Chapter 30 of 32 · 3256 words · ~16 min read

Part 30

[A] BERRY POMEROY. This place, situated in the hundred of Hayter, derives its name from the Pomeroys, a very considerable family in these parts. Ralph de Pomeroy, who came to England with William the Norman, and for his services was rewarded with fifty-eight lordships in this county, built a castle here, the magnificent ruins of which, seated on a rocky eminence, rising over a pellucid brook, now form, in combination with the other features of the scenery, one of the most delightful views in Devonshire. The approach to the castle, observes Dr. Matton, in his Observations on the Western Counties, "is through a thick wood, extending along the slope of a range of hills that entirely intercept any prospect to the south: on the opposite side is a steep rocky ridge, covered with oak, so that the ruins are shut into a beautiful valley. The great gate, with the walls of the south front, the north wing of the court, or quadrangle, some apartments on the west side, and a turret or two, are the principal remains of the building; and these are so finely overhung with the branches of trees and shrubs which grow close to the walls, so beautifully mantled with ivy, and so richly incrusted with moss, that they constitute the most picturesque objects that can be imagined; and when the surrounding scenery is taken into the account, the noble mass of wood fronting the gate, the bold ridges rising in the horizon, and the fertile valley opening to the east, the ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle must be considered as almost unparalleled in their effect." The posterity of Ralph de Pomeroy resided here till the reign of Edward VI., when Sir Thomas Pomeroy sold the manor to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, from whom it has descended to the present Duke of Somerset. Berry Pomeroy Castle, whose venerable ruins we have just mentioned, appears to have been originally quadrangular, and to have had but one entrance, which was on the south side, between two hexagonal towers, through a double gateway; the first of which was machiolated, and strengthened by angular bastions, and having over it the Pomeroy arms, still visible. A small room over the gateway was probably the chapel: it is divided by a wall, supported by pillars and arches. From the eastern tower is a fine view of the surrounding country. The ruins in the interior part, or quadrangle, are considerably more modern than the rest of the building. These appear to have belonged to a "magnificent structure," commenced, says Prince, in his Worthies of Devonshire, by the Seymours, at an expense of L20,000, but "never brought to perfection: for the west side of the mansion was never begun: what was finished may be thus described. Before the door of the Great Hall was a noble walk whose length was the breadth of the court, arched over with curiously carved free-stone, supported in the fore part by several stately pillars of the same stone, of great dimensions, after the Corinthian order, standing on pedestals, having cornices and freezes finely wrought. The apartments within were very splendid, especially the dining-room; and many other of the rooms were well adorned with mouldings and fret-work; some of whose marble clavils were so delicately fine, that they would reflect an object true and lively from a great distance. Notwithstanding which it is now demolished, and all this glory lyeth in the dust, buried in its own ruins; there being nothing standing but a few broken walls, which seem to mourn their own approaching funerals." The walls are formed of slate, and appear to be rapidly decaying. The grounds round the castle consist of steep eminences, covered with oak and other trees. Even in the court, and remains of the fortress itself, trees of nearly a century's growth are flourishing in luxuriance, and compose, with the shrubs thickly scattered within the area, a scene highly beautiful. In the wars between Charles I. and the Parliament this castle was dismantled. Berry Pomeroy Church, which was built by one of the Pomeroy family, contains a splendid alabaster monument to the memory of Lord Edward Seymour, Knt. son to the Duke of Somerset; Edward Seymour, Bart. and his Lady, the daughter of Sir Arthur Champernoune. The two first are represented in armour; the knight having a truncheon in his hand, and lying cross-legged. The lady is in a black dress, with the figure of a child, in a cradle, at her head, and at her feet another in a chair: below are nine figures kneeling, with books open before them. This monument was repaired by the late Duke of Somerset, the eighth lineal descendant of the Duke of Somerset the Protector.

[Sidenote: Castle in ruins.]

[Sidenote: Former state of the castle.]

