Denver (St. Mary)

DENVER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Downham, hundred of Clackclose, W. division of Norfolk, 1 mile (S.) from Downham; containing 910 inhabitants. The parish is on the river Ouse and the road from London to Lynn, and comprises by computation 2933a. 3r. 13p., of which 1657 acres are arable, 1167 pasture, 43 woodland, and 44 common. Denver East Hall is supposed to have been erected in the reign of Henry VII. The Sluice of Denver, at the mouth of the New Bedford river, was constructed when the Bedford Level was drained: it was destroyed in 1713, by the violence of the stream, and afterwards rebuilt; it was again partly rebuilt and widened in 1834, at a cost of £30,000. Salter's Lode, in the parish, at the confluence of the Old Bedford river, has two sluices or locks, the one opening into the Well creek, and the other into the Old Bedford river, the former rebuilt in 1827, and the other in 1828. These three sluices are all navigable for small craft. The living is a rectory in medieties, viz., St. Peter's Easthall, and St. Mary's Westhall, valued in the king's books at £10. 13. 4., and in the gift of Caius College, Cambridge: the tithes have been commuted for £862, and the glebe comprises 95 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is built of rough stone, and has a square embattled tower surmounted by a spire; in the chancel is a black marble monument to the memory of Dr. Robert Brady, a native of Denver, master of Caius College, and physician in ordinary to Charles II. and James II. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. At the inclosure, 50 acres of land, let for £47, were awarded for the relief of the poor and the repair of the church.

Denwick

DENWICK, a township, in the parish and union of Alnwick, S. division of Bambrough ward, N. division of Northumberland, 1½ mile (E. by N.) from Alnwick; containing 210 inhabitants. It is pleasantly situated at a short distance north-east of the river Aln. Here is a quarry of freestone of close texture and durable quality. The late Duke of Northumberland erected a handsome arch, over which a private road passes into a field called White Cross Howl, where persons dying of the plague were buried. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £168.

Deopham (St. Andrew)

DEOPHAM (St. Andrew), a parish, in the incorporation and hundred of Forehoe, E. division of Norfolk, 4 miles (W. by S.) from Wymondham; containing 252 inhabitants. It comprises 1668 acres: the common was inclosed in 1812. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 7.11.; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury; net income, £204. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower; in the chancel is a piscina of elegant design. There is a place of worship for Primitive Methodists.

Depden (St. Mary)

DEPDEN (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Thingoe, hundred of Risbridge, W. division of Suffolk, 8 miles (S. W.) from Bury St. Edmund's; containing 345 inhabitants. It comprises by admeasurement 1523 acres, exclusively of 73 acres of common, waste, &c. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 11. 5½., and iu the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for £455, and the glebe comprises 24 acres. The church has been repaired and embellished at the expense of the rector: the east window is fine, and contains some superior specimens of stained glass; the communion-plate is very costly, having been presented by Bishop Sparrow, who was the son of a farmer in the parish.

Deptford

DEPTFORD, a populous district, in the parish of Bishop-Wearmouth, union of Sunderland, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham, 1 mile (W.) from Sunderland, and on the bank of the river Wear. This place largely participates in the trade and commerce of the port of Sunderland: ship-building is carried on to a great extent; a paper-mill is in operation; and there are iron-foundries and glass-works. Good limestone is also obtained in abundance, in which fossils are found. The patent ropery here, wrought by machinery propelled by a steam-engine of 35-horse power, and capable of producing within the usual hours of labour 900 tons of cordage annually, was some time ago destroyed by fire, but has been rebuilt. A district church was erected in 1840, at a cost of £2700; it is dedicated to St. Andrew, and the living is in the gift of the Rector. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists.

Deptford

DEPTFORD, a town, in the union of Greenwich, partly in the E. division of the hundred of Brixton and of the county of Surrey, but principally in the hundred of Blackheath, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 4 miles (E.) from London; containing, with the manor of Hatcham, in Surrey, 25,617 inhabitants. This place, according to Henshall, was at the time of the Norman survey called Moreton, or "town in the marsh;" it was afterwards designated West Greenwich, from its contiguity to Greenwich, and Depeford Stronde, from a deep ford on the river Ravensbourne, the mouth of which forms the small estuary now styled Deptford Creek. Edward III. frequently resided here, in a place named the Stonehouse; but the town was of little importance till the time of Henry VIII., who, for the better preservation of the royal navy, established a dockyard, and, in the fourth year of his reign, incorporated the society of the Trinity House, by the title of the "Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the Guild or Fraternity of the most Glorious and Undivided Trinity, and of St. Clement, in the County of Kent," confirming to them the ancient rights and privileges of the Company of Mariners of England, together with their possessions at Deptford. Further grants were made by Queen Elizabeth and Charles II., which were confirmed by James II. in 1685. In 1671, an inundation took place here, by which a prodigious quantity of cattle was destroyed in the marshes; the cables of ships at anchor were broken, and the water of the Thames rose to the height of ten feet.

The houses in the upper part of the town are in general neat and well built; the streets are paved, and lighted with gas from extensive works near the Creek bridge, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water by the Kent Water-works Company. The main support and consequence of Deptford arose from its excellent docks; and the recent removal of all business from the government dockyard for a short time caused a great loss to the town: it has, however, been partially restored. The royal dockyard includes a space of about thirty-one acres: here the ships of the royal navy were formerly built and repaired, and the royal yachts generally fitted and laid up. The remains of an ancient monastery were converted in 1513 into the old storehouse, which consisted only of the building on the north side of the present quadrangle. A spacious storehouse parallel with this, and of the same length, was completed about the year 1796; a long range of smaller storehouses having been previously built, in 1780, under the direction of Sir Charles Middleton. This yard contains three slips for building second and third rate ships, a double and a single wet-dock, a basin, and two mastponds. Here are also a large smithy for making anchors, &c., some mast-houses, sheds for timber, a mould-loft, various workshops, and houses for the officers. In the reigns of James I. and Charles I. the treasurer of the navy resided here. A short distance north of the King's yard, by the side of the river, and in the parish of St. Paul, stands the Victualling-office, built in 1745, on the north side of the ancient range of storehouses called the Red House; new storehouses have since been added. There are, besides, an extensive cooperage and brewhouse: slaughtering-houses for curing beef, pork, &c.; bakehouses; and other buildings. Near the Victualling-office is Deadman's dockyard, belonging to the Evelyn family, in which ships of 74 guns have at different times been built; and there are two other private docks in the parish of St. Nicholas. On Deptford Green is a very extensive iron and brass foundry and manufactory for anchors, chain-cables, iron-work for steam-engines, boilers, and railway-work, with machinery of all kinds. Another branch of manufacture carried on to a great extent is that of earthenware, known by the name of Deptford ware. There are also works for refining gold and silver, and a laboratory for making sulphuric, nitric, and oxalic acids, and other chymical productions, by a process which, though it had been practised for some years in France, was only introduced into England in 1827, by the proprietors of these extensive works. The buildings occupy an area of more than 15,000 square yards, and comprise a range 270 feet in length, containing, exclusively of other apparatus, from twelve to fifteen furnaces.

The Grand Surrey canal passes through the upper part of the parish of St. Paul. The bridge over the Ravensbourne, anciently of wood, was rebuilt with stone in 1628, by Charles I., and lately widened at the expense of the county; and another bridge has been erected over Deptford Creek, near its junction with the Thames, by a company called the Deptford-Creek Bridge Company, thus forming a direct communication between the lower part of Deptford and the town of Greenwich. The Greenwich railway passes through the centre of the town, crossing High-street, near St. Paul's church, by a handsome viaduct supported on fluted columns of the Grecian-Doric order, and also Church-street by a similar viaduct; and the Croydon railway, after branching off from the Greenwich line, runs through the hamlet of Hatcham, in the parish of St. Paul, near New Cross, where it has a station. In 1837 an act was obtained for the construction of extensive docks for steamvessels, comprising nearly the whole extent of the parish of St. Nicholas; and an act was passed in 1845 for making a railway, nearly a mile in length, from the Croydon line to the Thames at Deptford. The General Steam-Navigation Company have erected a wharf near the mouth of the Creek. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who sit daily, and hold a petty-session for the division weekly on Saturday. The banks of the Ravensbourne are under the superintendence of commissioners of sewers, whose jurisdiction extends from its source to Lambard's wall, near Greenwich. By the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, Deptford constitutes part of the borough of Greenwich, the right of election being vested in the £10 householders.

