Wrockwardine (St. Peter)

WROCKWARDINE (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Wellington, Wellington division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop, 2 miles (W. by N.) from Wellington; containing 2731 inhabitants. This parish, including Wrockwardine-Wood, an isolated township five miles distant from the village, comprises 4627a. 11p. of arable and pasture land in nearly equal portions; the soil is fertile, producing good crops of wheat, barley, and oats. The village is beautifully situated on elevated ground commanding a fine prospect over the surrounding country, embracing the picturesque vale of Salop, the Breddyn hills in North Wales, and, in another direction, the plains of Cheshire, and the Derby hills. The manufacture of glass is carried on to some extent, and there is a corn-mill on the river Tern, which bounds the parish on the north. In the township of Admaston is a mineral spa of considerable celebrity, where a commodious hotel has been built for visiters. The upper spring contains muriate of soda, and a small portion of muriate of lime, and is also slightly impregnated with iron; the lower spring contains no iron, but a greater proportion of muriate of soda, and is strongly impregnated with hepatic air. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 8. 6., and in the patronage of the Crown. The great tithes have been commuted for £208. 6., the vicarial for £310. 19., and the glebe comprises one acre; the great tithes of Charlton township have been commuted for £133, and a rent-charge of £32. 14. is payable to the vicar. The church is a venerable edifice of red stone, substantially built and in good repair.

Wrockwardine-Wood

WROCKWARDINE-WOOD, a township and an ecclesiastical parish, in the civil parish of Wrockwardine, union of Wellington, Wellington division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop; containing 1698 inhabitants. This township comprises 502a. 17p., of which nearly one-half is arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture; the substratum abounds both with coal and ironstone, and some mines are in operation. A branch of the Shrewsbury canal passes through the township. The church was erected at an expense of £1600, by subscription, aided by grants from the Incorporated Society, and was consecrated on the 3rd of August, 1833; it is a neat structure in the Grecian style, with a tower, and contains 610 sittings, of which 436 are free. The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £81.

Wroot (St. Pancras)

WROOT (St. Pancras), a parish, in the union of Thorne, W. division of the wapentake of Manley, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 8 miles (N. E. by N.) from Bawtry; containing 335 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £3. 7. 8½., and in the gift of the Crown; net income, £260. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. Two schools are supported by endowment; and the rents of a small close let out in cottage gardens, amounting to £5. 10., are distributed among the poor.

Wrotham (St. George)

WROTHAM (St. George), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Malling, hundred of Wrotham, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent, 11 miles (W. N. W.) from Maidstone, and 24 (S. E. by E.) from London; containing 2949 inhabitants. This place, which is of remote antiquity, was probably a town of the Britons, various discoveries having been made of British coins, and of fragments of brass armour and military weapons. Other circumstances lead to the conclusion that it was afterwards a Roman station: the military way from Oldborough to Stane-street passed through it. The parish comprises 8878 acres, of which 1704 are in wood. Woodland, or Week, now only a hamlet, was formerly a parish of itself. The town is situated near the foot of the chalk hills, on the road from Maidstone to London, and consists principally of two streets crossing each other; in the centre is the marketplace, where was formerly a public well, now filled up. Wrotham-hill, immediately above the town, affords one of the finest prospects in England. Some paper is manufactured at Basted. The market has been discontinued for many years; but whenever there is a fifth Tuesday in the month, a cattle-market is held: a fair takes place on May 4th. The living comprises a rectory and a vicarage united, the former valued in the king's books at £50. 8. 1½., and the latter at £22. 5. 10.; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury; income, £1000. The church is an ancient and spacious structure, with a mixture of the various styles from the Norman to the later English, and contains sixteen stalls. An additional church, erected at Platt, in the parish, was consecrated in Nov. 1843; it is a cruciform edifice, occupying a romantic situation, and is dedicated to St. Mary: the tower, 65 feet high, is visible many miles round. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Archbishop; income, £400. At Plaxtol is another incumbency. A palace of the archbishops formerly stood here, of which the terrace and a few offices alone remain.

