977 Total 438,977 In the twenty hundreds, which comprife the county, there are twelve market-towns^ and. about 200 villages and hamlets. The population of the whole, exclufive of perfons occafionally refiding, is about 1 15,090 fouls ; of which 35,000 refide in the market-towns, as the following account more particularly fhews ; Ckunties of England. BerkJIjire. Reading . . 8500 Newbury . . 5500 Abingdon . . 4000 Windfor . . 3500 Wantage . . 2100 Faringdon . . 2000 Hungerford Wallingford Wokingham Maidenhead Lamboum Ilfleys 9400 25600 35'. A great part of the above, as well as the remaining 80,000, are employed chiefly in agriculture; for -al- though there are a few manufactories eftablifhed ia fome parts, the proportion of hands employed hi them is fmall, when the aggregate is regarded. Berkfhire may be coniidered as a county well fituated &>r the encouragement and extenfion of its produce. Its ready communication with the metropolis, and the midland parts of England ; its excellent roads, dry foil, and wholefome air ; all contribute to make it a county alike beneficial to the cultivator, the manufacturer, and mechanic. Nor are its rural beauties to pafs unnoticed; die diverfified fcene of hill and dale, woods and cultivated land, that embellifti the greateft part of the county, and which are increaled in their effect by the refi- dence of many perfons of rank and opulence, which prefent themfelves in all parts, fully evince the hig'k eftimation in which its air and natural excellences have at all times been held. The predominant foil of Berks is a kind and fruit- ful loam, in fome parts mixed with gravel, and in others with (and ; generally pleafant to cultivate, and fertile. The Vale of White Horfe, by general acceptation, i confined to a few pariflies weft of Wantage, which is a rich deep foil, equal to the beft parts of England* XXX Counties of England.-*- Berk/lire* and indeed the whole of the county lying north of thtf Downs (with the exception of a fmall diftrit near Ox- ford) is likewife of an excellent quality ; and though not fo rich as the Vale, is certainly a well-adapted country, not only for the production of corn, but for the turnip fyftem of fatting off cattle. The greateft part of the fouthern fide of the county, from Hungerford to Windfor (except a part of Kent- bury hundred, and fome land on the fouth fide of the Kennet, and the greateft part of Windfor Foreft), con- fts chiefly of a gravelly loam. The hills and downs are chalk, with a thin foil on the furface, in fome places inclined to gravel, in others to a blackim fand ; the vegetative powers of which have been almoft exhaufted by that mofl infamous of all practices on a {hallow foil burn-baking. The greater proportion of this county is divided in- to what may be deemed large farms : for, unlefs it is from fome local circumftance, it is very rare to find a farm under one hundred pounds a year. In the Vale of White Horfe, indeed, fome fmaller dairy and graz- ing farms are found ; but there are more farms froir* two to five hundred a year, than of any other fize. In the open and hilly parts of this county, there is indeed fome plea for large farms ; fince the foil is to be made the moil of by that kind of hufbandry which depends on a large flock of fheep-j and which the little farmer cannot avail himielf of. But in the Vale of White Horfe, and other parts where the land is good, or the country inclined to grafs, there can be no reaibn why farms in general ihould run fo large as 300 or 400 acres. Berkfliire, with refpecl: to fituation of markets, is peculiarly fituated. They are diftributed fo well, that a diftance of ten miles to a market is difficult to be found. Newbury, Reading, Abingdon, Wallingford, and Windfor, have all the advantage of water -carriage to London, and the interior parts of the kingdom. The' Counties of England. Berkjlnre. xxxi two former fend a prodigious quantity of flour to Lon- don, and the others barley and malt to a confiderable amount. Ilfley has of late become a fheep market of the firft importance, not only to Berkfliire, but its neighbour- ing counties. Not lefs than 20,000 iheep have fome- times been fold in one market-day ; and it is computed, that the annual average is not under 250,000, comprif- ing lambs, tags, wethers, and ewes j but they are chiefly lean flieep. Newbury has, time out of mind, been juftly confi- dered a moft excellent corn market, and ilill retains fome cuftoms that would be of great ufe were they obferved in all other markets. Here the grain is pitch- ed in open market, is ingenuoufly offered to the public in fmall, as well as large, quantities : thus defeating, as much as poffible, the artifices of monopolizers ; and holding out to the induflrious lowly hand, the chie nourifher of his cxiftence, at a fair market price. Another good cuftom is alfo obferved here ; that the farmer, let him fell much or little, has his money paid on delivery of the article, verifying the old obfervation on Newbury market, that " The farmer may take back " His money in his fack."* Berkfhire has, and ever mufl have, from the nature of the foil, a great quantity of fheep kept upon it. The prefent are certainly not only a very ufeful, but handfome itock, and are in great reputation in the neighbouring counties. They are well adapted for folding; being ftrong and agile, they travel long ranges during the day, and from their fize and weight, are good folding fheep at night. Like other parts of England, a fpirit of crofT- ing the breed is diflufing itlelf. South Downs and Dorfets are introduced in many parts, and it is likely may improve the fleece very much. The neat cattle, fatted off in this county, are generally the Herefordfhire,Shropfture, Glamorganshire, and other Counties t> parts of South Wales, bought in at the fpring and falL The fyftem of fatting with turnips is not univerfally adopted -, and in the grazing part of the White Horfe Vale, where a great quantity of beafls are annually ilail-fed, they are generally fatted with hay, beans, and barley meal, oil-cake, &c. Linfeed, both dry and fteeped, is given by fome graziers, and found to anfwer exceedingly well ; but this practice, though a good one, is not common. The cows moft efteemed in this county, are thofe of the north country breed ; they are excellent milkers, and well adapted to the dairy farms of the Vale. The dairymen keep up the fucceflion, partly by rearing, and partly by buying heifers in calf, at Lambourn, and other fairs in the county. The Berkfhire farmer confiders his profits from torfes no inconfiderable part of his farming; and this, In fome degree, accounts for the unnecefTary number of horfes kept in every part of the county* Some breed their own flock, and others buy in fucklers, which they put to work very early ; and after ufing them for two or three years, fell off to the brewers in London, and the ft age waggons, at high prices. The quantity of fwine fatted in Berkfhire is cer- tainly very great. In the fmall town of Faringdon only, 4000 are annually flaughtered for the London and Oxford markets, between the beginning of No- vember and the beginning of April. This, however, is in a part of the county where the dairy farms are fituated ; but neverthelefs, when it is confidered how many ftore pigs are fent annually to the diftillers and ftarch-makers in the vicinity of London, Berkmire receives no inconfiderable return from this profitable kind of flock. At the eaft end of the county the poultry becomes very profitable, from its vicinity to London. A great number of higlers attend regularly on market days to purchafe them, and the number weekly fent away is prodigious. Counties of England. -BerJiffjlre. xxxiii ' At the northern or weftern fides, the farms running large, thefe ufeful and neceflary articles, which the little farm rears up, are overlooked or reje&ed, and perhaps will account for the dearnefs of this kind of provifion. Confidering there are 240,000 acres of arable land in Berkfhire, and allowing five horfes to each 100 acres, it may be eftimated there are 1 2,000 horfes kept in the county for the purpofes of agriculture. One third of thefe might be faved by the introduction o the Norfolk and Suffolk ploughs : and whatever the farmer may now get by bartering in horfes, would be amply compenfated for in the faving of keep by fuch reduction ; independent of farriers' expences and chance=, to which every dealer in horfes is fubjeft : and other advantages alfo might arife by a general ufe of oxen in hufbandry, which is partially adopted. In a national point of view, the faving to the ftate would be immenfe. 4000 horfes employed in agriculture confume (al- lowing them only twenty-five buihels a year) 100,000 bufhels *. Which, allowing fifty buftiels to be the average pro- duce of an acre, occupies 2000 acres for the growth of oats only. Add to this, at leaft 1500 acres for the growth of grafs and hay; and the total quantity of land neceflary for fupporting 4000 horfes may be mo- derately eftimated at 3500 acres. Of thefe 3500 acres, it may be reafonably prefum- ed, 1000 acres might be always in wheat, and 1000 acres in barley. On this low fcale we may fairly eftimate the advantages that would refult to the com- munity. * A horfe kept in the ftable, for coach or faddle, eats, on a moderate calculation, ninety bulhels of oats per annum, be- fides hay ; and may thus be confidered to confume the produce f, at leaft, three acres of land. VOL. X. C Lxmius of England.^ Berlifijii-f. icoo acres of -wheat, at twenty-five bufhels pet acre, which is a fair average crop, produce 25,000 bu- fhels j and from the obfervation and inveftigation of feveral ingenious men, it has been afcertained, that a man, his wife, and four children, will not.confume more, than thirty bufliels of wheat during the year : BREAD for the fubfiitence of 5000 fouls would thus one milling to eighteen-pence per day. The principal produce is corn and butter. . The Roman encampments are but few in thi> Thorney, and Wif- beach. A part of Royfton alfo is in this county. Six members are returned to parliament, viz. two for the county, two for the town of Cambridge, and two for the univerfity. Cambridgefhire pays nine parts of the land-tax. The principal rivers are the Cam, the Nen, and the Oufe ; and befides thefe there are many channels and drains, for almoft all the water from the centre of England, except what is difcharged by the Trent and, the Thames, falls into part of this county. Thefo Counties of England. Gamlridgefwre* xli channels are called the Gleane, the Welland, the Mil- denhall, the Brandon, the Stoake, &c. ta fides More- ton's Learn, which is navigable from Peterborough to Wifbeach. A considerable portion of this county is difhinguifh- ed by the name of the Ifle of Ely, which confifts of fenny ground, divided by innumerable channels, and is part of an immenfe level containing upwards of 300,000 acres of land; and extending into the coun- ties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdon, Northampton, and Lincoln. This level is generally fuppofed to have been overflowed in fome violent convuliion of nature j as it is certain that they were once very different from what they now are. William of Malmfbury fays, that in his time this county was a terreftrial paradife. He ckfcribes it as a plain level, and fmooth as water, covered with perpe- tual verdure, and adorned with a variety of tall, fmoothjtaper, and fru;ttul trees : " here," lays he, " is an orchard bending with apples, and there is a field cover- ed with vines, either creeping on the ground, or fup- ported by poles : in this place alfo art feems to vie with nature, each being impatient to beftow what the other withholds. The buildings are beautiful be- yond defcription ; and there is not an inch of ground that is not cultivated to the higheft degree." Here, however, it muft be remarked, that William of Malmf- bury was a monk at Thorny Abby, and defcribes a place at bme diflance ; it muft alfo be obferved, that he mentions marihes and fens, but fays that the marines were covered with wood, and that buildings were ere&ed on the fens. But whatever the condition of the county was before the inundation, it was extremely bad after ; the waters ftagnating became putrid, and filled the air with noxi- ous exhalations : the inhabitants could have no com- munications with the neighbouring towns by laud, and by water it was difficult in fome places, am: impracti- cable ia others j for the water covered the ground to xlii Counties of England. -Cambridge/hire. feme, height, yet it was fo choaked with fedge and mud that a boat could not make way through it every- where , and in winter the furface was frozen fufficient to prevent all navigation, but never hard enough to bear horfes , fo that the inhabitants were diftreffed, or in danger of ftarving for want of food. At length, to remedy thefe evils, a company of ad- venturers was formed, with the Earl of Bedford at their head, in the reign of Charles 1. to drain this land. During the civil wars nothing feems to have been done ; but in the reign of Charles II. the plan was carried on, and 95,000 acres recovered. An act: was pafled to fettle the drains of the great level, called, from the firft undertaker, the Bedford Level; and the proprie- tors were incorporated by the name of the governor, bai- iiffs, and commonalty, of the company of the conferva- tors of the great level of the fens, who are empower- ed to lay taxes, levy penalties, &c. In the Ifle of Ely the air is damp and unhealthy, but in the fouth part of the county it is pure and whole - fome ; the foil is alfo different. In the Ifle of Ely it is fpongy, yet it affords excellent pafture : in the up- lands it produces good wheat and barley. The prin- cipal productions are corn, malt, cattle, butter, faffron, cole-feed, and hemp: wild fowl are in great abundance, and chiefly taken in decoys. There are ancient camps at Grantchefter near Cam- bridge, at Royfton, at Arbury, and near Audre. The Roman military road is vifible from Cheflerton to Gogmagog hills, where is a camp with treble entrench- ments, fuppofcd to be the ancient Camboritum. It ftands on an eminence upon the great road from Col- chefter to Lincoln, within a few miles of the inter- fection of the Ermine and Ickening flreets, and within fight of both. Camalodunum, now Caftle Camps, was another ftation.' Antiquities worth notice are Anglefey Abby near Water Beach, Barnwell Priory, Cambridge Caftle, &c. Ca-ftle Camps near Lirrtdn, Denny 1 '-Priotyi Ely Cathe- Coiiniies of Eygland. : Che/hire. xliii viral, Grantchefter Ramfay Abby, Soham Church, SpmeyAbby/fhorney Abby,Incletoii Nunnery, Whit- tlefea Church. CHESHIRE, CHESHIRE is bounded on the -north by Lancashire and Yorkfhire; on the eaft by Derbyfhire and Staf. fordfhi're , oh the fouth by Shropfhire , and on the welt by Denbighfhire, Flmtihire, and the Irifh fea. Among the ancient Britons it was inhabited by the Cornavii ; tifider 'the Romans it was included in the province of Flavia Ccefarienfis ; and during the Saxon heptarchy it formed a part of Me^cia. AJfr.ed divided it into feveh hundreds, which con- tain 670 villages, one city, Chefter, and twelve towns, viz. Altringham, Congleton, Fr.odftjam, Haltor.^ Knuts- ford, Macclesfield, Malpas, Middlewich, Namptwich, Northwich, Sandbach, Stockport, and Tarporlcy. It was ereled into a county palatine by William the Conqueror, in favour of his nephew Hugh Lupus : fcv.r members are fent to the parliament, two for the county, and two for the city. The county is about fifty miles long, thirty broad, and JI2 in circumference, and contains about 125,000 in- habitants, It pays feven parts of the land-tax. According to a general view of the agriculture of the county, as drawn up by Mr. Wedge, the propor- tions of the cultivated parts of the county, and thofe which lie either wafte, or in a ftate of little profit, arc nearly as follows : jdiv Counties of England. Che/lire. Acres. Arable, meadow, pafture, Sec, about . 615,003 Waile lands, heaths, commons, greens, but few woods of any extent, . . 30,000 Peat bpgs and moifes, . . . 20,000 Common fields, probably, not fo much as . 1000 Sea fands within the eftuary of the Dee, ex- clufive of what may be upon the fhores of the river Merfey .... Making in the whole 676,000 The general appearance of Chefhire is that of an extended plain--, but on the eaftern fide there is a range of hilly, or rather mountainous country, connected with the Derbyshire and Yorldhire hills, of about twenty-five miles in length and five in breadth, ex- tending from near Congleton to the north-eaftern ex- tremity of the county. From Macclesfield, in a north- weftern direction, the furface is irregular and hilly; but continues of that defcription not further thsn to Alderly, about five or fix miles from Macclesfield. On the Shropshire fide the furface is alfo broken and irre- gular. Approaching the weftern fide of the county (at the diftance of about ten miles eaft from Chefter), there is another range of irregular hills, between the rivers Dee and Merfey ; thefe hills are in a dire&ion almoll north and fouth, and extend about twenty-five miles from Malpas, on the fouth fide the county, to Frodlham, on the north fide of it. The remaining part of the county, amounting to nearly four fifths of the whole, is probably not more, on the medium, than from 100 to 200 feet above the level of the fea. Che- fhire has formerly been celebrated as the vale royal of England, and if feen from the highlands about Mac- clesfield, the whole county appears weftward one ex- tended plain. The principal rivers are the Merfey and the Dee ; thefe receive, and carry off to the fea, all the fmaller rivers and rivulets in Chefhire^- yiz. the Weaver, Osunties of EngTand Ckifmre xltf the Dane, the Whcdock, the Goyte, the Boiling, &c. &c. The river Merfey divides Chefh'ire from Lancafhire, for near fixty miles ; and is mvigable about thirty-five miles from Liverpool, as far up ?.s to the mouth of the river Irwell, for velfels of fixty tons. The Dee forms a part of the weftern boundary of the" county, and is navigable from the fea to the city of Chefter, for veflels of confiderable burthen. The river Weaver falls into the Merfey about fifteen miles above Liverpool, and is navigable for veflels carry- ing fixty or feven*y tons, near twenty miles from its junction with the Merfey, to Winsford bridge, above Northwich. The plan upon which the latter of thefe rivers was made navigable (by means of locks and wears) deterves to be noticed. The money raifed for the purpofe, amounting to about 49,000!. was fubfcribed by the gentlemen of the county, who were empowered by an act of parliament to divide on their refpeHve fub- fcriptions an intereft of 61. per cent, until fuch time as the tonnage, arifing from the trade on that river, fhould be fufficient, by inftalments, to reimburfe them. After fuch reimburfement, the whole amount of toniiage, firft deducting the charges of necefihry repairs and management of the river, " to be from time to time employed for and towards amending and repairing the public bridges within the faid county of Chefter, and fuch