Curiosities of Great Britain: England and Wales Delineated Vol.1-11 / Historical, Entertaining & Commercial; Alphabetically Arranged. 11 Volume set.

by Thomas Dugdale

The warden and fellows of New College, Oxford, are visitors of this school, and have the appointment of the masters and ushers. The master's salary is £260. with coals and candles; that of the second master is £160., with the same allowance of fire and candle. The writing-master has a salary of £80. per annum. Sir William Harper, for the support of this excellent institution, conveyed to the corporation thirteen acres and one rood of land, lying in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, which he had purchased for the sum of £180.; he also conveyed his late dwelling-house, &c., at Bedford. The revenues of these estates were also to be applied towards apportioning maidens of the town on their entrance into the marriage estate. In the year 1660, the corporation leased the whole of the lands in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, for the term of 41 years, at the yearly rent of £99. In the year 1684, a reversionary Its revenues. lease was granted for the further term of 51 years, at the improved rent of £150. In consequence of granting these leases, a great number of houses were built, and the following streets covered the above-mentioned thirteen acres of meadow land:—Bedford-street, Bedford-row, Bedford-court, Princes-street, Theobald's-road, North-street, East-street, Lamb's Conduit-street, Queen-street, Eagle-street, Boswell-court, Queen-street, Harper-street, Richbell-court, Hand-court, Gray's Inn-passage, Three Cup-yard, &c. The annual rent of these buildings is now considerably increased, and it is expected that in a few years it will amount to upwards of £30,000. This extraordinary increase of revenue occasioned the trustees to apply to parliament for two several acts to regulate its disposal, and to extend the objects of the charity. By the priorism contained in these acts of parliament, the maintenance of the master and usher of the grammar-school, and the maintenance of a master, and two ushers to the English school, is provided. Three exhibitions of £40. per annum, are given to scholars from the free school, either at Oxford or Cambridge, during the space of six years. The sum of £800. per annum is appropriated for marriage portions, to be given by lot in sums of £20. each, to forty poor maidens of Bedford, of good fame and reputation, not under sixteen years of age, and not exceeding fifty. They are not to marry within two months after receiving the marriage portion, otherwise to forfeit it. The men to whom they are to be married must not be vagrants or persons of bad fame or reputation. A yearly sum of £3,000. per annum is also appropriated by the last act, for the maintenance of twenty-six boys in an hospital or school of industry, and £700. to be laid out in apprentice fees for fifteen poor boys and five girls, to be chosen by lot. The trustees have likewise been enabled to build alms-houses for Alms-houses. a number of poor men and women. The weekly allowance to each is 3s., and 40s. annually for clothing. If a poor man and his wife live together, they are allowed to the amount of 5s. per week. One hundred pounds per annum is appropriated to be given in sums of £5. each, to twenty poor girls upon their going out to service. The residue of the income is to be laid out in buildings, and in endowing more alms-houses, or building cottages to be let at a low rent to the poor. Here are also a house of industry, and an infirmary, which are well supported. Lace-making employs a great number of the lower classes, both in the town and county of Bedford. The lace is chiefly made by women; and children at the Lace-making,
the chief trade. early age of four years are set down to it. On certain days, the persons appointed by the dealers collect the lace of the different villages, and convey it to the London market. A strong stone bridge connects the northern and southern parts of the town. "This bridge," says Grose, "is one hundred and sixteen yards in length, four and a half broad, and has a parapet three feet and a half high; this, it is said, was erected in the reign of Queen Mary, out of the ruins of St. Dunstan's church, which stood on the south side of the bridge. It has seven arches, and near the centre were two gate-houses; that on the north, being used for a prison, and that on the south served as a store-house for the arms and ammunition of the troops quartered here. These gate-houses were taken down in the year 1765, and six lamps set up on posts at proper distances." The town-hall, or sessions-house, in which the assizes for the county are holden, is situated in an area before St. Paul's church. It was erected in the year 1753, and is a capacious and handsome structure.

Markets, Tuesday and Saturday.—Fairs, First Tuesday in Lent, April 21, July 5, Aug. 21, Oct. 11, and Dec. 19, for all kinds of cattle.—Mail arrives 1.14 morning; departs 2.54 afternoon.—Banker, Thomas Barnard, draws on Kay and Co.—Inns, George, and Swan.

