Clophill (St. Mary)
CLOPHILL (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of
Amphill, hundred of Flitt, county of Bedford, 1 mile
(N. by E.) from Silsoe; containing 1066 inhabitants.
It comprises by computation 2340 acres, of which about
1400 are arable, and 700 pasture. The soil is light and
sandy, with some portions of gravel, clay, and moorland; the surface is rather hilly, and the lower grounds
are subject to inundation from the river Ivel, which
flows through the parish. The living is a rectory,
valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £522;
patron, Earl de Grey. The tithes have been commuted
for £239, and the glebe contains 70 acres, with a glebehouse. The church stands upon an eminence at some
distance from the village. There is a place of worship
for Wesleyans. At Cainhoe are vestiges of the moated
castle of the barons d'Albini: the hill on which it stood
is high and steep, and overgrown with coppice-wood.
Here was also a religious house, probably a cell to St.
Alban's Abbey.
Clopton
CLOPTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Mickleton,
union of Shipston-upon-Stour, Upper division of the
hundred of Kiftsgate, E. division of the county of
Gloucester; containing 27 inhabitants.
Clopton (St. Mary)
CLOPTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of
Woodbridge, hundred of Carlford, E. division of
Suffolk, 4 miles (N. W.) from Woodbridge; containing
389 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 2107
acres; the soil is partly strong clay and partly of a
mixed quality, the surface rather hilly, and the scenery
varied: a small stream winds through the lower grounds.
The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at
£16. 13. 4.; net income, £538; patron and incumbent,
the Rev. George Taylor. The church is ornamented
with four beautiful windows in the later English style,
and has a handsome tower. There are about 14 acres
of land and four tenements, the rent of which is applied
to the expenses of the church, and the relief of the
poor.
Clopton
CLOPTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Old Stratford, union of Stratford, Stratford division of the
hundred of Barlichway, S. division of the county of
Warwick, 1 mile (N. W.) from Stratford. This place
includes the manors of Upper and Lower Clopton.
Clopton House, with its grounds, comprising about 400
acres, was the ancient seat of the Clopton family, who
were great benefactors to Stratford, and who built the
bridge across the Avon in 1490, and the chapel. The
mansion was fast falling to decay when Charles Thomas
Warde, Esq., the present proprietor, purchased it; and
for the last few years he has been enlarging it considerably, and repairing and restoring the older parts,
in the ancient style, with carved-oak wainscot and oak
floors. He has built a new suite of drawing-rooms of
spacious dimensions, a complete range of offices of every
description, stables, and a conservatory; and has enriched numerous apartments with panelling and ceilings
in the French or Louis XIV. style. These improvements, effected at a cost of between £10,000 and
£12,000, have rendered Clopton House an excellent
family residence. It contains some fine paintings and
marbles, principally collected by Mr. Warde on the
continent: among them are, a landscape (perhaps the
finest in this country) by Gaspar Poussin, one of the
gems of the Lanceolotti palace in Rome; a bear-hunt
by Snyders, from Casimir Perier's collection at Paris; a
Ludovicco Carracci and sketch by Rubens, from Col.
Greville's and Sir William Hamilton's collections; pictures by Guido, Vandyke, Holbein, Watteau, Both,
Morland, &c.; and some curious old portraits of the
Cloptons, the Earl and Countess of Totness, and Sir
Edward Waller, garter-king-at-arms. This seat is about
half a mile due west of Welcombe, also the property of
Mr. Warde.
Closehouse, with Houghton.—See Houghton.
CLOSEHOUSE, with Houghton.—See Houghton.
Closworth (All Saints)
CLOSWORTH (All Saints), a parish, in the union
of Yeovil, hundred of Houndsborough, Barwick,
and Coker, W. division of Somerset, 4½ miles (S. by
E.) from Yeovil; containing 164 inhabitants. It is
situated on the road from Yeovil to Dorchester, and
comprises 1071a. 1r. 39p.: stone of good quality for
building purposes, and also used in the formation of
drains, is quarried. The living is a discharged rectory,
valued in the king's books at £6. 8. 11½., and in the
gift of Lord Portman: the tithes have been commuted
for £202. 12., and the glebe comprises nearly 12 acres,
with a glebe-house. The church is a handsome structure
in the later English style, with a square embattled
tower. In a field called Barrow Hill, several skeletons
were discovered a few years since.
Clothall (St. Mary)
CLOTHALL (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of
Hitchin, hundred of Odsey, county of Hertford, 2½
miles (S. E.) from Baldock; containing 495 inhabitants.