Wrottesley

WROTTESLEY, a hamlet, in the parish of Tettenhall, union of Seisdon, S. division of the hundred of Seisdon and of the county of Stafford, 4½ miles (W. N. W.) from Wolverhampton; containing 285 inhabitants. Here are the vestiges of a town, generally supposed to be British, and to have been destroyed during the conflicts of the Saxons and the Danes. Some antiquaries, however, from the massive square stones and large hinges dug up at various periods, and from the apparent regularity of the streets, consider it to have been a Roman city, and one of them, Mr. Salmon, maintains that it is Uriconium, which others have placed at Wroxeter. Wrottesley lies on the road from Wolverhampton to Shiffnall, and is the seat and property of the Wrottesley family, whose ancestors have possessed it since the 1st of Henry III., 1216. The Hall is a magnificent structure, erected in 1696, standing on elevated ground in a fine park, and surrounded by an estate of 2319 acres.

Wroughton (St. John the Baptist and St. Helen)

WROUGHTON (St. John the Baptist and St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Highworth and Swindon, hundred of Elstub and Everley, Swindon and N. divisions of Wilts, 3 miles (S. W. by S.) from Swindon; containing, with the tythings of Elcombe, Overtown, Salthrop, and Westlecott, 1963 inhabitants, of whom 1445 are in Wroughton tything. The parish comprises 6283 acres, of which the upper portion is principally arable, with some sheep-walks; the lower lands are chiefly in dairy-farms, and considerable quantities of cheese are produced. The soil varies from loam to clay. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12, and has a net income of £160; the rectory, a sinecure, is valued at £31. 4. 4½.: patron of both, the Bishop of Winchester. The church is an ancient structure, with a handsome Norman arch at the principal entrance. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. Thomas Benit, in 1743, gave some land at present worth more than £20 a year, for the endowment of a school. In the parish are some remains of a British encampment called Barbary Castle.

Wroxeter (St. Andrew)

WROXETER (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Atcham, Wellington division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop, 5¾ miles (S. E. by E.) from Shrewsbury; containing 636 inhabitants. This place, which is noticed by Nennius, in his catalogue of British cities, as Caer Vrauch, is supposed to have obtained that appellation from its situation near the Wrekin mountain. It was called by the Saxons Wrekinceastre, from which its modern name is obviously derived. By most writers it is identified with the Uriconium of Antoninus, and the Viriconium of Ptolemy, an important Roman station on the north-east bank of the Severn, in the bed of which, at low water, here maybe traced some foundations of an ancient stone building, supposed to have been a bridge. The Roman Watling-street passed through the centre of the station, and crossed the river at Wroxeter Ford, from which point it branched off towards Church-Stretton. The city was inclosed with walls three yards in thickness, extending for three miles in circumference, and surrounded by a rampart and fosse. It flourished for a considerable time as the metropolis of the Cornavii, but suffered greatly during the Saxon wars, and is said to have been destroyed by the Danes. The parish is bounded on the west by the Severn, and comprises by admeasurement 5000 acres, of which the greater portion is arable. The soil is generally a rich loam, alternated with gravel; the surface is undulated, and the substratum contains coal, which is partially wrought. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 8., and in the gift of the Duke of Cleveland: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £606. 6., the vicarial for £260, and the glebe comprises 26 acres. The church is an ancient structure. A free grammar school was established at Donnington, in the parish, in 1627, by Thomas Alcock, who endowed it with 20 marks per annum, which endowment was augmented in 1652 with a bequest of the same amount by Richard Stevinton. It is entitled to two exhibitions to Christ-Church College, Oxford, founded by Mr. Careswell, who instituted others in that college for scholars of Bridgnorth, Newport, Shiffnall, Shrewsbury, and Wem. The sums allowed to the exhibitioners are, £60 to each under-graduate, and £70 to each undergraduate being a commoner; £21 to each bachelor of arts if not resident, and £60 if resident; and £27 to each master of arts. Of the ancient city of Uriconium, from the ruins of which arose the present town of Shrewsbury, some portions are still remaining; and within the area have been found numerous coins and vestiges of Roman antiquity.

