Mayland (St. Barnabas)
MAYLAND (St. Barnabas), a parish, in the union
of Maldon, hundred of Dengie, S. division of Essex,
8½ miles (S. E.) from Maldon; containing 200 inhabitants, and comprising 2030a. 2r. 22p. The living is a
discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at
£13. 6. 8.; patrons and impropriators, the Governors
of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London: the great tithes
have been commuted for £410, and the vicarial for £142.
Dr. John Gauden, successively Bishop of Exeter and of
Worcester, and supposed by some to have been the
author of Eikon Basilike, was born here in 1605.
Mayshill
MAYSHILL, a hamlet, in the parish of Westerleigh, union of Chipping-Sodbury, hundred of
Puckle-Church, W. division of the county of Gloucester; containing 149 inhabitants.
Meaburn, King's
MEABURN, KING'S, a township, in the parish of
Morland, West ward and union, county of Westmorland, 1½ mile (E.) from the village of Morland;
containing 200 inhabitants. A school, built in the year
1834, is endowed with the interest of £200.
Meaburn Maulds
MEABURN MAULDS, a township, in the parish of
Crosby-Ravensworth, West ward and union, county
of Westmorland, 4½ miles (E. N. E.) from Shap;
containing 310 inhabitants. It is situated in a fertile
valley, watered by the Lyvennet rivulet, and abounding
with luxuriant pasturage. The village is large, and a
fair for sheep and cattle is held in it on the Monday
before Easter. £14. 14. 6., the amount of various bequests, are distributed among the poor annually.
Mealrigg, with Langrigg.—See Langrigg.
MEALRIGG, with Langrigg.—See Langrigg.
Meanwood
MEANWOOD, a hamlet, in the parish of Leeds,
wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York, 4 miles
(N. by W.) from Leeds. It is beautifully situated on the
east side of a thickly-wooded dell, embracing a fine
prospect of the town of Leeds and the adjacent country;
the scenery is richly diversified. Meanwood House, the
seat of the Beckett family, is a handsome mansion,
erected in 1841, and pleasantly seated on an eminence
commanding extensive views. A living has been founded
by Mrs. Mary Beckett and Miss Elizabeth Beckett, who
possess the patronage.
Meare (St. Mary)
MEARE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Wells,
hundred of Glaston-Twelve-Hides, E. division of
Somerset, 3¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Glastonbury;
containing, with the chapelry of Godney, 1522 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the
king's books at £13. 2. 8.; net income, £228; patrons,
B. Wake and W. Purlewent, Esqrs.; impropriators, the
feoffees of a charity at Shepton-Mallett. The tithes
were commuted for land in 1778. The church is in the
early English style of architecture, with an embattled
tower. At Godney is a separate incumbency. In the
parish are the remains of encampments, of Danish origin,
with a double ditch.
Mearley
MEARLEY, a township, in the parochial chapelry,
parliamentary borough, and poor-law union of Clitheroe, parish of Whalley, Higher division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire,
2 miles (S. E. by E.) from Clitheroe; containing 53 inhabitants. The chief part of the township was granted
by Jordan le Rous to Stephen, afterwards called de
Merley, whose daughter married Adam de Nowell, and
carried the Hall and manor into that family, 38th of
Edward III. Lawrence Nowell exchanged the chase
and manor of Merley with Sir Richard Greenacres, for
lands elsewhere, and an heiress of the last-named
brought the estate to the Radcliffes, of Todmorden. An
only daughter of Joshua Radcliffe married Roger Mainwaring, who wasted the property, and sold it to the
Harrison family, from whom Mearley passed by purchase to Piers Starkie, Esq., of Huntroyd. The hamlet
and manor of Little Mearley, in the township, still remain in the descendants of William Nowell, the first
grantee under John de Lacy, who died in the year 1240.
The township lies under Pendle Hill.