other public charges upon the county, and in fuch manner as the magiftrates fhall yearly direct." All veflels navigating in this river pay one milling per ton, whether they pals the whole length of the navigable part, or to any fhorter diftance ; and the receipt amounted, in the year 1793, to near 8oool. The debt has been paid ofFfeveral years, and near 4000!. has been annually drawn from this refource, for the laft four or five years, in aid of the expence of building a new county gaol at Chefter. The Duke of Bridgewater's canal for fourteen-feet Counties of England. Che/hire. boats from Runcorn (which is about thirteen miles above Liverpool) to Manchefter, runs at no great dif- tance from the Merfey, about .twenty miles through the county, before it croffes to the Lancafhire fide of that river. The Stafford mire, or grand trunk canal, pins the duke's canal at Prefton Brook, about five miles from Runcorn ; and paffes in a fouth-eaftern direction through nearly the, centre of the county. The Cliefter canal extends from. Cheitcr to Namptwich, eafterly, about twenty miles. The Eliefmere canal, whicn, when completed, will unite with the rivers Merfey, Dee, and Severn, is propofed for fourt'ecn-feet boats alfo, to commence about ten miles above- Liverpool, at Pool Wharf in Wirrall ; and proceed from thence to Chefter, about eight miles and a half: from Chefter it -is at prefent propofed to pafs about feven miles along the prefent Chefter canal, then to turn off' towards Eliefmere in Shropmire, and to terminate at Shrewf- bury, which is on the whole near fixty miics exclufive of the branches. There are a great variety of foils in Chefhire ; clay, fand, black moor or peat, marl, and gravel, in various intermixed proportions, abound in different parts of the county. The three firft, however, are the chief pre- vailing foils, and of thefe the largeft proportion is a ftrong retentive clay. The under foil is generally ram- mel or clay, marl, fand, gravel, or red rock ; but moft. commonly one of the two former, viz. clay or marl. The numerous moffes, marfliy meadows, and peat bogs, which abound in different parts of the county, feem fufficiently to prove, that either clay, marl, or iome other unctuous earth, is very generally at no great depth below the furface. With regard to the climate, it has been ftate Modbury,, Moreton, Newton Buftiel, Ottery St. Mary, Ply- mouth Dock, Skeepwa/bj Sidmouth, South-*Molton, < Teigmnoiitb, Topfham, and Torrington, of which the eleven firft fend each two members to parliament, which, with two for the city of Exeter and two for the county, make, in the whole, twenty-fix members. Devonfhire pays twenty-one parts of the land-tax. In this county are fome remarkable places, as Lundy Ifland, Edyftone Rock, Brent Tor, Crokern Tor, Dart- moor Foreft, &c. There were two Roman ftations, Moriduno near Seaton, and Ifca Dumnuniorum, now Exeter: the two grand military roads, the Ikening-ftreet and the Fofie, meet; but which of them has its termination at this union it is hard to determine. There are feveral ancient camps ; and the principal antiquities are, Afliburton Church, Axminfter Church, Barnftapie Bridge, Berry Pomeroy Caftle, Bideford Bridge, Bxickfaitleigh Priory, Chegford Church, Compton Caftle, Crediton Church, Dartmouth Caftle, Exeter Caftle, Cathedral, &c. Ford Abby, Frithelftoke Priory, Hartland Priory, Henny Caftle, Lidford Caftle, Newnham Abby, Oakhampton Church and Caftle, Ottery Priory, Plimpton Caftle, Powderham Caftle, Taviftock Abby, Tor Abby, Torrington Caftle, Wear Abbv, Y, r eycroft Abby, &c. DORSETSHIRE. DORSETSHIRE is a maritime county, bounded on the north by Somerfetmire and Wiltirare ; on the eaffe by Wiltihire and Hampfhire -, on the fouth by the Englifli channel -, and on the well by Devoniliire : Counties of England, Dorfetfolre* Extending about fifty-five miles in length from eaft to weft, and thirty-five from' north to ibuth ; and con- taining 775,000 acres of land. Among the Britons it formed the principality of the Durotrigrc ; by the Romans it was included in the province of Britannia Prima ; and in the Saxon hep- tarchy it formed a part of the Weft Saxon kingdom. After the Norman conqueft it was compriled in die xveftern circuit, in the province of Canterbury* and tliocefe of Exeter : but on the erection of the bifliop- ric of Briftol, in the re ; gn of Henry VIII. tliis county- was added to the new dioccle. It is divided into thirty-four hundreds, in which are twenty-four market towns, and 248 parifhes ; the number of inhabitants is about 89,000. It pays nine parts of the land-tax. Of the 775,000 acres of land, 250,000 are fuppofed to be employed in tillage, 50,000 are water meadow, 90,000 pafture, 9000 woody and plantations, 290,000 iheep pafture and downs, and 86000 common or ur> cultivated. The greater part is uneven ground,, and much of it -very hilly ; it has chiefly a high cliff towards the coaft, and a very fmall proportion of marfhy or fenny land. The foil is moftly fhallow, upon a chalk bottom, a large proportion of it very poor, but fome parts of it (particularly the vale of Blackmoor) extremely rich. The moil ftriking feature of the county is the open and uninclofed parts, covered by numerous iiocks o iheep, fcattered over the downs. It has three rivers, viz. the Stower, the Piddle, anil the Froome : the Stower, which is by much the molt confiderable, runs quite acrofs it, from the vale ot Blackmoor to the fea, by Sturminfter, Blandford, and Winborn- Minder j the Piddle, from Piddktown ami Bere-Regis, to Wareham ; and the Froome, from the country north of Maiden Newton, by Dorcheilcr to Wa-rehaoi. The two latter are much divided in many Ixx Counties cf England* Dorfdjllre'. places, into a variety of fmall ftreams,, by the branches of which great advantage is derived in watering of the meadow land through which they pafs. The advantage derived from "fheep in the county of Dorfet is very confulcrable, and it is undoubtedly its greateft object as an agricultural refource , indeed, of fo much real importance, as to be productive of great national benefit. The number of fheep kept in the county is fuppofed to amount to upwards of 800,000; and the number fold annually, and fent out of the county, amounts to upwards of 150,000. In one particular inftance the fheep owners excel all other parts of the kingdom, which is in providing ewes to yean at a. remarkably early feafon in the midland counties, which fupply the metropolis with fat lambs. "Todefcribethetrue Dorfetfheep,"faysMr. Claridge, in his General View of the Agriculture of the County, " may be difficult, as to its iize and fhape, but I appre- hend, that if the face and nofe are white, and the claws or feet without any mixture of colour, the fore- head woolly, and the face long and broad, the horn round and bold, and proje&ing rather forward, abroad ihoulder, ftraight back, broad loin, deep carcafe, and tfhort in the leg, it .is the neareft to the true defcnption of a Dorfet fheep." This attention to have the fheep without colour, is confidered .of , material confequence by the breeders of early lambs, as they are faid to be of .more value for the London market, on account of the extreme delicacy of the meat. The wool produced in this county Is fhort and fine, "of a clofe texture, and the quality of it is highly 'cftcemed in -tile manufacture, of broad-cloth. The wether (heep are constantly folded all the year round, running over the ewe leas or downs by day, and are penned on the tillage by.night : they are peiin- ed late in the evening, and let out from die fold before funrife in the winter, and not later than fix O'clock in the fummer. The fheep are .coiiiUntly att.encled by a fhepherd tfce Counties of England. DorfetflAre. Ixxi whole day, whofe wages is fix {hillings per week ; a great coat yearly, and a breakfall on a Sunday : a dog is found and maintained by the fhepherd, and the matter has the fkins of the dead fheep. The Leicefterfhire breed has been introduced within a few years, by which the flock is fuppofed to be much improved. The produce of wool annually is eftimated at 90,000 weys, or weights, of thirty-one pounds each. The number of wethers fold, 50,000 The number of ewes, 100,000 The number reared, . . 450,000 And the home confumption, 200,000 Oxen are often ufed in agriculture here, and the breed, on the weftern fide of the county, is chiefly from the red ox of Devonfhire j the others, in the more eaftern and northern parts, are a mixture of the Hampfhire and Wiltlhire, with fome crofles of the Oxfordihire, Gloucefterfhire, Shropfhire, and north counti-y beads. The oxen chiefly fed in the county are of the De- vonfhire breed, and go, .when fat, to Smithfield market, and are faid to be the beft-grained meat in the king- dom. Thefe are moftly fed in the vale of Blackmoor, which contains upwards of 170,000 acres of very rich land, chiefly grazing, dairying, and about one tenth part in arable, with fome plantations of orchards. The dairies extend all over the county : cow-calves, in general , are reavedj and bull-calves afford a fupply of veal. The cuftom of the dairy, as every-where praclifed in Dorfetfhire, feems peculiar to that county, and is unknown to many other parts of the kingdom. The cows are all let out by the farmer to a dairy-man, at a fixed price for each cow, according to the quality of the land and produce of the bead. In fome of the pooreft parts of the county, as low as fifty (hillings or three pounds per head, per annum, and in others, as high as fix pounds ten ihillings, or feven pounds j and Ixxii Counties of England. Dorjetflnre. in one parifh near Beaminftcr, called Broad Windfor, as high as eight pounds. Among various articles of great import to the com- munity, in the county of Dorfet, one of the principal is the growth and manufacture of flax and hemp. In the neighbourhood of Bridport and Beaminfter all forts of twine, firing, packthread, netting, cordage, and ropes, are made, from the fined thread ufed by faddlers in lieu of filk, to the cable which holds the firft-rate man-of-war. The nets made for the fimery at New- foundland, as well as for home ufe, and the fails for ihipping of every kind, are manufactured of the beft quality, as well as facking for hammocks, &c. and all kinds of bags and tarpaulin : and, in addition to the great quantity of flax and hemp ufed here, not more than one third of it is allowed by the manufacturers to be of Britifh growth ; the remaining two thirds of it are imported from Rullia and America as raw materials. The manufacture at Beaminfter employs upwards of 2000 pair of hands. At Bridport there is a great number of manufac- tures ; and about 1 800 people are faid to be employed an this town and its environs, as far as feven or eight miles round ; upwards of 7000 people are in conftant work. No ores have been found in this county, nor any mines of coal. The whole ifland of Portland feems to be one entire mafs of the moft beautiful ftone, chiefly ufed in the- metropolis and elfewhere for the moft fuperb build- ings, and is univerfally admired for its clofe texture and durability, furpaffing any other. The raifmg of it is a laborious bufinefs, fometimes employing up- wards of a hundred men to break down a large jamb of it; afterwards it is divided into blocks, and then conveyed in cars by horfes to the fhore. One flailing per ton is paid to the owner of the land for breaking ground, fix Shillings per ton is paid to the workmen for raifmg and quartering it, and the price of carriage to the fhores va^ Counties of England, Dorfetftnre. Ixxiil ries as to diftance, from fixpence to half-a-crown per ton. Fourteen {hillings per ton in time of war, and ten mil- lings' in time of peace, is paid for freightage to London. Some of thefe ftones weigh four, and fome five, ton each; but the general eitimate is, that an hundred blocks will weigh eighty tons. Upwards of 400 people are employed in digging and tooling the ftone which is railed here from pits, fome twenty, others forty feet deep : they are not open to the top, but are undermined, and under- built. About 50,000 tons are annually ihipped at Swn.nnage. About a mile diftant from the borough of Corfe Cafile are found large quantities of pipe clay, which is in great eftimation, and of important confequence to the potters in Staffordfhire and other places. About 1 1, coo tons are annually fent from this place for that purpcfe, and about one hundred men are conftantly employed in digging it. Some of the pits are not more than ten or twelve feet deep. Mr Claridge, from the beft intelligence he was able to collet!:, ftates the population at 89,000. The produce of the county may be thus eflimated : 250,000 acres, fuppofed to be in tillage, are divided annually nearly as follows : 35,003 acres of wheat, at 18 ^ bufhels to an acre, - 7^)75o quarters. 75,000 ditto barley, at 30 ditto - 281,250 ditto. 50,000 ditto beans, peafe, oats, and vetches, at 30 ditto, 187,500 ditto. 36,000 ditto fallow and turnips. 5 3,000 ditto clover, lay, and fain- foin, at I ton ditto, 53,000 tons. 1000 ditto flax and hemp, produc- ing - 35,2o?Tftone wt. Butter 1750 tons, and Cheefe 1000 ditto. Together with fat cattle and horfes, in both of which the returns are not very confiderable. Ixxiv Counties of: England. Durham. Befides which calculation, ought to be mentioned the amount of corn and grain received at the ports from other counties ; and it is fuppofed, that upwards cf ~oeo quarters of flour are annually imported at Lyn'.e and Bridport from thejfie of Wight, upwards of 2000 quarters at Weymouth, and about 3000 quar- ters at'.Ppole. About 20,000 quarters of barley are fuppoied to be exported from the different ports an- nually. The towns are Bridport, Corfe Caflle, Dorchefter, Lyrnc, Melcomb-Regis, Poole, Shafelbury, Ware- ham, Weymouth, Abbotibury, Beaminfter, Bere-Regis, dford, Cerne Abbas, Lbarmotith, Cranbourn, Ever- fhoty'Gillinghamy Maiden Newton, Piddletoivn, Sher- 'bourn, Stalbridge, Sturminfter, Swannage, and Win- bum. There are Roman, Saxon, or Danifh camps met vilh in ieveral parts of the county ; and the Ikening- ike-c't leads through by Vindobaglia now Badbury, near Crayford-Blandford, and Durnovaria now Ware- ham. Antiquities worth notice are, Abbotfbury Abby, Bin don Abby, Brownfea Caftie, Cern Abby, Chidiock Cattle, Corfe Caftle, Lulworth Caftle, Maiden Caftle, kc. near Dorchefter, Milton Abby, Portland Caftle, Sherborn Church and Caftle, Sandford Caftle, Stal- bridge Crofs, Studlana Church, Wareham Church, Weymouth Caftle, Winburn Minder, &c. DURHAM. DURHAM is a maritime county, bounded on the north by Northumberland; on the eaft by ^ the Ger- man fea j on the fouth by the county of York ; and Counties of England. Durham. 1xxV on the weft by Weftmordand and Cumberland. The rivers Derwent and Tyne run along the northern boundaries, the river Tees feparates it from Yorkfhire to the fouth, and the Wear crofles it from weft to eaft nearly in the centre; the three laft emptying thcmfelves into the German oeean. The form is nearly trian- gular, and circumference about 107 miles. Among the Britons it was a principality of the Bri- gantes, and by the Roman;? formed a part of the pro- vince of Maxima Caefarienfis. During the heptarchy it belonged to the kings of Northumberland. It is divided into four wards, which contain one city, Durham, and fourteen towns, viz. Barnard Caftle,Bifhop's Auckland, Chefter-le-ilreet, Darlington, Hartlepool, Mar-wood, JlliJdleton, Norton^ Sedfie!J\ Stainthorpy Stcinhope> Stockton, SunderJarul, and Wol- fmgham. Durham pays three parts of the land-tax, and fends four members, two.for.fche county, and two for the city. It is ufually ftyled the 1 bifhopric of Durham, or 'the county palatine of Durham, from the great power pofleffed by the biihops, who were formerly fovereign pririces in their diocefe. . The palatine right of the biihops of Durham is founded on immemorial prefcription, and proceeded at firft from a principle of devotion to St. Cuthbert, that whatever lands were given to him, or bought with his money, he .fhould hold with the fame freedom as the princes held the reft of their cftates. But the acl 27 Henry VIII.. /or the reconveyirig certain liberties taken from the crown, directs, that all writs, indil> ments, and all m'a'nner of proce'fs in counties palatine, (hall be made only in the king's name , fince which time all the difference in the ftyle of proceedings in this county from others is, that the tefte of the writ is in the name of the bifhop, according to the directions of that act. Still he is perpetual juftice of peace within his territories (and can fit only at fuch), as is Jus- temporal chancellor, begauie the chief ads txxvi .Counties cf England. DurJiam. of the exempt jurifdiction ufed to run through his court. All the officers of the courts, even the judges of affize thcmfelves, have flill their ancient falaries, or fomething analogous, from the bifhop, and all the Handing officers of the courts are conftituted by his patents. When he comes in perfon to any of the courts of judicature, he fits chief in them, thofe -of ailize not excepted, and even when judgment of blood is 'given : though the canons forbid any clergyman to be prefent, the bifhops of Durham did and may fit in their purple robes on the fentence of death. All dues, amercements, and forfeited recognizances, In the courts of the palatinate, and all deodands, belong to the bifliop. If any forfeits are made, either of war or by treafon, outlawry or felony, even though the foil be the king's, they fall to the bifliop here, as to the king in other places. All the tenures of land here originate from the bifhop, as lord paramount in chief. Hence he grants charters for erecting boroughs and incorporations, markets and fairs , inclofing forefts, chaces, and -war- rens ; licences to embattle caftles, build chapels, found chantries and hofpitals, and difpenfr.tions with the flatute of mortmain. All inclofed eftates, as well as moors or waftes, to which no title can be made, efcheat to him. He grants the cuftody of idiots and lunatics, and had the cuftody of minors while the cuftom of wards and liveries fub- fifted. Be fides the dependence of leafehold or copyhold tenants on him, if any freeholders alienated their land without his licence, they were obliged to fue out his patent of pardon j and all money paid for fuch licences belongs to him. In the article of military power, the Bifhop of Dur- ham had anciently his thanes, and afterwards his ba- rons "who held of him by knight's fcrvice, as the-wft Counties of England. Durham. Ixxvis of the hailwork-folk held of them by inferior tenures- On alarms he convened them as a parliament, with advice to affift with their perfons, dependants, and money, for the public fervice at home and abroad ; and all levies of men or money were made by the bifliop's commiflion, or by writs in his name out of the chan- cery at Durham j for he had power both to coin money and levy taxes, and raife and arm ibldiers in the biihop- lic from fixteen to fixty years old. But now die mili- tia of this county has been long on the fame footing with the reft of the kingdom, under