Ousby (St. Luke)

OUSBY (St. Luke), a parish, in the union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 9¼ miles (E. N. E.) from the town of Penrith; containing 271 inhabitants. This place, properly Ulfsby, "the seat of Ulff," a Dane, is situated to the west of a chain of mountains; and from its elevated position, is subject to great damage from the "Helm winds," which occur frequently from September to May, and do much injury to the corn. The parish comprises 6032 acres, of which 4000 are common or waste; the soil of the cultivated land is a kind of red marl or rich loam, though in some places it is light and sandy. Limestone and red-sandstone abound, and there are veins of lead-ore, and some small seams of coal. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 13. 4.; net income, £353; patron, the Bishop of Carlisle. The church contains, in a niche, a wooden effigy of a man in armour. Here are the remains of a British fortification, consisting of an outer and an inner rampart, within the area of which Roman urns and other antiquities have been found: the Maiden way traverses the mountainous parts of the parish.

Ousden, or Owsden (St. Peter)

OUSDEN, or Owsden (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Newmarket, hundred of Risbridge, W. division of Suffolk, 7 miles (E. S. E.) from Newmarket; containing 340 inhabitants, and comprising about 1200 acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 3. 9.; net income, £285; patron, Thomas James Ireland, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £26. 10. The church is in the Norman style. A school is endowed with £10 per annum.

Ouseburn, Great (St. Mary)

OUSEBURN, GREAT (St. Mary), a parish, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Claro, W. riding of York, 14 miles (N. W. by W.) from York; containing 610 inhabitants. About half a mile from Great Ouseburn rises a small stream which gives its name to the two villages of Great and Little Ouseburn, and also to the river formed by the junction of the Swale and the Ure. The parish comprises about 1444 acres, principally good arable land. The village is pleasantly situated in the vale of the Ouse, over which a substantial bridge of wood, to Aldwark, was built by J. Thompson, Esq., grandfather of the present proprietor, on the site of the ancient ferry. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £3. 10., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £213; impropriator, the Rev. E. Robinson: the tithes were commuted for land in 1770. The church was rebuilt, with the exception of the chancel and tower, in 1823. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Ouseburn, Little (Holy Trinity)

OUSEBURN, LITTLE (Holy Trinity), a parish, partly in the Lower and partly in the Upper division of the wapentake of Claro, W. riding of York; containing, with the townships of Kirkby-Hall, Thorpe-Underwoods, and Widdington, 620 inhabitants, of whom 359 are in the township of Little Ouseburn, 13 miles (N. W.) from York. The parish is bounded on the east by the navigable river Ouse, and comprises 3530a. 11p., of which about one-half is arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture with a small portion of woodland; the soil in the township is very rich, producing excellent wheat, barley, and turnips. A post-office has been established. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £3. 8. 4.; net income, £134; patron, the Precentor in the Cathedral of York; impropriator, R. J. Thompson, Esq. The tithes of the township were commuted for land in 1801. The church is an ancient structure, with a square tower; in the churchyard is the mausoleum of the Thompson family. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Ousefleet

OUSEFLEET, a township, in the parish of Whitgift, union of Goole, Lower division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross, W. riding of York; 6 miles (E. by N.) from the town of Goole; containing 228 inhabitants. It is bounded on the north by the river Ouse, and comprises about 2100 acres, of which 1000 were inclosed in 1829. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1828. There is a place of worship for Independents; also a school, endowed by Emanuel Empson, in 1727, with a house and land now producing about £36 per annum.

Ouston

OUSTON, a township, in the parish and union of Chester-le-Street, Middle division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 3 miles (N. N. W.) from Chester-le-Street; containing 282 inhabitants. This place belonged to the priory of St. Bartholomew, in Newcastle, and was granted by Henry VIII., by letters-patent in the 36th of his reign, to Sir William Barentine, Knt., and others, since which period it has been in the possession of various families. The township comprises 629 acres, of which about four-fifths are strong arable land. A colliery was opened in 1803 in the townships of Ouston and Harraton. The lands are exempt from all tithes, except Easter dues.

