church of Llancarvan, a large substantial edifice, and the village of Walterston, with a mansion for himself. His literary labours comprise a translation of the British Chronicle into Latin, and a Welsh version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fabulous paraphrase of the same work. He wrote also a Treatise on Agriculture in the Welsh language.
[Sidenote: Remarkable noises heard here.]
[Sidenote: Curious custom.]
Map
Names of Places.
County.
Number of Miles From
+--+---------------------+---------+-------------+-------------+ 36
Barsham pa
Suffolk
Beccles 3
Bungay 5
27
Barsham, (East) pa
Norfolk
Fakenham 3
Walsingham 3
27
Barsham, (North) pa
Norfolk
Walsingham 2
Wells 6
27
Barsham, (West) pa
Norfolk
Fakenham 3
Walsingham 3
39
Barston pa
Warwick
Warwick 12
Coventry 9
17
Bartestree chap
Hereford
Hereford 5
Bromyard 14
7
Bartherton to
Chester
Nantwich 2
Whitchurch 10
21
Bartholomew lib.
Kent
Canterbury 13
Deal 7
7
Barthomley[A] pa & to
Chester
Sandbach 7
Newcastle 7
7
Bartington to
Chester
Northwick 4
Warrington 8
6
Bartlow[B] pa
Cambridge
Linton 2
Haverhill 6
14
Bartlow End ham
Ess.e.x
3
6
4
Barton ham
Berks
Oxford 6
E. Illsley 9
6
Barton pa
Cambridge
Cambridge 4
Caxton 8
7
Barton to
Chester
Chester 10
Malpas 7
+--+---------------------+---------+-------------+-------------+
Dist.
Map
Names of Places.
Number of Miles From
Lond.
Population.
+--+---------------------+-----------------------+-----+-------+ 36
Barsham pa
Halesworth 9
109
182
27
Barsham, (East) pa
Burnham M. 10
102
219
27
Barsham, (North) pa
Fakenham 4
113
84
27
Barsham, (West) pa
Creek 4
112
101
39
Barston pa
Birmingham 13
100
342
17
Bartestree chap
Ledbury 12
132
50
7
Bartherton to
Audlem 4
163
34
21
Bartholomew lib.
Ramsgate 6
68
61
7
Barthomley[A] pa & to
Nantwich 11
157
449
7
Bartington to
Knutsford 7
177
76
6
Bartlow[B] pa
Saff. Walden 6
48
106
14
Bartlow End ham
5
47
205
4
Barton ham
Dorchester 7
56
14
6
Barton pa
Royston 12
49
273
7
Barton to
Tarporley 12
175
168
+--+---------------------+-----------------------+-----+-------+
[A] BARTHOMLEY contains several towns.h.i.+ps. The nave of the church has a richly carved wooden roof, dated 1589. On the 22d of December, 1643, a troop of Lord Byron's pa.s.sing through the village, made an attack upon this venerable edifice, into which several of the inhabitants had gone for safety; they soon got possession of it, and having set fire to the forms, rushes, and mats, made such a smoke that the men who had retreated into the steeple were obliged to call for quarter, but their a.s.sailants having got them into their power, are said to have stripped them all, and most cruelly murdered twelve of them in cold blood, three only being suffered to escape. A free school was founded here, in the year 1676, by the Rev. Mr. Steele, in which ten children are educated.
In the year 1787, Mrs. Mary, Mrs. Margaret, and Mrs. Judith Alsager, ladies of the manor, obtained an Act of Parliament to enable them to finish a new church, or chapel, to be called Christ's Church, or Chapel, in that towns.h.i.+p. The same ladies built a school-house, and founded a school there, for the education of children of both s.e.xes.
[Sidenote: Cruel murder.]
[B] BARTLOW. Near this place, are four contiguous barrows, known by the name of Bartlow Hills, from their situation with respect to Bartlow Church. These are vulgarly, though erroneously, regarded as the tumuli raised over the slain in the battle fought between Edmund Ironside and the Danish King, Canute, in the year 1016. It is evident, indeed, from our account of As.h.i.+ngton, at page 50, that the place of action should be sought for, rather in the vicinity of the sea than at the northern extremity of the county. Camden states, that these stone coffins, with broken human bones in them, were found in one of these barrows; and Hollingshead affirms, that two bodies were found in one stone coffin.
Mr. Gough remarks, that we do not find the use of stone coffins amongst the northern nations in their Pagan state; and the Danes were not converted until long after the time of Canute. The origin of these barrows, therefore, cannot now be traced.
Map
Names of Places.
County.
Number of Miles from
+--+----------------------------+----------+-------------+-------------+ 17
Barton to
Hereford
Kington 1
Presteign 5
30
Barton pa
Nottingham
Nottingham 6
Rempstone 7
40
Barton, (High),[A] pa & to
Westmorlnd
Appleby 3
Orton 6
23
Barton ham
Leicester
M. Bosworth 2
Leicester 14
27
Barton Bendish pa
Norfolk
Stoke Ferry 4
Swaffham 8
10
Barton-le-Blount pa
Derby
Derby 10
Ashborne 9
3
Barton in the Clay pa
Bedford
Silsoe 3
Luton 7
44
Barton, St. Cuthbert pa & to
N.R. York
Darlington 5
Richmond 7
34
Barton, St. David's, pa
Somerset
Somerton 4
Glas...o...b..ry 7
36
Barton, (Great) pa
Suffolk
Bury 3
Ixworth 4
5
Barton Hartshorne pa
Buckingham
Buckingham 4
Bicester 8
39
Barton on the heath[B] pa
Warwick
s.h.i.+pston 6
L. Compton 2
+--+----------------------------+----------+-------------+-------------+
Dist.
Popul Map
Names of Places.
Number of Miles from
Lond.
-ation.