the lord-lieute- nant. The only difference here is, that that office has generally, though not always, been borne by the bifhop. The admiralty jurifdicl:ion in this county belongs alfo to the bifhop, who holds the proper courts by his judges, and appoints, by his patents, a vice-admiral, re- gifter, and marfhal, or water bailiff, and other officers ; and has all the privileges, forfeitures, and profits, inci- dent to this power, as royal fimes, lea wrecks, duties for mips ariving in his ports, &c. This county, for its fize, is, perhaps, one of the moft hilly in the kingdom : the hills are, in general, covered with verdure to the top, and many of them contain lead and iron ores, coals, lime-Hone, free- ftone, marble, &c. The eaft and north-earl part of the county are par- ticularly rich in coal mines, lying in horizontal ftrata, from three to fix feet thick, and extending many miles through the country. Near Wolfingham are found beautiful black fpotted marble, and the large grey mill-ftone for grinding corn. Grind-ftones are found a little to the fouth of the river Tyne, and not far from Newcaftle ; thefe form an arti- cle of exportation to moft parts of the habitable globe. There are alfo feveral quarries of fire-ftone, immenfe quantities of which are exported to be ufed in ovens, furnaces, &c. Near the river Tees the land is rich, confining of a Ixxviii Counties of England. Ejftx. loamy, rich clay, and is generally fertile near the other rivers ; other parts are not fo good. The climate is very uncertain, and the harveft ha- zardous ; wheat, barley, oats, and peas, are the chief produaions; 'beans are feklom raifed in the weilern part of the county. The principal manufactures are tammies, carpets, huckaback, cotton in various forms, fail-cloths, fait, ileel, glafs, ropes, pottery, iron works, iron founderies, copperas, paper, &c. There are fome ancient encampments in this county, and the grand Roman road, called Watling-ftreet, paries the Weare at Wolfingham, and a branch of it panes on to Chefter-le-ftreet and Shields. ^ Antiquities in this county worthy notice are, Bar- nard Caftle, Bifhops-Auckland Palace and Church, Branfpeth Caftle, Durham Cathedral, Palace, &c. Evenwood Caftle, Finchdale Priory, Gatefhead Monaf- tery, Hilton Caftle, Holy Ifland, Lumley Caftle, Nor- ham Caftle, Raby Caftle, Ravenfworth Caftle, Cata- ract in the Tees, Hell-kettles near Darlington, Whil- ton Caftle, Yarrow Monaftery. ESSEX. ESSEX is a maritime county, bounded on the north by Cambridgefhire and Suffolk, from the latter of which it is feparated by the river Stour ; on the eaft by the German fea ; on the fouth by the river Thames j and on the weft by Middlefex and Hertfordfhire: about fixty miles in extent from eaft to weft, fifty from north to fouth, and 225 miles in circumference. It is divided into fourteen hundreds, and five halt- Counties of England. ' hundreds, in which are 403 parifhes, twenty-four mar- ket towns, and about 320,000 inhabitants. Among the Britons, EiTcx was inhabited by the Tri- nobantes, and by the Romans included in the province of Britannia Prirrra : during the heptarchy it made a part of the kingdom of EiTex, or the Eaft Saxons. It is now compriled in the home circuit, in the province of Canterbury, and diocefe of London. It pays twenty-four parts of the land-tax, and fends eight members to parliament, viz. for the county, and for the towns of Colchefter, Harwich, and Maiden, two each. The other towns are, Biiiericay, ifor^//^, Bradfieldj Braintree, Burnt-wood, Cheimsford, Coggerfhall, Dedkatn, Dunmow, Epping, Grays, Halfted, Har/oic, Hatfield, Hormlotiy Maningtree, Ongar, Ray/eigh, Rochford, Rumford, Tbaxtedy Walden, Walthara Abby, and Witham. The climate is mild, and the foil of every fpecies, from the lighted fand to the drongeft clay : the greateil part is for the mod part well watered, neither is the air io unwholefome as is univerfally reprefented ; the mod unhealthy parts, tviz. the hundreds of Dengey and Rochford, called, in reproach, the hundreds of EfTex, fo dreaded for the agues they produced, are now, whatever they once might have been, not only the mod fertile didricts, but equally free from noxious qualities with any other parts of the coad. As EfTex is rather fmgular in the production of a kind of treble crop, confiding of coriander, teaz-el, and carraway, a particular mention of it may be ac- ceptable to the public. The feeds of thele feveral plants are town together, very early in the fpring, upon a ftrong old ley, once ploughed, and generally yield very confiderable returns ; the ufual mode is, for a fubftantial farmer to take in a fort of .partner in this fpecies of hufbandry, who is in an inferior fituation, and will give up his time to the hoeing and managing of it : the agreement is, that the farmer fupplies the land, ploughs it, and pays all parifh and other ufual IxxX Counties o charges incident to land ; and the labourer fows itf keeps it clean by frequent hoeings, cuts, threfhes, and makes it readyfor marketyand then the produceisequally divided : this connection lafts three ye'ars^and fome- times longer. In the firil the ieveral feeds come up* and, when of fufiicient growth, are fet out with a hoe; and the coriander, which is an annual, is ripe before harveft, and produces %L return of from ten to fourteen hundred weight an acre : in the fecond year the tea;*el, moft of which will run now, yields a load, or fix fcore ftaffs, of fifty heads each ftaff ; and the carraway from three to fix hundred weight of feed : the third year the teazel declines, and the carraway is in pevfe&ion, arid will yield an equal bulk with the coriander ; and moft of the teazel that did not run jail feafon, will pro- duce heads this, and afford a fourth or. fifth part of the crop it did the preceding feafon ; by which time the feveral plants are in general exhaufted, though a fourth and even fifth year of carraway ha* been known to fucceed. The coriander, or col, as fome call it, and carraway, are to be'treated with great care when ripe, otherwife the largeft and belt part of the feed will be loft : to prevent which,, women and children are em- ployed to cut it, plant by plant, as foon as it is ripe, and put it immediately into cloths, prepared to receive it; and in them it is carried to the middle, or fome other convenient part, of the field, and thrcfhed upon fail-cloth fpread for the purpofe, upon which men ftand to receive it j who, with a few ilrokes of the flail, get the feed clean out of the ftraw, and are ready for another little load in a few minutes. 'The teazel is alfo cut by women, who are inftructed to leave the weak and rotten heads, and ielect only the ftrong and healthy ones ; the others, being of no ufe, would fpoil the famplc, and the credit of the grower : at the fame time thefe heads are cut with a (talk of fix or eight inches in length, and bound up in imall bunches of five-and-twenty heads 'each, the like number of which bunches conftitute half a ftaffj which, after a few CouMles of England. Glmicejlerjblrc. Ixxxi \ days' fun to harden and dry therrw;ure tied together upon a (lick, or ftaff, of two feet amHIhalf long, and in this form carried tb' market. Towards the borders of Middlefex and Hertfordmire there are fdme large dairy farms, celebrated for" the goodnefs of the butter, particularly that made in the neighbourhood of Epping. On the fouth fide of the county are extenfive fait marines, along the bank of the Thames ; and faffiron is cultivated in the north-weft part of the county. The principal rivers are the Thames to the fouth, the Stour to the north, the Blackwater, the Coin, the Stort, the Chelmer, the Roding, &c. moft of which abound in fifh. There are feveral. ancient camps, and the remains of a Roman military way from Colchefter to London. The antiquities worthy notice are, St. Anne's Caftle near Great Lees, Barking Nunnery, Barlow Church, Bickinacre Prior)/, Bileigh Abby, Birch Caftle, Black- moor Priory, Boreham Church, Bredon Priory, Chip- ping Ongar Church, Coggefhall Caftle and Abby, Col- chefter Caftle, &c. Dunmow Priory, Earls Colae Church, Greenfted Church, Hadleigh Caftle, Havering Palace, Hedingham Caftle and Nunnery, Ingateftone- Church, Laton Priory, Laver-Marney Caftle, Lees Priory, Ongar Caftle, Pleihy Caftle, Raleigh Caftle, Rochford Church, Saffron "\Valden Church, Thaxted Church, W*hham Abby and Cfofs,Witham Church, &c. - GLOUCESTERSHIRE. GLOUCESTERSHIRE is an inland county, bound ed on the north by Worcefterfhire and Warwickfhire VOL. I. f Ixxxii Counties o#ngktid.GloucefteirJhir.e. on the eaft. by Warwickfhire, Oxfordshire, and WiJt- fhire , on the fouth by Somerfetftiire ; and on the welt by the Severn, Monmouthfliire, and Herefordfhife : the length from north- eaft to fouth-xvefl is. about fi.xty-five miles, arid the breadth from twenty to_ thirty. Among the ancient Britons it was. included in the principality of the Dbbuni ; under the Romans it made a part of Flavia Crefarienfis ; in the Saxon heptarchy it was annexed to the kingdom of Mercia. It is now included in the Oxford circuit, the province of Canter- bury, and diocefe of Glouceiler. It is divided into thirty hundreds, which contain one city, Gloucefter ; and twenty-fix market towns, Cirenceiter, Tewkefbury, Berkley, Campden, Chelten- ham, Colford, Dean or Mitchel Dean, Durfley, Fair- ford, Lechdale, Marilifield, Minching-Harapton, Mor- ton, in the .Marfli, Newent, Newnham, Northleach, Painfwick, Sodbury, Stanley St. Leonard, Stowe, StrxDud, Tetbury, Thornbury, Wickwar, Winchcomb, and \Votton-Under-Edge -, the two firft are borough towns, and fend each two members, which, with the city and the county, make eight in the whole. This .county pays twelve parts of the land-tax. The foil and cultivation are different in different dif- tri&s. On the Cotfwold hills the greater part of the foil is what is termed ftone bralh, a loam intermixed with ftones, over calcareous rubble or rock; the average depth of ploughing not much exceeding four inches,; there is, however", ibme quantity of liiff four land in- terfperfed on thefe hills; many farms, and one or two whole pariihes, are chiefly of that nature. Near Fair- ford and Cirencefter the foil is richer arrd deeper, par- ticularly about the former a deep fandy loam prevails, producing great crops in a favourable time, but apt to burn and parch up in dry feafons -, at which times they likewife labour under great inconveniences for want of water, with which the greater part of thefex hills is abundantly fupplied. The Cotfwold hills are milder than eould be fup- -of England, Gloucffterjhirf* Ixxxi ii pofed, from their height and deficiency of flicker. There is, however, fometimes two or three \veeks' dif- ference in the ripening of corn, in the different parts of the diftridl;, which cannot; be accounted for by ma- nagement, or any vifible circumftances. The properties are moftly large, arid the occupations likewife : there are, however, fome exceptions in both. In the vallies, and where the land is of a fufficient flaple for permanent meadow and pafture, it is chiefly in that ftate. Sheep and cow downs are likewife fre- quently met with ; but the quantity of land thus em- ployed bears but a fmall proportion to tKat which is" occafionally under the plough : fome few parifhes on the fides of the hills, however, are an exception to this rule, in which, perhaps, half the land is meadow and pafture. Iiv thefe fituations dairying is moftly follow- ed in preference to grazing : the fort of cows chiefly Gloucefterfhire, frequently crofled and improved froni other breeds. Moft farmers dairy a little for home confumption ; and though the nature of the foil renders fheep the live {lock chiefly to be attended to, yet a fuffkient quantity of cattle generally is, and always ought to be, inter- mixed with them to improve the paftures, and make; the moft of the keep : of thefe riot fo rhany are bred, as formerly, Gloucefter market weekly affording great choice from Herefofdfhire, Wales, and Somerfetfhire ; of thefe the Glamorgan and Somerfet appear moft eligible as working cattle for the hills, being acltive in harnefs, and when turned off, feeding in lefs time thafi the larger breed of Herefordfhire. The native fheep of the Cotfwold hills, in their un- improved ftate, was a fmall, light carcafed, polled ani- mal, bearing, within the memory of man, a fleece of fine wool of about 3lb. .weight; but lighter and finer before that period. They were cotted in former ' thn"e, but that pfa&ice has not been in ufe for fome yeajs, from which circumftances it is very probable th;493 acres ; about 6^799 acres of which xcii Counties of England. Hamfc/bire. are private property, the remaining 8,694 acres arc foreft lands belonging to the crown. There are two divifions in the foreft, one called Holt or Alice Holt, and the other Woolmer, which are divided by intervening private property. Alice Holt contains about 2,744 acres of crown lands, upon which, according to a late valuation, there is growing about 6o,oool. worth of timber. Woolmer contains about 5,950 acres, upon which there is no timber worth mentioning. Although there are two divifions, they are confidered as one foreft, and are governed by one fet of officers, and fubjecl to the fame fcreft courts. The ancient government of this foreft was, as other forefts, by a lieutenant, ranger or keeper, verdurers, woodward, regarders, agiftors, and under keepers, and thofe officers held courts of fwanimote and attach- ments. In the year 1608 there was a furvey made of the timber, when there were found growing in the foreft t^oi oak trees fit for the navy, and 23,934 loads of defective trees ; and from a furvey of the timber in 1783, it appears there remained only about 15,142 toads, including found and defective trees, aad that thofe are generally of one age, viz. from 100 to 120 years' growth j and that there are fcarce any to fucceed them. The foreft of Bere is fituated in the fouth-eait part of Hampfhire, on the north fide of Portfdown, and within eight miles of Portfmouth. The whole foreft contains about 16,000 acres, of which about one third is inclofed, and the reft open foreft land ; the land in general is extremely good, and proper for the growth of oak timber. The officers of this foreft are, a warden, four ver- durers, two mafter keepers, two under keepers, a rang- er, a fteward of the fwanimote court, twelve regarders, j*nd two agiftors. The ftock of deer is about 200 Counties of England. Hampjhire. xciii head, from which about feven brace of bucks are an- nually killed. There was a furvey of the timber in this foreft in 1608, and another in 1783, from which it appears, that the timber in 1783 was only one 28th part of what was growing at the former period. This county has feveral good fea-ports and harbours, with a number of creeks. The principal rivers are the Itching or Abre, the Tefle, the Avon, the Anton, the Stour, the Wey, the Loddon, and the Auborn. There are feveral ancient camps ; and the Romans had fix ftatioiis in this county, if we reckon Farnhami viz. Calleva now Farnham, Vindonum now Silchef- ter, Venta Belgarum now Winchefter, Claufentum, now Southampton, or rather Bittern, Brigae near Broughton, and Cunetio at Edgbury near Witchurch. Antiquities in the county worth notice are Andover Church, Bafingftoke Chapel, Bifliops-Waltham Caftle, Calfhot Caftle, Chrift-church Church, St. Crofs's Hofpital, St. Dionyfius's Priory, Fordingbridge Bridge, Hyde Houfe near Winchefter, Holy Ghoft Chape! near Bafingftoke, Hurft Caftle, Maifon Dieu at Southampton, Netley Abbey, Odiham Caftle, Por- chefter Caftle, Rumfy Nunnery, Selborn Priory, Sil- chefter, Southampton Caftle, &c. Smallwood Caftle, Southfea Caftle, Tichfield Abbey, Warblington Caftle, Warnford Church, Winchefter Cathedral, Palace, &c. The ISLE OF WIGHT lies on the coaft of Hampfhire, and is included in that county : the ftrait that feparates it from the main land is of unequal breadth, being about one mile over towards the weftern, and about feven miles at the eaftern extremity : its form is fome- what like a lozenge ; and has been compared to a bird flying with its wings extended : the greateft length from eaft to weft is tweny-tthree miles, and breadth from north to fouth thirteen : its fuperficial contents are reckoned at 100,000 acres. The ifland is divided into two hundreds, called stir Counties of England. Hamftfhir* Eaft and Weft Medina, from, the river of that name- which runs from fouth to north, andalfo almoft divides the ifland into two parts -, Contains thirty panfhes, and rather more than 18,000 inhabitants. Its towns are; Newport (the capital), Newtown, Yarmouth, Bradmg, Cowes, and Ride ; the three firft fend each two mem- bers to parliament. The air, particularly in the higher fouthern parts, is extremely wholefome ; frequent m- ftances of longevity occurring, and a general appear- ance of health and vigour prevailing among the lower ranks of people. Its fertility is alrrioft proverbial, having long fmce been faid to produce more in one year than could be confumed by its inhabitants m eight an improved hufbandry introduced of late years has increafed this fertility 5 and we may eftimate its an- nual produaion to be ten times as much as its con- fumptidn. The foil is extremely different in different part: the ifland 5 and fometimes exhibits a remarkable variety, even in the fame parifh. Thus, for inftance, in Brading the fouth part confifts of a free, kind-working earth, mixt with a fmall proportion of fand ; the weft of a light loain, mixed with chalk ; and the north and eait parts of a ftiff clay hardly fit for culture. In many parts of the ifland, the foil is gravelly , m others flinty but its general chafer is a ftrong and loamy earth, well calculated for cultivation. It abounds with marie, both fhell and ftone ; chalk, fullers' and brick earth ; tobacco-pipe clay ; ftone of different qualities ; mid various kinds of lands j of the laft, a fine white fort is found in the parifh of Freihwater, efteemed far iupefior to any other in the kingdom, and ufed in great quantities for the glafs and porcelain manufactories. The face of the country is various, beautiiul, am mfturefque ; confifting of gentle hills, diverfified with rallies verdant well-watered meadows, and rich corn- fields A chain of hills ftrctches from eaft to weft- trough the heart of the. ifland ; and the fliort, fwee Counties of England. HampjrSire. XCY food -which they afford to the flieep, renders their wool '. and meat equal to thofe of the fheep bred on the downs of Suffex. In the foutliern parts of the ifland, parti- cularly about Steephill and Under-Cliffy it is interefting to obferve how the industrious labour of the inhabitants has overcome certain local inconveniences. Many fpots of ground hereabouts lie in fuch intricacies among the crags of mountains and rocks, that one would imagine their fituation fhould fecure them frorh the notice of the hufbandman : the iflanders, however, have found means to reduce all theie fpots to tillage ; and even thofe which appear, from their rapid defcent and whimfical inequalities, to be moft incapable of being worked, yet