It comprises by computation 3360 acres, chiefly arable
land; the surface is gently undulated, and the scenery
pleasingly diversified; the soil is chalk, gravelly loam,
and clay. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's
books at £16. 0. 7½., and in the gift of the Marquess of
Salisbury: the tithes have been commuted for £750, and
there is a glebe of 66 acres. The church is built of
flint and stone, and has a tower surmounted by a spire;
it contains several effigies and inscriptions in brass.
Here was a free chapel or college of ancient foundation,
dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, for a master, brethren,
and sisters, and which was valued at £4. 2. 8., and continued till the Dissolution. Thomas Stanley, son of Sir
Thomas Stanley, Knt., and author of the History of the
Philosophers, was born here in 1625; he died in 1678,
and was buried in the church.
Clotherholme
CLOTHERHOLME, a township, in the parish and
liberty of Ripon, W. riding of York, 2 miles (N. W. by
W.) from Ripon; containing 10 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 830 acres of land. The tithes
have been commuted for £6. 10., payable to the Dean
and Chapter of Ripon.
Clotton-Hoofield
CLOTTON-HOOFIELD, a township, in the parish
of Tarvin, union of Great Boughton, Second division
of the hundred of Eddisbury, S. division of the county
of Chester, 2 miles (W. N. W.) from Tarporley; containing 417 inhabitants. It comprises 1376 acres,
whereof the prevailing soil is clay. The tithes have been
commuted for £110 payable to the Dean and Chapter of
Lichfield, and £61 to the vicar of the parish.
Cloughton
CLOUGHTON, a chapelry, in the parish of Scalby,
union of Scarborough, Pickering lythe, N. riding of
York, 4¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Scarborough; containing 454 inhabitants. This township is situated on
the road from Scarborough to Whitby, and bounded on
the east by the North Sea; it comprises about 3510
acres, of which a portion is moorland hills. Quarries
of excellent freestone are wrought. The chapel has been
rebuilt. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans;
also a school rebuilt in 1835.
Clovelly (All Saints)
CLOVELLY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of
Bideford, hundred of Hartland, Great Torrington
and N. divisions of Devon, 11 miles (W. by S.) from
Bideford; containing 950 inhabitants. At this place
was a Roman trajectus from Carmarthen; and till within
the last few years, the remains of a fort, erected by the
Romans for the defence of the pass, were plainly discernible. The village is romantically situated, in a district
abounding with geological attractions, on the acclivities
of a shelving and precipitous rock, rising abruptly from
the Bristol Channel to the height of several hundred
feet above the harbour, and crowned with luxuriant verdure. The harbour, which is an appendage to the port
of Bideford, and, though small, remarkable for its security, is partly formed by a substantial pier erected by a
member of the family of Carew, by whose ancestor the
manor was purchased in the reign of Richard II. A
considerable trade is carried on in the herring-fishery,
for which Clovelly is the most noted place on the coast;
the herrings are esteemed the finest taken in the Channel, and the fishery furnishes employment to the principal
part of the labouring class. The parish comprises 2578
acres, of which 300 are common or waste. The living is
a rectory, valued in the king's books at £19. 11. 5½.,
and in the patronage of Sir J. H. Williams, Bart.: the
tithes have been commuted for £200, and the glebe contains 78 acres. The church, which was made collegiate
for a warden and six chaplains, by the family of Carew,
in the 11th of Richard II., contains some handsome
monuments. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.
On the heights above the village is a large encampment,
called Dichen, or the Clovelly ditches, consisting of
three trenches or dykes, inclosing a quadrilateral area
360 feet in height and 300 in breadth.
Clown (St. John the Baptist)
CLOWN (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the
union of Worksop, hundred of Scarsdale, N. division of the county of Derby, 9 miles (E. N. E.) from
Chesterfield; containing 677 inhabitants. It comprises
about 1855 acres, of which 1262 are arable, 521 pasture,
and 58 wood. The greater portion is high ground, and
the remainder undulated; the soil on the high lands is
a thin loam, with a substratum of limestone, and in the
lower inclined to clay. There are numerous springs of
excellent water, which, uniting their streams, fall into
a brook flowing to Welbeck. The living is a rectory,
valued in the king's books at £7. 0. 10., and in the
patronage of the Crown. Tithes were commuted for
land and a money payment in 1778, and under the recent act a commutation has been made for a rent-charge
of £330; the glebe contains 67 acres, with a glebehouse. The church has Norman portions, amidst various
later styles. Charles Basseldine, in 1730, founded a
school, with an endowment of thirteen acres of land,
now producing £26 per annum. There is a chalybeate
spring.