Wroxhall (St. Leonard)

WROXHALL (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Warwick, Snitterfield division of the hundred of Barlichway, S. division of the county of Warwick, 6 miles (N. W. by N.) from Warwick; containing 176 inhabitants. It comprises 1823 acres, of which about 100 are woodland, and the remainder arable, pasture, and meadow; the soil is chiefly a strong clay, the surface partly flat, and partly undulated. Wroxhall is a donative peculiar, of which the chaplaincy is in the gift of Chandos Wren Hoskyns, Esq. The chapel forms the north side of the quadrangular edifice called Wroxhall Abbey, founded by Hugh de Hatton, about the close of the reign of Henry I., for Benedictine nuns, whose revenue at the Dissolution was valued at £78. 10. 1. The mansion is occupied by the widow of the late C. R. Wren, Esq., fourth in descent from Sir Christopher Wren, who purchased the estate from the family of Burgoyne, about the year 1713. It received considerable alterations and additions at the hands of the late Mr. Wren.

Wroxham (St. Mary)

WROXHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of St. Faith, hundred of Taverham, E. division of Norfolk, 7 miles (N. E. by E.) from Norwich; containing 363 inhabitants. It lies on the navigable river Bure, and comprises about 1300 acres, of which the greater portion is arable; the surface is boldly varied, and the village is situated on an acclivity rising from the bank of the river, over which is a neat bridge. There is a sheet of water 80 acres in extent, besides two sheets of smaller dimensions. The living is a discharged vicarage, with that of Salhouse united, valued in the king's books at £7. 17. 1., and in the gift of S. Trafford, Esq.; the impropriation belongs to Mrs. Burroughes and others. The vicarial tithes of the two parishes have been commuted for £323, and the impropriate tithes of Salthouse for £52. 12. 6.; the two glebes comprise 33 acres. The church is in the decorated English style, with a square embattled tower, and a fine Norman doorway on the north side; in the churchyard is a handsome mausoleum for the Trafford family.

Wroxton (All Saints)

WROXTON (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Banbury, hundred of Bloxham, county of Oxford, 3 miles (W. N. W.) from Banbury; containing, with the chapelry of Balscot, 819 inhabitants, of whom 620 are in Wroxton township. This place was distinguished for an extensive monastery, founded for a prior and brethren of the Augustine order, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, about the year 1230, by Michael Belet, who endowed it with the lordships of Wroxton and Balscot. At the Dissolution its revenue was £78. 14. 8½., and it was granted to Sir Thomas Pope, who bestowed it on Trinity College, Oxford. Part of the building was demolished; of the remainder, some portions are incorporated with a venerable mansion erected by Sir William Pope, first Earl of Downe, in 1618, which still retains the name of Wroxton Abbey, and is now the seat of Colonel and Lady North. The mansion is beautifully situated. The dining-room has a fine enriched ceiling, and this and other apartments are hung with paintings; the library, an elegant room in the later English style, contains some rare and valuable works, and the chapel is embellished with a handsome window of ancient stained glass. The pleasure-grounds adjoining the house are laid out with great taste. The living is a vicarage not in charge; net income, £137; patrons and impropriators, Colonel and Lady North: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1803. The church, situated on elevated ground near the abbey, is of the 14th century; the oak roof is still preserved in its original character, and at the west end of the nave is an ancient stone font ornamented with sculpture and figures of six of the Apostles. At the north-east angle of the chancel is a splendid altar-tomb, with the recumbent effigies of the first Earl of Downe, and Lady Anne his wife, richly habited in the costume of the seventeenth century. There are also tablets to Francis, Lord Guilford, and Lady Elizabeth his wife; Francis, Earl of Guilford, and his three wives; Lord North, prime minister; and the lady of Lord Keeper Guilford. In the hamlet of Balscot is a chapel of ease. The Independents and Wesleyans have places of worship.

Wuerdle, with Wardle

WUERDLE, with Wardle, a township, in the parish and union of Rochdale, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 2 miles (N. by E.) from Rochdale; containing 6875 inhabitants, of whom 4711 are in Wuerdle. A small part of the township is within the present boundary-line of the town of Rochdale. The ecclesiastical district of Smallbridge (which see) comprises the greater part of Wuerdle and Wardle; and in the latter hamlet is a schoolroom licensed by the bishop, with a resident curate appointed by the Pastoral Aid Society. The Wesleyans and Baptists have places of worship.

Wyaston

WYASTON, a township, in the parish of Edlaston, hundred of Appletree, Southern division of the county of Derby, 3¼ miles (S. by E.) from Ashbourn; containing 122 inhabitants.