In 1730, the town was divided into the two parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Paul, the former of which, including the old town, is small, containing only 6991 inhabitants; the latter extends into the county of Surrey, and contains 18,626. The livings are both in the patronage of the family of Drake, the impropriators. That of St. Nicholas' is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 17. 3½.; net income, £750. The church, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt, upon a larger scale, in 1697. The living of St. Paul's is a rectory not in charge; net income, £400. By act of parliament in 1730, £3500, arising from the duty on coal, were allotted to be invested in the purchase of land for the maintenance of the rector; and it was also enacted that the churchwardens, in whom are vested four acres of glebe taken out of the old parish, should pay the rector £70 per annum, in lieu of fees for vaults. The church, erected in the reign of Anne, under the act of parliament for building 50 new churches in and near London, is a fine structure in the Grecian style, with a tower surmounted by a spire; the roof of the nave is supported by a handsome range of pillars, and the east window is ornamented with painted glass. A church has lately been completed at Hatcham, forming a separate incumbency. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, and Unitarians. The foundation stone of the Royal Naval school at Counter Hill, was laid June 1st, 1843, by Prince Albert: the building is in a quadrangular form of red brick, and was built by Mr. Shaw, after a design by Sir C. Wren. The school in Church-street was founded by John Addey, who, in 1600, left property then producing £200, for charitable uses. From the great increase of the funds, the trustees, in 1821, by direction of the court of chancery, erected a spacious building containing two large schoolrooms, with houses for the master and mistress; the school is wholly supported by the endowment, from which also 48 aged persons are paid £2 each annually. A school was founded in 1722, by Dean Stanhope, vicar of Deptford, and was subsequently endowed with various benefactions, now producing £212 per annum; it is conducted on the national plan. There are two almshouses belonging to the Corporation of the Trinity House, for decayed pilots and masters of ships, or their widows: one, which adjoins St. Nicholas' churchyard, was built in the reign of Henry VIII., and consists of 25 apartments; the other, in Church-street, was built about the close of the seventeenth century, and contains 56 apartments, forming a spacious quadrangle, in the centre of which is a statue of Captain Maples, who in 1680 contributed £1300 towards the building. Here the brethren of the Trinity House hold their annual meeting on Trinity-Monday, when they attend divine service at St. Nicholas' church.

The Gun Tavern, lately pulled down, is said to have been the residence of the Earl of Nottingham, lord high admiral in the reign of Elizabeth. Sayes Court, the ancient mansion-house of the manor of West Greenwich, and so called from its having been possessed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by the family of Saye, became, in consequence of his marriage with the daughter of Sir Richard Browne, who then held it under the crown, the residence of John Evelyn, the celebrated author of Sylva, who, after the Restoration, obtained a lease of Sayes Court and the demesne lands, for ninetynine years. The poet Cowley resided here while composing his six Latin books on plants, in which work the fine gardens belonging to Evelyn are supposed to have afforded him great assistance: Evelyn also lent the use of the residence to the Czar Peter, while pursuing the study of naval architecture, in 1698, in the neighbouring dockyard. The mansion was pulled down in 1728, and a workhouse erected on its site.

Deptford

DEPTFORD, a tything, in the parish of Wily, union of Wilton, hundred of Branch and Dole, S. division of Wilts, 8 miles (N. W.) from Wilton; containing 87 inhabitants.

Derby

DERBY, a borough and market-town, possessing separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, S. division of the county of Derby, of which it is the capital, 16 miles (W.) from Nottingham, 27 miles (N. W.) from Leicester, and 126 (N. W.) from London, on the river Derwent, and on the high road to Manchester; containing 32,741 inhabitants, and, including parts of certain parishes which extend beyond the limits of the borough, 36,395. The origin of this monly Deoraby, of which Derby is a corruption, probably referring to its situation on the Derwent. King Egbert constituted the town a royal burgh, and a mint was established. It was possessed by the Danes and Saxons alternately during their contests. In 874 it was occupied by Halfolen, a Danish chief, whose headquarters were at Rippandune, now Repton. Alfred, having defeated the Danes, planted a colony here in 880, and constituted this the chief town in the county. The Danes, after a second defeat by the same monarch, regained the place, and kept it till 918, when, being taken by surprise, they were completely defeated by the heroic Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, and daughter of King Alfred, who, obtaining possession of the town, held it till her death. The Danes retook it soon after her decease, but were again dispossessed by King Edmund I., in 942.

Seal and Arms.

In the early part of the reign of Edward the Confessor, it contained 243 burgesses; two-thirds of the profits from tolls, &c., belonged to the king, and the remaining third to the Earl of Mercia. In 1066, the King of Norway, at the instigation of Tostig, Harold's brother, invaded the northern parts of England, on which many of the inhabitants of Derby, who were then vassals of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, quitted their homes, and joined the forces of Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, to oppose the invader; but they were defeated with great slaughter, only four days before the latter and his army were destroyed by Harold. On the victor's return to encounter William, Duke of Normandy, he recruited his army at Derby, to which is to be ascribed the diminution of the number of burgesses: for at the time of the Norman survey, they amounted only to 100, and of these 43 were minors. The town was given by the Conqueror to his illegitimate son, William Peverel, and an augmentation of its privileges ensued, which was followed by a revival of industry and an increase of population. Charles I., during the parliamentary war, after erecting his standard at Nottingham, marched to Derby, where he was well received, and the entire county declared for the royal cause. Sir John Gell, having soon after raised some infantry, came hither and collected a troop of horse, and garrisoned the town for the parliament. In 1643, Sir Thomas Fairfax stayed here three days, while collecting a reinforcement from the garrisons in the county. In the rebellion of 1745, Derby was occupied by Charles James Stuart, son of the Pretender; but on the approach of the royal army, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, he retreated, after levying a contribution of £2000 or £3000 on the inhabitants during his short stay of two days.

The town is pleasantly situated in a valley which is open to the south, the country in that direction being flat and low: a small brook runs through it under nine stone bridges. It is large and well built, and notwithstanding the want of regularity in their appearance, many of the more modern houses are spacious and handsome: the streets are paved; an act for the better lighting of the borough with gas was passed in 1841, and considerable improvements have been recently effected. An elegant stone bridge of three elliptical arches, over the river Derwent, forms a handsome approach to the town from Nottingham. The roads in the neighbourhood were improved under the superintendence of the late Mr. McAdam, though they are not yet in a very good state. Water is abundantly supplied from the Derwent, by means of pipes and machinery. The Derby Philosophical Society, whose object is the promotion of scientific knowledge, by occasional meetings and by the circulation of books, was founded by Dr. Darwin, in 1788, and has a considerable number of members, who are in possession of an extensive and valuable library; and there are eight or ten other institutions in the town. An agricultural society was established many years ago, which holds two meetings annually; and in September, 1840, a spacious garden was opened to the public, called the Arboretum, tastefully laid out and planted with every variety of tree and shrub, and embellished with lodges and seats; the site and decorations were given to the corporation by Mr. Joseph Strutt, on condition that the grounds should be open to all classes, without payment, on Sunday, and on one day during the week. There are a mechanics' institute, with a library attached to it; a permanent subscription library; a theological book society, &c. Handsome buildings have been lately finished for the Athenæum, Bank, and Post-office, immediately at the entrance into the town from the London road. Races, which were of considerable repute, were held on a fine course, called the Siddals, and were much frequented; but they have been discontinued for several years. The walks in the vicinity of the town present a variety of scenery, and are very pleasant.

Derby enjoyed, under a licence from King John, the exclusive privilege of dyeing cloth, but this has wholly declined: it is still a place of considerable trade. Until of late years, silk was the principal article of manufacture; but to that have been added those of cotton and porcelain, which are carried on to a great extent. The first silk-mill erected in England was built here, about 1718, by Mr. John Lombe, who procured in Italy (by bribing two workmen, who accompanied him to England,) drawings and models of the silk machinery then in use in that country, for which he took out a patent: its operations are to wind, double, and twist the silk, so as to render it fit for weaving. On the death of Mr. Lombe, about four years afterwards, caused, as is stated, by means of poison, administered to him by an Italian female sent over for that purpose, his cousin, Sir Thomas Lombe, relinquished the patent, in consideration of the sum of £14,000, whereby the manufacture was thrown open, and the trade rapidly increased. The factory stands upon an island in the Derwent, and is built on large piles, over which are turned thirteen arches of stone: the original machinery has been replaced by other less cumbrous, and far more simple in its construction, worked by a water-wheel 23 feet in diameter; and such has been the progressive increase of this branch of manufacture, that there are now thirteen mills, worked either by water or steam. The weaving of silk ribbons by power-looms was introduced about 1824, and is now carried on in four or five establishments; plain ribbons only are made, in which particular branch of the ribbon trade this town has to a great extent supplanted Coventry, which formerly enjoyed a monopoly of the whole business. Broad silks and velvets are also woven; and fringes and silk trimmings are made in large quantities. The porcelain manufacture was established in 1763, and has been brought to great perfection; it gives employment to about 200 persons, and the beautiful ornaments called "white biscuit figures" are the production of the establishment here. The machinery for cutting, polishing, and turning the Derbyshire marble spar, is worked by steam; and a variety of sculptured articles, which will bear comparison with those of the best Italian artists, are produced. In 1756, Mr. Jedediah Strutt invented "the Derby ribbed-stocking frame," for which he obtained a patent; and silk, cotton, and fine worsted stockings are still made. The first fire-proof mill for spinning cotton was erected here in 1793; and a considerable trade is carried on in net-lace, galloons, ferrets, and tapes, in red and white lead, sheet and bar iron, shot, and jewellery. Hot and cold air stoves, upon Silvester's principle, by which the largest buildings in the country may be warmed and ventilated, are exclusively made here.

The navigation of the Derwent was closed on the completion of the Derby canal, the latter communicating by its two divisions, each about eight miles in length, with the Trent and Erewash canals, and thus rendering the former unnecessary. The company entrusted with the management of the canal were empowered by act of parliament to raise the sura of £90,000, and are required, when the dividend exceeds eight per cent., to reduce the tolls: there is a large and convenient wharf. The Little Eaton canal crosses the northern part of the town. This is a grand centre of railway communication, three lines belonging to the Midland Company meeting here: one conducts to Sheffield and Leeds, another to Birmingham; and the third to Sawley, there dividing into two branches, the one leading to Nottingham and Lincoln, and the other to Leicester and Rugby. The station occupies an area of about 20 acres; the various buildings are of the most spacious and lofty dimensions, and in a style which gives to the whole arrangement an imposing air of grandeur. The market day is Friday; and on every alternate Tuesday there is a market for fat-cattle. The fairs are held on the Monday after Jan. 6th, on Jan. 25th, March 21st, and the two following days, Friday in Easter-week, Friday after May 1st, Friday in Whitsun-week, July 25th, Sept. 27th and the two following days, and on the Friday before Oct. 4th: those in March and October are great cheesefairs; the others are principally for cattle.