Measham (St. Lawrence)
MEASHAM (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union
of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, hundred of Repton and
Gresley, S. division of the county of Derby, 9 miles
(N. by E.) from Atherstone; containing, with part of
the hamlets of Donisthorpe and Oakthorpe, 1615 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the south and east
by the small river Mease, from which it derives its name,
and comprises by measurement 1818 acres; coal is
found, though no mines are in operation, and there are
quarries of good stone, but not wrought at present. The
manufacture of tape is carried on, affording employment
to about 200 persons. The Ashby canal, and the road
from Ashby to Tamworth, pass through the village. A
market-house was built some years ago, but it was
afterwards converted into a dwelling-house, and the
market was discontinued: fairs are held on the 1st of
May and the first Monday in November. The living is
a perpetual curacy; net income, £97; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Hastings: there is a glebe
of 15 acres, with a house. The church is an elegant
structure in the early English style, with later insertions,
and has a square tower; the interior was completely
restored in 1842, at a cost of £1400. There are places
of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans. National and
infant schools are supported by a small endowment and
by subscription: Queen Adelaide visited them in 1839.
Meavy (St. Peter)
MEAVY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of
Tavistock, hundred of Roborough, Midland-Roborough and S. divisions of Devon, 6¼ miles (S. E.) from
Tavistock; containing 361 inhabitants. This place was
the residence of Sir Francis Drake, of whose ancient
mansion there are still some remains. The parish comprises 3351a. 3r. 35p., of which about 2400 acres are
profitable land, and the remainder, with the exception of
360 acres of coppice wood, open and unproductive common. The surface is undulated, and the lower grounds
are watered by the river Mew, which winds through a
valley of great beauty, and on the banks of which the
village is situated. The Plymouth and Dartmoor railway passes through the parish. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 5.,
and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have
been commuted for £220; the glebe comprises 23 acres.
Near the church is a hollow oak of very large dimensions,
and adjoining it are the remains of a stone cross.
Medbourne (St. Giles)
MEDBOURNE (St. Giles), a parish, in the union
of Uppingham, hundred of Gartree, S. division of the
county of Leicester, 5 miles (W. by N.) from Rockingham; containing, with the chapelry of Holt, 574 inhabitants. An act for the inclosure of land was passed
in 1842. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's
books at £35. 11. 0½.; net income, £606; patrons, the
Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge.
There is a chapel of ease at Holt. The Wesleyans have
a place of worship. A school is endowed with £32 per
annum; and the poor have bequests producing £38. 11.
per annum. In a field north-westward from the village
are the remains of intrenchments, with foundations of
buildings, covering an area about half a mile square: in
1721, a tessellated pavement was discovered; and other
Roman remains have been dug up at different times.
Medlar, with Wesham
MEDLAR, with Wesham, a township, in the parish
of Kirkham, union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 2¾ miles (N. by
W.) from Kirkham; containing 209 inhabitants. This
place is stated to have come to the Hospitallers of St.
John of Jerusalem by the gift of Cicely, daughter of
Roger de Gernet; the Lancasters subsequently gave it
to the abbey of Cockersand. On the dissolution of
monasteries, the land seems to have been granted or sold
to the family of Westby; in the reign of Philip and
Mary, William Westbye held "Medlarghe," "Wessham,"
and other property in this quarter, and his descendants
long continued to reside at Mowbrick Hall, now a
farmhouse. Bradkirk, in the township, was possessed
in the reign of Edward III., as a manor, by a family of
the same name, and was their residence for centuries:
the estate became latterly the property of Hugh Hornby,
Esq., of Ribby Hall, by purchase from Mr. Kearsley.
The township comprises 1971a. 1r. 23p. of land. The
tithes have been commuted for £61 payable to the Dean
and Chapter of Christ-Church, Oxford, £32 to the impropriators, and £29 to the vicar.
