Clophill - Coate

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.

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.