[A] BADBY. This extensive village is situated on the brow of a hill, in the large uninclosed district of Badby-Down. Here are numerous springs, Quarries. and several quarries of flag-stone, which, from its excellence, is very extensively employed for the purposes of building and paving. On the summit of Arbury Hill, in this parish, is a large encampment, which is attributed to the Romans: the ramparts are very steep, and the whole is encompassed by a very wide and deep foss.

[B] BADDESLEY. This village was celebrated a short time ago for a singular tree it contained, from which was frequently heard to issue groans as though uttered by a person in acute agony. The tree was an elm, young, vigorous, and to all appearance perfectly sound; and what is most wonderful, naturalists could assign no physical reason for the phenomena. Its fame spread far and wide; a pamphlet was written with an account of it, and persons came miles to visit it. The tree, however, it would seem The groaning tree. with the fickleness attendant too often upon those who have gained celebrity, would not always groan, yet no cause could be assigned for its temporary cessations, either from seasons or weather. Many superstitious tales were raised by the country people and alleged as reasons for this singular occurrence; and for eighteen or twenty months it continued an object of considerable interest; a gentleman of the name of Forbes, making an experiment to discover its cause, by boring a hole in its trunk, put a period to its agonies, it never groaned again. It was afterwards rooted up with a further view to make a discovery, but in vain. It is universally believed that there was no trick in the affair, but that some natural cause really existed, though never understood.

[C] BADDILEY. A parish in the hundred of Nantwich. This place is principally remarkable for its church, standing on a small green surrounded by farm buildings. It consists of a small nave and chancel, and was constructed entirely of English oak; it is of the most remote antiquity, and presented a most unique specimen of ecclesiastical buildings of timber, previous to the introduction of stone; the upright timbers being much An oaken church. decayed were cased with brick in 1811, it having stood so many centuries that it was in danger of falling; the roof and ceiling are still in fine preservation. In the chancel are remains of some ancient stalls, and two elegant marble monuments, erected to the Mainwaring family, who were lords of the manor. Baddiley Hall, the former residence of this family, was a very old irregular building of timber and plaister, but has been lately pulled down.

[D] BADDOW. (Great). This extensive, populous, and genteel village, from its peculiarly delightful situation, has become the residence of a considerable number of highly respectable families. Previous to the conquest, the manor was part of the possessions of Algar, Earl of Mercia. In consequence, however, of the rebellion of his son and successor, Earl Eadwine, who was slain in battle, this lordship, with other estates, was granted by King William to the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Caen, in Normandy. In the reign of Henry I., the crown was again possessed of it, and about the same period, the Earls of Gloucester became its proprietors; from which time, after having been vested in many noble families, it is now in the possession of the family of Houblon. Two chauntries of some value were formerly in the church.

MapNames of PlacesCounty Number of Miles FromDist.
Lond.		Popul
ation.
14Baddow, Little[A]paEssexChelmsford5Witham6Maldon734548
33BadgerpaSalopBridgenorth6Shifnal6Madeley6134142
15BadgingtonpaGloucesterCirencester4Northleach9Cheltenham1293167
15BadgworthpaGloucesterCheltenham4Painswick8Gloucester598859
34BadgworthpaSomersetAxbridge3Bridgewater12Wells12133352
36BadinghampaSuffolkFramlingham4Halesworth6Saxmundham691866
21Badlesmere[B]paKentFaversham4Charing6Canterbury1148135
36BadleypaSuffolkNeedham2Stowmarket2Bildeston87182
15Badminton, Great[C]paGloucesterSodbury6Tetbury10Malmesbury10106529

[A] BADDOW, (Little). The church at this place contains a rich and splendid monument to the memory of Sir Henry Mildmay, Knight, who Sir Henry Mildmay. died in October, 1639. He is represented in a full suit of armour, reposing under a dome, which rests upon black marble pillars; two female figures kneel at his feet; the one elderly, and dressed in a scarf and hood, the other young, and magnificently attired in the fashion of the time. The head of the knight is supported by a pillow. From a latin inscription upon an oval tablet, we learn that Sir Henry having served as a soldier in the Irish wars, was for his gallantry knighted in the field. The carved effigies of two female figures, said by tradition to have been sisters and founders of this church, occupy recesses in the south wall of the centre aisle. Upon examining the two graves in which it was supposed that Skeletons found. the corpses of the persons whose figures stood in the niches were interred, in one of them were found three skeletons, and two in the other, but without the slightest vestige of wood, linen, coffin, or any other covering to the bodies. In the year 1817, Edward Bullin, Esq., bequeathed 196 acres of land, and a wood containing thirty-six acres, for the purpose of clothing and educating the children in this parish and that of Boreham.

