Curiosities Of Great Britain: England And Wales Delineated Part 26

[Sidenote: A Mercian King.]

[B] LONG BENTON. A dreadful calamity occurred at Heaton Colliery, in this neighbourhood, on the morning of May 3, 1815, when, by the sudden influx of water from an old mine, Mr. Miller, (the under-viewer, who left a wife and eight children), 22 workmen, 42 boys, and 37 horses, perished; and 25 widows, with about 80 children, were left to bemoan the sudden death of their husbands and fathers. Steam-engines were immediately employed, and every exertion was made for the recovery of the bodies; notwithstanding which, it was not till the 6th of January, in the following year, that the first body was found. It was that of an old man employed on the waggon-way: and a fact worthy of notice is, that the waste-water in which he had been immersed had destroyed the woollen clothes, and corroded the iron parts of a knife the deceased had in his pocket, yet his linen and the bone-haft of his knife remained entire.

Shortly after, Mr. Miller, and a few others, were discovered: they had met a similar fate, having been overtaken by the water about a hundred yards from the shaft to which they had been hastening to save themselves. But the lot of these eight persons may be considered fortunate, when compared with the unhappy beings left at work towards the rise of the mine, and as yet unconscious of their dreadful situation. About the 16th of February, the higher parts of the workings were explored; and now a scene truly horrible was presented to view: for here lay the corpses of 56 human beings, whom the water had never reached, being situated 35 fathoms above its level. They had collected together near the crane, and were found within a s.p.a.ce of 30 yards of each other; their positions and att.i.tudes were various; several appeared to have fallen forwards from off an inequality, or rather step, in the coal on which they had been sitting; others, from their hands being clasped together, seemed to have expired while addressing themselves to the protection of the Deity; two, who were recognized as brothers, had died in the act of taking a last farewell by grasping each other's hand: and one poor boy reposed in his father's arms. Two slight cabins had been hastily constructed by nailing up deal boards, and in one of these melancholy habitations three of the stoutest miners had breathed their last. A large lump of horse flesh, wrapped up in a jacket, nearly two pounds of candles, and three others, which had died out when half-burned, were found in this apartment, if it can be so called. One man, well known to have possessed a remarkably pacific disposition, had retired to a distance to end his days alone, and in quiet. Another had been placed to watch the rise or fall of the water; to ascertain which, sticks had been placed, and was found dead at his post. There were two horses in the part of the mine to which the people had retired; one had been slaughtered, its entrails taken out, and hind quarters cut up for use; the other was fastened to a stake, which it had almost gnawed to pieces, as well as a corfe or coal basket that had been left within its reach. That these ill-fated people perished for want of respirable air, and not from hunger and thirst, is certain; for most of the flesh cut from the horse, with a considerable quant.i.ty of horse-beans, were unconsumed, and a spring of good water issued into this part of the colliery; besides, the unburned remains of candles afford evidence of a still stronger nature; and by these data the coroner's jury was enabled to p.r.o.nounce a verdict accordingly. The overman had left the chalk-board, in which it is usual to take down an account of the work done, together with his pocket-book, in an empty corfe; on these some memorandum might have been expected to be noted: but no writing subsequent to the catastrophe appeared on either.--The bodies of those men which had lain in wet places were much decayed; but where the floor was dry, though their flesh had become much shrivelled, they were all easily recognised by their features being entire.

[Sidenote: Dreadful accident.]

[Sidenote: Fifty-six lives lost in a mine.]

[Sidenote: Cause of their death.]

Map Names of Places. County. Number of Miles From +--+-----------------+----------+------------+--------------+ 45 Bents-Green W.R. York Sheffield 3 Bakewell 13 16 Bentworth pa Hants Alton 5 Alresford 8 12 Benville ham Dorset Beaminster 4 Crewkherne 6 23 Benwell to Northumb Newcastle 2 Corbridge 14 6 Benwick chap Cambridge March 6 Chatteris 6 42 Beoley pa Worcester Bromsgrove 8 Redditch 3 38 Bepton pa Suss.e.x Midhurst 3 Petersield 9 14 Berdin pa Ess.e.x Stanstead 6 Saff. Walden 9 15 Berdwick ham Gloucester Bristol 8 Marshfield 4 14 Bere-Church pa Ess.e.x Colchester 2 Coggeshall 10 12 Bere ham Dorset Blandford 7 Shaftesbury 8 16 Bere-Lay ham Hants Newport 7 Niton 2 36 Bergholt, East pa Suffolk Hadleigh 6 Ipswich 8 14 Bergholt, West pa Ess.e.x Colchester 4 Witham 13 +--+-----------------+----------+------------+--------------+ Dist. Map Names of Places. Number of Miles From Lond. Population.