Map	Names of Places		County	Number of Miles From						Dist. Lond.	Popul ation.
29	Bedlington[A]	pa	Durham	Morpeth	4	Blyth	14	Newcastle	12	286	2120
21	Bedmanton	ham	Kent	Sittingbourne	5	Lenham	3	Maidstone	8	42
34	Bedminster	pa	Somerset	Bristol	1	Dundry	3	Weston	19	119	13130
35	Bednall	to	Stafford	Penkridge	3	Rugeley	7	Stafford	4	134
33	Bedston	pa	Salop	Knighton	4	Ludlow	11	Bishops' Cas.	10	153	159
26	Bedwas	pa	Monmouth	Newport	10	Cardiff	9	Pontypool	10	158	756
3	Bedwall Green	ham	Bedford	Dunstable	2	Toddington	3	Hockliffe	5	36
26	Bedwelty	pa	Monmouth	Newport	16	Pontypool	10	Abergavenn.	14	159	10637

[A] BEDLINGTON, though within the county of Northumberland, belongs to Chester ward, in the county of Durham. It lies between the rivers Wansbeck and Blythe. The monks of Durham, in their flight to Lindisfarne, before the arms of the Conqueror, with the incorruptible body of St. Cuthbert, rested all night here. The Rev. Francis Woodmas, the expositor of St. Chrysostom, was vicar here from 1696 to 1710. The Blast furnaces. Bedlington blast furnace, for smelting iron, was some years since taken down. At the Bebside and Bedlington Mills, about fifty men are employed. An unsuccessful attempt was a few years ago made to establish a manufactory of printed cottons at Stannington bridge, in this neighbourhood.

Map	Names of Places		County	Number of Miles From						Dist. Lond.	Popul ation.
41	Bedwin, Great[A]	pa	Wilts	Marlborough	7	Ramsbary	5	Hungerford	6	71	2191
41	Bedwin, Little	pa	Wilts	...	8	..	4	..	5	70	587
39	Bedworth	pa	Warwick	Nuneaton	4	Longford	2	Coventry	5	96	3980
23	Beeby	pa	Leicester	Leicester	6	Houghton	3	Melton	9	104	120
35	Beech	to	Warwick	Stafford	7	Eccleshall	6	Newcastle	8	141
4	Beech Hill	ti	Berks	Reading	7	Aldermaston	5	Kingsclere	7	46	249
41	Beechingstoke	pa	Wilts	Devizes	5	Pewsey	5	Lavington	6	86	187
38	Beeding, Upper	pa	Sussex	Steyning	1	Shoreham	5	Brighton	10	51	589
38	Beeding, Lower	ti	Sussex	...	2	...	5	...	10	51	533
4	Beedon	pa	Berks	E. Ilsley	3	Newbury	7	Hungerford	12	57	306
43	Beeford	pa & to	E.R. York	Driffield	7	Bridlington	10	Beverley	13	196	894
10	Beeley	chap	Derby	Bakewell	3	Chesterfield	10	Matlock	6	150	441
21	Beelsby	pa	Lincoln	Caistor	5	Grimsby	7	Louth	18	164	158
4	Beenham	pa	Berks	Reading	8	Newbury	9	Pangbourn	6	47	360
11	Beer	chap	Devon	Colyton	3	Honiton	10	Sidmouth	7	153
34	Beer		Somerset	Bridgewater	4	Stowey	5	Watchet	14	143
11	Beerhall		Devon	Bridport	8	Honiton	10	Crewkerne	14	147
11	Beeralston[B]	to	Devon	Tavistock	6	Plymouth	7	Saltash	4	213