Wyberton (St. Leodegar)

WYBERTON (St. Leodegar), a parish, in the union of Boston, hundred of Kirton, parts of Holland, county of Lincoln, 2¼ miles (S.) from Boston; containing 584 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £33. 6. 8., and in the gift of the Rev. Martin Sheath: the tithes have been commuted for land; the glebe altogether comprises 283 acres, valued at £730, with the house, which commands a fine view of Boston church.

Wyboston

WYBOSTON, a hamlet, in the parish of EatonSocon, union of St. Neot's, hundred of Barford, county of Bedford; containing 269 inhabitants.

Wybunbury (St. Chad)

WYBUNBURY (St. Chad), a parish, in the union and hundred of Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester; containing 4674 inhabitants, of whom 529 are in the township, 3½ miles (E. S. E.) from Nantwich. The parish consists of the townships of Basford, Batherton, Blakenhall, Bridgemere, Checkley with Wrinehill, Chorlton, Doddington, Hatherton, Hough, Hunsterson, Lea, Rope, Shavington with Gresty, Stapeley, Walgherton, Weston, Wybunbury, and part of Willaston. It comprises by measurement 17,808 acres, of which 812a. 3r. 38p. are in Wybunbury township. The greater part is grazing land divided into dairy-farms, whose chief produce is cheese; a comparatively small portion of the land is arable: the surface is generally level, and the grounds are watered by a rivulet. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway skirts the parish on the east. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 12. 1.; net income, £295; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Lichfield. The church was rebuilt in 1595, and again in 1832. At Doddington and Weston are separate incumbencies. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A school was founded by Sir Thomas Delves, Bart., who also endowed some schools for girls in different parts of the parish. In the churchyard is a school called the Wybunbury Charity, built by subscription about 80 years since, and endowed by several persons for 20 boys. An hospital dedicated to the Holy Cross and St. George, for a master and brethren, existed before 1464.

Wycliffe

WYCLIFFE, a parish, in the union of Teesdale, wapentake of Gilling-West, N. riding of York, 2½ miles (E. N. E.) from Greta-Bridge; containing 165 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the north by the river Tees, and comprises 2162 acres, of which 931 are arable, 1118 meadow and pasture, 56 woodland and plantations, 27 water, and 30 in roads. The surface is agreeably diversified, the soil fertile, and the lands are in good cultivation. A suspension-bridge was erected over the Tees, in 1829, at an expense of £1200. Wycliffe Hall, belonging to Sir Clifford Constable, lord of the manor, and now occupied by George Clifford, Esq., uncle to the baronet, is an elegant mansion, situated in a highly embellished demesne. Attached to the Hall is a Roman Catholic chapel. The village stands on the bank of the river, and has a pleasingly rural aspect. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £14. 12. 1., and in the patronage of Sir C. Constable: the tithes have been commuted for £427. 17. 6., and the glebe consists of 39 acres. The church, which was rebuilt in the reign of Edward III., is a handsome structure in the decorated English style, with a square embattled tower crowned by pinnacles. In the rectoryhouse is a well-executed portrait of Wycliffe by Sir Antonio Moore, presented by Dr. Zouch, a late rector of the parish, to be preserved as an heir-loom by his successors in the living: the reformer was born in or near this place.

Wycombe

WYCOMBE, a hamlet, in the parish of Rothley, union of Melton-Mowbray, hundred of East Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 4½ miles (N. N. E.) from Melton; with 58 inhabitants.

Wycombe, High, or Chipping-Wycombe (All Saints)

WYCOMBE, HIGH, or Chipping-Wycombe (All Saints), a borough, markettown, and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Desborough, county of Buckingham, 31 miles (S. S. E.) from Buckingham, aud 29 (W. by N.) from London; containing 6480 inhabitants, of whom 3184 are in the borough. This place, which is evidently of great antiquity, is by some supposed to have been occupied by the Romans: a tessellated pavement, nine feet square, was discovered in the vicinity, in 1774, and numerous Roman coins have been found of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and other emperors. Of its occupation by the Saxons, the prefix to its name. Cheaping, signifying a market, is a proof; and in the immediate neighbourhood of the town are the remains of a strong double intrenchmeut called Desborough Castle, which was probably thrown up by that people to check the progress of the Danes. The only historical event connected with the place is a successful attack on the parliamentary troops quartered here, by Prince Rupert, after the battle of Reading.