Medmenham (St. Peter)
MEDMENHAM (St. Peter), a parish, in the union
of Henley, hundred of Desborough, county of Buckingham, 3 miles (S. W. by W.) from Marlow; containing 385 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage,
endowed with a portion of the rectorial tithes, valued in
the king's books at £5. 7. 1., and in the patronage of
C. R. Scott Murray, Esq.: the incumbent's tithes
have been commuted for £200, and the glebe comprises
3 acres. An abbey for Cistercian monks was founded
here by Hugh de Bolebec, as a cell to the monastery at
Woburn, and its revenue was valued at £20. 6. 2.; a
very small portion of the conventual building remains,
and the site is partly occupied by a modern erection,
in imitation of ruins, almost overgrown with ivy. Above
the village are vestiges of a large camp, nearly square,
with a single vallum and ditch, the area comprising
about seven acres; there is also an ancient circular
intrenchment in the parish, called Danesfield.
Medomsley
MEDOMSLEY, a chapelry, in the parish and union
of Lanchester, W. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 2¼ miles (N. E.) from
Shotley-Bridge, and 11 (S. W. by W.) from Gateshead;
containing about 3000 inhabitants, of whom 796 are in
the township of Medomsley. It includes the townships
of Benfieldside, and Conside with Knitsley, and is situated on the northern limit of the county, and divided for
about six miles from Northumberland and the parishes
of Winlaton and Ryton by the river Derwent. The
township, which is crossed in its western part by the
Roman Watling-street, from the Lanchester to the Ebchester station, contains by computation 5890 acres, and
consists of a number of small farms, partly arable and
partly grass land, interspersed with about 500 acres of
natural oak copse and other wood. In general the soil
is a strong clay, suited to the culture of wheat, but in
some parts it is of a lighter quality; the surface rises
rapidly both from the east and west, until, at the village, it attains a height of about 900 feet above the level
of the sea. The seam of coal called the "Hutton Seams,"
which is here upwards of seven feet thick, is worked in
two collieries in Medomsley. There are also quarries of
good freestone used for building purposes, and various
strata of ironstone, which latter are extensively wrought
by the Derwent Iron Company, and the produce conveyed by railway to their furnaces at Conside: the
quality of the iron is said to be superior to that of any
hitherto produced in the north of England. At Derwent Cote, in the township, is a forge for iron and steel.
The village is pleasantly situated on an eminence
skirted by rich meads, and commanding a beautiful
view of the vale of Derwent, and the distant hills beyond
the Tyne.
The living is a perpetual curacy in the patronage of
the Bishop, with a net income of about £250, arising
out of glebe lands and certain augmentations from the
surplus revenues of the see of Durham: the impropriate
tithes have been commuted for £183. 19. The chapel,
dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and built in 1280,
stands at the west end of the village, and is in the early
English style, consisting of a nave and chancel of equal
width, separated by an arch springing from corbels on
either side. The roof is of lead, resting on massive oak
beams. The windows are lancet-shaped, and of very
small dimensions; the east window, which is handsome,
is of three lights: there is a piscina in the south wall
under a trefoil arch with good mouldings. A porch
existed about eighty years since on the south side, but
it was taken down, and a vestry built against the south
door. The chapel is said to have suffered much from the
inroads of the Scots. In the burial-ground are three
stone coffins, two having the figure of a cross with a
sword suspended, and the other bearing a longitudinal
inscription, now illegible. There are places of worship
for Baptists, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, and the
Society of Friends; and numerous schools. To the
west of the village, on a farm called Bunker's Hill, may
be traced three distinct lines of military defence, supposed to have been thrown up by the Scottish army
when retreating from the battle of Nevill's Cross. The
elegant and accomplished Henry Swinburne, author of
Travels in Spain (1779), was owner of the manor of
Hamsterley, in the township; and Hamsterley Hall, a
handsome mansion in a sheltered valley on the Pont
burn, bears strong proofs of his refined taste, in the
beautiful arrangement of its shrubberies and walks,
and the selection of fine trees that adorn them.
Medsted (St. Andrew)
MEDSTED (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of
Alton, hundred of Fawley, Alton and N. divisions of
the county of Southampton, 4½ miles (W. S. W.) from
Alton; containing 450 inhabitants. It comprises by
computation 2000 acres; the surface is elevated, and
the surrounding scenery pleasingly diversified. The
living is a rectory, annexed, with that of New Alresford,
to the rectory of Old Alresford.