by ploughing them, fometimes in a tranfverfe, and fometimes in an oblique direction, they make them produce heavy and abundant crops. The roads of the ifland (particularly in the eaftern divifion) are paid great attention to ; and, except in the fouthern parts, where the rocky foil renders them rugged, are as good as thofe of Hampfliire. The weftern divifion being lefs populous, the roads here are lefs pleafant to die traveller. The grain cultivated in the ifland is, wheat (red- ftrawed), barley, oats, beans, and peafe ; though more or lefs attention is paid to the three latter, according to the fituation of the different farms, and the different nature of die land. Sheep have been very much attended to of late years by the Ifle of Wight farmers. The number fhorn is computed to amount to 40,000. The average weight of wool per fleece in the eaftern part of the ifland is three Ibs. and in the fouthern and weftern parts about three Ibs. and a half. Little of this is manufactured in the ifland, it being chiefly ex- ported in the fleece to different trading towns. The ftock ufually kept on the farms confifts of fheep, cows, and horfes : oxen are rare ; what few there are, they generally feed with ftraw and hay, and work them xcvi Counties of England. Hampjhire. as horfes. The cows are moftly of the Alderney breed, though mixed with Englifh forts , which the farmers think renders the butter better than it would orherwife be. The horfes are of different breeds, but in general large. The hogs are of a breed, feemingly, peculiar to the ifland ; they are large and tall, marked with black fpdts, and have very deep fides : the bacon is excellent. Timber was formerly extremely plentiful in the ifland, but the inhabitants h?ve had fo good a market for it at Portfmouth, and the other dock-yards in and near this difiricl:, that little now remains ; of this little the oak and elm appear to be the moil flourifhing. This iiland was known to the Romans by the name of Veclis, or Vefta ; and by Britons called Guith. Vefpafian is faid to have brought it under the fub- jcftion of the Romans. In the fixth century it was reduced by Cerdic the Saxon, who drove away, or ilaughtcred, the remaining Britifh inhabitants. In the year 1066 it was invaded by Tofti, brother of King Harold, with a piratical fleet of Flemings, who laid the inhabitants under contribu- tion. It was afterwards conquered by William Fitz Ofborn, marfhal to William the Conqueror, who was the firft lord of the ifland. In the year 1377 it was ravaged by the French, who rr> ide a fecond attempt in the year 1403, but were then beaten oC Fitz Ofborn's fon being baniihed, i-fenry I. granted the iiland to Rivers, earl of Devon, but in the reign of Edward I. it v. as furrendered to the crown. Henry Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, \vus by Henry VI. crowned king of Wight, but this new and extraordi- nary title died with him. It has a governor and lieu- tenant-governor, appointed by the crown. Cottntles of England. Xcvl? HEREFORDSHIRE. HEREFORDSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by Shropfhire ; on the eaft by Worcefter- fhire and Gloucefterfhire ; on the fouth by Monmouth- fhire ; and on the weft by Brecknockfhire and Rad- norfhire : above forty-five miles long from north to fouth, thirty-nine in its greateft breadth, and of a form nearly circular. It was anciently inhabited by the Silures, and under the Romans it made part of Britannia Secunda. During the heptarchy it belonged to Mercia : at pre- fcnt it is included in the Oxford circuit, in the pro- vince of Canterbury, and diocefe of Hereford. It is divided into eleven hundreds, in which are one city, Hereford, feveii market towns, and 391 villages ; the towns are Leominfter, Weobly, Bromyard, King- ton, Ledbury, Pembridge t and Rofs. Eight members are lent to tlie parliament, viz. by the county, the city of Hereford, and the towns of Leominfter and Weoblv, two each: and it pays eight parts of the land-tax. The number of inhabitants is eftimated at 90,000. The foil of this county is very different ; and the dif- ference often becomes ftriking in the fpace of a few- yards only, from a ftrong clay to a kindly fandy mould : yet all are rich, productive, and well adapted by nature for the ncurifliment of the different fpecies of vegetables which are there found. Excepting the borders of this county on the fouth, all the land that has a fufficient quantity of fand in its compofition is, in a very high degree, friendly to vege- tation ; the only defel to which the foil inclines is when it contains too large a proportion of clay. But Although the foil be often ftiff here, it does noi comc ; VOL. i. g seviii Counties of England. Htrrfordftire. under the defcription of what it is_called, in fonl(? places, " poor ftiff clay." The principal part of the land is employed in tillage. The moft intelligent farmers fay, that there is too large a proportion under corn. It is calculated in general that two-thirds of the farms are thus employed : one- third is too fmall a proportion for meadow and p'afture, confidering the excellence of their breed of cattle. The principal productions are corn, wood, wool, and cider. The produce of wheat on the borders of the county is 1 60, and on the richer lands 200 gallons per acre *. The major part of the county being compofed of a clayey foil, the cultivation 'of barley is not very general. On the fouth fide of the county,' where the foil is in- clined to be fandy, barley, however, is a principal arti- cle. The produce may be about four quarters an acre \ but near Rofs much more. Pulfe, whether peas or beans, are fown broad-cajt* The ftrong clayey foil is well adapted for this fpecies of crop -, yet from the quantity produced the fact would feem to be otherwife, fmce the average produce cannot be eftimated at more than twenty-five bufhels per ftatute acre. Beans are fonie times fet, but not in regular rows, with an intention to keep the land clean by hoeing* This county is, in general, , well wooded, and the coppice wood is kept under a moft regular and rational fyftem. The fofter woods, fuch as afh, fallies, alder, are regularly cut from twelve to fourteen years' growth the oak from eighteen to twenty years'. The cultivation of hops has lately contributed to raife the value of woodlands in this county in a very remarkable degree, which produces not only a fuffi- cicncy for its own confumptioi>, but a vaft quantity is annually fent to the Severn for the Briftol and other * This alludes to the general run of this county ; for 300 gallons is not uncommon on Wye Side. Comities of England. Herefordfiire* markets, moftly ufed in making hoops and hop-pdies. The hills, which in moft other places make but a tri- fling return to the owner, here, when planted, yield him more than his richeft lands. Orchards, which are fo generally difperfed over all parts of this county, muft fome day become an objecT. of co'nfiderable importance, and will be found entitled to a considerable mare of attention from the promoters of every fcheme calculated for the internal improve- ment of this kingdom. For they hold forth the means of procuring to Ibciety a beverage not only healthful, but grateful to the palates of all ranks and conditions of men, with little labour, and lefs expence. Orchards are planted in this county in various de- grees of elevation, .and in afpedis that look to every point of the compafs 5 high and low,.fouth and north, eaft and weft, however, have all found their refpedlive advocates; and the man who wduld venture to give either of thefe a preference over the reft, would not only bring a legion of foes about his ears, but would find his hypothefis oppofed by a number of fafts and reafonings, which he would find it difficult to over- come. Hops form a very cbnfiderable article in the rural economy in the coUnty of Hereford, and feems to be of all others the farmer's peculiar favourite. Time was, however, when the cafe was otherwife. Upon the firft introduction of hop into this latitude, it met with a moft unwelcome reception ; for a petition was prefented againft it to parliament in the year 1528, in which it was ftigmatifed as a moft pernicious and wicked weed ; and the national vengeance was requeft- cd to be hurled at the heads of thole who mould pro- pagate it on their lands. The wicked weed, however, did not remain long in dilgrace ; for in 1552 it is mentioned with fome refpecSt, and in 1603 was finally tiken under the protection of the legiflature. A pe- nalty is inflicted on thofe who fhall be found to adul- terate hops, with a view to add to the weight : to c Counties of England. Hereford/hire . rapidly had the wicked weed ingratiated itfelf into the *rood eraces of our anceftors. 3 The land preferred by the planter in this diftntt, t to be converted into hop ground, is meadow or old pafture, when it can be had ; but any land that baa fein for years in grafs he prefers to tillage. _ The tttuation of the high-ways refled no mconfider- able portion of difgrace upon the notice of this diftnd to fay that the roads are bad, is, in fad, faying r thine. And what is peculiarly mortifying, they arc, in their prefent local fituation, incapable of being mad< good, although they may be mended. ' The bye-roads are moftly funk many feet below the furface of the adjoining lands, by the floods having carried away the foil in the courfe of ages. In * u . dl a fituation no road can be made good, nor could it kept fo if it were made, becaufe it is always liable be deftroyed by the floods. The turnpike-roads, however, ftand m a different predicament from the parochial. Thefa," fays Mr. Clarke, in his View of the Agriculture of the County, have all been made during the prefent century, and the direaion in which many of them are laid out ex- hibits marks of folly and ftupidity uncommonly 1 incj or, more properly fpeaking, there feems to have been a malignant degree of ingenuity difplayedby the perfons (whoever they were) that laid out the roads, in entailing upon pofterity fo provoking an evi as that ot nnecefl\r hilly roads!" This county, as laid out by nature, is uncommonly favourable to level roads : the hills and iwells are moftly detached, and all roads migh can y have a fweep round their bafe. ^thorough- fare from Wales to London, by the fide of the Wye, as well as the communication between its own relpec tlvc market towns, might have been fo laid out that, befides being (liorter than the prefent turnpikes la general, there would not have been above a fall of foot in twenty. Counties of England. Hertford/hire. m The principal rivers of Hereford are the Temc, the Wye, the Lug, the Munnow, and the Arrow. There are fome ancient encampments near Here- ford, Pembridge, Leominfter, and other places. The principal antiquities worthy notice are, Bar- rington Caftle near Aftiton, Branftill Caftle near Led- bury, Brampton Brian Caftle, Bromyard Church, Com- for Caftle near Leomiufter, Courtfield Caftle, Crafs- iield Abby, Dorftan Caftle, Eccleswell Caftle, Eaton Tregnofe Caftle, Goodrich Caftle, Gublington Caftle, Hereford Cathedral, &c. Highland Caftle near Leo- minfter, Kilpeck Caftle and Priory, Kinnerfley Caftl, Leominfter Church, Lyons Hall Caftle, Pembridge Caftle, Penyard Caftle near Rofs, Richards Caftle near Ludford, Snodhill Caftle, Trengets Caftle near Welch Newton, Triago Caftle, Whitney Caftle, Wigmore Caftle and Priory, Wilton Caftle near Rots, Wonton Caftle. HERTFORDSHIRE. HERTFORDSHIRE is an inland county, bounded n the north by the counties of Bedford and Cam- bridge ; on the eaft by Eflex ; on the fouth by Middle- fcx ; and on the weft by the counties of Buckingham and Bedford : the form is tending to oval, but with many indentations ; about thirty-fix miles from north- eaft to fouth-weft, twenty-eight broadj and 130 in cir- cumference. It made a part of the principality of the Trine- bantes and the Cattieuchlani, with a fmall diftricl: in- habited by the Caflii, now the hundred of Cafhio, be- cii Counties of England, Hertford/bvft. fore the arrival of the Romans ; after which it was in- cluded in the province of Flavia Caefarienfis : during the heptarchy a part of it belonged to Eflex, a fmall part to Kent, and the reft to Mercia. It is now in- cluded in the home circuit, in the province of Can- terbury, and in the diocefes of London and Lincoln. It i divided into eight hundreds, in which are nine*- teen market towns, 949 villages, and about 95,000 inhabitants : it fends fix members to parliament, and pays eleven parts of the land-tax. The towns are, Hertford, St. Alban's, Baldock, Bark-way, Barnet, Berkhamftead, Buntingford, Bifhop's Stortford, Hat- field, Hemei-Hempftead, Hitchin, 'Hoddefdon, Rich- mandfworth, Royfton, Standon, Stevenage, Tring, Wave, Watford. The two firft fend members to par- liament. The principal rivers are the Lee, the Coin, the Stort, the Ver, and the New River. The air is pure and wholefome ; the foil, for the moft part, fertile, bearing excellent wheat and barley, which form the chief produce of the county, as well as the principal export, being manufactured into meal and malt. There are fome ancient camps in the county, and the Ermine or Heremon ftreet paflbs through it, from which fome are difpofed to derive its name : it is uni- verfally allowed that Verulam was a Roman munici- pium, and ftood on the Watling-ftreet ; the ancient JDurolitum is fuppofed to be at Cheihunt, and Csefaro- magus at Braughin. Antiquities worth notice are, St. Alban's Abby, Baldock Church, Berkhamftead Caftle and Church, Bifhop Stortford Caftle, Chefhunt Nunnery, Gaddef- don Cloifters near Tring, Hertford Caftle, Hitchin Church, Kings Langley Church, Offley Palace near Hitchin, Royilon Church and Cave, Rye Houfe, Saw- bridgeworth Church, Sopwell Monastery, Standofl Hpufe, Ware Church, Wymondefley Priory. Cattnties of England. Ciii HUNTINGDONSHIRE. HUNTINGDONSHIRE is a fmall inland county, bounded on the north by the counties of Northampton and Cambridge ; on the fouth by Bedfordshire ; and on the weft by Bedfordmire and Northamptonfhire : about twenty-fix miles long and twenty broad, and comprehending about 210,000 acres. It was, in the earlielt times with which we are ac- quainted, inhabited by the Iceni : the Romans made it a pnrt of the province of Flavia Cxfarienfis : during the heptarchy it belonged to Mercia j and is now in- cluded in the Norfolk circuit, the province of Canter- bury, and the diocefe of Lincoln. It is divided into four hundreds, in which are fix market towns, Huntingdon, the county and a borough town, Kimbolton, Ramfey, St. Ives, St. Neots, and Yaxley. It fends four members to parliament, and pays four parts of the land-tax. The chief rivers are the Oufe and the Nen : the Oufe riles near Brackley in Northamptonfhire, pafies by Buckingham, Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnel, Olney, Bedford, St. Neots, Huntingdon, St. Ives, Ely, &c. and runs into the German fea a little below Lynn in Norfolk. The Nen rifes a little to the fouth of Davehtry in Northamptonshire, and running north-eaft pafles by Northampton, Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers, Thrapfton, Oundle, Peterborough, &c. and after being joined to feveral rivers in its courfe, and forming feveral lakes, it falls into the German fea near Wifbeach : thefe, lakes are called rneers, one of them, Whittlefea meer near Peterborough, is fix miles long and three broad. The air, in confequeruce of the fenny land and Racers, is couGdercd as unwholefome, efpecially towards civ Counties of England. Huntingdon/hire. the north part of the county: the foil is in general fertile : the more elevated parts yield good corn and pafture, and in the vallies the meadow lands are rich, and afford cheefe equal to Parmefan ; the village of Stilton has long been celebrated for the bed. The in- habitants are well fupplicd with fifh and wild fowl : the principal fuel is peat or turf. The fen-lands of this county yield but little profit, on account of the great defedl in the drainage ; they con- fift of about 44,000 acres, including lakes, and form, about one feventh part of what is called the Great Bedford level, of which more than 50,000 acres are drained by a different outfall. Of thefe 44,000 acres, about eight or ten thoufand may be called productive ; but even thefe are kept, if kept at all from inundation, at an expence which is equal to near one third part of the rent, and are at all times in a ftate of extreme hazard. Mr. Maxwell, the fenfible author of the General View of the Agriculture of this county, fpeaking of the defet of drainage, fays, " It may feem paradoxicalj that the fens of Huntingdonshire, whofe furface is. comparatively high, fhould be worfe drained than thofe which He between them and the fea ; the furface of which laft is confiderably lower; the natural fuppo- fition being, that water will inevitably fall from the higher to the lower level. But this is the cafe with all the fens that are upon the fkirts of the high land ; and proves only, that the general drainage was executed upon principles fundamentally wrong. In truth, let what will be advanced to the contrary, there was not a proper outfal to fea, at the time of the general under? taking to drain the fens near a century and a half ago ; and ingenious men employed themfelves, not in ob- taining an outfal, as they ought to have done, but in conftru&ing large drains and high banks within the boundaries of the fens, expecting the water would torce its own paflage, in fpite of every impediment, Counties of England.