+--+-----------------+-----------------------+-----+--------+ 45 Bents-Green Castleton 12 163 16 Bentworth pa Basingstoke 8 52 592 12 Benville ham Yeovil 8 130 23 Benwell to Hexham 18 276 1278 6 Benwick chap Peterborough 6 81 526 42 Beoley pa Birmingham 11 112 673 38 Bepton pa Chichester 10 53 166 14 Berdin pa Bis. Stortford 6 36 342 15 Berdwick ham Sodbury 5 97 14 Bere-Church pa Aberton 3 52 142 12 Bere ham Sturminster 5 109 16 Bere-Lay ham Shanklin 10 93 36 Bergholt, East pa Manningtree 3 63 1360 14 Bergholt, West pa Halstead 10 10 786 +--+-----------------+-----------------------+-----+--------+

Map Names of Places. County. Number of Miles From +--+---------------------+----------+---------+-----------+ 15 Berkeley[A] m.t. & pa Gloucester Dursley 6 Chepstow 13 34 Berkeley pa Somerset Frome 3 Bath 12 +--+---------------------+----------+---------+-----------+ Dist. Map Names of Places. Number of Miles From Lond. Population.

+--+---------------------+--------------------+-----+-----+ 15 Berkeley[A] m.t. & pa Thornbury 7 114 3899 34 Berkeley pa Warminster 7 103 531 +--+---------------------+--------------------+-----+-----+

[A] BERKELEY. This ancient, but small town, is situated upon a pleasant eminence in the beautiful vale of Berkeley, almost east from the Severn.

In the Domesday book, it is termed a royal domain and free borough. A nunnery is said to have existed here in the reign of Edward the Confessor; the frail sisters of which were dispossessed of their estates, including the manor, by the craft of Earl G.o.dwin, who found means to introduce into the community a profligate young man, by whom the nuns were seduced. This conduct being reported to the King, the nunnery was dissolved, and its possessions granted to the Earl. The Conqueror afterwards bestowed the manor on Roger, surnamed De Berkeley, a chieftain who had accompanied him to England. Roger, his grandson, taking part with Stephen, against Henry II., was deprived of his lands; and Berkeley was given by that monarch to Robert Fitzharding, Governor of Bristol, in reward for his eminent services. This n.o.bleman was descended from the Kings of Denmark, and in his posterity the extensive manor of Berkeley, one of the largest in England, is still vested.

Berkeley church appears to be of the age of Henry II., though it has undergone various alterations. Near the pulpit is a curious tomb, in memory of Thomas, second Lord Berkeley, and Margaret, his first wife.

Here also are various other monuments of this family. The tower, which stands at some distance from the church, was constructed about seventy years ago. In the churchyard is the well known ludicrous epitaph, written by Dean Swift, in memory of "d.i.c.key Pearce, the Earl of Suffolk's fool." Berkeley Castle appears to have been founded by Roger de Berkeley, soon after the Conquest; but various important additions were made to it during the reigns of Henry II., Edward II., and Edward III. The form of the castle approaches nearest to that of a circle; and the buildings are included by an irregular court, with a moat. The keep is flanked by three semi-circular towers, and a square one of subsequent construction: its walls are high and ma.s.sive: the entrance into it is under an arched doorway, with ornamental sculpture in the Norman style, similar to one at Arundel Castle. This fortress has been the scene of various memorable transactions; the most remarkable, perhaps, was that of the murder of Edward II., in September, 1327, thus noticed by Gray:--

"Mark the year, and mark the night, When Severn shall re-echo with affright, The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs that ring; Shrieks of an agonising King!"

Tradition states, that when the murder of King Edward had been determined on, Adam, Bishop of Hereford, at the instigation of the Queen, wrote to the keeper the following words; which, not possessing the distinctness imported by punctuation, were capable of a double construction:

"Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est."

Edward the King kill not to fear is good.