Clun (St. George)
CLUN (St. George), a
market-town and parish, and
the head of a union, in the
hundred of Purslow, S. division of Salop, 26 miles (S.
W.) from Shrewsbury, and
157 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing 2077 inhabitants. This place takes
its name from the river
Colun or Clun; which, rising in the forest of that
name, 6 miles to the west,
divides the town into two parts, and pursues an easterly
course towards Ludlow. In the reign of Stephen, or,
according to Camden, in that of Henry III., a castle
was erected by Fitz-Alan, afterwards Earl of Arundel,
on a lofty eminence overlooking the river, the proprietor
of which possessed the power of life and death over his
tenants; it was demolished by Owain Glyndwr in his
rebellion against Henry IV. The remains present an
interesting and picturesque object in the surrounding
landscape, consisting of the lofty walls of the keep and
the banquet-hall; and considerable masses of the ruins
in various parts of the area indistinctly mark out both
the ancient form and extent of this once stately pile.
In the reign of Henry VIII. the parish was by statute
made part of the newly formed county of Montgomery,
from which it was afterwards severed, and included in
that of Salop. An act was passed in 1837, for inclosing
8600 acres in the forest of Clun, and in 1839, one for
inclosing 1700 in the township of Clun; several acres
are set apart for the recreation of the inhabitants.
Corporation Seal.
The town is romantically situated, on a gentle eminence surrounded by hills of bolder elevation, and consists principally of one long irregular street on the north
bank of the river, over which is an ancient stone bridge
of five sharply-pointed arches, leading to that part of
the town where the church stands. The market is on
Tuesday: the fairs are on the 11th May, Whit-Tuesday,
and Sept. 23rd, for cattle, sheep, and pigs; and Nov.
22nd, which is a statute and a large cattle fair. Clun
was formerly a lordship in the marches, and was first
incorporated by the lords marchers, whose charter was
confirmed to Edmund, Earl of Arundel, in the reign of
Edward II., at which time its prescriptive right was
admitted; but the charter not having been enrolled in
chancery, and all the records of the lords marchers
having been destroyed, its being an incorporated borough
was proved by parole evidence. The government is
vested in two bailiffs, a recorder, two serjeants-at-mace,
and subordinate officers; and the bailiffs hold a court of
record for the recovery of debts. The hundred court,
for the recovery of debts under 40s., is held every third
Wednesday, and courts leet in May and October; at
that in October constables are appointed. The town-hall
is a neat modern stone building, supported on arches.
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books
at £13. 10. 5.; net income, £680; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Powis. The church, which was
dependent on the priory of Wenlock, is a very ancient
structure, in the earliest period of the Norman style,
and has evidently been of much greater extent than it is
at present, having had several chapels. It has a low
tower of very large dimensions and of great strength,
with a pyramidal roof, from the centre of which rises
another tower of similar form, but smaller; the arch
under the tower, forming the western entrance, bears a
strong resemblance to the Saxon, and it is not improbable that this part of the building existed before the Conquest. The northern entrance is under a highly ornamented Norman arch, on the east side of which is an
arched recess, richly cinquefoiled, and probably intended
for the tomb of the founder. St. Mary's chapel of ease,
at Chapel Lawn, was built in 1844, at a cost of £1200;
it is in the early English style, with a campanile tower.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. Clun Hospital, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was founded, in
1614, and endowed by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, with tithes now producing a revenue of £1600 per
annum. The establishment consists of eighteen poor
brethren and a warden, and the management is vested
in the bailiff, vicar, and churchwardens, the steward of
the lordship, the rector of Hopesay, and the warden of
the hospital; the Bishop of Hereford is visiter. The
buildings comprise a quadrangle 40 yards in length, and
the same in breadth: in 1845 they were extended on
the east side of the quadrangle, by the erection of a
chapel, a house for the warden, and a dining-hall. The
poor law union of Clun comprises 19 parishes or places,
namely, 17 in the county of Salop, one in Salop and
Montgomery, and one in Montgomery; and contains a
population of 10,024.