[A] BERWICK. The town is situated N. by W. from Newcastle. King Edgar gave it, with Coldingham, to the church of Durham; but it was afterwards forfeited by Bishop Flambard. It had a church in the reign of Alexander, and, in David's time constituted one of the four boroughs where courts of trade were wont to be held. In 1173, it was reduced to ashes; and in the following year, Earl Duncan marched to the place, and butchered its defenceless inhabitants. Henry II. having obtained the castle as a pledge for King William, strengthened its fortifications. It was restored, however, in the following reign. King John made dreadful ravages in the town and neighbourhood. A convention was held here by Edward I., in 1291, to arbitrate the claims to the crown of Scotland, which were at length determined in favour of his creature, Baliol. This prince having shortly afterwards thrown off his allegiance, Berwick became exposed to the fury of Edward's resentment. In 1296, the English king fortified it with a wall and a fosse, and in the same year received the homage of the Scotch nobility here In 1297, the town was taken by Sir William Wallace; but the castle held out, and after a long assault, was relieved. Wallace about eight years after this was betrayed, and half of his body exposed upon Berwick-bridge. The Countess of Buchan, for crowning Robert Bruce, at Scone, was shut up here in a wooden cage, six years, and then released. Edward II. and his queen wintered at Berwick in 1310. He assembled his army here before the battle of Bannockburn. Peter Spalding betrayed this place into the hands of Robert Bruce in 1318: many attempts were made to recover it, which was not effected till the day after the battle of Hallidon-hill, in 1333. Edward III. was here in 1335, with a great army in 1340, and the year after, at Easter, held a tournament; but during his absence in France, in November 1353, the Scots surprized and took the town. The castle, under the renowned Sir John Copeland, held out till Edward, in February following, arrived with a great army, and forced the Scotch to capitulate. Seven Scotchmen, in 1377, surprised the castle, and held it eight days against 7,000 archers, and 3,000 cavalry. The deputy-governor, under the Earl of Northumberland, betrayed it into the enemy's hands in 1384; but the earl soon after recovered it. Through the solicitation of his uncle the Earl of Worcester, engaging in the rebellion against Henry IV., in 1406, he employed this fortress against the king; but a cannon-shot, the first that was ever fired in England, so alarmed the garrison, that it, immediately surrendered. According to Walsingham and Speed, this shot was of a large size, and demolished great part of a tower. In 1811, a ball of cast iron, weighing ninety-six pounds, answering to this account, was found in a part of the ruins of the castle. It had penetrated the wall about three yards, at a place where it was flanked with a tower. An unsuccessful attempt was made to reduce it in 1422; but after the battle of Towton, in 1461, it was again in the hands of the Scots, who strengthened its walls, and held it till 1482, when it finally came into possession of the English. "From that time," observes Camden, "the kings of England have continually added works to it,

## particularly Queen Elizabeth, who, lately to the terror of the enemy,

and security of the towns-people, contracted the circuit of the walls, drawing within the old ones a very high wall, well built of strong stone, surrounded by a deep ditch, a regular rampart, redoubt, counterscarps, and covered ways, so that the form and strength of the fortifications are sufficient to discourage all hopes of carrying it by assault, not to mention the bravery of the garrison, and the stores in the place, which exceed belief." Between the years 1761 and 1770 the walls were almost entirely rebuilt in many parts, and finished in 1786. The governor of Berwick has a salary of L586. 7s. 1d. The barracks measure 217 by 121; and contain twenty-four rooms for officers, and seventy-two rooms adapted to hold 567 privates. The church of Berwick, a peculiar of the dean and chapter of Durham, stands on the north side of the parade. It was rebuilt between 1642 and 1652, at the cost of L1400. It has no steeple. It consists of three aisles, and several galleries, all handsomely pewed. The Worshipful Mercers' Company, in London, founded a lectureship here. David I., King of Scotland, founded here a convent for Cistertian Nuns; and Robert III, granted its revenues to Dryburgh Abbey. The convent of Carmelites originated with Sir John Grey, in 1270. The Scotch King, in 1239, brought hither a convent of Dominicans, which Edward III. removed. The Trinitarians had a house here, as had the Franciscans; and between the sea and the town, in Maudlin-field, stood the hospital and free chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, which had an hospital or hermitage belonging to it at Segeden.--Queen Elizabeth founded a free school here; and a charity-school was rebuilt in 1725, in which twenty boys and six girls are clothed and educated. Berwick bridge was swept away by a flood in 1199. It was rebuilt of wood, of which it consisted, till the time of James I., who commenced the present elegant structure of stone. It has fifteen arches; its length being 1164 feet, and its breadth seventeen. It was twenty-four years, four months, and four days in building, and cost government L14,960 1s. 6d. The Town Hall was built in 1754. On its ground-floor, on the east-side, is a piazza, called the Exchange; and opposite it are cells for criminals, and shops. The second floor consists of two spacious halls. The outer hall, for holding courts and guilds, measures, sixty feet by thirty-one. The inner hall forty-seven feet long and twenty-three feet broad, is occasionally occupied for public entertainments. The upper story is the common gaol of the town. The turret, 150 feet high, contains eight musical bells. The first charter of the corporation was granted by Edward I. The corporation were first summoned to send members to parliament in the latter end of the reign of Edward IV. The last charter of this town was granted by James I. The corporation now consists of a mayor, recorder, town clerk, four bailiffs, a coroner, four serjeants at mace, and a water-bailiff. The mayor is also escheator in the borough, clerk of the market, and a justice of the peace; the other justices of the town being the recorder and such resident burgesses as have sustained the office of mayor. They are lords of the manor of Tweedmouth, where they hold a court-leet and court-baron twice a year. Their annual revenues arising from duties taken at the quay and gates, are estimated at L7000. Besides the trade in salmon, great quantities of corn and eggs are exported here for London. One morning in the month of October, 1814, there were upwards of 10,000 salmon, in Berwick market, caught in the Tweed, some of which might have been bought at 2s. each. At the same time, the finest herrings (of which an immense shoal was on the coast) were sold for 2s. the hundred of six score. On the same day the best salmon was sold in Newcastle market at 6d. per pound, and some of the inferior kind as low as 4d. The port has about sixty or seventy vessels. The harbour abounds with low dangerous rocks. At its mouth a noble pier has recently been constructed on the site of an old one, built by Queen Elizabeth. Berwick Castle, once a place of high importance, is now almost levelled with the ground. About 400 yards north of it, is a pentagonal tower, called the Bell Tower, having its name from containing a bell, which was rung on any occasion of alarm.