- Huntingdonjlnre. cv though the diftance between the fen and the fea was from 10 to 15 and 20 miles. " This not proving to be the cafe, ingenuity was then fet to work, to invent engines for the purpofe of throwing the water out of the lands into the internal rivers. Still it did not find its way to the fea, but overtopped the banks, or broke them down by the weight of its preflure. To this moment, inftead of re- forting to the outfal, the engines have been increafed in (ize, and the banks raifed ftill higher, fo that the water which, if there had been an outfal, would have found its way to fea, and, if left to itfelf, would have refted on the loweit of the land, has been forced, in a retrograde motion, over the furface of the higher lands; and hence the deplorable ftate of the fens in Hunting- donfhire. It is a ftate that every one muft lament ; whilft thofe who have conftant intercourfe with its in- habitants, muft feelingly fympathife in their occafional diftrelFes : for what can be more painful to a generous mind, than to fee induftrious families, with all their property and effets, at the mercy of the weather, and liable to be overflowed in windy weather at every moment ?" With refpeft to the prefent ftate of the county, he fays, " it confifts of 106 towns and hamlets, each of which, after deducting the fens and borderly lands, may contain, on an average, about 1,500 acres, making in all nearly 1 60,000 acres -, which, when added to the 49,000 acres of fen and flcirty lands, the county may be fuppofed to contain in all about 210,000 aci'es, in- cluding woodlands." Other calculations, however, carry its extent confiderably higher. There are no manufactures carried on in the county except brewing (and that not for exportation), together with a little wool-ftapling ; but the women and child-* ren may hive conftant employment in fpinning yarn, which is put out by the generality of the country Ihop- keepers ; though at prefent it is but a very indifferent evi Counties of England. Kent. i&eans of employment, and they always prefer out-of* doors work when the feafon comes on. The county is rather thin of timber, whick may be imputed to the very great demand for it in the fens. There are fome ancient camps in this county, and *. Roman military road appears between Huntingdon and Stilton. The principal antiquities are Bugden Palace, Con- nington Church and Caftle, Godmanchefter Bridge, Hinchinbrooke Pricry, St. John's Hofpital at Hunting- don, Rarnfey Abby, and Somerfham Palace. KENT. 1ENT is a maritime county, fituated on the Couth-, jcaft extremity of this ifland, oppofite to France and the Netherlands j bounded on the north by the river Thames and the German fea ; on the eaft and fouth- eaftby the Englifti channel ; on the fouth by the Englifh, channel and the county of SufTex ; and on the welt by Surry : about fixty miles in length from eaft to- weft, ami from thirty to thirty-eight in breadth from north to fouth. It is divided into five lathes, which are again fuh- ^yided into fixty-three hundreds, and contain twa cities, Canterbury and Rochefter, thirty-nine market towns, and about 200,000 inhabitants. At^the landing of Ccelar it was inhabited by the Cantii, and governed by foijr petty kings : after the conqueft of the iilanfl by the Romans it was made a part of the province of Britannia Prima. During thr Mrchy it was a kingdom of itfelf under its prefent name, undone Saxon kings kept their court at Canter- bury. It is now included in the home circuit, in tluj province of, Canterbury, and in the diocefes of Can- terbury and Rochefter, After the conqueft by William the Norman I^ent, the only county which prefcryed its ancient lavs Counties of England. Kent. evil 'ufages ; of which the two principal feem to have been gavel kind, and an abfolute exemption from vaffalage. The towns are, Ailiford, Bromley, Chatham, Cran- brook, Cray St. Marys, Crayford, Dartford, Deptfcrdj Deal, Dover, Eleham, Eltham> Faverfham, Folkftone, Goudhtfrft) Gravefend, Greenwich, Hythe, Lenham^ Lewifham, Lydd, Maidflone, Mailing, Margate, Milton, Queenborough, Ramfgate, Romney, Sandwich, Seven- oaks, Sheernefs, Sittingburn, Smardefi, Tentevden, Tunbridge, Wefterham, Woohuick, Wrotham, Wye. The principal rivers of the county are the Medway, the Stour, and the Rother : the Medway. in the opi- nion of Lambard, was fo named becaufe it flood in the middle of the Kentifh kingdom, or elfe that it ran between the two bifhoprics ; but Camden fuppofes that the ancient Britiih name was Vaga, to which the Saxons added Med, and that from thefe two words the prefent name is derived. It is formed by four dreams, which, in the county of Surry or the borders, pafs by Tunbridge, Maidftone, Rochefter, &c. and joins the Thames at' the Nore, with its main dream called the Weft Swale, while another, called the Eaft Swale, feparates the ifla'nd of Shepey from the main lar.d of the county into the open fea. It is navigable for barges to Maidilone. Some writers fuppofe the Stout was firlt called Dour by the ancient Britons ; others that it took its name from the word Eftuarinrn, which came to be changed into Efture, Sture, and laftly Stour. It confifts of two dreams, diftinguiihed by the names of the Great and Little Stour ; both rife in the woody parts of the county called the Weald, and run a north-eaft courfe : the Greater Stour paiTes by Afhford, Wye, Canterbury, &c. ; and the Smaller more eaflerly, through Eleham ; and falling into one channel, called the Wanfum, are again divided into two dreams, one of which runs fouth-eaft into the fea below Sandwich; the other branch runs into the fea. or Elluary of the German ocean near Reculver, fepa- rating the north-ead angle of the county from the vontment, and forming the ifland of Tlianet. But cviii Counties of England. Kent. this laft ftream is now very inconfiderablc : the ancient and once celebrated harbour forms a vally of marih land comprehending about 25,000 acres. The Rother rifes in Suflex from feveral ftreams be- tween Tunbridge Wells and Battle, and empties itfelf into the fea at Rye : it divides into two ftreams which enclofe the ifland of Oxney, and again unite between Appledore and Rye. It had anciently another ftrearr: which entered the fea at Lymne, and afterwards at Romney, the dry channel of which is ftill vifible. The Ravenfbourn, the Cray, and the Darent, are fmall ftreams. Two chains of hills run through the middle of Kent, called the upper and lower hills : the northern range and whole north fide of the county are compofed principally of chalk and flints ; the fouthern of iron and ragftone ; more wefterly, towards Surry, clay and gravel prevail upon the eminences. Below this laft range lies the Weald, an extenfive level traft of land, rich and fertile at fome places, where fine pafturage and. timber are produced. The foil, a deep clay and marl ; and fo foft, that the carriage and ploughing work is rnoftly done by unfhod oxen. The Weald of Kent was formerly covered entirely with woods. It contains at prefent many fmall towns and villages, but it is not fo populous as the other parts of the county, nor fo well cultivated. Its prin- cipal productions are large fat oxen, hops, fruit, and oak timber. Romney-Marfh is an extenfive tracl; of rich marfh- land, at the fouth-eaft corner of the county, originally embanked from the fea by a ftrong wall thrown up be- tween the towns of Rcinney and Hythe, very broad, and well fecured with timber, ftakes, and wattles. Its chief productions are mutton and wool. Thofe of the county at large are horfcs, cattle, fheep, hogs, venifon, poultry, game, rabbits, and fifh ; wheat, .barley, oats, beans, peas, and tares ; canary, clover, trefoil, cinquefoil, and moft other garden feeds ; afpa- ragus, potatoes, turnips, and all kinds of culinary Counties of England. Kent. ciac piaftts ; hops, timber, underwood, iron, {lone, chalk, copperas, fait, &c. The manufactures of the county are but trifling. In the lile of Thanet the land is naturally thin ; but by the care of the religious, to whom the greater part belonged, the foil was much improved, and brought, under a proper mode of culture. The fea afforded an inexhauftible fupply of excellent manure, which was brought by the tides to all the borders of the upland, quite round the ifland ; and could not fail being liberally and judicioufty applied by the monks and their tenants ; nor have their fuccefibrs to the prefent time neglected to profit by their example. Owing to thefe circumftances, Thanet always was, and mofl iikely al- ways will be, famous for its fertility ::and the monkifh tale of Thanet's deriving its fuperior fruitfulnefs from its having afforded an afylurn of St. Auguftine, is not fo far from the truth as it may at firft appear. Old hiftorians faid, " Felix tellus Tanet fua fecunditateV' and modern writers on husbandry fpeak of it as one of the fineft and beft cultivated gardens in the kingdom. In fliort, is there another diflritl in Great Britain, or in the world, of the fame extent, in fuch a perfect Hate of cultivation ; where the farmers are fo wealthy and intelligent ; where land, naturally of fo inferior a quality, is let at fo high a price, and produces fuch abundant crops ? The Iftand of Thanet contains about three thoufand five hundred acres of excellent rnarm-land, and twenty- three thoufand acres of arable : all the lower part of the Matter bordering upon the marihes, and fome parts of the hill, where there is a good depth of earth, are ex- ceedingly fertile; and the principal part of the remain- 4er, although naturally a poor thin Kght mould on a chalky bottom, is made exceedingly fertile by the mode of cultivation. The bottom foil of the ifland is a dry hard yock halk. The higheft lands are about do feet above the krel of the fea, and are covered with a dry loofe CX Counties of England* Kent. mould, from four to fix inches deep; it mixture of fmall flints, and is, without mSnufe, a very poor foil. The vales between the ridges anrfthe fiat lands on the hills have a deep dry loamy foil, from one to three feet, lefs mixed with chalk, and of much better quality. The weft end of the ifland, even on the hills, has a good fertile mould, from one to two feet deep, a little in- dining to ftiffnefs ; but the deepelt and belt foil is that. which lies on the fouth fide of the fouthermoft ridge, running weftward from Ramfgate to Monkton ; it is there a deep rich fandy loam, .and moilly dry enough to be ploughed flat, without any water furrows* The foil of the marfhes is a ftiff clay, mixed with a fea- (and, and fmall marine ihells. There are ho com- mons nor an acre of waite in the. ifland. The open part of Eaft Kent, between Canterbury, Dover, and Deal, is of various foils. The principal are, chalk, loam, ftrong cledge, hazel mould, ftiff clay. Befides thefe there are fome fmall tracts of flints, gravel, and fand. The ftrong cledge is a ftiff tenacious earth, with a fmall proportion of flints, fometimes intermixed^ with fmall particles of chalk. The woodlands of the eaftern part of Kent furniih the country with fire-wood, wheelwrights with ftuff for hufbandry ufes, and the dock-yards with timber for fhip-building ; but the moft general part of their pro- duce is the immenfe quantity of poles cut out for the neighbouring hop plantations. 'I he foil on which thefe woods grow is of various forts ; by much the greateft part of the under foil is a hard rock chalk, and the furface is in fome parts' clay, others ftiff cold cledge, intermixed with flints, and fome is a poor cold loam. The chief woods growing on the chalky foils, are alh, willow, and hazel; and of the cold clays, oak, birch, and beech. The land in the vicinity of Faverfham, Sandwich,' and Deal, is extremely fertile, and under the moft ex- Csunlies of England. Kent. cxt cellerit fyftem of management ; it is almoft entirely arable, and produces great crops of wheat, beans, barley, oats, and peas, and fometimes canary and radilla feeds. In the vicinity of Sandwich there are a great many orchards, which fome years produce large quantities of excellent apples ; fome of which are fent to the Londo:; market, but the principal part is conveyed by the coal vefiels to Sunderland and Ne\vcaftle. The farmers ufually fell their orchards by the lump to fruiterers, who gather, fort, and pack them, in bal- kets, or old fugar hogfheads, for exportation. The hop grounds of the parifhes between Sandwick and Canterbury are thofe which produce the fine ,Eaft Kent hops, in fo much requeft among the London brewers. But the principal hop plantations are about Canterbury and Maiditone; The belt plantations are thofe which have a good deep rich loamy furface, with a deep under foil of loamy brick earth : this kind of land forms the priiici- pal part of the plantations of Eaft Kent ; there are, however, fome good grounds, where the furface is very flinty ; and fome' of a gravelly nature, but thofe are very inferior; In the neighbourhood or Maidftone are a great number of fmall fields, of from one to ten acres, and fomewhat more, planted with fruit of different kinds, as cherries, apples, filberts, and for which the rocky- foil of the neighbourhood feems particularly adapted. The weftern part of this county confiits of a great variety of foils and fyftems of hufbandry 1 . It is much ftiore inclofed than the eaftern part, and produces more timber and underwood. The varieties of foil in the weftern part are, chalk, loam, elay, gravel, fand, haflbck, pinnock, coomb, ; and hazel mould. The haflack, or ftone matter, is a mixture of fandy loam, with a great portion of fmall pieces of light coloured Kejitilh rag-Hone ; is. from fix inches to a cxii Counties of England.- Kent. foot or two deep : the under foil a folk! rock of ftorid. This land produces great quantities of hops, apples, cherries, filberts ; and likewife good turnips, potatoes, feeds, and corn ; alfo much excellent hay on old grafs The pinnock foil is of difficult culture, and extremely unproduaive ; it is a fticky red clay, mixed with fmall ftones : but although it is deemed poor for cultivation of grain, &c. yet it produces very fine chefnut wood 5 and filberts likewife grow well upon it. This fort of land generally covers the rock. The cobmby foil of Weft Kent is an extreme i moift clay, mixed with ftones and flints of different forts, likewife of difficult culture : it ploughs fo heavy as always to require fix horfes, and fometimes, when dry and hard, eight are neceflary ; and even then, fre- quently not more than half an acre is ploughed m a day. This fort of land is found in the parts about Seal and Wrotham. The Weald of Kent was formerly an immenfe wood or foreft, inhabited only by herds of deer and hogs, and belonged wholly to the king. By degrees it became peopled, and mterfperied wit! villages and towns , and by piecemeal was, for the moft part, cleared of its wood, and converted into tillage and pafture. There are, however, fome woodlands ftill in their original ftate. The weald of Kent has the reputation of being entire mafs of clay, but on examination it is found there are the following varieties of foil, namely, clay, hazel mould, fand, ragilone gravel. The quantity of woodland in this county is efhmated at rather more than 1 2,000 acres. Romncy-Marfh is a fpacious level of exceeding good rich marfh land, lying at the fouth corner of the county of Kent. Its fhape is nearly that of a long fquare, the length about twelve miles ; and breadth, nearly eight. It contains the two corporate towns of New Rorriney and Lydd, and fixteen other parifhes. The quantity Counties of England. Kent. cxiii of land contained in this level, within the county of Kent, is about forty-four thoufand acres ; the adjoining level of Guildford-marfh is the greater part of it in the county of Suflfex. There is a fmall narrow tracl; of land along the fea- fliore, that confifts of poor barren fand hills, and fome portion of the marfh is but indifferent breeding land ; but the principal part of this level is wonderfully rich and fertile. There are but very few oxen fed on it compared with what other rich marfh lands ufually keep ; but the quantity of iheep bred and fed here exceeds, per- haps, any diflridl of the like extent in the kingdom'. Some of the fields fupport of young fheep, in the f um- mer, from five to twelve per acre ; and moft of the breeding lands keep two and an half and three ewes per acre throughout the winter, without hay, or any other refource whatever. The fcattered inhabitants of the marfh are chiefly overfeers and bailiffs, while the farmers or owners re- fide in the upland parts of the county, or in the neigh- bouring towns. The fences are either ditches or oak pofts and rails> there being but very few hedges, nor many trees in the marfh, except a few about fome of the villages. Im- menfe quantities of oak pofts and rails are annually brought out of the woodlands of the Weald of Kent, for the repairs of the fences. Mr. Hafted fays, in his Hiflory of Kent, " This large trat of marfh land was perhaps fenced in from the overflowings of the fea as early as any in thefe parts of England ; for the laws, ftatutes, and ordinances, fov the confervation of it, are, like our common laws, \vithout any known original ; and as early as the 35th of King Henry III. they are called ancient and improved cuftoms. At the above time it appears that there were 24 jurors, or jurats, as they are now called, who were, time out of mind, elected by the commonaltie,, VOL.. i- h Counties ff England. Kent. and fvvorn to do the beft they could for the preferva- tion of the mnrm from fuch overflowings j and they had, by cuftom and prefcription, power to raife a tax for that purpofe, which was confirmed fey the fam they are not fo much to be com- mended, although it has been very much, improved of late years, fince the drainage has been more attended to ; and, at this time, the inhabitants of the county have no dread of their healths being impaired in mift- ing their abodes, even at advanced periods of life, from the upper parts, called the Wqulds, to the loweft part of- the fens and mar,fhe,s. The time of harveft in the northern and eaftern part of the county, lying open to the ocean, is a little delayed from that circum- ftance. The .lands of -this county may be divided in,to fe,n, ftrong loamy foils, not fubjecl: to be over/lpwed j the \voulds, or light -foils j : and the marflies.. The. pro- perty in the feus, ;inarfhes, and wpqlds, is, in, general, in the hands of large proprietors ; on the ftrong loamy, foils; it is m.pre c}iffuftd, and the occupatiqn^; are laid out in a _fimilar, : w,ay, proprietors of _ c^tenfive landed proper ; tyTetting it, for the moft part, to be occupied in large parcels. The fens are fituated on the foudi-eaft part of the county ; the marflies extend along the fea-coa,{l, from the mouth of the H umber to Crofs Keys Wafli ; the ftrong loamy foils on the fouth, fouth-eaft, ^nd fouth-weft, a;id part in the north-weft, and bordering between the marines, fens, and high lands, including that portion of mixed, arable, and pafture land, called the ^middle marfli. The woulds, or light foils, are chiefly north of Lincoln ; with a fmall portion on the (out/i, extending to the Trent and Humber, on the north and nonh-eaft,. and ou the north-eaft 3115! eaft to tlie marfhes. -<-L. .K i CXXX Counties of England. Lincoln/I)^. That part of the fens which is ufed in the way of cultivation is chiefly in a ftate of tillage, and occa- fionally laid down for pafture, when exhaufted by ploughing, with ray-grafs and clover. Paring .and burning is the great refource, and here it is pradifed in the fulleft extent. Oats are the grain chiefly cultivated m the fens fometimes wheat, beans, peas, and barley, and clover are the chief vegetable crops ; the latter i generally fown with bad or foul ray-grafs. ? Near Bofton large quantities of woad are cultivated. The manures chiefly ufed in the fens are the vege- table aflies arifing from paring and burning, and common ftable, or ftable-yard, dung; which latte manure, till lately, was confidered to be of no valu by the fen-farmers, but rather an incumbrance j and there was an inftance of its accumulating fo much m a farmyard here, that the farmer thought it more ad- vifable, and did adually remove his barn further into his field, or home-clofe, rather than carry out his dung upon his land. Since the land has become exhaufte of late years, by repeated cropping it with oats, the manure is carried a little way into the fields ; but, ftrange to tell, the diftant land gets none of it. Brood mares, of the black cart kind, are ufed inftead of horfes and oxen, which, from the eafe with which the labour is performed by them, anfwer the purpofes of agriculture equally well. The principal commons are fituated a few miles north of Bofton, within the manorial perambulation of the foke of Bolin^brook, held under a leafe from the duchy of Lancalter, by Sir Jofeph Banks* bart. and contain together upwards of 40,000 acres. Thefe commons are under better regulations than any others in the fen country, which is probably owing to the directions of the refpeftable baronet, a confider- able part of whole eftate is fituated near to them ; yet they ftand much in need of drainage, are generally overftocked, and dug up for turf and fuel. The cattls Counties of England. Lincoln/hire. cxxxi and fheep depaftured upon them are often very un- Tiealthy, and of an inferior fort, occafioned by the fcantinefs, as well as the bad quality, of their food, and the wetnefs of the land. The neat cattle of this county are, for the moft part, of a large fort. The cows, when fat, weigh from eight to nine hundred weight; the oxen from ten to twelve. They are generally large in the head, horns, bones, and bellies ; thick, fliort, and flefhy in their necks and quarters ; narrow in their hips, plates, chines, and bofoms ; high in their rumps, and their moulders not well covered : their eyes fmall and funk. The common run of the Leicefterfliire breed of fheep produces about four fleeces to the tod, or twenty- eight pounds ; and the wethers are generally fat, and fent to market as foon as they are fhorn twice, com- monly called two-fheer fheep j and, upon an average, they fell, at Smithfield, at 403. per head. The Lei- cefterfhire fheep, confidered as a breed for home con- fumption, cannot be excelled ; but when for the Lon- don market:, perhaps they might be improved by being raifed a little on the leg. The Lincolnfhire breed of fheep, generally fpeak- ing, are of a coarfer fort than the Leicefterfhire. The average quantity of wool is about three fleeces to the tod, or twenty-eight pound. In the fens, horfes of the black cart kind are chiefly fored t colt-foals are fold off the mares, and fent into the high parts of Huntingdonfhire, Cambridgefhire, Bucks, Bedfordfhire, &c. In the neighbourhood of Long Suttqn there is a breed of horfes for the faddle, remarkable for their bone and activity. There are feveral ancient camps, and fome Roman - r military ways ; but the only place which all hifto- rians have agreed to confider as a Roman ftation is Lincoln. The chief antiquities are, Ancafter Walls, &c. Bar- ling Abby, Bofton Church, Bourn Abby and Cattle, CXX.xii ' Cowitit'S ' of England. Mlddtefex. Caiftor Caftle, Gotham Abby, Crowle Church, "Ciroy- land Abby, Grantham Church, Hill Abby, Horn- : caftle Church, Irfoird Abby, Lincoln Cathedral, Biftiop's Palace, &c. . Newfliam Abby, Newftead Monaftery, Rivelfby Abby, Sempringham Monaftery, Sleaford Caftle, Somerton Caftle, Stamford Caftle, Cottage, &c. 