Ouston (St. Andrew)

OUSTON (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Billesdon, hundred of Gartree, N. division of the county of Leicester, 6 miles (W. by S.) from Oakham; containing, with the hamlet of Newbold, 213 inhabitants. A society of Canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, was founded here in the reign of Henry II., by Sir Robert Grimbald: its revenue, at the Dissolution, was £173. 18. 9. The abbot's residence, which joined the west end of the church, was removed about the middle of the last century, and the materials were employed in building the church of East Carlton, and a farmhouse at Ouston. It was a substantial structure in the later English style: the remains of a fosse which inclosed it, its large ponds, and other appendages, may still be traced; and at the eastern extremity of the lordship is another moated inclosure, of small size, called the Chads. The parish is elevated, and comprises 2981a. 1r. 2p., nearly all pasture land. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £80; patron and impropriator, the Rev. Henry Palmer. The church belonged to the abbey, and contains portions of different styles; the shrine of Grimbald is fixed in the middle of the north wall. The glebe-house is an antique structure, originally the dormitory of the abbey.

Ouston

OUSTON, a township, in the parish of Stamfordham, union of Castle ward, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 13 miles (W. N. W.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; containing 21 inhabitants. The township is situated on the river Pont, and comprises 511a. 2r. of high flat table-land, with a substratum of blue mountain limestone. It is free of large tithes, having belonged to Hexham Abbey: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £5. 2. 2., and 13s. 4d. are payable to the Bishop of Durham.

Outchester

OUTCHESTER, a township, in the parish of Bambrough, union of Belford, N. division of Bambrough ward and of Northumberland, 2½ miles (E. by S.) from Belford; containing 122 inhabitants. This place, which is situated on the western bank of the river Warn, near its influx into Budle bay, was the site of the Castrum Ulterius of the ancient port of Warnmouth; the camp is of a square form, and there are vestiges of a Roman road extending from it towards Alnwick. The bay affords secure anchorage for small vessels. As commutations for the tithes of Outchester, Spindlestone, and Glororum, rent-charges have been awarded amounting to £72, of which £42 are payable to an impropriator, and £30 to Greenwich Hospital.

Outseats

OUTSEATS, a hamlet, in the parish of Hathersage, poor-law union of Bakewell, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby; containing 231 inhabitants.

Outwell (St. Clement)

OUTWELL (St. Clement), a parish, in the union of Wisbech, partly in the hundred of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, county of Cambridge, and partly in the hundred of Clackclose, county of Norfolk, 5½ miles (S. E) from Wishech; containing 1252 inhabitants, of whom 820 are in Norfolk. The parish is situated on the river Nene, and comprises about 2000 acres, belonging to several families. Beaupré Hall, the ancient manor-house, is a handsome mansion in the Elizabethan style. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £16; net income, £417; patron, the Bishop of Ely: the tithes have been commuted for £114, and there is a glebe-house, with 5 acres of land. The church is in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, and an elegant south porch. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans. The town lands comprise 66½ acres, producing £105 per annum. Molycourt Priory, or the chapel of St. Mary de Bello Loco, which was situated in the parish, was founded before the Conquest, for Benedictine monks; its revenue being considerably diminished, Henry VI. appropriated it to the priory of Ely.

Outwick

OUTWICK, a hamlet, in the parish and liberty of Breamore, poor-law union of Fordingbridge, Ringwood and S. divisions of the county of Southampton; containing 68 inhabitants.

Outwood

OUTWOOD, a hamlet, in the chapelry of Ringley, parish of Prestwich, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 7 miles (N. W.) from Manchester; containing about 2000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Irwell; and the Manchester and Bolton canal passes through. The population is employed in collieries, and in cotton and print works. Outwood is the seat of Mark Philips, Esq.