Henry I. granted the town of Derby to Ralph, Earl of Chester, and bestowed upon the inhabitants a charter of incorporation: this charter was materially altered, and their privileges were enlarged by Henry II., Richard I., and John. James I. gave the corporation authority to hold courts of record, made them independent of any foreign jurisdiction, and empowered them to hold "sessions quarterly, two courts leet, and six fairs yearly." In 1638, mention is first made of a mayor; the corporation, antecedently to that period, having been styled "the Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Town of Derby." In 1680, the charter was surrendered to Charles II., and a new one was obtained in the 34th of that monarch's reign, by which the government was vested in a mayor, 9 aldermen, 14 brethren, and 14 capital burgesses, who together constituted the commoncouncil. By the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76, the corporation now consists of a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 36 councillors; the borough is divided into 6 wards; the number of magistrates is 15. The freedom is inherited by all sons of a freeman born within the borough, or acquired by serving apprenticeship to a resident freeman. Derby has sent two members to parliament since 1294: the right of election was formerly vested in the free burgesses, about 2000 in number; but by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the non-resident burgesses, except within seven miles, were disfranchised, and the privilege was extended to the £10 householders: the limits of the borough comprise 1840 acres: the mayor is returning officer. Sessions for the borough are held by the recorder quarterly; and a court of record is held by him every second Tuesday, in which pleas to any amount are cognizable. There are petty-sessions daily. The powers of the county debtcourt of Derby, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Derby, and part of the districts of Shardlow, Burton, and Belper. The old town-hall, erected on the site of the ancient guildhall about the year 1730, though in itself a good building, was found, from its isolated situation in the market-place, to be a great obstruction to business, and was therefore taken down in 1825, and a new one erected nearly in a line with the south side of the market-place; this edifice, being on arches, is connected with a market-house built by the corporation. The assizes and general quartersessions were formerly held in a spacious edifice of freestone, built in 1660; new courts of a more convenient construction have been erected. A county gaol and house of correction, affording ample means of classification, was erected in 1827, upon the radiating principle, at an expense of £63,000. The town is the principal place of election for the southern division of the county.

The town comprises the parishes of All Saints, containing 4443 inhabitants; St. Werburgh, 8095; St. Alkmund, 10,736; St. Peter, 11,564; and St. Michael, 1557: the last three extend into the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch; the entire population of each is stated above. The living of All Saints' is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rev. Mr. Simeon's Trustees; net income, £80. The church, which prior to the Dissolution was collegiate, is considered the principal architectural ornament of the town. The present body, erected in 1725, from a design by Gibbs, at an expense of £4000, is in the Roman-Doric style, and the interior is light, elegant, and spacious; the tower, 180 feet high, and erected in the reign of Henry VII., is in the later English style, the upper part being richly ornamented with buttresses, pinnacles, battlements, and tracery. Rich open screen-work of iron, said to have cost £500, separates the east end of the church from the place allotted for divine worship, in the centre of which is an elegant chancel. Over an altar-piece of Derbyshire marble is a fine painting by Rawlinson, and on the southern side of the chancel a monument to the memory of William, Earl of Devonshire, and his countess, whose figures stand under a dome, nearly twelve feet in height: there is also a splendid mural monument to the celebrated Countess of Shrewsbury, executed under her own inspection. The living of St. Alkmund's is a vicarage not in charge; net income, £235; patron, J. Strutt, Esq. The old church was taken down, and a new one commenced in the beginning of 1844 on an enlarged scale; the edifice is 139 feet in length, and has a very handsome pinnacled enriched tower, rising to a height of 205 feet from the ground. The late church is supposed to have been originally founded early in the ninth century, in honour of Alkmund, son of Alured, the deposed king of Northumbria; who, being slain in battle while endeavouring to reinstate his father, was first interred in Lilleshall, in Shropshire, but removed thence and deposited in this church: many pilgrimages were formerly made to his tomb, which, in point of miracles, was exceeded in renown only by that of Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury. The chapelries of Little Eaton and Darley are in this parish, though without the limits of the borough; and a church district named St. Paul's was endowed in St. Alkmund's in 1844 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the living of which is in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately. The living of St. Peter's is a discharged vicarage, with that of Normanton annexed, valued in the king's books at £8; net income, £148; patrons, the Rev. C.Wright and two brothers. The parochial church is ancient, but of uncertain date. Trinity Church, in the parish, erected in 1836, was purchased of the builder by subscription, and endowed with £1000 by B. West, Esq., of Brighton, whose family is to hold the patronage for 40 years, after which it will be vested in Trustees. The parish also includes the chapel of Boulton. The living of St. Werburgh's is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 12. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £298; impropriator, Lord Scarsdale. The vicar receives a tithe rent-charge of £150, and has a glebe of 7 acres. The original church of St. Werburgh is supposed to have been built prior to the Conquest. Being situated near Mark-Eaton brook, its foundation was injured by occasional floods; so that in 1601 the tower fell, and within a century afterwards, the church having become ruinous, the present edifice was erected. A chapel dedicated to St. John has been erected in the later English style, at an expense of about £8000, one-half of which was defrayed by the Parliamentary Commissioners, and the other by subscription: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £109; patron, the Vicar of St. Werburgh's. The living of St. Michael's is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 15., and has a net income of £120; the patronage and impropriation belong to the Crown: a good parsonage-house was built by the vicar, the Rev. J. G. Howard, in 1829. The church, which is very ancient, and of unknown date, has some good specimens of early English architecture, and of the depressed arch of the time of Henry VII.; behind the pulpit the remains of a rood-loft. The chapel of Alvaston is in St. Michael's parish. The new edifice of Christchurch, Derby, was consecrated by the Bishop of Lichfield in January 1844. There are places of worship for General and Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans (New and Old Connexion), Swedenborgians, and Unitarians; and a Roman Catholic chapel, erected in 1839 at a cost of £1400, and forming a handsome edifice in the later English style, with a tower supported by angular buttresses and surmounted by a crocketed spire. The Roman Catholics have also built a handsome structure as a residence for the Sisters of Mercy, and for a chapel and schools. A general cemetery was opened in 1843.

The Free Grammar school is said to have been founded in the reign of Henry II., soon after the removal of the canons of the priory of St. Helen's, Derby, to Darley. Walter Durdant, Bishop of Lichfield, in his charter, makes mention of the school at Derby, as the gift of himself and William de Barba Aprilis. Queen Mary, in the first year of her reign, granted a charter to the corporation, in which provision is made for the support of this school, by the payment of £13. 6. 8. per annum: the queen's grant was accompanied by the patronage of two of the churches. The sum of £25 is annually paid to the master, by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, under the will of Mr. Ash, who also founded ten exhibitions at that college, for boys educated at this school and that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Jane Walton, who died in 1603, bequeathed the sum of £40 for the benefit of the master and usher; and £100 to the master of St. John's College, Cambridge, towards the maintenance of such young men educated here as should be admitted into that college. Flamsteed, the astronomer, received part of his education at this institution.

The Devonshire Almshouse was founded by the Countess of Shrewsbury, in the reign of Elizabeth, and endowed with a bequest of £100 a year; in 1777 it was rebuilt in a handsome style, at the expense of the then Duke of Devonshire, who before his death added a further endowment of £50 a year: eight men and four women are now supported in it. About 1716 Edward Large, Esq., endowed an almshouse near the top of Friargate, for five widows of clergymen, each of whom receives about £26 per annum. Robert Willymott, of Chaddesden, by will dated Sept. 1st, 1629, founded and endowed ten almshouses in Bridgegate, for six men and four women, to be supported by his heirs in perpetuity. A munificent bequest was made by Richard Crawshaw, who died in 1631, of upwards of £4000, for the benefit of the poor of Derby, including the maintenance of lectures, and other laudable purposes: additional bequests have been made to this charity, which has now a revenue of £750 per annum. The town likewise participates in Sir Thomas White's bequests for loans. Robert Lyversege, dyer, of the parish of St. Peter, bequeathed various lands and tenements "for good and godly purposes," the rental of which, now about £700, is, from the renewal of leases, continually increasing: the poor have also the benefit of numerous small bequests. The General Infirmary, situated near the London road, on a healthful plot of ground, is constructed of hard white stone, and presents a handsome yet simple elevation of three stories; it is surrounded by fourteen acres of land, purchased to prevent the near approach of buildings, and cost £18,000. The poor law union of Derby comprises, in addition to the town, the township of Little Chester and hamlet of Litchurch; and contains a population of 35,015. The union workhouse is situated in Litchurch, in that portion of the parish of St. Peter which is without the borough. About half a century since, there were vestiges of an ancient castle; but the site is now completely covered with buildings. Remains of St. Mary's chapel, supposed to have been the church of St. Mary given by William the Conqueror to the abbey of Burton, still exist: the chapel, in the time of Charles II., was used by the Presbyterians, but was subsequently converted into small tenements. Of several religious houses which once had existence here, there are no traces.

