Woodchester - Woodgreen

Woodchester (St. Mary)

WOODCHESTER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Stroud, hundred of Longtree, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 2½ miles (S. W.) from Stroud; containing 908 inhabitants. This place is supposed to derive its name from its occupying the site of a Roman station, which appears to have been the residence of the propraetor, or perhaps of the Emperor Adrian. Among the antiquities that have been found are, foundations and ruins of buildings, fragments of statues, stags' horns, glass, pottery, coins of the Lower Empire, a coin of Adrian, one of Lucilla, and a noble tessellated pavement, of which an engraving was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries by Samuel Lysons, Esq., F.S.A., who published an elaborate account of these relics in 1797. The village is on an eminence forming part of a range of hills which inclose a beautiful and fertile vale. Spring Park, in the parish, is a splendid residence finely situated, and combining a variety of picturesque scenery; and the Priory, an old mansion near the church, also forms a pleasing object in the landscape. The manufacture of woollen-cloths is carried on extensively; in the neighbourhood of the village not less than eight mills are in constant operation. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10, and in the gift of Lord Ducie: the tithes have been commuted for £265; there is a parsonage-house, and the glebe comprises 30 acres. The church contains a fine monument to the memory of Sir George Huntley. Here is a place of worship for Baptists. Robert Bridges, in 1722, bequeathed £500, of which the produce, £50 per annum, is appropriated to the clothing and apprenticing of boys.

Woodchurch (Holy Cross)

WOODCHURCH (Holy Cross), a parish, in the union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Wirrall, S. division of Cheshire; containing, in 1841, with the townships of Arrowe, Barnston, Landican, Noctorum, Oxton, Pensby, Prenton, Thingwall, and part of Irby, 1409 inhabitants, of whom 114 were in Woodchurch township, 4½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Birkenhead. This parish comprises 5526 acres, and, like many others in the hundred of Wirrall, probably abounded with oaktrees, though at present there is but little of that species of timber in the neighbourhood. The name appears to be descriptive of the situation of the church either in, or contiguous to, a wood. The church is a highly interesting Norman edifice, consisting of a nave, chancel, and an aisle on the south side, with a handsome embattled tower. The porch and aisle were rebuilt in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII.; and in 1844 the church was restored to its original style by the rector, the Rev. Joshua King, M.A., at his own expense. The east and west windows are of richly painted glass, brought from one of the monasteries suppressed at the French revolution. At the east end of the south aisle is an ornamental window commemorative of the death of Mrs. George King, and one of her sons who died on the passage out to Bombay. The pews and other wood-work are of split oak, terminating in poppy-heads curiously carved and of great antiquity; the font is almost unique, of exquisite design, and emblematically sculptured. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £25. 9. 2.; patron, the Rector, in whose family the advowson has been for some centuries: the tithes have been commuted for £950. 19., exclusive of the glebe and Easterofferings. William Gleave, alderman of London, in 1665 left £500 for the erection and endowment of a free school, of which the master has an income of £57. 15. per annum; and there are several charitable bequests, the interest of which is distributed in bread to the poor. Two trusts for providing cows for poor parishioners, are productive of incalculable benefit: the number of cows at present is 55.—See Oxton, &c.

Woodchurch (All Saints)

WOODCHURCH (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Tenterden, hundred of Blackbourne, Lower division of the lathe of Scray, W. division of Kent, 4 miles (E. by N.) from Tenterden; containing 1278 inhabitants. It comprises 6949 acres, of which 670 are in wood. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, valued in the king's books at £26. 13. 4.: the tithes have been commuted for £682, and the glebe comprises 15 acres. The church is partly in the early and partly in the later English style, with a tower surmounted by a spire, and contains numerous ancient monuments. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.

Woodcombe

WOODCOMBE, a hamlet, in the parish of Minehead, union of Williton, hundred of Carhampton, W. division of Somerset; with 96 inhabitants.

Woodcot

WOODCOT, a township, in the parish of Wrenbury, union and hundred of Nantwich, Southern division of the county of Chester, 4 miles (S. W. by W.) from Nantwich: containing 56 inhabitants, and comprising 153 acres of land. The tithes have been commuted for £18. 7. 10. per annum.

Woodcote

WOODCOTE, a liberty, in the parish of South Stoke, union of Wallingford, hundred of Dorchester, county of Oxford, 5½ miles (S. S. E.) from Wallingford; containing 502 inhabitants. Here is a chapel dedicated to St. Leonard. Mrs. Susannah Newman, in the year 1715, devised a messuage called Gastons, and several parcels of land comprising about 22 acres, for the support of a school; the master resides in the house, and receives about £10 per annum.