The keeper, easily divining the wicked wishes of his employer, put his royal master to death. According to another account, when the death of this unfortunate, but weak sovereign, had been resolved on by the Queen and Mortimer, her infamous paramour, he was removed from Kenelworth to Berkeley Castle, by Sir John Maltravers and Sir Thomas Gourney, to whose keeping he had been previously committed. Thomas, second Lord Berkeley, then owner of the castle, treated him with civility and kindness, but was, in a short time, obliged to relinquish his fortress to the government of Maltravers and Gourney, by whom the King was soon afterwards murdered, in the most brutal and savage manner. "His crie,"

says Holinshed, "did move many within the castell and town of Birckelei to compa.s.sion, plainly hearing him utter a waileful noyse, as the tormentors were about to murder him; so that dyvers being awakened thereby, (as they themselves confessed,) prayed heartilie to G.o.d to receyve his soule, when they understode by his crie what the matter ment." A small apartment, called the dungeon room, over the flight of steps leading into the keep, is shewn as the place where the cruel deed was committed: at that time, all the light it received was from arrow slits; the windows have been since introduced. A plaister cast kept here, and said to have been moulded from the King's face after death, is, in reality, a cast from his effigies on the tomb at Gloucester.

Berkeley Castle, during the civil wars, was held for the King; and frequent skirmishes took place in the town and neighbourhood. In 1645 it was besieged, and surrendered to the parliament, after a defence of nine days. In the apartments, which are mostly low, dark, and void of proportion, are preserved a numerous a.s.semblage of portraits, chiefly of the Stratton branch, the bequest of the last heir of that family.

Besides these portraits, here are several miniatures of the Berkeleys, of considerable antiquity, and so far curious. A few landscapes, by Wouvermans, Claude, Salvator Rosa, &c. complete the Berkeley collection.

Edward Jenner, an English physician, celebrated for having introduced the practice of vaccination, as a preventive of the small-pox, was the youngest son of a clergyman, who held the rectory of Rochampton, and the vicarage of this place, and the son was born here, May 17, 1749. Being destined for the medical profession, he was, after a common school education, placed as an apprentice with a very respectable surgeon, at Sodbury, in his native country. He visited London, to finish his studies, by attending the lectures of the celebrated anatomist John Hunter. Returning to the country, he settled here, as a pract.i.tioner of the various branches of his profession. A situation like this afforded but little leisure or opportunity for acquiring distinction, and an occasion presented itself for obtaining a larger field for observation, improvement, and emolument: this, however, he was induced to decline.

The circ.u.mstances of the transaction are thus related by Dr. Lettsom, in his address to the London Medical Society:--"Dr. Jenner happened to dine with a large party at Bath, when something was introduced at the table which required to be warmed by the application of the candle, and doubts were expressed by several persons present, whether the most speedy way would be to keep the flame at a little distance under, or to immerse the substance into it. Jenner desired that the candle might be placed near him, and immediately putting his finger into the flame, suffered it to remain some time; next he put his finger above it, but he was obliged to s.n.a.t.c.h it away immediately. 'This, gentlemen,' said he, 'is a sufficient test.' The next day he received a note from General Smith, who had been of the party the preceding day, and who was before that time an utter stranger, offering him an appointment in India, which would insure him, in the course of two or three years, an annual income 3,000. The offer was referred to his brother, and Jenner, from his attachment to him, declined it." He had already obtained the reputation of a man of talent and science, when he made known to the world the very important discovery which has raised him to an enviable situation among the benefactors of the human race. His investigations concerning the cow-pox were commenced about the year 1776, when his attention was excited by the circ.u.mstance of finding that some individuals, to whom he attempted to communicate the small-pox by inoculation, were insusceptible of the disease; and on inquiry he found that all such patients, though they had never had the small-pox, had undergone the casual cow-pox, a disease common among the farmers and dairy-servants in Gloucesters.h.i.+re, who were not quite unacquainted with its preventive effect. Other medical men were aware of the prevalence of this opinion; but they treated it as a popular prejudice, and Jenner seems to have been the first who ascertained its correctness, and endeavoured to derive from it some practical advantage. He discovered that the variolae vaccinae, as the complaint has been since termed, having, in the first-instance, been produced by accidental or designed innoculation of the matter afforded by a peculiar disease affecting the udder of a cow, could be propagated from one human subject to another by inoculation, to an indefinite extent, rendering all who pa.s.sed through it secure from the small-pox.