Among the eminent natives of Derby may be mentioned Dr. Thomas Linacre, the founder of the College of Physicians in London, of which he was president till his death, in 1524; Samuel Richardson, the novelist, born in 1689; William Hutton, author of the Histories of Birmingham and Derby, and other works, in 1723; and Joseph Wright, the celebrated painter, in 1734. Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, and lord high chancellor, resided here during the early part of his life; and, while practising in this town as an attorney, laid the foundation of his future fame. John Whitehurst, an ingenious mechanist and philosopher, also resided here about the middle of the last century; and Dr. Erasmus Darwin here spent the last twenty years of his life, and died in 1802. Derby gives the title of Earl to the family of Stanley.

Derby-Hills

DERBY-HILLS, an extra-parochial liberty, in the union of Shardlow, hundred of Repton and Gresley, S. division of the county of Derby, 9 miles (S.) from Derby; containing 67 inhabitants. It comprises 310a. 2r. 19p. of clayey land, and lies about a mile east of Ticknall. Lord Melbourne is the principal owner, and lord of the manor.

Derby, West (St. Mary)

DERBY, WEST (St. Mary), a district parish, and the head of a union, in the parish of Walton-on-the-Hill, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 4 miles (N. E.) from Liverpool; containing 16,864 inhabitants. The "Wood of Derby" is described in the Perambulation of the Forests, 12th Henry III., when it was exempted from being disafforested. In the 50th of the same reign, the honour of Derby, with the manor and lands of West Derby, and other places, that belonged to Robert de Ferrers, one of the rebellious barons, was bestowed upon Edmund, Earl of Lancaster: and in 1320, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, gave the manor of "Westderby juxta Leverpole" to Robert de Holland. On Henry de Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, becoming king, this, with other manors, went to the crown, with which it remained until the time of Charles I. The manor afterwards passed to various families, among whom were the Stanleys, Legays, and more recently the Greens. The heiress of the last was married to Bamber Gascoyne, Esq., of Childwall; and his daughter, by marriage with the Marquess of Salisbury, conveyed the estate to that noble family. In the Saxon era West Derby was probably the capital of the hundred; and a mound of earth, removed some years ago by Mr. Gascoyne, indicated by its name, Castle Hill, the site of the ancient castle.

The parish is seven miles long and five broad, and includes two of the principal suburbs of Liverpool, with portions of the parliamentary borough; it stands on rising ground, commanding beautiful views of the surrounding country. The Zoological gardens of Liverpool are here; they occupy a pleasant site, encompassed by elevated land, and the natural features of the spot have been judiciously improved by art. The only house of early date is that, not appropriately, called New Hall, the residence for many generations of a branch of the Molyneux family; but the district abounds in elegant modern mansions and villas. Yew-Tree House, with 60 acres, is the property and seat of Lawrence Heyworth, Esq., who also owns Rice House, with 40 acres, occupied by Joshua Heap, Esq. Deysbrook, the seat of R. B. B. H. Blundell, Esq., was rebuilt in 1847, from the designs of Mr. Smirke. The Elms is the seat of Mrs. Mary Thornton and daughters; Staplands, that of the Misses Molyneux; and Ashfield House, that of Mrs. John Clarke. Croxteth Hall is noticed under its own head. Tue-Brook Villa, situated three miles from Liverpool, a private asylum for insane persons in the higher ranks of society, under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Owen, is a handsome building in the Italian style, and admirably adapted for the comfort and classification of the inmates. The court-house for the barony and manor is a dark stone edifice, in which are frequently held courts leet for portions of the hundred.

The living is a rectory, in the patronage of John Stewart, Esq., of Liverpool; income, £1300. The parish church is a plain structure, in the centre of the village. St. James' church was built at a cost of £8000, in 1847, and is in the early English style, with a tower, and a very beautiful interior; it was erected at the sole expense of Mrs. Thornton, of The Elms, in whom the patronage is vested: the living is a perpetual curacy, with an income of £150. St. Jude's church, in Hardwick-street, built in 1841, on ground given by the Marquess of Salisbury, is in the style of the 13th century, and is of brick, with stone pinnacles and ornaments; the cost of its erection was £9000: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of five Trustees. Two full services are performed every Sunday, and a lecture is delivered every Wednesday, at the Union-Workhouse chapel, in Mill-road, Everton. There are also churches at Stanley (or Old Swan), Knotty-Ash, and Edge-Hill, which places are separately described. A Roman Catholic chapel, called Gillmoss chapel, is situated in West Derby, about a mile from Croxteth Hall; it was built in 1823, at a cost of £2500, on a site given by the late Earl of Sefton, and is a plain but neat edifice of brick, in the Grecian style, 75 feet in length and 40 in breadth, accommodating between 400 and 500 persons. Among the schools is one endowed with lands and money in the funds, producing together £34 per annum; and attached to the Roman Catholic chapel is a spacious school for boys and girls, completed in 1840, on a piece of ground the gift of the present Earl of Sefton. The poor law union of West Derby comprises 23 parishes or places, and contains a population of 66,032.—See Liverpool.

Derbyshire

DERBYSHIRE, an inland county, bounded on the north and north-east by Yorkshire, on the east by Nottinghamshire, on the south-east and south by Leicestershire, on the south-west and west by Staffordshire, and on the north-west by Cheshire. It extends from 52° 41' to 53° 30' (N. Lat.), and from 1° 12' to 2° 3' 30" (W. Lon.); and contains 1026 square miles, or 656,640 statute acres. Within the limits of the county are 53,020 inhabited houses, 2492 uninhabited, and 441 in course of erection; and the population amounts to 272,217, of whom 135,620 are males, and 136,597 females.

In the time of the Britons, the district now forming the county of Derby was part of the territory occupied by the Coratini; under the government of the Romans, it was included in the division Flavia Cæsariensis. During the heptarchy it was part of the kingdom of Mercia, and the counties of Derby and Nottingham being chiefly north of the river Trent, the inhabitants of both were called North Mercians. The county is in the diocese of Lichfield and province of Canterbury; it forms an archdeaconry, comprising the deaneries of Ashbourn,Castillar, Chesterfield, Derby, High Peak, and Repton, and contains 137 parishes. For purposes of civil government it is divided into the hundreds of Appletree, High Peak, Morleston and Litchurch, Repton and Gresley, and Scarsdale; and the wapentake of Wirksworth. It comprises the borough and market-town of Derby, and the market-towns of Alfreton, Ashbourn, Bakewell, Belper, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chesterfield, Glossop, Tideswell, Winster, and Wirksworth. Under the act passed to amend the representation, the county is divided into the Northern and Southern divisions, each sending two members to parliament; and two representatives are returned for the borough of Derby. The counties of Derby and Nottingham formerly constituted but one shrievalty, and the assizes for both were held at Nottingham until the reign of Henry III., from which period until the division of the shrievalty in 1569, they were held at Nottingham and Derby alternately; but the assizes for this county, which is included in the Midland circuit, have since uniformly been held at Derby, except in the year 1610, when, on account of a commotion at that place, they were removed to Ashbourn. The Epiphany, Easter, and Michaelmas quarter-sessions are held at Derby, and the Midsummer sessions at Chesterfield.

The entire county, excepting the hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, is within the jurisdiction of the duchy of Lancaster court held at Tutbury, in the adjoining county of Stafford, for the recovery of small debts, and for determining on pleas of trespass, assault, &c. Many of the parishes in the hundreds of High Peak and Scarsdale, and in the wapentake of Wirksworth, are within the jurisdiction of the Peveril court, of the same nature, held at Basford in Nottinghamshire. The mines and miners are subject to certain ancient customary laws and regulations, which were ascertained by a jury under a commission appointed in 1287, but which vary in different manors. An officer called a barmaster holds courts twice a year, at which are decided all questions respecting the duties payable to the crown or the lessee; disputes relative to working the mines are settled, and punishments are inflicted for aggressions upon mineral property. Debts incurred in working the mines are also cognizable in the barmote courts, which are held for the High Peak at Monyash, and for the wapentake of Wirksworth at Wirksworth. One of the most remarkable of the ancient mining customs is that by which an adventurer discovering a vein of lead unoccupied, in the king's field, is entitled to work it on the land of any person, without making compensation to the proprietor: this custom is still in force, though it is understood that gardens, orchards, and highways are excepted; and it is the office of the bar-master to establish adventurers in the possession of such veins.