'Stick wold Abby, Swinefhead Abby, Tatterfall Church, Caftle, &c. Thornham Abby, Thirlwall Gun- nery, Torkfey Hall, Tupholm Priory, &c. ============ MIDDLESEX. T _, )DLESEX is an inland county, bounded on the north by Hertfordfhire ; on the eaft by Eflex ; on, the fouth by Surry ; and on the weft by Buckingham- n 'if ihire and burry. It was at the fir ft coming of C^far inhabited by the Trinobantes ; under the Romans it-made a part of the .province of Fhvia -Csefarienfis ; and during the Saxon heptarchy belonged to the kingdom of the Eaft Saxons. It is in the province of Canterbury and diocefe o London. Though one of the fmalleft counties, on account .of the city of London it is the moft populous, and pays more taxes 'than feveral others united. It is abopt twenty-five miles in length, from fouth-weft to north- eaft, and about fourteen wide; and is divided into fix hundreds, ;ind two liberties, in which are two cities, London and -Weftminfter, feven market-towns, Barne,t, Brentford, Edgware, En field, Hounflow, Stanes, and Uxbridge. It fends eight members to parliament, viz. two for the county, four for London, and two for Weftminfter, and pays eighty parts of the land-tax. Couttfies of England Middlcfex. cxxxiii It is fuppofed t ; o derive its name from its fituat.ion between the Eaft, Weft, and South Saxons. The principal rivers are the Thames which divides it from Surry, the Coin which feparates it from Buckingham- fhire, the Lea which bounds it to the eait towards r,lTex, the Brent, and the New River. The foil is generally a gravel, or gravelly loam, and is, by the great quantity of manure made in the me- tropolis, rendered exceedingly fertile, and fome of the beft gardens in the kingdom are found in this county : the air is healthy, and perhaps no part of Europe affords a more falubrious fituation than ' tjhat ipot on which the city of London ftands. The number of cows kept for the accommodation of the city of London, by cow-keepers, in the county of Middlefex, amounts to nearly 7200; and in the counties of Kent and Surry to 1300. The cows kept for the fupply of milk are, in gene- ral, bred in Yorkfhlre, Lancafhire, and Staff ordihire". The London dealers buy them of the country breeder^ when they are three years old, and in calf. During the night the cows are confined in pens or flails. About three o'clock in the morning each- cptw has a half-bufhel baiket of grains. From four o'clock to half pail fix, they are milked by the milk-dealers, who contract with the cow-keepers for the milk of a .certain number of cows. When the milking is finifh- ed, a bufhel-bafket of turnips is grven to each cow ; and very foon afterwards they have an allotment, in the proportion of one trufs to ten cows, of the fofteft meadow-hay of the firft cut that can be procured. Thefe feveral feedings are generally made before eight o'clock in the morning, at which time the cows are releafed from their flails, and turned out into the cow-yard. About twelve o'clock they are again con- fined to their different flails, and ferved with the fame quantity of grains as they had in the morning. About half paft one o'clock in the afternoon the milking com- mences in the manner as before defcribed, and con- CXXxhr Counties of England. Middlefex. tinues till near three, when the cows are again ferved with the fame quantity of turnips ; and, about an hour afterwards, with the fame diftribution of hay as before noticed. This mode of feeding generally continues during the turnip feafon, which is from the month of October to the month of May. During the other months in the year they are fed with coarfer, or fecond cut, meadow- hay, and grains, and are continued to be fed and milk- ed with the fame regularity as above defcribed, until they are turned out to grafs, when they continue in the field all night ; and even during this feafon they are frequently fed with grains, which are kept fweet and eatable for a confiderable length of time by being buried under ground in pits made for the purpofe. Each cow, on an average, yields eight quarts a day, for 365 days ; 2920 quarts, at i|d. a quart, comes to 2il. 55. lod. 8500 cows, at 2il. 53. IDS. per ann. each cow, or 24,820,000 quarts, at i^d. a quart, comes to 180,979!. 33. 4d. per ann. The confumers, however, pay 3d. a quart to the retailers, which, on 24,820,000 quarts, amounts to the fum of 310,250!. and makes a difference of 129,270!. 1 6s. 8d. in favour of the retailers. Antiquities worth notice, befides thofe of London and Weftminfter, are, Waltham Crofs, Tottenham Crofs, Hanworth Church, Hampton Court, Sion Houfe, Canonbury Houfe, Pancras Church, Kenfing- ton Palace, Holland Houfe, &c. Counties of England. CXXXV MONMOUTHSHIRE. MONMOUTHSHIRE is a maritime county, bounded on the north-weft by Brecknockfhire ; on the north-eaft by Herefordfhive ; on the eaft by Glou- cefterfhire ; on the fouth by the Severn ; and on the weft by Glamorganfhire : about thirty-three miles long, and twenty-two broad. It was anciently inhabited by the Silures ; under the Romans it was part of Britannia Secunda ; during the Saxon heptarchy it was independent; and is not included in the divifion of counties made by Alfred. It continued a part of "Wales till the reign of Charles II. when it was included in the Oxford circuit, in the province of Canterbury, and diocefe of Llandaff. It is divided into fix hundreds, in which are feven market-towns, and 127 parifhesj the towns are, Abev- gavenny, Caerleon, Chepftow, Moumouth, Newport, Pontypool, and Ulk. Three members are fent to par- liament, viz. two for the county, and one for the town of Monmouth ; and it pays three parts of the land: tax. The principal rivers are the Severn, the Wye, the Munnow, the Ulk, and the Rumney. The chief produce of the county is wood, corn, cattle, and coal ; and the chief manufactures are thofe of iron. Here were three Roman ftations, viz. Efcalegum Auguftum, now Ufk ; Gobannium, now Abergavenny ; and Venta Silurum, now Caer- went. Antiquities worthy notice are, Abergavenny Caftle, Caldecot Caftle, Caerleon Caftle, Chepilow Caftle and Church, Caerwent, Greenfield Caftle, Grifmund Caftle, Llannath Church, Llantony Abby, Monmouth Caftle and Church, Newport Caftle, Ragland Caftle, cxxxvi Counties of Eriglarid.^-Norfolk. Skinfrith Caftle, Trednock Church, Tintern Abby, Uflc Caftle, Welch Bicknor near Monmouth, and White Caftle near Abergavenny_. NORFOLK. ; NORFOLK is a maritime county, bounded on the north and eaft.by the German fea ; -on the fouth by Suffolk ; and on the weft by Cambritfge'iln're and Lin- colnfhire : 'fifty-nine miles in length; and thirty-four in its mean breadth. It was anciently inhabited by the !ceni, : r.nd under the Romans made a part 'o.f the province of Flavia Csfariehfis; under the hjfytirrtny, it Belonged to the kingdom of the Eaft Angles,' and i.s"rrow included in the Norfolk circuit, the province of (^anterbufy, and diocefe of Norwich. It is divided into thirty-one hundreds, fends twelve members to parliament, and pays twenty parts of the land-tax. It contains one city; ."Norwich, and thirty- two marked-towns , Caftle-RiJijig, Ijynir, Thetford, Yarmouth, all which fend members ; Attleb6rough, Aylfham, Buckenham, Burrrham . Market, Cntvftoii, Clay, Cramer, Difs, Bo'wnharii, Fakenham, Fotdjham, Harlefton, Eaft Harl'mg, Hickling, Hinghartt t HoTt, Loddon, Mcthivold, Repeham, Seeching, Snettifiam, SwafF- ham, Wallliam, Walfingham, Watton, Wymondham, and Worfted; and about i^oo villages, with a popula- tion eftimated, by Mr. Kent, at 220,000. 1 his gentleman calculates the whole contents at 1094,400 acres; by fuppofmg the ; fpace occupied by towns at ^1500, public and private roads 16,416, lakes and rivers 2000, fedgy and fwnmpy ground 1500, unimproved commons 80,000, woods' and plantations 'Counties of England. Norfolk. cxxxvu IQ,CGO, arable land 729,600, meadows, parks and up- land pafture- 126,692, marfh lands 63,346, -warrens and fheep-walks 63,346. The principal rivers are the Great and Little Oufe, the Yare, and the "Waver, ey. The courfc of the Great Ouie lias already been defciibed : the Little Oak rifes in Suffolk, and after feparating that county from Norfolk on the: foiith-weft, joins the Grdat Ouie. near Downham. The Waveney riles alib in Suffolk, and running to the north-eair, divides the. two counties, till it empties itfelf into the Yare at Yarmouth : the Yare rifes in the middle of Norfolk, paffes by Norwich,. &c. and runs into the German lea at Yarmouth. :;T;;Y The furface, except near Norwich and fome p!dcos on the coart, is generally a dead flat, and towards Ac fouth-weft the land is poor and open; but better and more enclofed;to the north, north- eaft, and fouth-'eaft. .The air, except :cn the fea-coaft, is generally healthy, and the 1 foil is of every fpecies from land to clay. The chief productions are corn, cattle, wool, rab- bits, honey, farrron, fifh, poultry, efpecially turkies, game, &c. The natural' advantages of this county confift in good roads, anr-extenfive IJea-coaft and inland naviga- tion, a great itore of excellent manlire, and an enter- prifing and'induftrious race of inhabitants. The 'roads are better in their natural ftate, with no other than the common parochial duty, than in almoft any other county ; fo good, that no turnpike was thought of in Norfolk, till they became common in moft other parts. In the feventeenth century they were fo good, 'that Charles II. when he honoured the Earl of Yarmouth with a vifit at Oxnead, is faid to have obferved, that Norfolk ought to be cut out in flips, to make 'roads for the reft of the kingdom ; by which he undoubtedly meant to compliment the county upon the goodnefs of its roads above other counties. Inland navigation is a very confiderable advantage, cxxxvift Counties of .England. Norfolk. not only in the fnving the carriage, but by enabling the farmer and manufacturer to avail themfelves of the level of distant markets, and to convey their com- modities at an eafier expence than by land carnage. The navigation by fea and rivers almoft belts the county round, from Yarmouth to the mouth of the Nine j the fea is the boundary, being eighty miles. The Great Oufe is navigable from Lynn, twenty-four miles through the county, and then communicates with feven of the midland counties , the Little Oufe branches from the Great Oufe, and is navigable by Brandon to Thetford ; the Wavenny is navigable from Yarmouth, by Beccles, to Bungay ; the Yare is navi- gable from Yarmouth to Norwich ; and the Bure from Yarmouth to Aylmam, exclufive of feveral fmaller cuts to private eftates, and different parts. Another natural advantage is almoll peculiar to this county, for though there are large ftrata of marie in moft other counties, there are never feen any of fo good a quality, or fo eafy to be got at, as it is to be found in moft parts of this county, and in many places very near the furface. The greateft part of the arable land is fandy. The moft fertile parts of the county lie north and north- eaft cf Norwich ; great part of which may be denomi- nated a true fandy loam, equal in value to the beft parts -of tKe.-Nejherlands, to which itismnilar. It is highly fruitful, and fq temperate and pleafant to work, that it is rarely injured by wet or drought, fo that the occupier is feldom put out of his regular courfe of crop*. The diftrl&s fouth. and fouth-eaft of Norwich, though chiefly fand, have an occafional mixture of cl;;y; and are, in many part?., wet, and full of fprings j but yet theft parts are fruitful, though to a lefs degree than the former ; they are likewite lefs pleafaht and more cxpenfive to work : they are, however, in general, capable of being drained :;nd cleared of the fprings. 1 he largcft proportion of the enmity lies, weft and 1 Counties of England. Norfolk, cxxxix north-weft of Norwich. There is fome very good land in different parts of this diftricl ; but, upon the whole, it is a very inferior country to the two preced- ing diftri&s. It runs, in general, light, fit for fheep, and its bed dependence is upon the foid. This is what is called Weft Norfolk, and is the part which, on account of the three great houfes of Holkham, Houghton, and Rainham, ftrangers are moft acquaint- ed \vith. It is here that great farms are to be found, and a county thinly inhabited ; and if it were not for the occafional affiftance derived from the eaitern part of the county, there would often be a want of hands in the harveft, and other bufy fcafons. The diftri&s which lie fouth-weft of Norwich run upon a ftill lighter fand ; fo light, that the land fome- times, in a high wind, drifts from one parifh to another. This is the part where the great rabbit-warrens arc found, which, upon this foil, pay better than any other thing the land could be appropriated to. Marfh-land may be confidered as a diftricl: peculiar by itfelf. The foil is a rich ooze, evidently a depofit from the fea : the north part is highly fertile, -but the fouth part very much injured for want of better drain- age. The meadow lands, in moft parts of the county, are alike, and confift chiefly of a dead moor. 1 hey bear, in their natural flate, a very coarfe kind of grafs, being fpongy and full of rufhes ; yet they arc feldom wet in themfelves, but chiefly fo from being interfered by the fprings which iflue out of the arable hind that lies above them. Ploughing is certainly done with much greater eafe in this county than any other, and much cheaper. There is no inftance of more than t\yo horfes being put to a plough : the fame perfon who holds the plough drives the horfes alfo with reins; a cuftom, moll pro- bably, introduced from the Netherlands. ' The great mode of hufbandry in which Norfolk ex- cels, is in the management of turnips. Troiji which it cXi Cwntit-s of England. Norfolk. lerive* an ineftimable advantage. This important crrp is the great fource of abundance to the county, and has been gradually rifing to perfection in its cul- tivation for aimoit a century. . Not only this county, tut many other parts of England, are indebted to the Townfend family for the original introduction of this ioo.t into this country. Before that time turnips- were 7 cultivated in gardens ami fmall fpots, and hoed by jjanieners i but in the -reign of George I. the then Lord Vifco.unt Townfend attended the king to Hano- ver, in the quality of fecretary of Hate, ...and obferving the advantage of this valuable root a* there cultivated at that time, and the fertility it produced, brought the i&vd and practice into England, and recommended it ' itrongly to his own tenants, who occupied a fimilar ioil to that of Hanover. The experiment fucceeded, and by degrees it gradually fpread over this county, and in the courfe of time to other parts of England, though their cultivation is by no means fo general as ,it continues here. Planting, as far as it relates to ornament about gen- tlemen's feats, has kept pace in this county with mofl -othe'r parts of England. Great bodies of firs, inter- mixed with fome few foreft trees, have been planted by ntreft of the gentlemen of large fortune in their r.s and home-grounds. Mr. Maifham, of Stratton, ranks firnVin priority, as he planted trees with his own hand that he might have fold., in his life-time, for four or five pounds a piece, ,if he hadchofe to cut them down. Mr. Berney, of Brecon, ranks next as a. planter, in point of date, as he paid great attention to it for up- . wards of fifty years. In the year 1757 he obtained the honour of a filver medal for a large plantation of I; -.mong ti:t: modem planter:, Mr. Coke unquef- tionably .'uremott. lie has -planted, fince he has b3?6 140 70051 4 C Malt, - 10,464 a o o 20928 o o Rye, - 397 * 5 o 496 5 o Peas, - 2,150 I 8 o 3010 o o Trom which take, for 3553 quarters of oats imported oyer and above the quantity exported, at 17$. 111069 17 o 4170 I o 7 *- Carried forward 807746 xj o Counties of England. Tot. of Ex. L. S. D. Brought forward 807746 u o FROM BLAKENEY AND CLAY. Quarters. iPr. per Qry at Amount. L. 'S. D. L. s. r>, Wheat, - 6,378 a 4 o I403I IZ Q Wheat Flour, 785 Z If) *I93 Q Barley, - 59* 1 ? 6 I 4 71011 A c Malt, - 2,525 a .0 o 5050 o .'o Rye, 46 i 5 o 57 10 o Peas, - . l,24P I 8 1736 o 9 94084 6 c From which. take the exccfs of 364 quarters of oats im- ported at 17 s. a quarter. - 309 8 o . Neat exports of Blakvney arid Clay, ,93774 18' o Total amount of the whole county, after dedudtiiij; for the Suffolk and n^idland v^vr. n, -..