Within a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the
town, is a single intrenchment, said to have been raised
by Owain Glyndwr, as a shelter for his troops during
their attack on the castle; and within half a mile to the
south, is Walls Castle, the station from which it was
battered. About two miles and a half to the north-east,
is the camp of Ostorius, the station occupied by that
general in his last battle with Caractacus; and about
five to the south-east, near the confluence of the rivers
Clun and Teme, and within 4 miles of Walcott, the seat
of the Earl of Powis, are the Caer or Bury Ditches, the
station of the British hero, and the scene of his last
effort against the Roman power. The camp, which is of
elliptic form, comprehends an area of from three to four
acres, on the summit of a very lofty eminence, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country;
the steep acclivities are defended by a triple intrenchment of amazing strength, which, though overgrown
with turf, is still entire. This fortification, evidently a
work of prodigious labour, is one of the most interesting
in the country, and, under the care of the Earl of Powis,
is preserved with a due regard to its historical importance. In making a road from Clun to Bishop's-Castle,
in 1780, several cannon-balls were found.
Clunbury (St. Swithin)
CLUNBURY (St. Swithin), a parish, in the union
of Clun, hundred of Purslow, S. division of Salop;
containing 994 inhabitants, of whom 258 are in the
township of Clunbury, 6½ miles (S. S. E.) from Bishop'sCastle. This parish, which is situated in the heart of a
sequestered district abounding with romantic scenery,
comprises by computation 6000 acres, exclusively of
woods and common. There are some quarries of stone
for building and for mending the roads. The village is
beautifully situated at the foot of a lofty hill, and surrounded with woods and plantations. The living is a
perpetual curacy; net income, £120; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Powis. The church is a neat
ancient structure. There are places of worship for
Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans; and a school on
the national system endowed with £6. 6. per annum.
Clungunford (St. Cuthbert)
CLUNGUNFORD (St. Cuthbert), a parish, in the
union of Clun, hundred of Purslow, S. division of
Salop, 9 miles (S. E. by S.) from Bishop's-Castle;
containing, with the extra-parochial liberty of Dinmore,
554 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Clun: limestone abounds, and is quarried for building and for burning into lime. The living is a rectory, valued in the
king's books at £16; net income, £530; patron and
incumbent, the Rev. John Rocke. The church is an
ancient structure. The trustees of Francis Walker, in
1682, founded and endowed a school, the income of
which, increased by other bequests in 1712, amounts to
£46 per annum. The Roman Watling-street intersects
the parish from north to south, and in the neighbourhood are two tumuli.
Clunton, with Kempton
CLUNTON, with Kempton, a township, in the parish of Clunbury, union of Clun, hundred of Purslow, S. division of Salop, 5½ miles (S. by E.) from
Bishop's-Castle; containing 520 inhabitants, of whom
304 are in Clunton. The tithes of Clunton have been
commuted for £173.
Clutton
CLUTTON, a township, in the parish of Farndon,
union of Great Boughton, Higher division of the
hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of
Chester, 10 miles (S. S. E.) from Chester; containing
110 inhabitants. The manor was anciently in the Clutton family, who continued to possess it from the reign of
Henry III. to that of Henry VI.; it afterwards passed
to the Masseys and Bromleys, and by purchase to the
Williamsons, by whom it was sold in 1725 to the
Leches. The township comprises 560 acres, of a clayey
and sandy soil. The tithes have been commuted for
£64. 10. payable to the impropriator, and 10s. to the
perpetual curate of the parish. There is a school endowed with £14 per annum.
Clutton (St. Augustine)
CLUTTON (St. Augustine), a parish, and the head
of a union, in the hundred of Chew, E. division of Somerset, 3¼ miles (S. by E.) from Pensford; containing
1434 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises 1671
acres by measurement, abounds with coal, and mines are
worked to a considerable extent, affording employment
to a very large portion of the population. There are
also extensive quarries of stone for paving and building,
and of limestone, and several kilns for burning lime;
iron-ore is found in the coal-mines and in other places.
The village, which is on the road from Bristol to Wells
and Shepton-Mallet, is a polling-place for the Eastern
division of the county. The powers of the county debtcourt of Clutton, established in 1847, extend over the
registration-district of Clutton. The living is a rectory,
valued in the king's books at £9. 4. 2., and in the gift
of the Earl of Warwick: the tithes have been commuted
for £308, and the glebe comprises 56 acres. The church
is an ancient structure, in the Norman style; between
the nave and chancel is a highly enriched arch. There
are places of worship for Methodists and Independents;
and a school, founded in 1728, is endowed with £20
per annum. The poor law union comprises 29 parishes
or places, and contains a population of 25,046. In the
vicinity are vestiges of an ancient fortification, called
Highbury, where British weapons and Roman coins have
been found.