Woodcote

WOODCOTE, a chapelry, in the parish of SheriffHales, union of Newport, Newport division of the hundred of South Bradford, Northern division of Salop, 3 miles (S. E. by S.) from Newport; containing 140 inhabitants.

Woodcots

WOODCOTS, a tything, in the parish of Handley, union of Wimborne and Cranborne, hundred of Sixpenny-Handley, Wimborne division of the county of Dorset; containing 215 inhabitants.

Woodcott

WOODCOTT, a parish, in the poor-law union of Kingsclere, hundred of Pastrow, Kingsclere and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 5 miles (N. N. W.) from Whitchurch; containing 100 inhabitants. The living is a donative; net income, £20; patron, the Earl of Carnarvon.

Wood-Dalling (St. Andrew)

WOOD-DALLING (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Aylsham, hundred of Eynsford, E. division of Norfolk, 3 miles (N. by W.) from Reepham; containing 560 inhabitants. It comprises 2444a. 1r. 11p., of which 1571 acres are arable, 658 pasture and meadow, and 12 woodland. The Hall, now a respectable farmhouse, was built in 1582 by a member of the Dalling family, which during a long period held the estate. The living is a discharged vicarage, annexed to the rectory of Swannington, and valued in the king's books at £8. 8. 4.: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £436, and the vicarial for £38. 9.; the impropriate and vicarial glebes contain respectively 112 and 56 acres. The church comprises portions in the early, decorated, and later English styles, with a lofty embattled tower, and contains several memorials to members of the Bulwer family. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a place of worship.

Wood-Ditton, county of Cambridge.—See Ditton, Wood.

WOOD-DITTON, county of Cambridge.—See Ditton, Wood.—And other places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Wood-Eaton (Holy Rood)

WOOD-EATON (Holy Rood), a parish, in the union of Headington, hundred of Bullingdon, county of Oxford, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Oxford; containing 62 inhabitants. It comprises 627a. 1r. 12p., of which 315 acres are pasture, 275 arable, and 34 wood. Here are some good stone-quarries. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 0. 10., and in the gift of J. Weyland, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £149; there is a parsonage-house, and the glebe comprises 10 acres. John Collins, a distinguished mathematician, was born here in 1624.

Wooden

WOODEN, a township, in the parish of Lesbury, poor-law union of Alnwick, E. division of Coquetdale ward, N. division of Northumberland, 4½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Alnwick; containing 28 inhabitants. The village is a short distance from the coast of Alnmouth bay, and about a mile south of Lesbury.

Woodend

WOODEND, a hamlet, in the parish of Blakesley, union of Towcester, hundred of Green's-Norton, Southern division of the county of Northampton, 5½ miles (W. by N.) from Towcester; containing 272 inhabitants, and comprising 1659 acres.

Woodford

WOODFORD, a township, in the parish of Prestbury, union and hundred of Macclesfield, N. division of the county of Chester, 6 miles (S. by W.) from Stockport; containing 564 inhabitants. It comprises 1210 acres, the soil of which is clay, with peat.

Woodford (St. Mary)

WOODFORD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Ham, hundred of Beacontree, S. division of Essex, 8 miles (N. E. by N.) from London; containing 2777 inhabitants. This parish, so called from an ancient ford, where is now Woodford Bridge, is about three miles in length and two in breadth, comprising 1752 acres of fertile land, principally in meadow and pasture; 396 acres are common or waste. Woodford-Bridge is a beautiful village, situated on the confines of Epping Forest, on the road from London to Newmarket; the houses are in general detached, and irregularly arranged on the undulated declivities of a rising ground, skirted at the bottom by the river Roden, finely interspersed with trees, and disclosing at intervals mansions of a superior character, which are mostly occupied by wealthy merchants. In different parts of the parish are extensive views into Kent. A nearer communication with the metropolis has been opened by the construction of a road from the highest part of the village, near the Castle inn, through the forest into the Lea Bridge road.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 12. 1., and in the gift of the Earl of Mornington: the tithes have commuted for £670, and the glebe comprises 15 acres. The church, erected on the site of a former edifice, in 1817, at an expense of nearly £9000, defrayed partly by subscription and partly by a rate, is situated in the lowest part of the village, on the west side of the London road. It is an elegant edifice in the ancient English style, with a square embattled tower. The aisles are separated from the nave by pointed arches carried up to the roof, which is of open wood-work, and surmounted in the centre by an octangular lanterntower; the east window is of stained glass, and divided into three compartments, containing figures of Our Saviour, the Four Evangelists, St. Peter, and St. Paul: there are some good monuments. In the churchyard is a splendid Corinthian column of marble, about forty feet in height, erected to the memory of the Godfrey family, which flourished many years in Kent; also a tomb with a column entirely covered with ivy, of picturesque appearance; and a remarkably fine old yew-tree. An episcopal chapel has been built; and there are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. At Woodford Wells is a mineral spring.