Ovenden

OVENDEN, a township, in the parish and union of Halifax, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York; adjoining the town of Halifax, and containing 11,799 inhabitants. This township is included in the ancient parochial chapelry of Illingworth, and its northern division now forms the ecclesiastical district of Bradshaw. It comprises by computation 5295 acres, of which 1742, formerly open common, were inclosed under the provisions of an act of parliament, in 1814. The surface is varied, and the higher grounds command a view over Halifax and the surrounding country; in the upper district are coal-pits and stone-quarries in extensive operation. The township consists of numerous detached houses irregularly built, and of several scattered hamlets; and is situated on the road to Keighley and Craven, between the river Hebble and a stream called Ovenden Brook, which latter separates it from the township of North Owram. The inhabitants are principally employed in cotton, woollen, silk, and worsted mills, and the hand-loom weaving of damasks and lastings. In the village of Illingworth is the church of St. Mary, a neat edifice with a square tower, built in 1777, on the site of a former structure; it was much injured by fire in Dec. 1841, owing to the over-heating of the flues, but an ample subscription was immediately entered into for its restoration: the organ is said to be the finest to be met with in any village church in this part of the kingdom. Attached is a spacious cemetery. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £170, with a glebehouse, erected in 1838; patron, the Vicar of Halifax. The tithes of the township were commuted for land in 1814. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Methodists of the New Connexion.

Over (St. Mary)

OVER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of St. Ives, hundred of Papworth, county of Cambridge, 4½ miles (E. by S.) from St. Ives; containing 1119 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19. 0. 10.; net income, £108; patrons, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The rectory, an impropriation belonging to the college, is valued in the king's books at £51. 13. 11½. There is a place of worship for Baptists. The late Mrs. Kirkby gave the sum of £300, since laid out in land, for the endowment of a school for the poor, and the relief of widows.

Over (St. Chad)

OVER (St. Chad), a market-town and parish, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the First division of the hundred of Eddisbury, partly in the union of Nantwich, but chiefly in that of Northwich, S. division of the county of Chester; containing, with the township of Low Oulton and the chapelry of Wettenhall, 3137 inhabitants, of whom 2816 are in the town, 16¼ miles (E.) from Chester, and 168 (N. W. by N.) from London. This place is situated on the road from Middlewich to Chester, and consists chiefly of one long and irregular street, in which are remains of several crosses. On the banks of the river Weaver, which bounds the parish on the east, are numerous brine-pits; and across the stream, between the parishes of Over and Davenham, is Winsford bridge, where the navigation ends, and on each side of which houses have been built, in consequence of the extension of the salt manufacture in the neighbourhood. A little to the east of the bridge is a station of the Liverpool and Birmingham railway. The market, granted by charter of Edward I., having been disused for about a century, was restored in 1840, and is held on Wednesday, in a commodious market-place lately built on land given by Lord Delamere, lord of the manor: there are fairs on May 15th and September 25th. The town is called in ancient records a borough, and has been from time immemorial under the government of a mayor, who is chosen at the court leet and baron of the lord of the manor, held in October. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 4.; net income, £167; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Chester, whose tithes in the township of Over have been commuted for £125. The glebehouse and out-buildings were restored in the year 1826, at the cost of about £1400: the glebe in the immediate neighbourhood, consists of about 24 acres. The church was rebuilt in 1543, by Hugh Starkey, gentleman usher to Henry VIII., and is in the later English style; the interior has some good stained glass and tabernaclework, and an altar-tomb supporting an effigy in brass to the memory of Hugh Starkey. At Wettenhall and Winsford are separate incumbencies; the latter in the gift of the Bishop, with an income of £150. There is a place of worship for Independents. The free grammar school was founded in 1689, by Mrs. Elizabeth Venables, and her son, Thomas Lee, Esq., at Darnhall, in the adjoining parish of Whitegate, and was endowed with lands, the value of which is £60 per annum; it was removed to its present situation in 1803, and is now conducted on the national system.