The surface of the southern portion of Derbyshire is for the most part tolerably level; but to the north of Derby the hills begin to rise gradually, and in the north-western part some attain a considerable elevation, forming a continuation of the ridge which, from the northern part of Staffordshire, divides the island in its course northward. Various collateral ridges extend from the main line of hills in irregular courses southwestward, the principal being that separating the valleys of the Dove and the Derwent, and that bounding the valley of the Derwent on the east, from each of which stretch divers minor ranges. Some of the valleys in the elevated tracts are very beautiful, particularly those of Castleton, Monsall-dale, and Glossop. Indeed, the most picturesque and remarkable scenery is exhibited in the great number and variety of valleys or dales with which the limestone districts abound, and the general characteristics of which are precipitous rocks of singular and striking aspect, forming their boundaries, with mountain streams and rivulets winding through the lower parts, which are frequently well wooded. Except in the valleys, the scenery is by no means interesting, consisting chiefly of uncultivated moors, on some parts of which large masses and groups of rocks are seen projecting above the surface, occasionally in very grotesque forms. The Soils consist of clay, loam, sand, and peat, irregularly intermixed: the southern part, which has been distinguished by the name of the fertile district, has mostly a red loam on various subsoils; peat-mosses abound on the elevated tracts in the northern part of the county. The arable lands, which are of the greatest extent in the southern, middle, and eastern parts, have been estimated as forming no more than one-fifth of the superficial area, though now certainly constituting a larger proportion. A considerable quantity of camomile is cultivated for medicinal purposes in the parishes of Ashover, Morton, Shirland, and North and South Winfield, this plant having been introduced about the year 1740. The proportion of grass-land is very great; and the making of cheese forms an important feature. Ancient woods are scattered through the county, and numerous modern plantations have been made. In the parishes of Hope and Glossop, in the northern part of the Peak, are sheep-walks of vast extent, designated the Woodlands, comprising about one-half of the waste and barren lands, and which are private property, but have no fences to separate the different manors, parishes, or townships. The principal tract of common moors is that called the East Moor, or High Moors, extending northward from Ashover and Darley almost to the northern verge of the county, and distinguished as black and white lands. Part of what was the Peak Forest has long formed the extra-parochial liberty of the same name, in which all traces of wood have been succeeded by green pastures and stone fences.

The geology and mineralogy of Derbyshire present a great variety of interesting features. The substrata of the southern part, beyond a line drawn from Sandiacre to Ashbourn, consist of gravel and sand, intermixed with large portions of red marl, very irregular in form; in several places are beds of gypsum of considerable extent. The substrata of the other parts consist of limestone of various kinds, with toadstone, gritstone with shale, and coal with indurated clay. The lowermost of these is a stratum of limestone, which occupies a narrow space on the western side of the county, extending southward from the mountain called Mam Tor to Hopton and Parwich, and nearly to Thorp, and forming on the surface a tract of 40,500 computed acres. It abounds with caverns, of which several are of great extent, many are lined with incrustations of stalactite, and some have subterraneous streams. Immediately above this stratum are three others of limestone, and three of toadstone, in alternate layers, occupying nearly 51,500 acres of the surface, and extending from Castleton southward to Hopton, and from Matlock, Youlgrave, Bakewell, and Stony-Middleton, on the eastern side, to Wormhill and Chelmerton on the western. The limestone is the true metalliferous rock of Derbyshire, and exclusively occupies the attention of the miner: there are few situations in the Peak where this rock does not contain numerous veins of lead-ore or calamine; the several strata also abound with corallines, shells, and various organic remains. The strata next in succession above those of limestone and toadstone, are millstone-grit and shale, comprising 160,500 acres; the former is from 150 to 170 yards thick, and rests on the latter, which is about the same thickness. The limestone district above mentioned is surrounded by the "gritstone" district, as it is called, though in several parts the gritstone is wanting and only the shale appears. The quarries and kilns for burning the limestone are very numerous, a great quantity of lime being sold, chiefly for agricultural purposes, for the use of this and some of the neighbouring counties. A species of the limestone is in request as marble, commonly called Derbyshire marble, and used for chimney-pieces, slabs, &c.; the quarries from which it is procured are nearly twenty in number, and are situated in the parishes of Bakewell and Matlock. On the eastern side of the county is a stratum of yellow magnesian limestone, occupying about 21,600 acres. The coal strata, usually termed coal-measures, occupy a large portion of the eastern part of the county: the seams vary in thickness, and are separated by numerous strata of gritstone, and indurated argillaceous earth, known by the names of bind, clunch, and shale. Several of the coal shales contain beds of ironstone, and an abundance and variety of impressions of fern and other plants. The total extent of the coal-measures is computed by Mr. Farey at 190,000 acres. It is probable that some of the collieries were worked by the Romans; they were evidently known to the Saxons; and it is on record that those at Denby, which are still considered to produce some of the best coal in the county, were worked so early as 1306.

It has been satisfactorily ascertained that the Derbyshire Lead-mines were worked by the Romans, if not by the Britons; they are chiefly in the wapentake of Wirksworth, and the hundred of High Peak, and are exceedingly numerous; the Gang mine, in the liberty of Cromford, has been the most productive of recent years. The annual quantity of lead procured, about 1789, as stated by Pilkington, was between 5000 and 6000 tons, exceeding by half that raised of late, many mines having been discontinued owing to the decreased price of lead. Several of the mines produce ores of Zinc. Fluors of various colours are found in some of the mines, being much used in the fusion of brittle and churlish ore; the more beautiful specimens called Blue-John are wrought into vases and various other ornamental articles at the manufactory at Matlock. Iron has been known as the produce of this county from a very early period: the district in which the ironstone is found extends from the neighbourhood of Dale Abbey northward, throughout the hundred of Scarsdale, into Yorkshire. Mr. Farey ranks this as the fourth county in England, as to its produce of pig-iron. Gypsum, or alabaster, is obtained in considerable quantities. The number of Stone quarries is very considerable, some of them producing stone of a good and durable quality for building, which is exported in large quantities. Grindstones, of the millstonegrit, are obtained from several quarries, and are in great request, being extensively sent to the south-western parts of England: scythe-stones, finer whetstones, and hones, are made at several places. Many of the mines produce ochres, and a few of them small quantities of china-clay, which has of late years been used at the potteries in Staffordshire. Pipe-clay is found at Bolsover, Killamarsh, Hartshorn, and Hartington; and potters'clay of various sorts, and fire-clay, in the coal districts: the latter is in high repute for making bricks to be used in the construction of iron-furnaces, coarse crucibles, &c. Few counties exhibit a greater number or variety of extraneous fossils than this; the several strata of limestone, and some of those of gritstone, as well as the coal-measures, containing an abundance of organic remains, both animal and vegetable.

As a manufacturing county, Derbyshire ranks next after Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire. The woollen manufacture, which was carried on before the reign of King John, is now chiefly confined to the parish of Glossop, on the Yorkshire border; but the spinning of worsted is carried on at Derby, Melbourn, Tideswell, &c.; and the weaving of blankets at Whittington. The manufacture of silk, and that of stockings, were introduced about the beginning of the last century; the former is still chiefly confined to Derby, and the latter is conducted at Derby, Belper, Chesterfield, and the villages on the eastern side of the county, principally in private dwellings. The manufacture of cotton was established here in 1771, by Sir Richard Arkwright, who in 1773, in conjunction with two more gentlemen, made at Derby the first successful attempt to manufacture calicoes in this kingdom. The spinning of cotton is now extensively carried on at many places; and there are numerous factories for the weaving and printing of calico, some bleaching-grounds, and factories for weaving cambric, fustian, muslin, and tape, and for making candlewicks. Machinery for the cotton-factories, stockingframes, &c, is made at Derby, Alfreton, Glossop, Belper, Heanor, Matlock, Butterley, &c. The linen manufacture is not of great extent: flax is spun at Darley-dale, and there are linen-yarn mills in the parishes of Ashover and Glossop; the weaving of linen is carried on at Belper, Turnditch, &c., and lace-weaving at Derby and Melbourn. There are many tan-yards and paper-mills; and agricultural implements are made in various parts, the tract between Chesterfield and Sheffield being especially noted for scythes, sickles, hoes, spades, &c. In the cast-iron works at Chesterfield, Butterley, &c, cannon, cannon-balls, &c, were cast during the war: cutlery and various articles of steel are made at Derby and Chesterfield, and in the villages north of the latter: there are several chain-manufactories, principally in the northern part of the county; and the making of nails is carried on to a considerable extent, chiefly at Belper and in its vicinity. At Derby is a large manufactory for spar or fluor ornaments; and there are saw-mills for marble and stone at Bonsall, Lea-Bridge, and Wirksworth; a long-established porcelain manufactory at Derby, and one of more recent date at Pinxton; also potteries at or near Chesterfield, Alfreton, Belper, Ilkeston, Gresley, Hartshorn, Tickenhall, &c. Hats are made for exportation at Lea-Bridge, Chesterfield, &c.; and shoes for the wholesale trade at Chesterfield and other places.

The principal rivers are the Trent, the Derwent, the Wye, the Dove, the Erewash, and the Rother. The Trent was made navigable to Burton-bridge under an act obtained in 1699; but in the year 1805, the navigation from that bridge down to Shardlow was given up, by agreement with the proprietors of the Trent and Mersey canal, which runs by its side; and as connected with this county, it is now navigable only from Shardlow to the mouth of the Erewash. The Derwent was formerly navigable from Wilne Ferry up to Derby, but the navigation was discontinued when the Derby canal was completed, in 1794. The Trent and Mersey or Grand Trunk canal, which forms part of the important line of communication between Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, and London, passes through Derbyshire, from Burton, to its termination at Shardlow, following the course of the Trent. The Chesterfield canal, begun in 1771 by Mr. Brindley, and finished in 1776 by his brother-inlaw, Mr. Henshall, enters the county at Killamarsh, and terminates at Chesterfield. The Erewash canal, begun about 1777, commences in the Trent navigation, and terminates at Langley Mill, where it joins the Cromford canal, having its line chiefly through Derbyshire, in the vale of the Erewash. The Cromford canal, begun about 1789, and completed about 1793, commences at Langley Mill and terminates at Cromford: at Butterley it passes through a tunnel, 2978 yards long; at Lea-Bridge, near Cromford, it is carried over the Derwent by an aqueduct, 200 yards long and 30 feet high; and over the Amber, at Bull-bridge, is another aqueduct, of equal length, and 50 feet high. Near Codnor-Park iron-works, a branch of this canal diverges northward to Pinxton, where commences the main line of the Mansfield and Pinxton railway. The Derby canal commences in the Trent and Mersey canal, north of Swarkston, proceeds to Derby, and terminates in the Erewash canal, half a mile south of Sandiacre; with a branch to Little Eaton, whence is a railway to the collieries at Horsley, Denby, &c. The Nutbrook canal, constructed about the year 1793, commences in the Erewash canal in the parish of Stanton-by-Dale, and terminates at Shipley-Wharf, after a northerly course of about four miles and a half. The Ashby de la Zouch canal, begun about 1794, and completed in 1806, enters at Marple-bridge, and terminates at Bugsworth: at Marple is an aqueduct over the Mersey, nearly 100 feet high; from the summit level of this canal extends a railway to the limestone rocks in the Peak Forest, a distance of seven miles. The county is intersected by three lines of railway belonging to the Midland Company, as is more particularly noticed in the article on Derby. The Cromford and High-Peak railway was opened in 1830.

