MAULEVE RER. Here was a monks. been built on a lofty hill, finely shaded with trees; it consists of two ALLERTON rooms, and is approached by a double flight of steps, each of which, as well as the terrace around the building, are protected by iron palisades. From this commanding situation, all the various beauties of the park are seen to the greatest advantage, and many extensive and diversified prospects are enjoyed. Here was a priory of Benedictine monks, founded by Richard Mauleverer, in the reign of Henry II. Priory of which was dissolved about three centuries afterwards by King Henry VI. Benedictine The manor was the seat of the Mauleverer family for more than five hundred years, when Sir Richard, the last heir, who died unmarried, left the estate by will to his mother, who, afterwards by marriage, conveyed it to the Arundel family, and from them it became the property of the Honourable, William Monkton Arundel, Viscount Galway, whose son, the late Lord Galway, sold it in the year 1786, to the late Duke of York, who afterwards occasionally resided in the park, with George IV., then Prince of Wales. The estate, comprising four thousand five hundred and twenty-five acres, was sold by the Royal Duke to Colonel Thornton, for £110,000; and was, in 1805, resold by that gentleman to the late Lord Stourton, father of the present proprietor. The mansion stands on a gentle elevation; it was erected by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and has since been considerably improved. Sale of the estate by the late Duke of York, for £110,000. The castle. Wyatt de * ALLINGTON. Situated in the hundred of Larkefield, in the lathe of Aylesford, near the river Medway. ALLINGTON CASTLE was originally built in the Saxon times, by a noble family denominated Columbary, but was razed afterwards by the Danes. The manor was Mansion given after the conquest to Bishop Odo, (in whose time there was given to a church at Allington,) and on his disgrace, to the great Earl Warrenne, Bishop Odo. who is stated to have had the castle rebuilt, which, however, seems to be doubtful, as the famous Sir Stephen Penchester, constable of Dover Castle, in the reign of Edward I., and then owner of this manor, had a license to fortify, and embattle, his mansion-house here. It passed afterwards to the Cobham family; and from them to the Brents, by whom it was alienated to Sir Henry Wyatt, a descendant from Sir Henry a worthy Yorkshire family; who, besides losing seventeen manors, was prived of deprived of his liberty for engaging in the plot against Richard III. in seventeen favour of the Earl of Richmond; but when success had crowned the manors and attempts of the latter, he was released by the new king, knighted, for treason. made banneret, a knight of the bath, and a privy counsellor. He made this castle his residence; and here was born his accomplished son and successor, Sir Thomas Wyatt. This gentleman who was equally Sir Thomas Wyatt, renowned, as a scholar, a soldier, and a statesman, (in consequence was an acof which he was considered to be "the delight of the muses and complished mankind") made this a "fair seat," and was visited here by Henry VIII., soldier and (as his father Sir Henry had also been,) with whom he was a great statesman. favourite; though he appears in some degree to have unintentionally excited his jealousy, through the admiration which his accomplishments had raised in the breast of the fascinating Anne Boleyn. He died in his thirty-eighth year, at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, of a violent fever. His son Sir Thomas Wyatt, the younger, being deprived of his liberty, scholar, Number of Miles from .1 Dist. Popu Lon lation. 11 77 80 ..13 95 162 88 162 205 677 872 357 759 838 Amesbury..4 | Salisbury.. .6 | Andover 150 ALLINGTON his estates and life, for treason against Queen Mary, this castle and manor became vested in the crown, and were granted, on lease by Elizabeth, to John Astley Esq., master of her jewels, in her eleventh year. His son, Sir John Astley, afterwards had the whole granted to him by the queen's letters patent, dated in her twenty sixth year, and from his family it was transferred to that of Lord Romney, and is now the Parish con- property of the present earl. The remains of the castle are particularly curious and interesting, but give the idea rather of a fortified dwelling, than of a place of strength. The moat still exists, as does the entrance gateway, which was erected by the Cobhams. Besides the castle and parsonage, (a mere cottage,) there is only one house in this parish; though Sir Stephen de Penchester is recorded to have procured a grant of a market weekly, and a three days annual fair for his manor of Allington. sists of one house, a church, and a cottage. Grammar school James I. * ALMONDBURY is situated near the river Calder, in the upper division of the wapentake of Aybrigg. Here is a grammar school, founded by founded by patent from James I. and endowed with about £120 per annum. This place is noted for its extensive woollen manufactories. It was anciently called Albanbury. In the neighbourhood traces of an ancient castle, on an eminence, are still discernable. It is supnum of the posed, by some antiquarians, to have been the Campodonum of the Romans, and subsequently a royal seat of some of the Saxon kings. Ancient castle. Campodo Romans. † ALNWICK, is on the high road from London to Berwick, and usually regarded as the capital of the county. It is situated partly in the southern division of Barnborough Ward, and partly in the eastern division of Coquetdale Ward. It is built irregularly, on the declivities of a bill, near the river Alne, over which a handsome stone bridge was erected by the late Duke of Northumberland. which bears the Percy crest on the parapet: there is also another bridge, of one arch, lower down the river; these two bridges serve as boundaries to the fine lawns surrounding the castle. At the head of Pottergate is a tower or clock-house, built in 1786. An abbey of Premonstratension canons was founded at Alnwick by Eustace St. John, in the year 1147. It was pleasantly situated on the northern margin of the Alne, the site of which was granted, in 1549, to Ralph Sadler, and Lawrence Wenof monks, nington, after which it became the seat of the Brandling family, and also of the Doubleday family, by whom it was sold to the Duke of Northumberland. A fine gate house still remains, on which the An abbey founded in 1147. |