Clytha
CLYTHA, a hamlet, in the parish of Llanarth,
union of Abergavenny, division and hundred of Raglan, county of Monmouth, 3 miles (W. N. W.) from
Raglan; containing 335 inhabitants. This place, which
is situated on the left bank of the river Usk, and intersected by the high roads leading from Abergavenny to
Monmouth and Usk, contains by estimation 1503a.
2r. 17p., of which 683 acres are arable, 776 pasture and
meadow, and 44 woodland. The vicarial tithes have
been commuted for £115, and there is a glebe of about
2 acres. Clytha House is a handsome mansion in the
Grecian style, with a noble portico, standing in tastefully
laid-out grounds; near it are the remains of an ancient
chapel, and on the brow of a lofty eminence contiguous
stands a castellated building, erected in 1790, by the
late William Jones, Esq., to the memory of his lady, and
whence is a beautiful and extensive view of the vale of
the Usk, with the Blorange, Sugar Loaf, and Skirrid
mountains in the distance. Upon the summit of another
eminence, at the extremity of the Clytha hills, is a
small encampment called Coed-y-Bunnedd, which retains
marks of having been strongly fortified.
Coal-Aston
COAL-ASTON, a township, in the parish of Dronfield, union of Chesterfield, hundred of Scarsdale,
N. division of the county of Derby, ¾ of a mile (N. by
E.) from Dronfield; containing 352 inhabitants.
Coal-Pit-Heath
COAL-PIT-HEATH, an ecclesiastical parish, partly
in the parish of Frampton-Cotterell, hundred of
Langley and Swinehead, and partly in the parish of
Westerleigh, hundred of Puckle-Church, union of
Chipping-Sodbury, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 1½ mile (S. by E.) from Frampton-Cotterell;
containing about 2300 inhabitants. It lies on the
banks of the river Frome, and on the Bristol and Birmingham railway; and the road from Bristol to Sodbury
passes through its centre. There are seven coal-pits, in
the possession of the lords of the manor, who derive a
large revenue from the estate. The parish was constituted in 1845, under the act 6th and 7th of Victoria,
cap. 37; and on the 9th October, in that year, the
church, called St. Saviour's, was consecrated. It is in
the early decorated style, and consists of a nave, chancel,
north and south aisles, and tower; the chancel is paved
with encaustic tiles, many of the windows are of painted
glass, and there is a fine organ: the cost of the edifice
exceeded £3000. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the
patronage of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol; net
income, £150.
Coaley (St. Bartholomew)
COALEY (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union
of Dursley, Upper division of the hundred of Berkeley, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 3 miles
(N. N. E.) from Dursley; containing 979 inhabitants.
It comprises 2463 acres, of which 1900 are pasture, 300
arable, 90 woodland, and 81 common or waste. The
living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books
at £8. 2. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown; impropriator, S. Jones, Esq. Tithes were commuted for land
and a money payment in 1801; and under the recent
act, impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rentcharge of £56. 14., and vicarial for one of £300. There
is a place of worship for Wesleyans.
Coanwood, East
COANWOOD, EAST, a township, in the parish and
union of Haltwhistle, W. division of Tindale ward,
S. division of Northumberland, 5 miles (S.) from
Haltwhistle; containing 139 inhabitants. The name was
anciently Collingwood, which, in its Welsh form of
Collen-gwydd, means hazel-trees or hazel-wood, with
which the district abounded, until, in consequence of
the mining operations in the vicinity (converting the
wood into charcoal), the article became scarce, existing
now only in certain places. The township contains the
hamlets of High and Low Ramshaw, and Gorbet-hill,
and comprises 2040 acres, of which about 1000 are
common or waste: it has a coal-mine, called the Rig-pit,
in operation. There is a place of worship for the Society
of Friends.
Coat
COAT, a hamlet, in the parish and hundred of Martock, union of Yeovil, W. division of the county of
Somerset; containing 175 inhabitants.
Coate
COATE, a tything, in the parish of Bishop's-Cannings, union of Devizes, hundred of Potterne and
Cannings, Devizes and N. divisions of Wilts; containing 303 inhabitants.
Coate
COATE, a tything, in the parish of Liddington,
union of Highworth and Swindon, hundred of
Kingsbridge, Swindon and N. divisions of the county
of Wilts; containing 43 inhabitants.