The remains of the ancient Britons consist principally of numerous artificial mounds of earth and stones, called cairns or lows, situated on the moors, and several of which, on being opened, have been found to contain human bones, kistvaens, urns, beads, rings, and other relics; also of circles of stones, mostly of small dimensions, on Stanton, Hartle, Hathersage, and Olney moors. In the hamlet of Middleton, about three miles west of Youlgrave, is a very remarkable circular fortification, called Arbour-Lows, comprising some stones of larger size, and conjectured to have been a Druidical temple. One of the principal British roads, the Rykneld-street, afterwards used by the Romans, crossed the county from the border of Staffordshire to Yorkshire. The Roman stations were, Derventio, at Little Chester; a second, probably called Aguæ, at Buxton; a third at Brough, in the parish of Hope; and a fourth at Melandra Castle, in that of Glossop: but the only remains worthy of mention, besides the fortifications of some of these, are, the altar preserved at Haddon Hall, the inscribed blocks or pigs of lead found in different places, and the plate of silver discovered in Risley Park. At Parwich and Pentrich are camps of Roman form; and Chesterfield has considerable claims to be regarded as occupying the site of a station, probably the Lutudarum of Ravennas. Besides the Roman-British Rykneldstreet, the Roman roads most distinctly visible are, that called the Bathom-gate, leading from Brough to Buxton; a second, leading from Buxton towards Little Chester; and a third, supposed to have led from Chesterton, near Newcastle, in Staffordshire, also to Little Chester.

Prior to the Reformation there were thirteen Religious Houses, including two commanderies of the Knights Hospitallers, and one of the brethren of St. Lazarus; there were two collegiate establishments, and five ancient hospitals. The remains of the monastic buildings, which are all inconsiderable, are those of Dale Abbey, Beauchief Abbey, Repton Priory, and the commandery at Yeaveley. The only ancient Castles of which there are any striking remains are those of Castleton, formerly called Peak Castle, and Codnor. The chief old Mansion-houses are Haddon Hall, Hardwick Hall, South Winfield manor-house (now in ruins), and Bolsover Castle. Among the seats of modern date, pre-eminently distinguished for its magnificence, is Chatsworth, the princely residence of the Duke of Devonshire. Of the tepid Springs, the most remarkable are those of Buxton, Matlock, and Bakewell: that at Stoney-Middleton is not so warm as the Matlock waters. There are several sulphureous springs, of which the one at Kedleston is most used; also various chalybeate waters, the most noted of which is at Quarndon, two miles from Derby. Between Hope and Bradwell, and at Donisthorpe near Measham, are salt-springs; and at the distance of two miles eastward from Chapel-en-le-Frith is a spring which ebbs and flows at irregular intervals. Among the numerous other natural curiosities of the county, are the mouldering mountain of Mam Tor; the Bradwell crystallized cavern; the caverns called Elden Hole, Poole's Hole, and Peak's Hole; the Cumberland, Smedley, and Rutland caverns, at Matlock; and the rocks called Mock-beggar Hall and Rowter Rocks.

Dereham, East (St. Nicholas)

DEREHAM, EAST (St. Nicholas), a market-town and parish, in the union of Mitford and Launditch, hundred of Mitford, W. division of Norfolk, 16 miles (W. N. W.) from Norwich, and 101 (N. E. by N.) from London; containing, with the hamlet of Dillington, 3834 inhabitants. This place, formerly called Deerham, from the number of deer by which it was frequented, and distinguished by its adjunct from a village of the same name, is of very remote antiquity. During the heptarchy, Withburga, youngest daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, founded a monastery here, of which she became prioress, and which was subject to the abbey founded by Ethelfreda, another daughter of King Anna, in the Isle of Ely. Withburga was buried in the churchyard, and in 798 her remains were removed into the conventual church, whence, after the destruction of the monastery by the Danes, they were in 974 translated to Ely, where they were enshrined with those of her sisters, in the cathedral of that city. A spring here, to which miraculous cures were attributed, is said to rise in that part of the churchyard where she was first interred; in 1752 it was converted into a bath, and in 1793 inclosed in a brick building by subscription. The town suffered severely from fire in 1581, and in 1679 the greater part of it was by a similar calamity reduced to ashes.

It is pleasantly situated, nearly in the centre of the county, and though formerly the meanest town in Norfolk, has within the last century been so materially improved, by widening and levelling the streets, as to be now a handsome town. The houses are in general neatly built, and of modern appearance, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with excellent water; the town is lighted with gas, for which purpose works were constructed in 1836. The theatre, a small building of brick, is opened every alternate year by a regular company of performers: a book club, under good regulations, is patronized by the respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood; and on the site of the ancient market-cross a handsome assembly-room has been erected by subscription. The former trade in worsted is now discontinued: two ironfoundries and two breweries are carried on in the town, and a large brewery and malting establishment at South Green. There is a railway to the Wymondham station of the Norfolk railway; also a line to Lynn; and in 1846 an act was passed for making a line from Dereham to Fakenham and Wells, 22½ miles in length. The market is on Friday, for corn, general provisions, cattle, and pigs, for which last and for corn East Dereham is the most considerable mart in the county: the fairs are on the Thursday and Friday before Old Midsummer-day, and on the Thursday and Friday before Old Michaelmasday, for cattle, sheep, and toys. The county magistrates for the division hold petty-sessions every alternate week. The powers of the county debt-court of East Dereham, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Mitford and Launditch.

The parish comprises 5222a. 3r. 21p., of which 3544 acres are arable, 625 meadow and pasture, 190 woodland, and 150 common, the last being appropriated for fuel, &c.; in the immediate vicinity of the town are various orchards and gardens. The land is rich, and the surface interspersed with several picturesque hamlets, and handsome mansions. The living is a rectory and a vicarage, the latter with the living of Hoe annexed: the rectory is a sinecure, valued in the king's books at £41. 3. 1½., and held on lease from the crown; and the vicarage is valued at £17. 3. 4., and in the patronage of the Rector. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £413. 6. 8., and the rectorial for £826. 13. 4.; the vicar's glebe consists of 43½ acres, with a good house, and the rectorial of 2¼ acres, with a rectorial manor. The church, formerly the church of the monastery of St. Withburga, and made parochial in 798, is a spacious cruciform structure, partly in the Norman and partly in the English style, with a tower rising from the intersection, and open for a considerable height to the interior of the church. Connected with the transepts are the chapels of the Holy Cross (over which was the treasury of St. Withburga), St. Mary, and St. Edmund, and on the south side of the chancel are three stone stalls, with a double piscina of elegant design; the font, supported on an octangular pedestal, is beautifully sculptured, and in the south transept is an antique oak chest, richly carved, taken from Buckenham Castle. Among the monuments is a white marble tablet to the memory of Cowper, the poet, who resided in this place for the last nine years of his life, and was interred in the north transept of the church; in the same tomb are deposited the remains of his friends, Mrs. Unwin and Miss Perowne. The bells, which from their weight were supposed to endanger the tower of the church, were removed into a massive tower, built for their reception in the reign of Henry VII., on a site detached from the rest of the building. There are places of worship for Particular Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans. Schools are supported for the poor; and several charitable bequests are distributed among them, amounting to about £170 per annum; exclusively of the town lands, producing a rent of £118. 10., for general purposes; and of land, yielding £216, for the repair of the church. Bishop Bonner was rector of the parish from 1534 to 1540. Lady Fenn, well known, under the name of Mrs. Lovechild, &c, as the authoress of various works for children, died here in 1813.

Dereham, West (St. Andrew)

DEREHAM, WEST (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Downham, hundred of Clackclose, W. division of Norfolk, 3¼ miles (W. by N.) from Stoke-Ferry; containing 544 inhabitants. An abbey for Præmonstratensian canons was founded here in 1188, to the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Hubert, Dean of York, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; it was valued, in the 26th of Henry VIII., at £252. 12. 11. Sir Thos. Dereham, who was envoy to the Duke of Tuscany in 1697, and to whose family the site of the abbey was granted, erected a wing on each side of the gateway, with a cloister on the south; after his family quitted the mansion, it became the seat of the earls of Mountrath. The remains of this once stately structure were removed about forty years ago. The parish comprises about 3500 acres, and is bounded on the south-east by the navigable river Wissey. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £74; patron, the Rev. George Jenyns; appropriator, the Bishop of Ely, whose tithes have been commuted for £225: the incumbent has 20 acres of glebe. The church is in the later style, and consists of a nave and chancel, with a circular tower: the chancel contains some handsome monuments to the Derehams; there are memorials to the Catton and Stebbing families; and a beautifully-sculptured white marble monument represents the Hon. Col. Edward Soame in full armour and in a standing posture. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have places of worship. Gregory Lovel, in 1693, left £500 for the poor, with which land has been purchased, producing £50 per annum.