Over

OVER, a hamlet, in the parish of Churcham, Lower division of the hundred of Dudstone and King'sBarton, union, and E. division of the county, of Gloucester; containing 114 inhabitants.

Over

OVER, a tything, in the parish of Almondsbury, union of Thornbury, Lower division of the hundred of Langley and Swinehead, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 6½ miles (N. by W.) from the city of Bristol; containing 73 inhabitants.

Over Haddon, county of Derby.—See Haddon, Over.

OVER HADDON, county of Derby.—See Haddon, Over.—And other places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Overbury (St. Faith)

OVERBURY (St. Faith), a parish, in the unions of Tewkesbury and Winchcomb, Middle division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 5½ miles (N. E.) from Tewkesbury; containing, with the chapelries of Alstone, Teddington, and Little Washbourne, and the hamlet of Conderton, 875 inhabitants. The parish is almost surrounded by the county of Gloucester, and contains 3767 acres, in equal portions of arable and pasture, with some wood: in the township of Overbury are 1217 acres. The surface is generally flat, but rises towards Bredon Hill; the soil is light and sandy, but fertile: here are finer elm and chesnut trees than in any other part of the county. Good stone is quarried for building. The village is beautifully situated, and of respectable appearance. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 10.; net income, £540; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1811. The church, which stands in the centre of the village, is ancient, and has some Norman arches and a fine tower; the chancel possesses a groined roof, and the font is curiously carved with the figure of a bishop. There are chapels of ease at Alstone, Teddington, and Little Washbourne; and the Independents have a place of worship: a national school was built in 1845. Elizabeth Wood, in 1824, bequeathed £200, of which the interest is distributed to the poor. On the hill are remains of a Roman camp.

Overchurch, Cheshire.—See Upton.

OVERCHURCH, Cheshire.—See Upton.

Overley, county Stafford.—See Orgreave.

OVERLEY, county Stafford.—See Orgreave.

Oversley

OVERSLEY, a hamlet, in the parish of Arrow, union of Alcester, Stratford division of the hundred of Barlichway, S. division of the county of Warwick, ½ a mile (S. E.) from Alcester; containing 187 inhabitants. It is situated on the left bank of the river Arrow, and consists of 1430 acres: the road from Alcester to Evesham passes along the right bank of the river.

Overstone (St. Nicholas)

OVERSTONE (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Wellingborough, hundred of Spelhoe, S. division of the county of Northampton, 5 miles (N. E.) from Northampton, on the road to Kettering; containing 242 inhabitants. The parish comprises by estimation 1690 acres, of which 193 are woodland and plantations surrounding the mansion of Overstone, and the greater portion of the remainder arable. One-half of the soil is a fine red loam, and the other half may be divided into white sand and clay of inferior quality. Stone for the roads is obtained, but it is of an indifferent description. The females are employed in making lace. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 16. 3.; net income, £265, with a house; patron, Jones Loyd, Esq. The church, rebuilt in 1800 at the expense of H. Kipling, Esq., is a small edifice with a tower, and has a well-painted east window. The children are instructed at the national school in the neighbouring parish of Moulton.

Overstrand (St. Martin)

OVERSTRAND (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Erpingham, hundred of North Erpingham, E. division of Norfolk, 1¾ mile (S. E. by E.) from Cromer; containing 240 inhabitants. The parish extends for about two miles along the coast, and comprises 400 acres: the soil is light and sandy; the surface, rising gradually from the shore, is bounded on the south-west by a range of lofty hills, commanding extensive prospects of the sea and the adjacent country. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the herring and lobster fisheries, in the former of which four large vessels are employed, and in the latter eleven small boats. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £2. 1. 5½., and in the patronage of Lord Suffield: the tithes have been commuted for £80, and there is a glebe of about one acre. The original church having been destroyed by encroachment of the sea, which has made considerable inroads on this part of the coast, the present structure was built in the reign of Richard II.: the chancel and part of the nave are in ruins; the remaining portion of the nave was fitted up for divine service in 1785.