Names of Places. 34 Bathampton... 35 Batterley. Dist. Popu Lond. lation County. Number of Miles from pa Somerset .. Bath pa Somerset 2 Chippenham 11 Devizes....15 Wiveliscomb 3 Milverton ...3 Wellington..5 pa Somerset .3 Chippenham 10 Devizes. .14 pa Somerset ..4 .9 ..13 .pa & to .to Nottingham. Bath walks, ornamental fountains, and plantations. Hackney coaches, and Markets, Wednesday and Saturday.-Fairs, February 14; (Holloway) July 10; and Aug. 10, (Lansdown) for cattle, horses and all kinds of merchandise. The Falmouth Mail arrives 7.54 morning, and departs 6.30 afternoon. The Carmarthen Mail arrives 7.48 morning, and departs 6.56 afternoon.-Bankers, (Bladud Bank) Tufnell and Co.; draw on Jones, Lloyd and Co.; Tugwell and Co., draw on Barnard and Co.; (Old Bank) Hobhouse and Co., draw on Jones, Lloyd and Co.; (City Bank) Smith and Moger, draw on Barclay and Co.-Inns, York Hotel, White Hart, White Lion, Greyhound, Castle, and Elephant and Castle. * BATHEASTON. This village is situated on the London road from Bath. The upper part contains the church, and amongst some handsome houses, is one which was formerly the residence of John Wood, Esq., the ingenious architect, to whom Bath owes many of its noblest buildings. The church is antique. At the west-end it has a fine square tower, one hundred feet high. The inside is remarkable for its neat and decent appearance. A custom long observed at the villa of Sir John Millar, Bart., displays his elegance and refinement in the choice of his amusements, as well as of his visitors. He had purchased an antique vase, discovered at Frescati, in Italy, in 1759; and having placed it in a room convenient for the purpose, he consecrated it to Apollo, and ordained Lady Miller, high priestess. He then issued a general invitation to all votaries of the muses, to assemble on a certain day in each week, and offer their poetical oblations at the shrine; the degree of merit each possessed was decided by the public voice, and the author of the best was crowned with myrtle. А collation succeeded. This attic pastime continued for some years, till some witling contaminated the purity of the urn by a licentious composition, and the vessel was closed for ever. Two small volumes of these effusions have been published. The vase of Apollo. ↑ BATTERSEA is seated on the Thames, and gives the title of Baron to the family of St. John. The church contains many monuments, chiefly of the above noble family; particulary one in grey marble, to the memory of the celebrated statesman, Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, and of his second wife, whose profiles are sculptured in bass-relief. A monu- Wynter's ment near the south wall, represents Sir Edward Wynter in the act of exploits. performing two extraordinary exploits, thus described in his epitaph : A neat tablet, at the east end of the church, commemorates Thomas Astle, who was long a distinguished member of the Society of Antiquaries, Keeper of the Records in the Tower, a Trustee of the British Museum, and author of Treatise "on the Origin and Progress of Writing." He died in 1802, and left a valuable collection of manuscripts. Here are also interred, Arthur Collins, Esq., known as the author of an "Historical Account of the Peers and Baronets of England;" William Curtis, author of the "Flora Londinensis," and the Rev. Joseph Gardner, author of Sir E. Bolingbroke house. pa Tunbridge..26 Hastings .8 Bexhill 6 .15 174 192 "Views on the Rhine," and otherwise distinguished by his attachment to the arts. Bolingbroke House was a spacious edifice, said to have contained fifty rooms on a floor, of which a few only remain; among which is the favourite apartment of Lord Bolingbroke, wainsco ted with cedar. A horizontal air-mill now occupies the site of this mansion, and in the gardens have been erected bullock-houses. Sherwood Lodge, near the Thames, is the residence of James Wolf, Esq. whose valuable collection of plaster-casts, from antique statues, are deposited in a gallery of Doric architecture, remarkable for the purity of its style. A wooden bridge was built over the Thames at this place, in 1771. * BATTLE, anciently called Epiton, derived its present denomination from the conflict between William the Norman, and Harold Harefoot, which decided the fate of these realms, and gave to the former the surname of Conqueror. This engagement happened on the 14th of October, 1066, and continued from morning until sunset, when the Normans had sustained a loss of 15000 men, and the English four times that number, among whom was their king. The Conqueror, grateful for his victory, and in performance of a vow, commenced the foundation of an abbey on that part of the field where the battle had raged most fiercely, causing the high altar to be raised on the spot where the body of his The Abbey. valiant antagonist; or, as others say, his standard had been found. This abbey was dedicated to St. Martin, and the privileges enjoyed by the superiors within its precincts were almost regal; an exclusive right of inquest in cases of murder-the property of all treasure discovered there free warren and exemption, even for their tenants, from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction-right of sanctuary for their church in cases of homicideand the power of pardoning any condemned thief whom they should meet going to execution. From the foundation of this abbey, till its dissolution, it was governed by thirty-one abbots. Sometime after the latter period, it was the property of the Montagues, who sold it to Sir Thomas Webster, and that gentleman made it his residence. Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart., is the present owner. In its present state, Battle Abbey bears ample testimony to its ancient magnificence, the ruins being extensive, and exhibiting a mixture of the light Norman with the solid Saxon architecture. These remains occupy two sides of a quadrangle, of which one is an ancient gateway. Nine elegant arches, now filled up, are all that remain of the church. Two detached buildings, supposed to have been refectories, are now converted into offices. The town of Battle consists of one street, and has a handsome church, the windows of which are embellished with stained glass. The chancel contains a fine altarmonument to the memory of Sir Anthony Browne, armour-bearer to Henry VIII. This place is celebrated for a manufacture of gun-powder, inferior only to that at Dartford. Scene of a Welsh battle. Market, Thursday.-Fairs, Whit-Monday; Nov. 22, cattle and pedlary; second Tuesday in every month, cattle.-Bankers, Smith, Gill, and Co., draw on Spooner and Co.-Mail arrives 4.20 morning; departs 9.40 afternoon.-Inn, George. + BATTLE. The church is placed upon an eminence on the east side of the Escir river. It is a low edifice surrounded by a cemetry, bounded by a wall. A few straggling houses give this place the name of a village. History has fixed this spot as the scene of action where the fate of Brecknockshire was decided, upon its attack by Bernard Newmarch. The vestiges which indicate such an event, are, a well called Ffynon Pen Rhys; a lane called Heol y Cymri, and a long upright stone below the church on the south side; no other vestiges remain to recall the event. Half a BATTLE. .to Northumb.. Hexham. 12 Bellingham 12 Newcastle. 20 29 Bavington, Little....to 11 .12 mile eastward from Battle, appears the stately residence of the vicar of Llandevalle. Upon the wall of an inner court is an inscription in Latin. From the windows of this house are three most beautiful views; on the east side through a small vista, are seen the village of Llanddew, and in the back ground the black mountain beyond Talgarth. From the library, in which is a capital picture of our Saviour bearing the Cross, by Correggio, looking west, is the vale of Usk, with the highly ornamented grounds above Penpont; beyond which, Abercamlais, and the mountains in Llywel and Devynock close the scene. Nearly opposite is the gradually rising knoll of Benni, covered to the top on all sides with wood, beyond which appear the precipitous and majestic summits of the Beacons. Merthyr Cynog, or Saint Cynog, lies about four miles north. Cynog or Canoc, was the illegitimate son of Brychan Brecheinog. He was slain or murdered in one of the early eruptions of the Saxons into Wales, in the 5th century, on the summit of a hill in this parish, nearly opposite Castlemadoc, called Vanoleu, and according to Owen, was buried in Merthyr church. The edifice which remains, does not appear to be of an earlier date than the Norman era; it is situated upon a lofty ridge between the vales of Escir fawr and Escir fechan, in nearly the centre of the parish. It resembles a large barn, in which are some divisions, like pens for sheep, thrown in disorder to rot, when unfit for use. The inven tion of chairs. * BATTLEDEN lies between the two great north-western roads. The family of Firmband, or Fremband, twice represented the county in parliament, as early as the reign of Edward III. In the reign of Elizabeth it became the property of the Duncombes; and it is to one of this family that we are indebted for the accommodation of the now antiquated sedans, or close chairs; and in the year 1634, Duncombe is said to have procured Sedan a patent, which vested in him and his heirs the right of carrying persons up and down in them," for a certain term. "It is probable, (observes Lysons,) that Sir Saunders, who was a great traveller, had seen them at Sedan, where Dr. Johnson, supposes that they were first made; and it is remarkable that Captain Bayley first introduced the use of Hackney Coaches in the same year.” In the year 1706, this manor was purchased by Allen Bathurst, Esq., a distinguished political character during the reigns of Queen Anne and George I. It was for many years the country seat of Lord Bathurst, and the resort of a celebrated constellation of wits, of whom he was the patron and friend. + BATTLEFIELD is a parish in the liberties of Shrewsbury, and derives its name from a sanguinary battle which was fought there on Saturday the 21st of July, 1403, between Henry the Fourth and the Rebels, under Percy, Earl of Nothumberland, and in which Lord Henry Percy, well known as the valiant Hotspur, was slain, together with nearly 2300 gentlemen and others, and upwards of 600 common soldiers fell on that memorable occasion. After this signal victory, Henry the fourth caused a collegiate church to be erected on the spot for secular canons, which was dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene, the battle having been fought on the anniversary of that day, This college was dissolved Battle between Henry the Fourth and Percy of berland. |