Chapter 11 of 32 · 3928 words · ~20 min read

Part 11

[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.]

[A] ASTON. The village and manor of Aston was an ancient demesne of the Saxon kings. Henry VIII. granted the manor to Sir John Boteler, of Walton Wood Hall; but the house now standing at Aston Place, indicates earlier antiquity than the time of that sovereign. Westward of the village, on the eastern side of the great North road, are six large barrows, thought to be of Danish origin; from their immediate proximity to the road-side they excite the curiosity and attention of most persons travelling northward: two of them have been opened, but were not found to contain any thing of sufficient interest to be here recorded.

[Sidenote: The six hills.]

[B] ASTON is in the Birmingham division of the Hundred of Hemlingford. It may be deemed a part of Birmingham, being inhabited chiefly by artisans in the various branches of manufacture for which that town is distinguished. Aston Hall, the seat of Heneage Legge, Esq., was first erected by Sir Thomas Holt, Bart. in the reign of James I. It was several times plundered during the troubles of his successor, who was entertained here for two nights a short time before the battle of Edgehill, which occurred on October 23, 1642, between the Royalists and the Parliamentary forces. Sir T. Holt endowed an alms-house for five poor men and women in this parish.

[Sidenote: Part of Birmingham.]

[C] ASTON, is a parish and township with Aughton, in the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill. In the church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient monument, under which lie buried Lord D'Arcy and his three wives. There is also a marble slab to the memory of the poet Mason, who was rector of this parish. This distinguished poet was the son of a clergyman in Yorkshire, in which county he was born in the year 1725. He became a student of St. John's College, Cambridge, and subsequently a fellow of Pembroke Hall, in the same university. His debut in the literary world was made by the publication of "Isis," a poem, in which he satirized the Jacobitish and High Church principles of the University of Oxford. A reply was written by Thomas Warton, entitled "The Triumph of Isis." In 1752 he published a tragedy with choral odes on the ancient Greek model, called "Elfrida." Having taken orders in the church, he was presented with the living of Aston, and appointed one of the royal chaplains. In 1759 appeared his "Caractacus," a drama on a kindred plan with the former. Both of these pieces were afterwards introduced on the stage, they however met with very little success. In 1762, Mr. Mason was made precentor of York, to which preferment a canonry was annexed. One of his principal works, entitled "The English Garden," a poem, in four books, appeared in the years 1772, 1777, 1779, and 1781. 4to.; this was translated into French and German. In 1775 he published the exquisite poems of his friend Gray, with a Memoir of his Life. At the beginning of the American War, Mr. Mason became so active an advocate for freedom, as to give offence at court, and he was in consequence dismissed from his chaplainship. It is said he felt alarmed at the frightful consequences of the French Revolution, and his zeal cooled towards the latter end of his life. He died April 7, 1797.

[Sidenote: The poet Mason's monument.]

[Sidenote: An advocate for freedom dismissed from his chaplainship.]

[A] ASTON CLINTON is in the first division of Aylesbury hundred. The manor was the property of the late Lord Lake, who died in 1808, during the trial of General Whitelock, who was cashiered for his misconduct at Buenos Ayres at the commencement of that year. At St. Leonard's, a hamlet of this parish, about four miles from Aston church, is an ancient chapel, said to have been a chantry chapel to the Abbey of Missenden. It contains, among other monuments, that of General Cornelius Wood, an officer who distinguished himself in the reign of Queen Anne, and who died in 1712. It is ornamented with a bust of the general in white marble, surrounded with military trophies. This chapel is endowed with an estate, vested in ten trustees, who have the appointment of the minister.

[Sidenote: Monument of one of Queen Anne's officers.]

[B] STEEPLE ASTON. At this village, Dr. Samuel Radcliffe, principal of Brazennose College, Oxford, and rector of this church, founded a free school in 1640, and endowed it with ten pounds per annum; he died in the year 1648, and is buried in the church. He also endowed an alms-house for poor women in this parish. A tessalated pavement was ploughed up here in the 17th century.

[Sidenote: Dr. Samuel Radcliffe.]

[C] ASTROPE. This hamlet is in the parish of King's Sutton. The village is worthy of remark, from the church having a tower crowned with a handsome and lofty spire, decorated with crocketed pinnacles. Here is a remarkably fine mineral spring, called St. Rumbald's Well, which was formerly in considerable repute. When drank at the fountain head, the water is considered a specific in cases of female obstructions, and in the first and second stages of consumptions. In the jaundice it seldom fails; and in dropsical cases is frequently administered with success. Persons whose constitutions have been weakened by free living, find themselves renovated by its virtues. The water has a brisk pleasant taste, and is very clear and spirituous. Astrope Hall was formerly the residence of the Lord Chief Justice Willes.