_Markets_, Wednesday and Saturday.--_Fairs_, Friday in Trinity Week, for black cattle, sheep, and horses.--_Mail_ arrives 9.49 morning; departs 2.1 afternoon.--_Bankers_, Commercial Banking Company; draw on Jones, Lloyd, and Co.; Batson and Co.: draw on Glynn and Co.--_Inns_, King's Arms, and Red Lion.

[Sidenote: The disputed town.]

[Sidenote: Countess of Buchan shut up in a cage six years.]

[Sidenote: The first cannon-ball used in England.]

[Sidenote: The church and convents.]

[Sidenote: The bridge 24 years in building.]

[Sidenote: Municipal officers.]

[Sidenote: Salmon and herring fisheries.]

[A] BESSELSLEIGH, is a small village, in the hundred of Hormer. The manor formerly belonged to the family of Legh, from which it passed, by a female heir, to that of Besils, or Blesells, which flourished there for several centuries. "At this Legh," says Leland, "be very fayre pastures and woodes. The Blesells hathe bene lords of it syns the tyme of Edwarde the First, or afore, and ther they dyd enhabite. The place is all of stone, and stondithe at the west end of the paroche churche. The Blesells cam out of Provence in Fraunce, and were men of activitye in feates of armes, as it appearith in monuments at Legh, how he faught in Listes with a strange knighte that chalengyd hym, at the whiche deade the Kynge and Quene at that tyme of England, were present. The Blesells were countyd to have pocessyons of 400 marks by the yere." In the year 1516, the estates of the Blesells were carried, by the marriage of an heiress, to the Fettiplaces, a respectable Berkshire family, one of whom Besil Fettiplace, Esq., was High Sheriff in the 26th of Queen Elizabeth. The manor of Besselsleigh was purchased of the Fettiplaces, by William Lenthall, Esq., Speaker of the Long Parliament, whose descendants now reside at Burford, in Oxfordshire.

[Sidenote: The Blessell's family.]

[A] BETHNAL GREEN. There is a curious legend relating to this place, of which Henry de Mountfort, son of the ambitious Earl of Liecester, who was slain with his father at the memorable battle of Evesham, is the hero. He is supposed to have been discovered among the bodies of the dying and the dead (by a young lady) in an almost lifeless state, and deprived of his sight by a wound which he had received during the engagement. Under the fostering hand of this "faire damosel" he soon recovered, and afterwards marrying her, she became the mother of the celebrated "Besse," the heroine of the popular ballad of the beggar's daughter of Bethnal-green, written in the reign of Elizabeth. Fearing least his rank and title should be discovered by his enemies, he is said to have disguised himself as a beggar, and taken up his residence at Bethnal-green. The beauty of the daughter attracted many suitors, and she was at length married to a noble knight, who, regardless of her supposed meanness and poverty, had the courage to make her his wife: her other lovers having deserted her on account of her low origin. At Bethnal-green is an old mansion, which the inhabitants, with their usual love of traditionary lore, assign as the palace of the blind beggar. The tradition, though with very little grounds for its foundation, is still preserved on the sign posts of several public houses in the neighbourhood. On the 19th September, 1826, the parish officers of Bethnal-green waited on the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and stated that a lawless gang, of 500 or more, thieves infested that neighbourhood and committed the most dreadful outrages nightly, upwards of fifty persons having been robbed and beaten in the course of a week; the secretary ordered forty men mounted, to patrole the parish, and aid the local authorities in bringing the offenders to justice. The hospital called the Trinity House, founded in the year 1695, for twenty-eight ancient seamen, who have been masters of ships, and their widows, is in this parish. The funds arising from the ballast-offices, lighthouses, buoys, beacons, &c. are appropriated by parliament to this corporation. Each of the inmates receives 16s. a month, 20s. a year for coals, and a new gown every second year. Many of the streets of this parish are almost wholly occupied by the operative silk-weavers.

[Sidenote: The blind beggar of Bethnal-green.]

[Sidenote: Gang of 500 thieves, in 1826.]

[B] BETTWS-YN-RHOS. _Fairs_, February 20, May 8, August 15, and November 20.