Meer, county of Lincoln.—See Waddington.
MEER, county of Lincoln.—See Waddington.
Meer
MEER, a hamlet, in the parish of Forton, union
of Newport, W. division of the hundred of Cuttlestone, S. division of the county of Stafford, 1¼ mile
(N. E.) from Newport. Meer-town is a small village,
containing several neat houses, situated upon an eminence on the Shropshire border; it takes its name from
Aqualate Meer, a sheet of water of about 200 acres,
bounding on the north Aqualate Hall and Park, the seat
of Sir T. F. F. Boughey, Bart. The roads from Newport to Eccleshall and to Stafford are in the immediate
vicinity.
Meerbeck
MEERBECK, a hamlet, in the township and union
of Settle, parish of Giggleswick, W. division of the
wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewcross, W. riding of
York, 2 miles (S.) from Settle. This place is situated
upon an acclivity on the road from Skipton to Settle,
commanding extensive views of Ribblesdale, including
the celebrated height of Pendle Hill; the scenery is enriched with wood, and is beautifully diversified. Here is
the seat of John Preston, Esq., whose family have been
settled in this part of the West riding for more than
four centuries.
Meerbrook
MEERBROOK, a chapelry, in the township of
Leek-Frith, parish and union of Leek, N. division of
the hundred of Totmonslow and of the county of
Stafford, 3 miles (N.) from Leek; containing 631 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income,
£105; patron, the Vicar of Leek. The chapel, dedicated to St. Matthew, is a small edifice with a square
tower. Some children are educated for £12. 5. per
annum, the proceeds of bequests by John Stoddard and
Roger Morris, the former in 1673. In the neighbourhood are the Leek rocks, stupendous overhanging masses,
two miles in length, with scattered fragments at their
bases and in other parts of the valley.
Meesden (St. Mary)
MEESDEN (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of
Buntingford, hundred of Edwinstree, county of
Hertford, 4½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Barkway; containing 181 inhabitants. It comprises 1008 acres, of
which 20 are common or waste land. The living is a
rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 13. 4.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. A. Gaussen: the tithes
have been commuted for £178, and the glebe comprises
108 acres. A school is supported by the rector.
Meeson
MEESON, a township, in the parish of Great
Bolas, Newport division of the hundred of South
Bradford, N. division of Salop, 5 miles (N. W. by W.)
from Newport; containing 85 inhabitants.
Meeth (St. John the Baptist)
MEETH (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the
union of Oakhampton, hundred of Shebbear, Black
Torrington and Shebbear, and N. divisions of Devon,
3 miles (N. by E.) from Hatherleigh; containing 314 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's
books at £9. 7. 6., and in the gift of the Rev. F. D.
Lempriere: the tithes have been commuted for £221,
and the glebe comprises 25 acres. The church contains
a marble monument to Dr. Lempriere, author of the
Classical Dictionary and other works, who died in 1824.
Melay, with Hayton.—See Hayton.
MELAY, with Hayton.—See Hayton.
Melbecks
MELBECKS, a township, in the parish of Grinton, union of Richmond, wapentake of Gilling-West,
N. riding of York, 14 miles (W. by S.) from Richmond;
containing 1633 inhabitants. The township is situated
on the north side of Swaledale, along which extend numerous hamlets, and comprises by computation 10,106
acres, whereof 8643 are wild and uncultivated moors:
extensive and productive lead-mines are in operation.
A church dedicated to the Trinity, to which a district
has been assigned, was erected in 1843, by subscription,
aided by a grant of £300 from the Ripon Diocesan
Society; it is a light and handsome edifice in the later
English style. The living has been endowed with £150
per annum by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and is
in the patronage of the Vicar of Grinton; a parsonagehouse was built in 1843. There are places of worship
for Presbyterians and Wesleyans.