[Sidenote: A mineral spring famous for curing consumption, jaundice, &c.]

[D] ASTWELL. In this hamlet is an ancient mansion, formerly the seat of the Earl of Ferrers. Several of the rooms exhibit in the wainscot and chimney pieces, armorial bearings and other carved decorations. A dilapidated room at the east end was formerly a chapel.

[Sidenote: Seat of Earl Ferrers]

[A] ST. ATHAN. In this village is a castle, called East Orchard, built in the year 1691, by Roger Berkrols; it stands on the edge of an extensive flat: a luxuriant wild fig tree grows out of the cement of the chapel walls. Perhaps the Turkey fig tree might be propagated with more success, grafted upon this wildling, which probably originated in the cultivated fig planted in the gardens of the Norman lords. In St. Athan's church there are two uncommonly fine gothic monuments of the Berkrol's family: there are likewise in this parish the remains of two castles--West Orchard and Castleton; but these are not of such great antiquity. From this spot there is a good view of Fonmore, or Fronmon Castle, which is the most extensive and august of the Welch inhabited castles. The kitchen is said to be the largest in the kingdom. In Fronmon castle is an excellent portrait of Oliver Cromwell. The flat and steep-holms are seen from this neighbourhood: the former has its light-house. It is situated nearly ten miles from the sea lock of the canal, and three miles from the adjacent steep-holms, which is a smaller island than the former, though more conspicuous from its great height above the water; it is quite barren and uninhabited. The flat holms at low tide is an extensive sheet of mud, excepting one deep channel. The landing place is near the castle rock, a dangerous, but romantic beach, so called from its similarity to a castle, it is very large, and is said to resemble Abergavenny castle. In the centre is a bold arch, which at high water is covered. The hollow sound of the sea roaring through the arch, and the waves occasionally retreating, and then forcing their way back with redoubled fury, has an uncommonly fine effect. At low tide the shore all around the base is dry. The island is four or five miles in circumference; the soil is good, and would, if well cultivated, be very productive. From the light-house, which is 80 feet in height, is a delightful prospect of the Bristol Channel and the shores of Somerset and Glamorgan. It is the resort of many visitors in the summer season.

[Sidenote: The largest inhabited castle in Wales.]

[Sidenote: Account of the dangerous beach.]

[B] ATHERSTONE. This market town is supposed to have derived its name from "a stone" under which an "adder" of enormous size was found; it is situated on the Watling Street, and divided from Leicestershire by the river Anker, and was a place of some importance at the Conquest: at which time the town was given to the monks of Bee in Normandy, who obtained for it a market day and an annual fair, which brought it into consequence. A monastery of friars, (Hermits of Saint Augustine,) was founded at Atherstone in the year 1375. The church belonging to the friary was completed in the reign of Richard II. A free grammar school was founded here by Sir William Devereux and two other benevolent persons in the year 1573. The chancel of the friary church was appropriated to the use of this seminary, and is still dedicated to the same purpose. The mansion, or hall house was sometime after separated from the chapel, and rebuilt at a short distance upon a pleasant bank, commanding an extensive view over the adjacent counties of Leicester, Derby, and Stafford. Two nights before the battle of Bosworth Field (which is but nine miles distant), the Duke of Richmond lay at Atherstone, where he had his interview with the two Stanley's, in which such measures of co-operation were concerted as occasioned the overthrow of King Richard III., and it is said, that many persons from the subsequent battle were buried below this old mansion, from which the spot has retained the name of the bloody bank. It appears, however, to have been so called from being the place where contests of less serious results were usually decided by the young champions of the ancient foundation school, which is still supported by a respectable endowment. Atherstone Hall has recently been much improved by extended buildings and ornamental plantations. It is situated near Merevale Hall, the seat of D.S. Dugdale, Esq., and Grendon Hall, that of Sir G. Chetwynd, Bart. Here are manufactories of hats, ribbons, and shalloons, and considerable business is done at the four annual fairs; that in September being the most considerable in England for the sale of cheese. The passage of the Coventry canal, uniting with that of the Trent and Mersey, within a hundred yards of the town, adds very considerably to its facilities of trading. The poet Drayton, author of the "Polyolbion," was a native of Atherstone.

_Market_, Tuesday.--_Fairs_, April 7, for horses, cows, and sheep; July 18, holyday; September 19, for horses, cows, and cheese; December 4, for horses and fat cattle.--_Mail_ arrives 8.41 A.M.; departs 5.36 P.M.--_Inns_, Red Lion, and Three Tuns.--_Bankers_, W. and J.H. Chapman; draw upon Spooner and Co.

[Sidenote: Some foreign monks obtained this market.]

[Sidenote: Atherstone Hall.]