He made known his discovery to some medical friends, and in the month of July, 1796, Mr. Cline, surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital, introduced vaccination into the metropolis. So singular and anomalous a fact as the prevention of an infectious disease by means of another, in many respects extremely differing from it, could not but be received with hesitation; and a warm controversy took place on the subject among the medical faculty. This ultimately proved advantageous both to the discovery and the discoverer, as it terminated in establis.h.i.+ng the truth of the most important positions which he had advanced, and left him in full possession of the merit due to him as a successful investigator of the laws of nature. The practice of vaccine inoculation was adopted in the army and navy, and honours and rewards were conferred on the author of the discovery. The diploma const.i.tuting him doctor of medicine, was presented to Jenner as a tribute to his talents, by the University of Oxford; he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society, and of other learned a.s.sociations; and a parliamentary grant was made to him of the sum of 20,000. The extension of the benefits of vaccination to foreign countries spread the fame of the discoverer, who received several congratulatory addresses from continental potentates. The emperor of Russia, when in this country in 1814, sought an interview with Dr.

Jenner, treated him with great attention, and offered to bestow on him a Russian order of n.o.bility. He also visited the King of Prussia, Marshal Blucher, and the Cossack General, Count Platoff, the latter of whom said to him, "Sir, you have extinguished the most pestilential disorder that ever appeared on the banks of the Don." On receiving his diploma, Dr.

Jenner practised as a physician at Cheltenham, during the season, and that watering-place was his princ.i.p.al residence till he became a widower, when he removed to Berkeley, to spend in retirement the evening of his life. He died suddenly in consequence of apoplexy, January 26, 1823, and was interred in the parish church of this town.

_Market_, Wednesday.--_Fair_, May 14, for cattle and pigs.

[Sidenote: The nunnery.]

[Sidenote: The castle.]

[Sidenote: Murder of Edward II.]

[Sidenote: Besieged by the Parliament.]

[Sidenote: Edward Jenner.]

[Sidenote: Anecdote.]

[Sidenote: Discovery of vaccination by the cow-pox.]

[Sidenote: Jenner's subsequent fame.]

Map Names of Places. County. Number of Miles From +--+--------------------------------+-------+-----------+-----------+ 18 Berkhampstead, Gr.[A] m.t. & pa Herts Watford 12 Tring 5 18 Berkhampstead, Little pa Herts Hertford 5 Hatfield 5 39 Berkeswell pa Warwick Coventry 7 Solihull 7 +--+--------------------------------+-------+-----------+-----------+

Map Names of Places. Number of Miles Dist. Popul From Lond. -ation.

+--+--------------------------------+-------------------+-----+-----+ 18 Berkhampstead, Gr.[A] m.t. & pa Dunstable 11 26 2369 18 Berkhampstead, Little pa Hoddesdon 6 19 450 39 Berkeswell pa Meriden 2 93 1450 +--+--------------------------------+-------------------+-----+-----+

[A] BERKHAMPSTEAD. "The Saxons, in old time," observes Norden, "called this town Berghamstedt, because it was seated among the hills; for Berg signified a hill; ham, a town; and stedt, a seat; all of which was very proper for the situation hereof." The buildings are chiefly of brick, and irregular, but intersected with various handsome houses.

Berkhampstead consists of one princ.i.p.al street, about half a mile in length, extending along the side of the high road; and another smaller one branching out from the church towards the site of the castle. The Grand Junction Ca.n.a.l runs the whole length of the town, and very close to it, which makes it a place of considerable trade. Many respectable and genteel families reside here, and hold their monthly b.a.l.l.s at the King's Arms Inn, during the winter. The King of Mercia had a palace or castle here; and the town had attained sufficient importance at the time of the Conquest, to be appointed as the place of meeting between the Norman sovereign, and the chiefs of the confederacy formed against his power, and headed by Abbot Fretheric, of St. Alban's. "In the brough,"

says the Domesday Book, "are two and fifty burgesses, who pay four pounds a year for toll; and they have half a hide, and two s.h.i.+llings rent, common of pasture for the cattle, wood to feed a thousand hogs, and five s.h.i.+llings rent by the year. Its whole value is sixteen pounds.