* T , ., proportion, 901521 9 c CATTLE. L. S. D. 5000 home-bred bullocks at lol. 50000 o o 15,000 Scotch andlrifh, the fat- ing profit of which may be fet at 5!. each, - -' 7^006 c o 30,000 fheep,. at il.. 15 s. - ;'i?oo o "c Swine, not lefs tliaii - - locoo o o Rabbits, at leaft - '- 10000 o o Dairy articles, a^out - - 5000 o o 1 Poultry and gamr, -oob o o Wool, coiijt-du .100 o ' o The herrings exj - 50000 o o s. D. 2755^0 o Add, for com, ferain, flour, &c. as before ftated 9015^1 o o j, . ' Total yearly produce fent out of the 1 county, 1 1 7 702 1 ' Q o . /- . Counties of England. - Nortlxtwptonjhire. cxlr The Roman Ermine-ftreet crofled the county from Suffolk to Yarmouth. Antiquities worthy notice are, Barfham Monaftery near Walfmgham, Billockby Church, Bingham Priory, Bromholm Priory, Buckenham Caftle, Burgh Caftle, Caftle Acre Caftle and Priory, Caftle Hall near Nor- \yich,Caftle-Rifmg Caftle, Coxford Abby, Creak Priory, Lynn Churches of St. Margaret and St. Nicholas, Norwich Cathedral and Caftle, Thetford Church and Priory, &c. Walfmgham Priory and Caftle, WymonxU ham Abby, Yarmouth Church, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. -NORTHAMPTONSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by the counties of Leicefter, Rutland, and Lincoln ; on the eaft by Cambridgefhire, Huntingdonfhire, and Bedfordfhire ; on the fouth by Buckinghamshire and Oxfordfliire ; and on the weft by Oxfordfhire and Warwickfhire : nearly fixty miles in length from fouth-weft to north-eaft, and from eight to twenty-two broad. It was anciently inhabited by the Coritani, and by the Romans comprifed in the province of Flavia Cx- farienfis ; during the heptarchy it belonged to Mercia, and is now included in the midland circuit, the pro-, vince of Canterbury, and diocefe of Peterborough. It is divided into twenty hundreds, in which are one city, Peterborough, twelve market-towns, and 551 vil- lages. It fends nine members to parliament ; that is, for the county, Peterborough, Brackley, and North- ampton, two each, and Higham Ferrers, one; and pays twelve parts of the land-tax : the other towns are, Cliff VOL. i. k rxlvi Ceunties o or Xing' s-C/i/e, Daventry, Kettering, Oundle, Roc&ing- ham y Rothwell, Thrapfton, Towcefter, and Welling-, borough. The principal rivers are the Nen, the Welland, the Oufe, the Learn, and the Charwell : the Nen, anciently Aufona, the Britifh name for a river, rifes in tl^ borders of Warwickshire, and runs almoft due eaft till It pafies Northampton, it then Changes its courfe ta nprth-north-eaft, pafles by or near to Wellingborough, Jiigharn Ferrers, Thrapfton, Oundle, Peterborough^ &c. and after dividing the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge, falls into the Wafhes, or Lynn Deeps, an Eftuary of the German fea. The air of this county is celebrated as being pure and wholefome j and more noblemen and people of for- tune have feats here than in any other county of the fame fize : the north-eaft part, however, near Peter- borough, is liable to be overflowed in rainy feafons, but the water is not fuffered to remajn long. The foil is fertile both in corn and pafture, but wood is rather fcarce : the face of the country is ge- nerally level. The principal productions are corn, cattle, fheep, woad, &c. j and the chief manufactures are f-rges, tammies, fhalloons, boots, and fhoes. Two Roman roads crofled this county, the Watling- ftreet and one other: the principal antiquities are, Artleborough or Irtleborough Church near Higham Ferrers, Barnewejl Caftle near Oundle, Billing Priory near Northampton, Brackley Chapel, Braybrook Caftle near Rothwell, Brington Church near Althorp, Buck- ton Church, Burlcigii Houfe near Stamford, Catter- ftock Church near Oundle, Daventry Priory, Draytou Houfe near Thrapfton, Duffield Abby, Exton Church^ 1 ineaiead Abby, Fotheringay Caftle, Church, and CoL- lege, -Geddington Chapel, Higham Ferrers Church and C'ollege, Holdenby Palace near Althorp, Kings-Sutton Church, Luffwiqk Church, Northampton Church, Qundle Church, Peterborough Cathedral, Pipweli Abby, Rockinghani Caftle, Sulby Abby, &c. of England NORTHUMBERLAND, NORTHUMBERLAND is a maritime county, bounded on the j^orth-weft by Scotland ; on the eaft by the German fea ; on the fouth by the counties of Durham and Cumberland j and on the weft by Cum- berland. Its form is an irregular triangle, and the cir- cumference about 230 miles. It was anciently inhabited by the Ottadini ; under the Romans it made a part of the province of Maxima Cjefarienfis ; during the heptarchy it made part of thf kingdom whofe name it bore ; it was afterwards call- ed Bernicia, and alternately claimed by the Englifli and the Scots, to which laft people it belonged in the time of Alfred. It is now included in the northern circuit, the province of York, and fee of Durham. Northumberland is divided into fix wards, contain- ing twelve market-towns, and forty-fix parimes ; it fends eight members to parliament; that is, for the county, for the towns of Berwick, Morpeth, and New- caftle, two each j and pays four parts of tb,e land- tax. Other towns are, Alnwick, Belford, Bellingham, El- lefdon-> Haltwhiflle, Hexham, Rothbury, North Shields, and Wooler. The principal rivers are the, Tyne, tl*9 Tweed, and the Coquet, This county is reckoned to contain 817,200 acres, of which 450,000 are mountainous diftridts not fit for tillage : of the mountainous diftrids, that round the Cheviot hills is die moft valuable, being, in. general, covered with excellent paflure, and interfered wit& fertile vallies or glens : the whole of thefe mountains is compofed of granite or whinftone, without any mineral ore. Qn the m,cmntains 3 towards the weHern part of tU& exlvui Counties of England. Northumberland. county, are, in general, extenfive open waftes, covered with heath : the lower parts of the county are, in general, inclofed and divided into farms j with popu- lous towns and villages, and abounding in mines of coal, lead, and marl. The climate is fubjetl to great variation, and the wea- ther is inconftant, but moftly in extremes ; fnow con, tinues on the mountains often for feveral months: in the fpring cold eafterly winds prevail, and the longeft droughts are generally accompanied with them ; and mild wefterly or Southerly breezes rarely take place before June ; they are the forerunners of rain and ve- getation, and chiefly blow through fummer and au- tumn : in the latter feafon they fometimes blow with uncommon fury, dam out the corn, and deftroy the crop. The principal manufactures are thofe which depend on the colleries, fuch as glafs-works, potteries, iron- founderies, &c. There are feveral ancient camps to be met with m this county -, the Watling-ftreet leads from Durham into Scotland, and from this were two or three branches. The antiquities worthy notice are many, as Alne- mouth Church, Akeld Ruins near Wooller, Alnwick Caftle and Abby, Bamborough Caftle, Bavington Caftle, Belfay Caftle, Bellifter Caftle, Bywell Caftle, Bothall Caftle, Blenkenfop Caftle, Brinkburn Priory, Chilling- ham Caftle, Capheaton Caftle, Cockle Park Tower, Crawley Tower near Glanton, St. Cuthbert's Oratorf on Coquet Ifland, Dale Caftle, Dilfton Caftle, Dun- ftanburgh Caftle, Errington Caftle, Hexham Monaf- tery and Church, Holy Ifland, Caftle, and Monaftery, Horton Caftle near Wooler, Houghton Caftle, Hulne Caftle, Langley Caftle, Mitford Caftle, Monks Stone near Tyflernouth, Morpeth Caftle, Newcaftle Caftle, &c. Norham Church and Caftle, Prudhoe Caftle, kuins near Belford, Fenton, Beltingham, Eaft Wo- burn, Falftone, Allenton, Starbottle, Ellefdon, Elling-; ountlis of England. Nottinglsamjhirt. ham, Alnham, Morpeth, Warkworth, Bothal, Bywell^ Stamfordham, &c.j Symonfburn Caftle, Spylaw Tower near Alnwick, Swinburn Caftle, Tynemouth Monaf- jery and Caftle, Thirlwell Caftle, Warkworth Caftle, Widriugton Caftle, Sec. NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. NOTTINGHAMSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by Yorkfliire; on the eaft by JUncolnflure -, on the fouth by Leicefterfhire ; and on the weft by Derbyfhire : fifty miles in length from, tforth to fouth, and twenty-five in breadth. It was anciently inhabited by the Coritahi ; by the Romans it was comprifed in the Flavia Csefarienfis ; during the heptarchy it belonged to the kingdom o Mercia : it is now included in the midland circuit, and in the province and diocefe of York. . It is divided into five wapentakes and three divifions, in which are nine market-towns, and 450 villages. Ife fends eight members to parliament, viz. for the county, Nottingham, Newark, and Eaft Retford, two each j and pays feven parts of the land-tax. The other towns a.re Bingham, Blithe, Mansfield, Southwell, Tuxford, and Workfop. The principal rivers are the Trent and the Idle. The climate of this county is faid to fie remarkable for its drynefs, lefs rain falling here than in any other county. In point of foil they reckon three different diftrids, of fand or gravel, limeftone with coal, and clay. . The ancient royaf foreft of Sherwood extends from, ^Nottingham to near Workfop, about twenty-five miles tl Counties of England. Nottingham/hire. in length, and from feven to nine in breadth : portions of this foreft have been granted off at different times, refervirtg only, in the foreft language, the vert and venifon ; that is, the timber and deet ; and feveral parts have been inclofed from it; as Welbeck, Clumber, Thorefbey, Befkwood, Newfted, Clipfton, and feveral villages or lands belonging to them. The deer were formerly very numerous, of the red kind, but they arc now nearly exterminated. The foreft of Sherwood is the only one that remains under the fuperintendance of the chief juftice in Eyre north of Trent, or which now belongs to the crown in that part of England. The foreft officers. Lord Warden, Duke of New- caftle, appointed by letters patent from the crown dur- ing pleafure : bowbearer and ranger, Lord Byron, no- minated by the lord warden during pleafure : four ver- durers, elecled by the freeholders for life. The verdurers have each a tree out df the kifig's hays of Birkland and Bilhagh, and two guineas to each verdurer attending the inclofure of a break. Nine keepers, appointed by the verdurers during pleafure, having fo many different walks. The keepers have a falary of twenty (hillings, paid by the Duke of Newcaftle, out of a fee-farm tent from Nottingham caftle. The malting bufinefs is carried on to a great extent in this county, particularly at Nottingham, Newark, and Mansfield, and in many other places. A great deal of malt is fent up by the Trent and the navigabld canals into Derbyfhire, Chefhire, and Lancafhire. At Newark are great breweries, which vie with Burton- upon-Trent in the trade to the Baltic and other parts. At Nottingham likewife are large breweries. The ftocking trade is the moft anciently eftablifhed ihanufa&ure in this county j the frame for knitting 1 ftockings having, it is faid, been invented by one Lef England. Nottingham/hire* &i ton was born William Lee, matter of arts iri Cam- bridge, and heir to a pretty freehold here, who, feeing a woman knit, invented a loom to knit, in which he or his brother James performed and exercifed before Queen Elizabeth ; and leaving it to : Afton, his apprentice, went beyond the feas, and was thereby efteemed the author of that ingenious engine, where- with they now weave filk and other ftockmgs, &c. This Afton added fomething to his mafter's invention: he was fome time a miller at Thoroton, nigh which place he was born." It occupies a great many hands at Nottirigham, and the villages for fome miles round; as alfo at Mansfield, Southwell, and other places in its neigh- bourhood. Many new works of different kinds have been lately ereted : many cotton mills worked by water, to prepare the thread for the Manchefter manu- facture, for ftockings, and for other purpofes. At Cuckney is a mill for combing wool, and another for fpinning worfted, and one for polifhing marble. At Arnold is a large woollen mill for both the former purpofes ; at Retford is a mill for combing woollen ; fhefe two are worked by fteam. At Nottingham, filk mills, worked by horfes. At Mansfield is a great trade in ftone. Artificial marble is" likewife made, and d confiderable thread manufacture carried oh, as alfo of Britifh lace. At Nottingham is a white-lead work, a foundary for making caft-iron ware out of the pigs brought from Colebrook Dale, a dyeing and bleaching trade^ and a manufacture of Britifh lace by frame- work* At Sutton, in Amfield, a confiderable pottery fef coarfe red Ware, for garden pots, &c. At Upton, near Southwell, is a ftarch mamifaelory. At Retford, a fail-cloth manufactory. 'fhe principal productions ale corn, hops, coal, Jea4, &c. , and Nottingham ale has been long celebrated, even in verfe. There are fome ancient camps 3; and the clii Counties of England. Oxford/hire. , from Devonfhire to the fca-coaft of Lincolnftiire, croft- ed this county. Antiquities worth notice are, Blithe Church, Grefly Caflle, Hardwick Caftle, King John's Palace near Clipfton, Newark Church and Caftle, Newftead Abby, Nottingham Caftle, Church, and Cells, Redford Abby, Sibthorp Church, Southwell Church and Palace, Thur- fjafton Priory, Welbeck Abby, Woollaton Hall. OXFORDSHIRE, OXFORDSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north by Warwickfhire and Northamptonfhire ; on the eaft by Buckinghammire ; on the fouth by Berk- ihire j and on the weft by Gloucefterftiire. It was anciently inhabited by the Dobuni ; the Ro- mans annexed it to the province of Flavia Gsefarienfis ; during the heptarchy it belonged to Mercia 5 and is now included in the circuit to which it gives name, the pro- vince of Canterbury, and diocefe of Oxford. It ex- tends in length, from north-weft to fouth-eaft, fifty miles -, but being of a very irregular form, it is near the centre, at Oxford, not above feven miles wide, though to the north of Oxford it is in one part thirty- eight miles acrofs : to the fouth of Oxford it is no- where more than twelve. The county is divided into fourteen hundreds, which contain one city, Oxford, twelve market-towns, 207 panfhes, and about 450,000 acres of land, of which 309,000 lie to the north, and 141,000 to the fouth of Oxford. It fends- nine members to parliament j that is, for the county, for the univerfity, for the city of Oxford, and for the borough of Woodftock, two Counties of England. Oxford/hire. cliS each, and one for Banbury ; and pays ten parts of the land-tax. The other towns are Bampton, Bieefter, Burfprd, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Deddington, Henley, Thame, Wadington, and Witney. The boundary towards Berkfhire is throughout formed by the Thames, or the Ifis and the Thames. The Thame, which rifes in Buckinghamshire, pafles by the town of the fame name, and runs into the Thames at Dorchefter : the Churwell rifes in North- amptonfhire, and joins the Thames at Oxford : the Evenlode rifes in the north-eaft part of Worcefterfhire^ and runs into the Thames about fix miles above Ox- ford : the Windrufh rifes from Cotfwold hills in Glou- cefterfhire, pafles by Burford, Witney, &c. and runs into the Thames about five miles weft from Oxford. The foil in a very confiderable part of this county is {hallow, of the ftone-brafh kind, notwithflanding there are interfperfed in divers places rich loams, fands, and clayst The northern corner of the county is chiefly ftrong deep, land, partly arable, and partly in meadows and pafture, appropriated principally to the dairy. South of the laft is a very large extent, where the upland or flat part is fhailow, and, in general, more or lefs ftony, in an arable or convertible ilate ; the fides of the hills a good loam, or mixed with clay, in mea- dow or pafture ; and the bottoms more of the clay, allotted for meadow-land, by the fides of the feveral rivers, which add to the fertility and beauty of the county. The fouth-weft corner contains the foreft of Which- wood, great part woodland -, and near to that the foil is more gravelly, with parts of black loam and clay, much of which is adapted to pafture and meadow. The fituation is low and wet, notwithstanding which there are divers trab of arable land in this diftricl;. The diftricl: on the north iide of Oxford is a deep rich foil, part arable, part in pafture, and part mea- dow-land. tiiv Counties of England. Oxford/bin. The part contiguous to and fouth of Oxford coif- lifts of various foils, part light and fandy, and part deep and rich ; fome being arable, and fome in a paf- ture and meadow ftate. In this diftrit is comprifed a cdnfiderable tra& of woodland. From thtfnce fouthward, by the fides of the Thame river, is a pretty large tract of deep land, the greater part of which is in meadow. Advancing towards the weft and fouth-weft, the land is moftly in an arable ftate, chiefly deep and good, but diminilhing in goodnefs as you approach the Chil- tern hills. The Ickneld-way, which crofles this county, may, in a great meafure, be confidered as dividing the laft- defcribed diftril from the range of downs, which are in moft places above the Ickneld-way, aiid ufed as a fheep-pafture, being poor land. In the large trat of land called the Chiltern hills the foil is a mixture of chalk, with fome loam and clay, but all full of flints. Much of this is appro- priated to plantations of wood, chiefly beech ; butT there is alfo a confiderable tracl: of inclofures, moftly in an arable or convertible ftate^ with fome cxtenfive commons ; and fome valleys of meadow land border- ing on the Thames. Befides the appropriated fpots of wood, and forhc few other particular fpots, the face of the county is marked with little woodland ; except in thofe places which are near to the towns o capital manfions. There are no hills of any confiderable fteepriefs 6t elevation, except the range of Chiltern hills ; the reft are only gentle declivities, which tend to vary the land- fcape, without preventing the labours of the plough. The climate of Oxfordfhire may be accounted in general cold, particularly the weftwafd part of the north divifion, where the fences confift chiefly of ftone walls, and confequently afford little or no fhelter. It is cold alfo upon and near the Chiltern hills, efpecially on the poor white lauds at the foot of the hills -, where doutoties of England. -"Oxford/hire. ci* it is alwayi to be obferved, that the froft will take effect (boner, and continue longer on that foil, thaii it does ton the deeper lands farther fituated from the hills, The climate of the Chiltern country is moift, on ac- count of the fogs, which are more frequent on the hilld and woods than in the vak. The beech woods of Oxfordshire, which ate con- fined to the Chiltern country, and confift of trees growing on their own ftemsj are produced by the falling of the beech-maft ; as very little is permitted to grow on the uld ftools, which are generally grubbed up. Thty are drawn occasionally, being never felled all at oflce, except- for the purpofe of converting the land into tillage. There