[A] BEDWIN was a market-town, and supposed by Stukeley to have been the Leucomagus of the Romans; it certainly was a chief city of the Saxons, who built a castle there. It was a borough by prescription, sending two members to parliament, and is governed by a portreeve, and exercises many of its original rights, although considerably reduced in population. The church, a cruciform building of flints, with a central tower, is ancient and curious in itself, and for the monuments which it contains. The obtusely pointed arches of the nave, ornamented with zig-zag and billetted mouldings, rest on capitals, richly adorned with flowers, grotesque heads, and other figures. In the south transept are two tombs, which commemorate Adam and Roger de Stocre, Lords, according to Leland, of "Stoke Haulle thereby." The chancel contains the noble altar monument of Sir John Seymour, of Wolphall, father of the Protector, Somerset, and other distinguished persons. Near this tomb are two brass plates, on one of which is the figure of a lady, with her hands folded, and the inscription—"Julia Seymour;" the other commemorates Monument of Julia Seymour, sister to Lady Jane Grey. a son of Sir John Seymour. The manor of Bedwin, which once belonged to Gilbert, Earl of Clare, husband of Anna d'Acres, was purchased by the late Earl of Aylesbury. This place gave birth, in 1621, to Dr. Thomas Willis, a learned physician, who wrote several works on his art, was appointed physician in ordinary to Charles II., and died of pleurisy in 1675. On Castle-hill is an entrenchment, in area two acres, with some foundations, supposed to be those of a castle, founded by the Saxons. Chisbury Castle is an entrenchment more than fifteen acres in extent, supposed to have been begun by the Britons, and sometime occupied by the Romans. The neighbouring village of Little Bedwin has a church built of flints, in the Anglo-Norman style of architecture, with a nave, aisles, chancel, and tower.

Market, formerly Tuesday (disused).—Fairs, April 23, and July 26, for horses, cows, and sheep.

[B] BEERALSTON. This place once had the privilege of sending two members to parliament. It is chiefly inhabited by labourers employed in agriculture and mining. The borough was under the influence of the Earl of Beverley. The right of election was vested in those who had land in the borough, and paid three-pence acknowledgment to the Lord of the Manor, who varied the number of electors at his pleasure, by granting Electioneering abuses. burgage-tenures, which were generally resigned when the election was concluded, to as many of his partisans as were requisite. The portreeve, chosen annually in the Lord's court, was the returning-officer. The first members were returned in the twenty-seventh of Elizabeth. Risdon mentions that Beare was bestowed by William the Conqueror on a family descended from the house of Alencon in France, and that it still continues its name under the corruption of Bere-Alson. In the reign of Henry II., Henry Ferrers had a castle here, which came to the possession of his descendant Martin Ferrers, the last of the house, in the time of Edward III. The manor then came to the Champernounes, and passed respectively through the families of Willoughby, Mountjoy, Maynard, and Stamford, to the present possessor, the Duke of Northumberland. In this place are several lead-mines, now of inconsiderable value, though sometimes impregnated with silver; but in the reign of Edward I., it is said, that in the space of three years 1,600 pounds weight of silver was obtained. Since that time no considerable quantity has ever been procured.

Map	Names of Places		County	Number of Miles From						Dist. Lond.	Popul ation.
34	Berecrocombe	pa	Somerset	Ilminster	5	Taunton	7	Somerton	12	135	182
11	Bere Ferris[A]	pa	Devon	Saltash	3	Plymouth	6	Tavistock	8	215	1876
12	Bere Hacket	pa	Devon	Sherborne	4	Yeovil	4	Beaminster	12	121	110
12	Bere Regis[B]	m.t.& pa	Dorset	Wareham	7	Blandford	9	Dorchester	12	113	1170

[A] BERE FERRIS. This parish is situated south by west from Tavistock. Here, observes Risdon, "lieth Ley, the ancient possession of a family so called, whence the name tooke that honor; for from hence Sir James Ley, Knt., Lord Chief Justice of England, and High Treasurer, created afterwards Earle of Marlborough, descended; a lawgiver in the chief place of justice, and a preserver of venerable antiquity, whose noble thoughts were so fixed on virtue, and his discourses embellished with wisdome, and his heart with integrity, that his words did never bite, nor his actions wrong any man, to give him just cause of complaynt." A honest lawyer. Amongst several ancient monuments in Bere-Ferris Church, is one under an arched recess, of a cross-legged knight half inclined on his right side, with his right hand on his sword; and another of a knight and his lady, under a richly ornamented arch in the chancel. Among the figures painted on the east window is that of William Ferrers, who was probably the builder of this fabric, as he is represented kneeling, and holding the model of a church in his hand.