The castle erected by the Saxons was enlarged, strengthened, and fortified with additional outworks, by the Earl of Mortaigne; but in the time of his son and successor, William, who had rebelled against Henry I., it was seized, and ordered to be razed to the ground." It is probable, however, that the demolition was only partial, as it was again fitted up as a royal residence, either in the time of Stephen, or early in the reign of Henry II. The castle and honour of Berkhampstead continued in the possession of the crown till the seventh of King John, who granted them to the Earl of Ess.e.x, for 100. per annum. In the year 1216 the castle, which had been reverted to the crown, was besieged by Lewis, Dauphin of France, in conjunction with certain English barons.

The garrison, taking advantage of the negligence of the besiegers, made two successful sallies on the same day, capturing divers chariots, arms, and provisions; but, after a siege of some continuance, they surrendered. Henry III. granted the Earldom of Cornwall, with the honour and castle of Berkhampstead, to Richard, his brother, for his services at the siege of the castle of Riole, in France; but, disagreeing with him, he revoked the grant. The interposition of the Earls of Pembroke and Chester occasioned its restoration to the Earl of Cornwall. In 1245, the King granted him an annual fair, of eight days' continuance, for his manor of Berkhampstead; and here, after a long illness, he died on the 4th of April, 1272. Edmund, his only surviving son, succeeded to his estates and t.i.tles; and in his time there were twelve burgesses within the borough, with fifty-two free tenants, and twenty-two tenants by serjeancy. This Earl founded the college of Bon-Hommes, at Ashridge, in Buckinghams.h.i.+re. In the fourth of Edward III., John of Eltham, brother to the King, had a grant of Berkhampstead, with other manors, to the value of 2,000 marks per annum: but, dying without issue, in 1336, his estates were granted by the King, to Edward the Black Prince, with the Dukedom of Cornwall, to be held by him and his heirs, and the eldest sons of the heirs of the King's of England. Richard II. occasionally resided at Berkhampstead castle. Since that period, the castle and honour of Berkhampstead have descended from the crown, to the successive Princes of Wales, as heirs apparent to the throne, and possessors of the Dukedom of Cornwall, under the grant of Edward III. The castle was situated on the east side of the town; and, though the buildings are now reduced to a few ma.s.sive fragments of wall, the remains are still sufficient to evince the ancient strength and importance of this fortress. The ramparts are very bold, and the ditches still wide and deep, particularly on the north and east sides, though partly filled up by the lapse of centuries. The keep was a circular tower, occupying the summit of a high and steep artificial mount, moated round. Large trees are now growing on the sides of the mount, as well as on many parts of the outward rampart, and declivities of the ditches: other parts are covered with underwood, in many places so thick as to be impa.s.sable. The inner court is now an orchard; the outer court is cultivated as a farm; and a small cottage, with a few out-buildings, now occupies a portion of the ground once occupied by Princes and Sovereigns. Near the rampart, on the west side, flows the little river Bulbourne. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is built in the form of a cross, with a tower rising from the intersection towards the west end, and having a projecting staircase at the south-east angle, terminated by a turret at the summit. The tower is supported on strong pointed arches, and was originally open, but is now closed from the church by the belfry floor. On the outside of the tower, next the street, is a sculpture of an angel supporting a s.h.i.+eld, impaled with the arms of England and France quarterly. The same arms are painted on gla.s.s in the window of a small chapel within the church.

Various chapels and chantries were founded here in the Catholic times, and are still partially divided from the body of the church. The sepulchral memorials are numerous. Between two columns of the nave, surrounded by pews, is an ancient tomb of rich workmans.h.i.+p, having on the top, full-length effigies of a Knight and his Lady, both rec.u.mbent.

The Knight is represented in armour, with his hands raised in the att.i.tude of prayer across his breast: his head rests on a helmet, having a human head, with a long beard, at the upper end; his feet are supported on a lion: he has on a hood and gorget of mail; and, on the sash, which crosses his body and shoulder, is a rose: opposite to this, on his breast-plate, is a dove. The figure of the lady is greatly mutilated; her hands and head are broken off; the latter rests on a cus.h.i.+on, and is covered with net-work; she is arrayed in a close dress, and has a rose on each shoulder. No inscription is remaining on this tomb to designate the persons to whose memory it was erected. Torynton is supposed to have been the founder of the church; a man in special favour with Edmond Plantagenet, Duke of Cornwall. In Sayer's chancel is an altar-tomb of alabaster and black marble, in the memory of John Sayer, Esq., who was chief cook to Charles II. when in exile, and founder of the alms-house for poor widows in this town. A large and strong building of brick, erected as a free-school in the reign of Henry VIII., and endowed with the lands of the guild or brotherhood of St.