are fome oaks and afh-rfees in thefe woods difperfed among the beech, which have fprung up in. fuch places where the feeds have dropped accidentally, or been carried by birds, or other means. Thefe fel- dom grow to any fize, though fometimes to great leagths, but they are not very numerous. There are many fpots of timber woods difperfed about various purts of the country. Coppices do not abound in this county. Indeed there are very few of any extent, except thofe called coppices in the foreft of "Whichwood ; though thefe, having trees in them, are more properly woods. The flock of cattle, both cows and fheep, of the late Mr. Fowler of Rollright, which were fold by aucliort in the year 1791, reflects high honour on this county, and the perfons who reared them : > J. 1 3 Bulls (of which nine were only one year old) fold for - 1648 10 o> 28 Cows and heifers * 2 33 r 2 Bull calves - 70 7 o 7 Cow calves . - - 211 i o 3 Welch cows, ttfed as nurfes - 28 6 6 Total <3f the neat ftock 4289 elti Counties unqueftionably equal with the fined in the ifland, is a rich loam, either upon a reddifh brick earth, or gra- vel ; the general depth of the upper foil varying from, ten to fixteen inches. More wefterly we generally find a gravel underneath this rich earth, at the depth of two or three feet under the furface. This foil is in fome fpots ftifF, but more ufually light, intermixed with land, and beneath that we find marl. Between Bright- hcimftone and Shoreham the general breadth of this uncommonly- rich arable vale falls (hort of one mile j between the rivers Adur and Arun it is increafed to three ; and from the Arun to the borders of Hamp- fhire it widens ftill more, from three to feven miles r in the fouth-weft the quality of this land becomes ftiffer ; in the penmfula-of Selfea the foil is a ftifF clay etaxiv Counties of England. Sujjex. loam, upon a blue clay bottom ; and the farmers here not having the fame opportunities of marling as their brethren on the eaflern fide of Pagham harbour, the foil on the weftern fide is not equal to the other in fer- tility. Between this vale and the South-downs runs a vtiii of land, not equal in goodnefs to the foregoing, but admirable land for the turnip_ hufbandry. This land is provincially called firavy, ftony, or gravelly, the flints fometimes lying fo thick as effectually to cover the ground ; and it is curious to fee how vege- tation flourifhes through fuch beds of floncs. The foil of the Weald, or woodland, extending from the borders of Kent almoft to Chichefter, is generally a very ftiff loam, upon a brick-clay bottom, and that again upon 'fand-ftbne. Upon the range of hills run- ning through the county in a north-weft direction, the foil is fomewhat different It is here either fandy loam upon a grit-Hone, or it is a poor black vegetable fand, on a foft clay marl. A great proportion of thefe hills is nothing but a poor barren fand. St. Leonard's foivuY contains 10,000 acres of it, and Amdown fo- reit 18,000 more. The foil of Penhurft is gravelly to an indeterminate depth : at the bottom of the Earl of Aftiburnham's. park fand-itone is found, folid enough for building. Advancing up -the hill the fand-rock is twenty-one IVet in thicknefs, but fo friable as eafily to be reduced to powder. After this immediately a marie follows, in the different depths of which the iron-ftone comes on regularly in all the various forts. Advancing northwardly from the bottom of Afh- burnham park, for twelve miles at lead, the ftrata are nearly the fame, there being no material inequality of :~ce'that does not partake of fand-ftone, marie, iron-Hone, and fand again at the top. It is moft pro- bably owing to fand being the general cap to the hills, the cultivated foil of the ft: diilri&s 13 rriade up fo Jy of it; even the loamy and marly 'foils,' after Counties of England^ Sujex. clxxv Yain, very evidently difcover it in fmall glittering par- ticles, which, in procefs of time, have been warned from, their native beds. The alternate order of fand flone and iron-ftone is every-where found through the Weald, in all direc- tions : the land-done, marie, and iron ; ftone, all dijj into the hill. Uiultr this the various forts of lime-ftone are dif- covercd at different depths. The Suflex lime (lone, upon trial, has been difco- rered to be of a better quality, both to the Maidftone and Plymouth ftone ; and it is now confefled, that no cement equal to it in the kingdom has been difcovered. Befides the foils already mentioned, there is a large tracl: of marfh-land adjacent to the fea-coaft, between the eaflern extremity of the South-downs and Kent. The foil is a composition of rotten vegetables, fnter- mixed with fand and other matter, collected from the .floods and filth which fettle on the furface, and in dif- ferent places of different depths. In Lewes-level this vegetable mould is twelve inches thick. In Pevenfel- level full eight feet in thicknefs. Under this is a very heavy black filt, mixed with marine fhells. Water- logs, or ftumps of trees, of very confiderable fize, have been dug out of Pevenfey-level ; and trees, each containing a full load of timber, have been taken out of Lewes- level, when the cut for a canal was made. The fouth fides of thefe hills are very warm, but on the fummits the air is exceeding cold and iharp, and the winds have fometimes vail power. The northern part of the county is an extenfive irafc of uncultivated land, but abounding in wood, ftretching from H amp {hire to Kent, commonly called the Weald. Between thefe, that is, the Weald and the South- downs, is found fome rich good land : the eaftern part of the county is fand, clay, and loam. There were formerly a great number of iron forges in the eaftern part of this county, but from the dear-. clxXvi Counties of England. Warwick/hire. nefs of fuel there are but few remaining, though wood is one of the chief products of the county. Antiquities worthy notice are, Amberley Caftle near Arundel, Arundel Caftle and Church, Battle Abby, Bayham Abby, Bodiham Caftle, Bofenham Church, Bramber Caftle, Chichefter Cathedral, &c. Halnacker Houfe, Haftings Caftle, Hurftmonceaux Caftle, Knap Caftle, Lewes Caftle, Priory, &c. Pet- worth Houfe, Pevenfey Caftle, Shelbred Priory, Stan- ftead Place, Selfea Priory, Winchelfea Church, &c. WARWICKSHIRE. WARWICKSHIRE is an inland county, bounded on the north-caft by Leicefterfhire ; on the eaft by Northamptonshire ; on the fouth-eafl by Oxfordftiire ; on the fouth-weft by Gloucefterfhire ; on the weft by Worccfteriliire ; and on the north-weft by Staffbrd- ihire : about fifty miles in length from north to fouth, and where broadeft thirty-five from eaft to weft. Among the Britons it was inhabited by the Caticuch- lani ; the Romans annexed it to the province of Flavia Csefarienfis , among the Saxons it made a part of the kingdom of Mercia : it is now in the midland circuit, the province of Canterbury, and diocefes of Lichfield and Coventry, and Worcefter. It is divided into four hundreds, befides the liberty of the city of Coventry, in which are one city, Coventry, lixteen towns, and about 780 villages. It fends fix members to parliament, for the county, the city, and Warwick the county town, two each ; and pays tea parts of the land-tax. Other towns are, Alcefter, Atherftone, Birmingham, Bitford, Coleihill, Henley in Arden, Kenilworth, Kineton, Nuneaton, Polefworth, Counties cf England. Warwickshire, clxxvii Rugby, Solihull, Southam, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sut- ton, Colefield. The principal rivers are the Avon and the Thame. The Avon rifes in Northamptonfhire, pafies through Warwickihire, and, feparating between the counties of Gloucefter and Worcefter, falls into the Severn at Tewkefbury. Mr. "Wedge, in his Agricultural View of the county, eftimates the contents at 618,000 acres, of which he fuppofes 154,530 acres are under a conftant courfe of tillage. In every courfe, confiding of two, three, or four crops, a fummer fallow for turnips or wheat, well manured, is generally made. Of thefe 154,530 acres, about 25,700 acres may be every year wheat; 30,000 fallow, of which half are fown with turnips or vetches ; about 41,500 acres of barley, oats, and beans; and the remaining 57,330 acres in artificial grafs, the greater part grazed with cattle or fheep, or perhaps 45,000 acres grazed, and the remainder mowed. About 4000 acres he allots to gardens ; meadows oc- ;. few leading features; and thofe, in gene-raj, may U' better deimcd by a defcription of the under foils, thai^byany peculiar chara&eriftics of the top mould. I he uiuler foil of a large proportion of it, viz. in a Counties of England. H'iitjhlre. clxxxvii tlirecTion from Cirencefter to Bradford, is a loofe irre- gular mafs of that kind of flat broken (tones called, in Wiltfhire, corn-gratq : the (tones being, in fome places, thin enough for Hates to cover houfes ; in others, lying in large flat beds, fit for pavement ; and in fome afium- ing the fliape and qualities of free-ftone : but, in gene- ral, lying in -thofe loofe, flat, broken pieces, fo well adapted to the building the dry fence walls in common ufe in Gloucefterfhire hills, and in many parts of this diftrir., and lying ulually in horizontal beds, mixed with earth. The top foil of this rock, or rather mafs of (tones, is chiefly that kind of reddifh, calcareous loam, mixed with irregular, flat, broken (tones, ufually called (tone- tram. The goodnefs of this foil varies very much, accord- ing to its comparative depth to the rock, and as it more or Icfs abounds with an intervening vein of cold blue clay. This clay is of a marly appearance, but in general not furficiently calcareous to be valuable a$ manure, and its prefence is obvious to every traveller, by its natural and fpontaneous. production of oak- trees; and where this clay is- not found, or where it lies very deep, the land as generally produces a great number of beautifol elms. The north-weft verge of the countr, viz. from near Cirencefter, by Malmfbury, and' on the weft fide of the road from London to Bath, may be truly called die Cotfwold part of "Wiltfhire. Its external appearance, and internal component parts, are nearly the fame with the Cotfwold hills of Gloucefterfhire ; except where the vein of clay lies fo near the furtaco as to make it colder. This part is, on account of the thinnefs and loofe- nefs of its -foil, ufually, and in many inftances necef- farily, kept in an -arable ftate , while the adjoining land, viz. about Chippcnham, and from thence fouthward, .ugh Maj&fhaitt and Tvowbridge, which happens to h.>ve greater denih- of foil, and has -.> pure warm rock, clxxxvm -Counties of England 77 ?///?>/. without the Intervening vein of cold clay, abounds in mcadov/ capable of gra/ing the large!! oxen, and is, perhaps, one of the mod fertile parts of the county, tinlefs poffibly the vein of gravel next defenbed may be excepted. There is a vein of grave!, of a moft excellent fmaU pebbly, fhelly kijid, and in general covered with a good depth of rich loam, which runs in a broken line from Meikiharo, through Chippenham to Cncklade -, but its gt-eateft body extends from Tytherton, through Chriiuan Malford and Dr.ntzey to Somerford, and perhaps the richeft part of it is at or near Danf/ey. ' it is a moft excellent under foil, warming and dry- ing the top mould, and it is only to be lamented that its quantity in this diftrja is fo fmall. It is ufed for roads and walks, and when warned or fcreened, for dvains in the cold clay lands which border upon it, There are two confiderable veins of fand in this iliftria. They are in general red, and of a fharp, loofcr, gravelly texture, and of courfe not fo fertile as the tough -etofe Cands of South Wiltfhire. One of thefe runs from Rcdburn, by Seagry, Draycott, and Button Benger, to Langley Burrell near Chippenham. And another begins at the oppofite correfponding hill at Charlcot, and runs through Bremhill to Bromham. .. From this latl vein there are two detached manes at Rowd and Seend to the Couth, and probably the de- tached mafles appearing at different places to the north of it, viz. between Charlcot and Swindon, are parts of the fame vein. All thefe detached mafles have a mixture of iomi other foils, and are generally more fertile than the principal veins- Under the fand land at Swindon he* a Cinguiar rock of ftone of a moll excellent quality, ferving equally, "in its different beds, for the purpoie of building houfes, paving, and covering them. The .gr eaten- part of the refidue of the foil of this ia, and particularly from Highworth, by Wotton i,- to Clack, lies en a hard clofc rock, of a rough, Csunties of England. IViltfiire. dxxxix htegular, ruftic kind of baftard lime-Hone, of very little ufe but for the roads. The foil over this kind of itonc is various, 5 but generally cold, owing to its own reten- tive nature, and to the frequent intervention of a vein of clay. Brandon foreft (between Cricklade and Mahr.fbury), is com-pofed of a cold iron clay to the very iurface; fo bad, a.3 to be called, by way of distinction, " Bradon land," and was never fo well applied as when in its original Hate of wood-laud. The climate of this diftrict is various, and though in general milder than that of the high lands in the fouth-eaft diftricT:, is neverthelefs cold, and, in general, unfavourable to the purpofes of early ipring vegetation, owing probably to the cold retentive nature of the un- der foil of great part of this diftri6t. This diftricl is for the moft part inclofed, though not entirely fo, there being itiil a few common-fields remaining, and fome commons, but no very extenfive trats of either. The cheefe of this d1ftrit was for years fold in the London markets by the name of Gloucefter cheefe, but is now perfectly well known by the name of North Wiltfhire cheefe. It was at firft doubtlefs an imitation, and perhaps a humble one, of that made in the vale of Gloucefter, but is now, in the opinion of many, at leaft equal, if not fuperior, to that of the favourite diftrict of Glou- cederlhire, the hundred of Berkley. There are in this county a great number of ancient camps, and three Roman ways, viz. the Fofle, the Iken- ing, and another which pa fled by Verlucio now Devizes. The Fofle is vifible in its courfe from GlouceflerOiire to Bath : the Ikening-itreet, which croiled the Thames at Goring, proceeds to Old Sarum, and, then to Cran- bourn Chace into Dorfetfhire. Antiquities worthy notice are, Avebury, Alton Priory near Stanton Barnard, Baribury Caftle near Marlborough, Bed win Church, Bradbury Caftle, xc Counties of England. Woreefterjbire* Church, and Priory, Bradenftoke Priory, Chefelbury Priory, Clarendon Houfe, &c. Chippenham Chapel, Devizes Caftle, Hareibury Hofpital, Hungerford Chui-ch, Laycock Nunnery, Langford Caflle, Ludger- fhall Caftle, Malmfbury Abby and Caftle, Marlborough Caflle, Old Sarum, Salifbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, Wanidyke which crolTes the county, Wardour Caftle, Wolf Hall near Great Bodwin, &c. WORCESTERSHIRE. WORCESTERSHIRE is an inland county, bound- ed on the north by Stafrbrdfhire ; on the eaft by War- wickfhire , on the eaft and fouth-eaft by Gloucefter- .(hire ; and on the weft by Hereford (hire and Shrop- fhire : about thirty-eight miles in length, and from twenty to twenty-eight in breadth. . In the time of the Britons it was inhabited by the Cornavii ; the Romans comprifed it in the province of Flavia Crefarienfis ; during the heptarchy it belonged to Mercia , and is now included in the Oxford circuit, In the province of Canterbury, and diocefe of \Vor- cefter. It is divided into feven hundreds, in which are one city, Worcefter, eleven towns, and 500 villages. It lends nine members to parliament, viz. for the county, the city, and the towns of Droitwich and Evefham, two each, and vne for Bewdley ; and pays nine parts of the land-tax : the other towns are, Bromfgrove, Dudley, Kiddcrminftcr, Pcvihore, Shipfton-upon- Stouer, Stotirbridge, Tenbury, and Upton. The principal rivers are the SLVCTII, the Avon, the Stour, and the 'feme* The Stour rifcs near Stour- Counties of England. Torkjblre. cxci bridge, and paffing by Kidderminfter, runs into the Severn about a mile below Bewdley. The air is pure and healthy, and the foil fertile both in tillage and pafture, and the vallies abound in rich meadows. The vale of Evemam is a rich trat of land, remarkable for its abundant fertility in corn and orchard fruits; about Droitwich are inexhauftible fait- fpriflgS: Antiquities obfervable in this county are, Bordefley Abby at Broinfgrove, Crookbarrow or Crookbury Hill, the largeft barrow in England ; Dudley Caftle and Priory, Eiraley Caftle, Eveiham Abby, Hagley Caftle, Hartlebury Caftle, Alaivern Abby, &c. Perfhore Church, Weely Caftle near Hales Owen, Worcefler Cathedral, cc. YORKSHIRE. YORKSHIRE is a maritime county, and by far the- largeft in the kingdom, being one hundred miles from eait to weft, and eighty from north to fouth : is bound- ed on the north by Durham ; on the eaft and north- eaft by the German fea ; on the tbuth by Lincolnihire, from which it is feparated by the Humber, Notting- hamfiiire, and Derbylhire ; on the fouth-weft by Che- (hir'e and Lancaihire , and on the north-weft by V, moreland. This county formed the moft confiderable pai't of the principality of the Brigantes among the Britons, as it did of the Roman province Maxima Csefarienfis; during the Saxon heptarchy it belonged to the kingdom of North- umberland ; in the clivilion by Alfred Durham Lancafaire made a part of this COfiitty ; it is no cxcii Counties cf England. eluded in the northern circuit, in the province and, except a (mall part which belongs to the blfhopric of Cheiter, in the cUoccfe of York. It is divided irto three ridings, the North, the Eaft, and the weir. The word Riding feems to be a cor- ruption of the Saxon word tinilnng, which was ap- plied to the third part of a province or county. Thefe ridings are fubdivided into twenty-fix wapentakes or hundreds ; of which the North riding contains twelve, the Eaft four, and tlie Weft ten. It contains one city, York, nxty towns, and 563 parifhes. It fends thirty members to parliament, viz. for the county, the city, and thirteen following boroughs, two each, viz. Aid- borough, Beverly, Boroughbridge, Headon, Hull, Knarefborough, Malton, Northallerton, Pontefract, Richmond, Ripon, Scarborough, and Thirflc ; and pays twenty-tour parts of the land-tax. The other towns are Abcrford, Aikrigg, Barnefley, Bawtry, Be- dale, Bradford, Bridlington, Cave, Cawood, Doncafter, Driflield, Eafiagwould, Fradlingham, Giiborough, Ha- lifax, Helmilcy, Hornfea, Howden, Huddersfield, Hun- roanby, Keighley, Kllham^ Kirkby Moorfide, Leeds, Mafham, Middleham, Otley, Patrington, Pickering, Pockiington, Ripiey, Rotheram, Selby, Settle, Shef- field, SJ>erfot(rti t Skipton, Snaith, Stockley, T'adcafter, Thorn, Tickhill, Wakeficld, Wcighton, Wetherby, "U hitby, and Yarum. The principal rivers are the Don, the Calder, the Are, the Wh.irf, the Nidd, the Ure, the Swale, the Oufe, the Derwent, tlie Hull, the Humber, and the Tees. The Don, or Dune, fuppofed to be a variation of the Britifh word