Deritend

DERITEND, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Aston, Birmingham division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of the county of Warwick. This place forms an approach to Birmingham, on the road from Coventry, by a handsome stone bridge over the river Rea, and may be regarded as an integral part of that town, partaking in every respect in its trade and manufactures. The hamlet consists principally of one spacious street, from which several others diverge; the houses are substantially built, in general of modern appearance, and are occasionally interspersed with some ancient buildings of timber and plaster, of which the Old Crown inn is a very perfect and interesting specimen. The Warwick and Birmingham canal passes through the hamlet, and on its banks are numerous works connected with the Birmingham trades, including several iron forges and foundries, in which iron-work of almost every description is manufactured; there are some extensive soap-works, a tannery, and mills for divers purposes, a large manufactory for sword-cutlery, an extensive ale-brewery, and a distillery. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, about £350; patrons, the Inhabitant Householders of Deritend and Bordesley. The chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was erected in 1736, and repaired in 1842 at a cost of about £750; it is a neat building of brick, with a tower ornamented with stone and crowned with pinnacles, forming in almost every view of the town, from that side, a picturesque and interesting feature: the first chapel was erected here prior to 1381. Two congregations of Baptists and the Wesleyans have each a place of worship, and schools; and there are schools attached to St. John's chapel, which contain about 400 children. John Rogers, the first martyr in the reign of Queen Mary, is said to have been a native of Deritend.

Derrington, Staffordshire.—See Aston.

DERRINGTON, Staffordshire.—See Aston.

Dersingham (St. Nicholas)

DERSINGHAM (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Docking, hundred of Freebridge-Lynn, W. division of Norfolk, 8½ miles (N.E. by N.) from Lynn; containing 676 inhabitants. It comprises 3472a. 2r. 20p., of which about 1750 acres are arable, 170 pasture and meadow, 460 marsh, 500 common, and 61 wood and water: the road from Lynn to Wells passes through the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 6. 8.; patron, John Bellamy, Esq.; appropriator, the Bishop of Norwich. The vicarial tithes were partly commuted for land in 1779, and the remainder, consisting of those on the marsh land, have been commuted under the recent act for a rentcharge of £70; the appropriate tithes have been commuted for £315, and the appropriate glebe contains about 161 acres. The church is partly in the decorated and partly in the later English style; the nave is separated from the chancel by the remains of an ancient screen. At the inclosure about 458 acres were allotted to the poor, of which 330 are common, and 128 heath, the latter for the supply of whins and turf.

Derwent

DERWENT, a chapelry, in the parish of Hathersage, union of Chapel-en-le-Frith, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby, 11 miles (W.) from Sheffield; containing 164 inhabitants. Derwent Hall is the property and residence of John Reed, Esq. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £83; patron, Lord Denman; impropriator, the Duke of Devonshire. The chapel is dedicated to St. James. There is an endowment of £6 a year, arising from bequests by Robert Turie in 1720, and John Eyre in 1772, for teaching children.

Desborough (St. Giles)

DESBOROUGH (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Kettering, hundred of Rothwell, N. division of the county of Northampton, 6 miles (N. W.) from Kettering; containing 1388 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Kettering to Market-Harborough, and comprises 2374a. 2r. 38p. The village is seated on a rock of soft sandstone, of which the inferior houses are built; about 300 persons are employed in the weaving of silk-shag and worsted, and between 300 and 400 women and children in the making of lace and winding of cotton. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8, and in the gift of Mrs. Anderson, with a net income of £149: the glebe comprises 10 acres, and a house. The church is an ancient cruciform structure, with a good tower surmounted by a spire, and contains in the chancel a monument to the ancient family of Pulton, who for fourteen generations held the lordship of the place: of this family, Ferdinando Pulton, an eminent lawyer, who compiled the statutes at large from the time of Magna Charta to the sixteenth of James the First, was born here, and lies buried in the chancel. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. Some remains of a chapel founded in the reign of John, are visible.

Desford (St. Martin)

DESFORD (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Market-Bosworth, hundred of Sparkenhoe, S. division of the county of Leicester, 8 miles (W.) from Leicester; containing, with the hamlet of Barron's-Park, 1006 inhabitants. The parish comprises by admeasurement 2361 acres, and is crossed by the Leicester and Swannington railroad: about 100 persons are employed in the manufacture of stockings. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 9. 7., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £193. The tithes have been commuted for land, under an inclosure act; the glebe contains about 100 acres, with a glebe-house. The Primitive Methodists and the Baptists have each a place of worship. A fund arising from the rent of 14½ acres of land purchased with a bequest by William Barnes, at the inclosure, in 1759, is appropriated to the apprenticing of children; and several small sums have been bequeathed by various persons for the relief of the poor.

Detchant

DETCHANT, a township, in the parish and union of Belford, N. division of Bambrough ward and of Northumberland, 2¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Belford; containing 178 inhabitants. It is a small village, situated on the road between Belford and Berwick-on-Tweed (which here forms a bend), and near a stream that shortly falls into the North Sea, on the east.

Dethwick-Lea

DETHWICK-LEA, a chapelry, in the parish of Ashover, union of Belper, hundred of Wirksworth, S. division of the county of Derby, 2 miles (S. E. by E.) from Matlock; containing, with the hamlet of Holloway, 879 inhabitants, of whom 488 are in Dethwick-Lea. Dethwick, as early as the reign of Henry III., belonged to a family who took their name from the place. The elder branch became extinct in the reign of Henry VI., and the heiress brought the estate to the Babingtons, one of whom, John Babington, was killed at Bosworth-Field, and another, Anthony, was executed in 1586, with circumstances of unusual severity, for the memorable plot in favour of Mary, Queen of Scots, and against Elizabeth. The joint township of Dethwick, Lea, and Holloway, comprises 2110 acres of land. The village of Lea, or Dethwick-Lea, is situated in a valley, in which are an extensive reverberating furnace for smelting leadore, said to be the second of the kind erected in England, and a mill upon a large scale for spinning worsted and cotton: at Lea Wood is a hat manufactory. The Cromford and High-Peak railway passes within a quarter of a mile of the village, communicating with a branch of the Cromford canal. The village of Holloway is considerable; it is seated on a bold acclivity, a part of which is in Crich parish, and is distant three miles south-east from Matlock. The old mansion of the Babingtons, which was of large dimensions, is now a farmhouse: Lea Hall is a handsome mansion; and at Holloway is a neat residence, built in 1844. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £93; patron, Thomas Hallowes, Esq. The chapel, a small edifice with a lofty and handsome tower, was built in 1530 by one of the Babingtons, and is dedicated to St. John. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Unitarians; and a school, built by subscription in 1808.

Deuxhill

DEUXHILL, a parish, in the union of Bridgnorth, liberty of the borough of Wenlock, though locally in the hundred of Stottesden, S. division of Salop, 4½ miles (S. by W.) from Bridgnorth; containing 45 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Bridgnorth to Cleobury-Mortimer, and comprises 483 acres, the soil of which is chiefly marl and stiff clay. There is a bed of coal of a sulphureous quality. The living is a discharged rectory, annexed, with that of Glazeley, in 1760, to the rectory of Chetton, and valued in the king's books at £4. 12. 3½. The tithes have been commuted for £77. 17., and there are 17 acres of glebe land. The church is a small, neat structure: the nave appears to have been rebuilt about 1688; there is no chancel at present, but at the east end is a low circular arch, formerly communicating with one, and indicating considerable antiquity.

Devereux, St.

DEVEREUX, ST., a parish, in the union of Dore, hundred of Webtree, county of Hereford, 7¾ miles (S. W.) from Hereford; containing, with the hamlet of Didley, 191 inhabitants. It comprises 1095a. 1r. 33p. of rich arable and pasture land: the surface is undulated, and the lower grounds are watered by a brook called the Worm, which flows in a winding course. The tramroad from Hereford to Abergavenny passes through. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 15. 7¼., and in the gift of E. Bolton Clive, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £166, and the glebe comprises 58 acres. The church is a very ancient structure.

Deverhill, Longbridge (St. Peter and St. Paul)

DEVERHILL, LONGBRIDGE (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Warminster, S. division of the hundred of Damerham, though locally in the hundred of Heytesbury, Warminster and S. divisions of Wilts, 1½ mile (S.) from Warminster; containing 1352 inhabitants. This parish derives its name from the rivulet Dever, which here takes a subterranean course; it comprises by admeasurement 4143 acres, whereof about 1550 are arable, 1260 meadow and pasture, 870 wood and plantations, and 400 down-land. The living is a vicarage, with that of Monkton-Deverhill annexed, valued in the king's books at £12; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Bath. The great tithes have been commuted for £415, and the vicarial for £158; the glebe comprises 10 acres, with a glebe-house. A church was consecrated in April, 1843, at the hamlet of Crockerton, in the parish; it is in the Norman style of architecture, and was built under the patronage of the Marquess of Bath, whose mansion of Longleat is about four miles distant.