Seal and Arms.

The town is pleasantly situated on a fine rivulet called the Wycombe stream, which, after winding through the adjoining meadows, flows into the Thames below Marlow. It has one principal street, on the road from London to Oxford, from which some smaller streets branch off in various directions. The houses are in general well built; many of them are spacious and handsome, and the town has a prepossessing appearance of cheerfulness and great respectability. On each side are hills richly wooded; from that on the south are seen the park and part of the mansion of Wycombe Abbey, the seat of Lord Carrington, with its fine plantations. The environs abound with pleasingly varied scenery; the district is luxuriantly fertile, and in the highest state of cultivation. The manufacture of paper is carried on to a very considerable extent, there being more than 30 paper-mills on the banks of the stream; besides six flour-mills. Lace-making affords employment to more than 1000 of the inhabitants, and chairs are made in great numbers; the town has a trade in malt, and derives some traffic from its situation on a public thoroughfare. An act was passed in 1846, for a railway from the Great Western line at Maidenhead, to Wycombe, rather more than 9½ miles in length. The market, which is extensively supplied with corn, is on Friday. Cattle-fairs arc held on the second Wednesday in April, and the 28th of October; a wool-fair on the last Wednesday in June, and a statute and pleasure fair on the Monday next before Michaelmas-day.

Wycombe, though governed by a mayor in the reign of Edward III., received its first regular charter of incorporation from Henry VI., whose grant was confirmed and extended in the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles II. The control is now vested in a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, under the act 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; the mayor and late mayor are justices of the peace, and the borough for municipal purposes comprises 134 acres. It first exercised the elective franchise in the 28th of Edward I., since which time it has continued to return two members to parliament; the right of election was extended in 1832 to the £10 householders of the entire parish, which contains 6310 acres: the mayor is returning officer. The powers of the county debt-court of Wycombe, established in 1847, extend over part of the registration-districts of Wycombe, Amersham, Cookham, and Henley. The town-hall, erected in 1757, at the expense of the Earl of Shelburne, is a commodious and neat structure of brick, supported on stone pillars.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £23. 17. 1.; net income, £140; patron, the Marquess of Lansdowne; impropriator, William Terry, Esq. The church is a venerable structure in the early English style, with a square embattled tower, which has been subsequently ornamented, and crowned with pinnacles; the chancel is separated from the nave by an ancient oak screen, and the building contains several interesting monuments. At Loudwater is a separate incumbency. There are places of worship for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and the Society of Friends. An hospital for lepers, dedicated to St. Margaret and St. Giles; and another, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, for a master, brethren, and sisters; were founded here in the reign of Henry III. The latter was granted by Elizabeth to the corporation; and the endowment, which was augmented by a bequest of £1000 from Mrs. Mary Bowden in 1790, producing altogether an annual income of £290. 16. per annum, is appropriated to the maintenance of a grammar school, and almshouses for four aged persons. A Sunday school, now on the national system, was established by Miss Hannah Ball in 1769, fourteen years prior to the introduction of Sunday schools by Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester, to whom some attribute their origin. The almshouses in Crendonlane, occupied by two widows, were founded in 1677 by John Lane, who endowed them with property now producing £23 per annum. There are several other almshouses, and various benefactions, amounting to a considerable sum annually. The poor-law union comprises 33 parishes or places, containing a population of 34,150. The learned William Alley, Bishop of Exeter, and one of the translators of the Bible; and Charles Butler, author of a Treatise on Rhetoric, and other works, were natives of the town. Dr. Gumble, who wrote the Life of Monk, and is supposed to have assisted that general in effecting the restoration of Charles II., was vicar. Wycombe gives the titles of Earl and Baron to the Marquess of Lansdowne, the former created in 1784, and the latter in 1760.