[B] BADLESMERE. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, lord of the manor in the reign of Edward the Second, obtained a license for founding a house of regular canons in this place. The church is a small and very plain Curious carvings in wood. Saxon structure. In the porch are the fronts of two ancient wooden seats, carved in high relief; one represents a shield, on which are the star, ribbon, and motto of the order of the garter: on the other are some Scriptural sentences, relative to the Holy Trinity, in four circles, united by bands; so that the words Pater, Filius, Spisces and Deus, though only once repeated in the circles, form a part of every sentence.

[C] BADMINTON, (Great) has been the seat of the ducal family of Beaufort, ever since the demolition of Ragland Castle, in the civil wars. Badminton Duke of Beaufort's seat. House, the family residence of the duke, is situated in a noble park nearly nine miles in circumference, through which various avenues have been formed. It was erected by the first duke of Beaufort in the year 1682. It is a very extensive building, on the French model. In the hall is a large sarcophagus of Roman sculpture, representing a bacchanalian procession; this was given to the third duke of Beaufort, by Cardinal Alberoni. By that distinguished prelate, who died in 1745, many curious and original paintings were procured during his residence in Italy; among them is a Holy Family, by Raphael; and several by Guido and Carlo Dolci are much esteemed. He also purchased the very singular and finely painted satirical picture by Salvator Rosa, for which that artist was expelled Rome. "The Sovereigns of the different nations are here depicted by different animals, as an eagle, a wolf, a sheep, a hog, a fox, a cow, and an ass; the latter has the pontifical pall thrown over him, and the blind goddess, Fortune, is represented showering her gifts over the whole group." Some excellent landscapes, by the Italian masters, are also preserved here; Fine paintings. and a very fine series of fourteen portraits, of the Beauforts, from John of Gaunt, from whom they trace their genealogy. Badminton church is an elegant structure; it was built by the late duke in 1785, and contains many monuments of the Beaufort family.

MapNames of PlacesCounty Number of Miles FromDist.
Lond.		Popul
ation.
15Badminton, LittletiGloucesterSodbury6Tetbury10Malmesbury10106116
42BadseypaWorcesterEvesham2Broadway4Alcester1598463
37BadshottiSurreyFarnham2Guildford9Frimley737
45BadsworthpaW.R. YorkPontefract5Wakefield9Doncaster11171782
36Badwell-AshpaSuffolkStowmarket8Ixworth4Bury1278490
34Bagborough-WestpaSomersetTaunton12Watchet7Stowey8156453
43BagbychapN.R. YorkThirsk3Borobridge11Easingwold8220289
23BaggravelibLeicesterLeicester9Melton7Houghton510016
39Baginton[A]paWarwickCoventry4Rugby13Kenilworth490257
54Baglan[B]paGlamorganNeath4Aberavon2Swansea13194410

[A] BAGINTON. The Hall, a seat of a descendant of the Bromley family, who purchased the estate in the reign of James I., was built by secretary Bromley. This gentleman, one of the most honest and able servants of Queen Anne, was Speaker of the House of Commons. In proof of the high estimation in which he was held, it is necessary only to cite a memorable circumstance relative to the residence under notice. In Once destroyed by fire. 1706, the family seat at Baginton was reduced to the ground by fire. Intelligence of this calamity was conveyed to the owner while attending his duty in the House of Commons, and a considerable sum was immediately voted by parliament towards a restoration of the structure. Here is barely to be traced the site of the castellated residence of Sir William Bagot, a firm adherent of Richard II., at which the Duke of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV., lodged the night previous to his projected personal contest with Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in the presence of the King on Gosford Green, where the lists were formed; the scene is admirably described by Shakespeare.