Deverhill, Monkton

DEVERHILL, MONKTON, a parish, in the union of Mere, S. division of the hundred of Damerham, though locally in the hundred of Mere, Hindon and S. divisions of Wilts, 4¼ miles (N. E. by N.) from Mere; containing 207 inhabitants. The living is annexed to the vicarage of Longbridge-Deverhill: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £125, and the rectorial for £60; the glebe comprises 51 acres. The church, being dilapidated, was taken down, with the exception of the tower, and rebuilt, chiefly at the expense of the Marquess of Bath; it was re-opened in Nov. 1845.

Devizes

DEVIZES, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Potterne and Cannings, Devizes and N. divisions of Wilts, 22 miles (N. W. by N.) from Salisbury, 19 (E. by S.) from Bath, and 89 (W. by S.) from London, on the road from London to Bath; containing 4631 inhabitants. Amongst the early writers this town has received the several appellations of Devisæ, Divisiæ, Devies, and Divisio, because it is said to have been divided between the King and the Bishop of Salisbury, &c. It appears to have had its origin in the erection of a spacious and strong castle in the reign of Henry I., by Roger, the celebrated and wealthy Bishop of Salisbury, who, with his two nephews, Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and Nigel, Bishop of Ely, was subsequently sentenced to imprisonment within its walls by King Stephen, on a charge of disaffection. Before the order could be executed Nigel escaped, and, having fled to this fortress, garrisoned it with troops, and prepared to defend it until the expected arrival of the Empress Matilda; but the king besieging it, and demanding an immediate surrender on the alternative of hanging the son of Bishop Roger on a gallows which had been erected in front of the castle, that prelate, to save the youth from an ignominious death, bound himself by a solemn oath to take no sustenance till the king should be put in possession. This oath, being made known to the Bishop of Ely, effected the surrender at the end of three days, and the fortress, together with the episcopal treasures, amounting to the value of 40,000 marks, fell into the hands of Stephen. Three years after this event, the castle was seized by Robert Fitz-Hubert, on pretence of holding it for Matilda; on her arrival, however, he refused to give up possession, and was in consequence treated as a rebel by both the contending parties, and eventually hanged as a traitor. In 1233, Hubert de Burgh, formerly prime minister to Henry III., was imprisoned within the castle, but on the appointment of Peter de Rupibus, his avowed enemy, to the government of it, he prevailed on two of his guards to contrive his escape, and took sanctuary behind the high altar of the parish church, whence, however, he was dragged, with the crucifix in his hand, and carried back to prison. This violation of ecclesiastical privileges produced a remonstrance to the king from several prelates, on which the prisoner was re-conveyed to the church, and the sheriff received orders to blockade it, and compel Hubert by famine to surrender himself; but notwithstanding that precaution, he once more effected his escape, and fled into Wales. About the end of the reign of Edward III., the castle was dismantled, and part of its materials were subsequently used to erect a mansion at Bromeham, about three miles distant. In the reign of Henry VIII., the town, then called by Leland The Vies (an appellation still retained by the Wiltshire peasantry), was celebrated for its market, and chiefly inhabited by clothiers.

Arms.

During the civil war, a battle was fought here between the parliamentarian and the royalist forces, the latter of whom were pursued hither by Sir William Waller, on their retreat towards Oxford, after the battle of Lansdowne. The town was intrenched, and the approaches to it barricadoed, by Lord Ralph Hopton and the Earl of Marlborough; and Sir William investing it closely, constructed a battery upon a neighbouring height, fired upon the place, and made several unsuccessful attempts to penetrate into the interior: he likewise intercepted the approach of the Earl of Crawford with a supply of powder for the royalists, and, having captured the whole convoy, summoned the besieged to surrender. A treaty for capitulation was begun, but at this juncture Sir William was obliged to withdraw his troops from before the town, in order to oppose Lord Wilmot, who had been despatched by the king from Oxford, with 1500 horse and two pieces of artillery, to protect the infantry in their retreat to the main army. The parliamentarian general awaited the approach of Lord Wilmot on Roundaway Hill, where, encouraged by the small number of his antagonist's forces, he commenced the attack, which terminated in the total dispersion of his cavalry, the capture of his artillery, and the destruction of his infantry, most of whom, being attacked by the troops from Devizes, were either slain or taken prisoners. Sir William fled to Bristol, having sustained a loss of more than 2000 men, together with all his cannon, ammunition, baggage, and stores: the loss of the royalists was comparatively inconsiderable.

The town, which is nearly in the centre of the county, stands on an elevation, and consists of several streets, paved, and lighted with gas; the houses, many of which are handsome, are for the most part irregularly built: the inhabitants are supplied with water from deep wells dug in the sand-rock. The woollen manufacture, once the principal branch of business, is now extinct. The manufacture of silk has been introduced, and affords employment to upwards of 400 persons, principally children; there are three manufactories in the town, and one about half a mile distant, for silkthrowing: the weaving of crape and sarsenet is on the increase. The malting-business is carried on extensively; and a large snuff-manufactory has been established for many years. Coal and Bath stone are in abundance. The Kennet and Avon canal intersects the parish; and an act was passed in 1846 for making a branch eight and a half miles in length, to this town, of the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth railway. The market is on Thursday, and is the largest in the west of England for corn, of which a great quantity is pitched in the marketplace, besides what is sold by sample. There are fairs on February 14th, for horses; Holy-Thursday and April 20th, for cattle; and June 13th, July 5th, and October 2nd and 20th, for cattle, hops, cloth, &c.: those on the 20th of April and the 20th of October, are held on the green beyond the boundaries of the borough. A market-cross erected in 1815, at the expense of the late Lord Sidmouth, many years recorder, and also a representative in parliament for the town, is said to have cost nearly £2000.

The first charter of Incorporation was granted by the Empress Matilda, and confirmed by John and Henry III.; Edward III. placed the burgesses on an equality with those of Marlborough, and Richard II. bestowed on the borough the privilege of having their own coroner. These liberties were ratified by subsequent sovereigns; and the governing charters, previously to the passing of the Municipal act in 1835, were those granted by James I. and Charles I., under which the corporation consisted of a mayor, recorder, and 36 capital burgesses, forming the commoncouncil, and an indefinite number of free burgesses. The government is now vested in a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors; the borough is divided into two wards, its municipal and parliamentary boundaries being co-extensive; and the number of magistrates is 10. The town returned members to all the parliaments of Edward I., and to those of the 1st, 8th, and 19th of Edward II., and 4th of Edward III., since which its returns have been constant. The right of election was formerly in the corporation, including a few honorary members; but by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the non-resident electors, except within seven miles, were disfranchised, and the privilege extended to the £10 householders of an enlarged district, comprising 883 acres, and now forming the borough, which previously contained only 631 acres: the mayor is returning officer. The corporation have power to hold a court of record, for the recovery of sums not exceeding £40, every Friday. The summer assizes for Wiltshire are held here in new courts built by subscription, and since presented by the subscribers to the county; the edifice cost upwards of £7000. The petty-sessions for the Devizes division of the hundred of Potterne and Cannings are held in the town; as are also the quartersessions for the county, in rotation with Salisbury, Warminster, and Marlborough. Meetings for the nomination of coroners are always holden at Devizes; and it is the principal place of election for the northern division of the county. The powers of the county debt-court of Devizes, established in 1847, extend over the registrationdistrict, or poor law union. The town-hall is a handsome modern edifice, having a semicircular front supported by Ionic columns on a rustic basement. A new and extensive gaol, upon the radiating principle, was erected in the year 1810, about a mile north-westward from the town.

Corporation Seal.

Devizes comprises the parishes of St. John and St. Mary the Virgin, the former including 1973, and the latter 2658 inhabitants, and the two together containing 610 acres, of which 85 are arable, 481 pasture, and 19 woodland. The livings form a united rectory, not in charge, in the patronage of the Crown, with a net income of £518: the tithes for the parish of St. John have been commuted for £213, and the glebe contains ¾ of an acre, with a glebe-house. St. John's church is a spacious structure, partly in the Norman and partly in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, and consists of a nave and two aisles, a transept, chancel, and two chantry chapels; the oldest portion, which comprises the chancel, transept, and tower, is supposed to have been built by Bishop Roger, about the same period as the castle. The chancel is arched with bold ribs springing from clustered capitals, and the tower is supported by two circular and two pointed arches, enriched with foliage and zig-zag mouldings; there are several marble monuments of the families of Heathcote and Sutton. St. Mary's, in the north-eastern part of the town, has evidently been erected at different periods. The chancel is the oldest portion, being in the early Norman style, and built probably soon after the Conquest; the south porch, a pointed arch, with zig-zag mouldings, is a fine specimen of the style prevailing in the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I. The rest of the edifice was rebuilt by William Smyth, who died in 1436. The tower and body of the church are embattled, and crowned with pinnacles; the nave and aisles are spacious and lofty, and the arches which separate them spring from octagonal columns. At the eastern extremity of the town, and beyond the limits of the borough, is St. James' chapel, belonging to the vicarage of Bishops'Cannings. There are places of worship for Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Presbyterians, and Wesleyans. The poor law union of Devizes comprises 28 parishes or places, and contains a population of 22,130. The site of the ancient castle, of which there are no vestiges, has been converted into pleasuregrounds. Richard of Devizes, a Benedictine monk of the twelfth century, who wrote a Chronicle of English History, was a native of the place. Joseph Allein, a nonconformist divine, and a polemical writer of some celebrity, was born here in 1633; and Sir Thomas Lawrence, president of the Royal Academy, passed much of the earlier part of his life in the town.