Woodford (All Saints)

WOODFORD (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Daventry, hundred of Chipping-Warden, S. division of the county of Northampton, 7½ miles (S. S. W.) from Daventry; containing, with the hamlets of West Farndon and Hinton, 846 inhabitants. This parish is sometimes called Woodford-Halse, from the manor of Halse, of which it is a member, and Woodford cum membris, from the two attached hamlets. It comprises 2654a. 3r. 33p., whereof about 1050 acres are in Woodford proper, which was inclosed in 1758; 580 acres in Farndon, inclosed in 1759; and about 880 in Hinton. About half the land is in tillage, and scarcely any wood now remains. The soil and subsoil vary considerably: on the hills are found limestone and red-sandstone; in the valley, clay, and a coarse stone belonging to the inferior oolite; and the knoll on which the village stands, is composed of gravel. Among the principal proprietors are, Sir Henry E. L. Dryden, Bart., Sir Charles Knightley, Bart., George Hitchcock, Esq., and Miss Carter. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the gift of the Crown, valued in the king's books at £6. 10., and returned under the 5th of Anne at £40. The commissioners of the inclosure allotted 228a. 2r. 10p. to Sir John Dryden, in lieu of his moiety of the impropriate tithes, the glebe, and open-field land, and his descendant pays half the expense of keeping the chancel in repair; the land allotted in lieu of the other moiety is in the possession of Mr. Hitchcock. There are 137 acres of vicarial glebe, a corn-rent of £50 clear, and a parsonage-house. The church is ancient. The Moravians have a place of worship, with a house for the minister attached. Various small sums arising from bequests are appropriated to the poor. Fossils are found in the limestone and clay, in the parish.

Woodford (St. Mary)

WOODFORD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Thrapston, hundred of Huxloe, N. division of the county of Northampton, 2 miles (S. W. by W.) from Thrapston; containing 680 inhabitants. It comprises 2148a. 1r. 2p., of which three-fifths are arable, and the rest pasture. The village occupies rising ground on the northern bank of the river Nene; about half the population is employed in making shoes. The Peterborough railway, and the road from Thrapston to Wellingborough and Northampton, pass through the parish. The living is a rectory in united medieties, valued jointly in the king's books at £22. 9. 7.; net income, £497; patron, Lord St. John. The tithes were commuted for land in 1760; the glebe altogether contains 360 acres, and there are two glebe-houses, one of which, built in 1818, is occupied by the rector. The church is supposed to have been erected about the 13th or 14th century; it has a spire. In the neighbourhood are three tumuli, near which have been found Roman tiles, fragments of tessellated pavement, an urn, and two small coins of the Lower Empire.

Woodford (All Saints)

WOODFORD (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Amesbury, hundred of Underditch, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 4¼ miles (N. N. W.) from Salisbury; containing 489 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the east by the river Avon, and comprises by computation about 3000 acres, the soil of which is a light loam. Here was a palace of the bishops of Salisbury, but no traces of it are now visible. Charles II., after the battle of Worcester, was concealed in Heale House, in the parish, at that time the residence of the Hyde family. The living is a vicarage, consolidated with the living of Wilsford, and valued in the king's books at £13. 10.: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £640, and the vicarial for £180. The church was taken down, with the exception of the tower, and a new edifice built, which was consecrated in Oct. 1845: it is a cruciform structure, in the early English style.

Woodford-Grange

WOODFORD-GRANGE, an extra-parochial liberty, in the S. division of the hundred of Seisdon and of the county of Stafford; containing 14 inhabitants, and comprising 345 acres of land.

Woodgarston

WOODGARSTON, a tything, in the parish of Monk's-Sherborne, union of Basingstoke, hundred of Chuteley, Basingstoke and Northern divisions of the county of Southampton, 4¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Basingstoke; containing 111 inhabitants.

Woodgreen

WOODGREEN, an extra-parochial liberty, in the union of Ringwood, N. division of the hundred of NewForest, Ringwood and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 3 miles (N. E. by E.) from Fordingbridge; containing 400 inhabitants.