John the Baptiste, (an ancient foundation in this town,) stands at the bottom of the churchyard. In the next reign the school was made a royal foundation, and incorporated. The master is appointed by the crown, and has apartments at one end of the free school; the school-room occupies the centre; and the other end is inhabited by the chaplain and usher.

Here is also a charity-school, supported by voluntary contributions, &c.

Numerous donations for charitable purposes have been made to this parish, the princ.i.p.al of which was a bequest of 1,000., made by John Sayer, Esq., in July, 1681, for the building and endowment of an alms house: this was erected after his decease by his relict, who placed in it six poor widows, and increased the original endowment by the gift of 300. Each widow has a small allowance weekly, and a cloth gown worth 20s. once in two years. In the 14th of Edward III., two representatives were sent from this borough; but this was the only return ever made, except to the great council held at Westminster, in the 11th of the same King. Berkhampstead had a charter of incorporation granted by James I., but it scarcely survived the reign of his son. An attempt was made to revive the charter, a year or two after the restoration, but it did not succeed. The honour of Berkhampstead formerly included upwards of fifty-five lords.h.i.+ps and manors, in the three counties of Herts, Northampton, and Buckingham. Berkhampstead-place is situated on a pleasant eminence adjoining the town. Great part of the structure was erected by the Careys, having been burnt down in the time of the Lord Treasurer Weston, who then resided in it: the remainder was afterwards repaired, and with some additions, forms the present dwelling. King James's children were mostly nursed in this house. The life of Cowper, the poet, who was born here, will be given at Olney, on account of the length of the present article.

_Market_, Sat.u.r.day.--_Fairs_, Shrove-Monday, Whit-Monday, for cattle; Aug. 5, cheese; September 29, Oct. 11, statute.--_Mail_ arrives 11.30 night; departs 3.30 morning.--_Inn_, Kings Arms.

[Sidenote: Description.]

[Sidenote: Its ancient castle.]

[Sidenote: The seat of Kings and n.o.bles.]

[Sidenote: Now in ruins.]

[Sidenote: The church.]

[Sidenote: Free school.]

[Sidenote: Contained fifty-five lords.h.i.+ps.]

Map Names of Places. County. Number of Miles From +--+----------------+----------+------------+------------+ 4 Berks.h.i.+re[A] co 29 Berling to Northumb. Alnwick 7 Felton 7 35 Bermersley to Stafford Newcastle 6 Leek 7 +--+----------------+----------+------------+------------+ Dist. Map Names of Places. Number of Miles From Lond. Population.

+--+----------------+-----------------------+-----+------+ 4 Berks.h.i.+re[A] co 145289 29 Berling to Widrington 7 306 35 Bermersley to Cheadle 11 156 244 +--+----------------+-----------------------+-----+------+

[A] BERKs.h.i.+RE. This county was originally inhabited by three tribes or nations, termed by the Romans Attrebates, Bibroces, and Segontiaci. The first occupied part of the west, the south-west and north-west parts.

The second the south-east parts; and the third a portion of the north parts. Under the Romans, this county formed part of the first division called Britannia Prima. During the Heptarchy it belonged to the West Saxons. It was once called Berrocs.h.i.+re, from the name of a hill covered with box, which at one time occupied a large portion of it. It is an inland county, bounded on the north by the Thames, which divides it from Oxfords.h.i.+re on the west, and Bucks on the east; and by part of Surrey; on the north by Surrey and Hamps.h.i.+re; and on the west by Wilts and a small part of Gloucesters.h.i.+re. It is so very irregular in its shape as not to admit of any adequate description. Its greatest length is about forty-eight miles, and its utmost breadth from north to south about twenty-five. In one of the narrowest parts, by Reading, it is about six or seven miles, and less still at the eastern extremity. It contains about 464,500 acres, and is about 140 miles in circ.u.mference; it is in the province of Canterbury, and the diocese of Salisbury; (the parish of Chilton, which is in the diocese of Oxford, and Langford, which is in that of Lincoln, excepted;) subject to an archdeacon, and is divided into six deaneries. It is included in the Oxford circuit. There are 20 hundreds, 12 market towns, 148 parishes (of which 67 are vicarages,) and 671 villages. The natural divisions of the county are four, 1. The Vale, beginning at Budcot, and ending at Streatley. 2. The Chalky Hills, running nearly through the centre of the lower part of the county. 3.