Wycombe, West (St. Lawrence)

WYCOMBE, WEST (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Desborough, county of Buckingham, 2½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Wycombe; containing 2002 inhabitants, many of whom are employed in lace-making and the manufacture of chairs. The parish comprises by measurement 6356 acres, of which 4285 are arable, 441 meadow and pasture, 1048 woodland, and 582 common. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 9. 7.; net income, £250; patron and impropriator, Sir J. Dashwood King, Bart. The church, which is surrounded by an ancient intrenchment, was erected in 1763, at the expense of Lord le Despenser, and is an elegant structure in the Grecian style, with a profusion of Mosaic work, and some handsome monuments. In an adjoining mausoleum is a monument of considerable beauty to the memory of Sarah, Baroness le Despenser, with many memorials of the Dashwood family and others: within one of its recesses was deposited, in 1775, an urn inclosing the heart of Paul Whitehead, the poet, which he had bequeathed to Lord le Despenser. The church occupies an eminence finely clothed with woods, emerging from which the tower and the mausoleum form objects strikingly picturesque. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. In the neighbourhood is an ancient camp, doubly intrenched, called Desborough Castle, which gives name to the hundred; vestiges of buildings, together with stone windowframes similar to those of a church, have been discovered on its site.

Wyddiall (St. Giles)

WYDDIALL (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Buntingford, hundred of Edwinstree, county of Hertford, 1½ mile (N. E.) from Buntingford; containing 248 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16, and in the patronage of C. Ellis Heaton, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £326, and there is a glebe of 15 acres. The church has an embattled tower at the west end; it contains several monuments, and on the north side of the chancel is a chapel, in which are some remains of fine stained glass, representing the Crucifixion.

Wye (St. Martin and St. Gregory)

WYE (St. Martin and St. Gregory), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of East Ashford, hundred of Wye, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 56 miles (E. S. E.) from London; containing 1648 inhabitants. This place is of great antiquity, and was once of considerable importance. It was the head of a royal manor having extensive jurisdiction, and formed part of the demesne lands of the Saxon kings prior to the Conquest, when, with all its appendages, liberties, and royal customs, it was granted to the abbey of Battle, in Sussex, with which it continued till the Dissolution. The parish comprises 7282 acres, whereof 202 are in wood. The town, which at present is little more than a considerable village, is pleasantly situated near the right or eastern bank of the river Stour, over which is a stone bridge of five arches, built in 1638. The houses are neatly built, principally round a green, and in two parallel and two cross streets: a little above the bridge is a corn-mill. Here is a station of the Ashford and Canterbury portion of the South-Eastern railway, 5 miles distant from Ashford, and 9 from Canterbury. Fairs are held on May 29th and October 11th.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £101; patron, the Earl of Winchilsea: the tithes have been commuted for £639 payable to the earl, and £680 to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church was rebuilt by John Kemp, a native of the parish, who was first preferred to the bishopric of Rochester, and, having successively presided over several other sees, was lastly translated to the archbishopric of Canterbury and made cardinal. In 1447, he founded a college here for a master, or provost, and Secular canons, dedicated to St. Gregory and St. Martin, and the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, was valued at £93. 2. The church was a beautiful cruciform structure, with a central tower surmounted by a spire, and had all the usual parts of a large collegiate church. The spire was injured by lightning in 1572, and, having been restored, fell in 1686, and destroyed a portion of the east end of the church, together with all the monuments in the chancel, among which was the tomb of the father and mother of the founder: the east end was partly rebuilt in 1701. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The free grammar school, which is endowed with £10 a year, was founded by grant from Charles I. of the rectories of BoughtonAluph, Beuset, and Newington, and other premises; and, having fallen into decay, was revived in 1832. An exhibition of £10 per annum to Lincoln College, Oxford, was attached to the establishment by Sir George Wheeler, in 1723, which was augmented to £20, in 1759, by his son, the Rev. Granville Wheeler. A free school for children of both sexes was founded in 1708 by Lady Joanna Thornhill, who assigned to it an endowment now worth £193. 10. a year. In 1723, Sir George Wheeler devised the ancient collegiate buildings for the respective residences and schools of the master of the grammar school and the master and mistress under Lady Thornhill's charity; these establishments, therefore, now occupy the college green, the former the south, and the latter the north, side. Dr. Plot, the celebrated antiquary and naturalist, received his early education at Wye College. An almshouse for six persons was founded by Sir Thomas Kemp.