The Vale of the Kennet, extending diagonally from Hungerford to near Wargrave. 4. The Forest Division, commencing on the east to Loddon, and occupying nearly the entire breadth of this part of the county to Old Windsor, and from Sandhurst south to Maidenhead north. The air is deemed peculiarly salubrious, particularly on the chalky and gravelly soils, which are the most common throughout the county; but the uneven face of the country causes some slight degree of variation in this particular, though every part is considered healthful and good. The soil is as various (though perhaps more mixed) as in the last described county. The Vale of White Horse consists generally of a rich strong loam and gravel, with some sand and stone brasp, producing corn, wheat, beans, &c. In the Chalk Hill district, light black earth on chalk prevails, with flint, chalk, gravel, and loam. Here numerous sheep are fed; it produces, towards the south and east, turnips, barley; and, when properly manured, Lammas wheat and artificial gra.s.ses. The Vale of Kennet, is generally peat land, with gravel, loam and clay, though in the south east parts a poor stony and heathy soil. The Forest District, gravel, clay, and loam, except on the south, which is poor and heathy. The princ.i.p.al rivers and streams are the Thames, the Kennet, the Loddon, the Lambourn, the Ock, the Aubourn, the Emme, and the Broadwater. All these, with perhaps the exception of the Aubourn, the Emme, and the Broadwater, abound with almost every kind of fresh water fish. Besides these rivers and streams, there are the Ginge Brook, the Moreton Brook, and other rivulets, &c.; also some other natural and artificial lakes and ponds. Water, however, is generally scarce on the Berks.h.i.+re downs, and along the whole of the chalky stratum. The navigable rivers are the Thames and the Kennet. The navigable ca.n.a.ls are the Kennet and Avon ca.n.a.l, which joins the river Kennet a little above Newbury; the entire length from Newbury to Bath is sixty miles--it has been navigable since the year 1798; and the Wilts and Berks ca.n.a.l, opened on September 21, 1810, into the Thames at Abingdon; from near Bath to Abingdon, about fifty-one and three-quarter miles. Mineral waters are by no means common in this county. The natural productions of this county, except those which may be considered partly agricultural, are neither plentiful or important. There are no minerals nor fossils of any great consequence. The strata of sand with oyster-sh.e.l.ls, and particularly a thick stratum of chalk, is found near Reading. The surface of the soil, however, amply compensates for the apparent barrenness of the internal parts; and the produce of fat cattle, sheep, swine, and grain, is immense; as is also that of fine timber, especially oak and beech. Abingdon gives the t.i.tle of Earl to the Bertie family--Coles.h.i.+ll, that of Baron to the Pleydell-Bouverie family--Foxley, that of Baron to the Townshend family--Hungerford, that of Baron to the Rawdon-Hastings family--Mortimer, the t.i.tle of Earl to the Harley family--Newbury, that of Baron to the Cholmondely family--Uffingham, that of Viscount to the Craven family--and Windsor, the t.i.tle of Baron to the Windsor-Hickman family; and Earl, to the Stuarts. It has been calculated, that, including houses, mills, and other productive revenue arising from or attached to the soil, the landed property cannot amount to less than 500,000 per annum, and that the largest possessor may have about 8000. The largest possessor, being a peer, is the Earl of Craven. The Craven, Englefield, Eyston, Read, Southby, Seymour, and Clarke families are among the few ancient families who still inherit the same estates, and occupy the same seats, or are immediately connected with the county, as their ancestors. Among the representatives of some very old families, or in the female line, may be ranked the Berties, the Nevilles, the Pleydells, the Puseys, the Throckmortons, the Lovedens, the Nelsons, and the Blagraves. The King is purposely omitted in this brief list:--his possessions as a landed proprietor being well known. Agriculture so much engrosses the attention of the people of Berks.h.i.+re, that very little trade, unconnected with these pursuits is carried on. There are, however, some manufactories of sail-cloth, kerseys, canva.s.s, and malt; and there are also several pretty large breweries in various parts of the county: the Windsor ale having acquired considerable celebrity; and at the Temple mills, near Bisham, there is a copper manufacture, and a manufacture of potash at Milton.