Olantigh, in the parish, was formerly the seat of the family of Kemp, and is supposed to have been the birthplace of Archbishop Kemp, and also of his nephew, Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London. It passed from the Kemps to the Thornhills, and from them to the family of Sawbridge. Alderman Sawbridge, who was buried in the church, and his sister, Mrs. Catherine Macauley Graham, author of a History of England, were born here. Several years since, in making a sunk fence on the grounds of Olantigh, two human skeletons were discovered on the side of a large tumulus, together with several small pieces of iron, two of which appear to have been spear-heads. Withersdane, a hamlet in the parish, was anciently celebrated on account of a holy well, consecrated by St. Eustace.

Wyersdale, Nether

WYERSDALE, NETHER, a township, in the parish and union of Garstang, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Garstang; containing 762 inhabitants. In the 12th century, Wyersdale was part of the possessions of the Lancasters: in the reign of Philip and Mary, John Rigmayden held the manor; and in 1605 it was held by the Gerards, of Bromley. The property afterwards passed to the family of the present Duke of Hamilton. The ancestors of the late John Fenton Cawthorne, Esq., M. P. for Lancaster, are said to have held a portion of Wyersdale for six or seven hundred years; and George III. once contemplated the revival of the barony of Wyersdale in the person of Mr. Cawthorne, whom he intended to create lord Wyersdale. The township comprises 6349 acres, and forms a very mountainous district. The scenery on the banks of the Wyre or Wyer, as the river flows along the valley, being varied by hills and ridges skirted with wood, is both bold and beautiful. Cotton and worsted spinning affords employment to the villagers of Scorton and Dolphinholme. Wyreside, an elegant mansion, has long been the residence of the Cawthorne family. Here is also the seat of Robert Garnett, Esq. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. —See Scorton.

Wyersdale, Over

WYERSDALE, OVER, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Lancaster, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 6 miles (N. N. E.) from Garstang; containing 679 inhabitants. This is part of the ancient forest of Lancaster; and at the Conquest is supposed to have been divided into twelve portions, and to have been given to twelve soldiers as a reward for their services. It is difficult to distinguish it in ancient records from Nether Wyersdale, in Amounderness; what is said of that township, so far as respects the descent of property, will in a great measure apply to Over Wyersdale. The district comprises about 16,600 acres, the greater portion of which is meadow and pasture; part of it is mountain, from which the most extensive views are obtained. The river Wyre or Wyer takes its rise from the mountain dells here. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £135; patron, the Vicar of Lancaster. The present chapel was erected in 1843, at a cost of £1000, and is a neat structure. William Cawthorne, in 1683, gave a school-house, with a messuage, some land, and a rent-charge of £15, for which 30 boys are instructed; and another school has an allowance of £20 per annum from the Society of Friends. A colony of Cistercian monks from Furness settled here, at Abbeystead, for a short time, before the year 1188, when they removed to Ireland, and founded Wythney Abbey.

Wyesham

WYESHAM, a hamlet, in the parish of Dixton, Lower division of the hundred of Skenfreth, union and county of Monmouth; with 430 inhabitants.

Wyfordby, or Wyverby (St. Mary)

WYFORDBY, or Wyverby (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Melton-Mowbray, hundred of Framland, N. division of the county of Leicester, 3 miles (E.) from Melton-Mowbray; containing, with the chapelry of Brentingby, 129 inhabitants, of whom 75 are in the township of Wyfordby. This place, at the Conquest, was granted to Roger de Bussy, Baron of Tickhill, in the county of York. From that noble it went to the Mowbray family, and after passing into other hands, became the property of the Hartopps, whose descendant, Sir Edmund C. Hartopp, Bart., is the present lord. The parish is situated on the river Eye, and comprises by measurement 800 acres; the soil is clayey, the surface in general hilly, and the meadows are of a very rich quality. The Oakham and Melton canal passes through. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6; net income, £137; patron, Sir E. C. Hartopp. The church is a very ancient structure.

Wyham (All Saints)

WYHAM (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Louth, wapentake of Ludborough, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 7¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Louth; containing 115 inhabitants. This parish comprises, with the hamlet of Cadeby, about 1400 acres; the surface is elevated, and commands a fine view of the German Ocean and the country adjacent. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £8; net income, £195; patron, J. F. Heneage, Esq. The church is an ancient structure, and appears to have been originally of larger dimensions.