Brinkley - Broadgreen

Brinkley (St. Mary)

BRINKLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newmarket, hundred of Radfield, county of Cambridge, 5½ miles (S. by W.) from Newmarket; containing 366 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8.; net income, £241; patrons, the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge: land and a money payment were assigned in 1811, in lieu of tithes. The parish is entitled to the fifth part of an estate at Oakington, producing in the whole £100 per annum, given by Mrs. Elizabeth March, in 1729; it is paid to a master for the instruction of children.

Brinklow (St. John the Baptist)

BRINKLOW (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the Kirby division of the hundred of Knightlow, N. division of the county of Warwick, 6½ miles (E.) from Coventry, on the road to Market-Harborough; containing 793 inhabitants. This place derives its name from a large tumulus, on which stood the keep or watch-tower of a very ancient castle of uncertain erection, of which there are no remains. In the reign of John, Nicholas de Stuteville, lord of the manor, received the grant of a market to be held on Monday, and a fair on the festival of St. Margaret. The parish comprises 1393a. 3r. 22p.: about 150 acres are wood, and of the remainder, one-third is arable, and two-thirds pasture; the surface is level, and the soil a good strong loam. The labourers who work at Combe Field reside here, and the number of cottages is therefore considerable. The Oxford canal passes within a quarter of a mile of the parish; and the Roman fosse-way, on the line of which are some traces of an encampment, bounds it on the east. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17. 10., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £228. The church is built in the style which prevailed in the reign of Henry VII. There is a place of worship for Independents. The interest on £60 given by the Rev. W. Fairfax, in 1761, is applied to instruction; as is also the interest of £800 left in 1789 by William Edwards, after deducting £13. 19. for bread distributed to the poor.

Brinkworth (St. Michael)

BRINKWORTH (St. Michael), a parish, in the union and hundred of Malmesbury, Malmesbury and Kingswood, and N. divisions of Wilts, 4 miles (W. N. W.) from Wotton-Basset; containing, with the tything of Grittenham, 1694 inhabitants. It is intersected by the Great Western railway; and comprises 5450 acres, of which 4759 are pasture, 472 arable, and 219 woodland. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £23. 9. 2., and in the gift of Pembroke College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £735, and the glebe comprises 150 acres.

Brinnington

BRINNINGTON, a township, in the parish and union of Stockport, hundred of Macclesfield, N. division of the county of Chester, 2 miles (N. E. by N.) from Stockport; containing 5331 inhabitants, most of whom are employed in the cotton manufacture. The manor was the property of the De Masseys, and subsequently of the Stockports, who were succeeded by the Dukenfields, by whom the lands were held as early as 1327; it continued theirs until about the year 1770, when it passed to the Astley family, of whom it was purchased by James Harrison, Esq. The township comprises 750 acres, of a clayey soil; and contains Portwood, which see. The tithes have been commuted for £30.

Brinsley, or Brunsley

BRINSLEY, or Brunsley, a hamlet, in the parish of Greasley, union of Basford, S. division of the wapentake of Broxtow, N. division of the county of Nottingham, 2 miles (N. N. W.) from Greasley; containing 1139 inhabitants. It comprises 888 acres of land, mostly the property of the Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of Mexborough. In this vicinity are extensive collieries, and near the village is a large coal-wharf on the Nottingham and Cromford canal. A neat chapel of ease was built in 1838, at a cost of about £1200, raised by subscription, aided by £200 from the Church Building Society; the Duke of Portland gave £100, and the land, and stone. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Brinsop (St. George)

BRINSOP (St. George), a parish, in the union of Weobley, hundred of Grimsworth, county of Hereford, 5½ miles (N. W.) from Hereford; containing 116 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 1334 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Hereford: the great tithes have been commuted at £170, and the small at £104; the glebe comprises 190 acres, and a vicarage-house has recently been built. The church is partly of Norman architecture; it has a window of painted glass of great antiquity.

Brinsworth

BRINSWORTH, a township, in the parish and union of Rotherham, S. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 2¼ miles (S. S. W.) from Rotherham; containing 241 inhabitants. It includes the hamlet of Ickles, and comprises by computation 1050 acres. During the late war, the common, now inclosed, was the scene of frequent military evolutions of the Sheffield volunteers.

Brinton (St. Andrew)

BRINTON (St. Andrew), a parish, in the hundred of Holt, W. division of Norfolk, 2½ miles (W. S. W.) from Holt; containing 193 inhabitants. It comprises 712a. 3r. 24p., of which 474 acres are arable, 124 pasture and meadow, and 17 woodland; the village is picturesquely situated. The living is a discharged rectory, annexed to that of Thornage, and rated in the king's books at £8. 11. 4.: the tithes have been commuted for £170, and there are 20 acres of glebe. The church is in the later style, and consists of a nave and north aisle, with a square tower.

Briscoe, or Birksceugh

BRISCOE, or Birksceugh, a township, in that part of the parish of St. Cuthbert, Carlisle, which is in Cumberland ward, union of Carlisle, E. division of Cumberland, 3½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Carlisle; containing 303 inhabitants. There are two establishments for printing calico on the banks of the river Petterill, in the township. The first wheat that grew in the county was produced here, about the year 1700.

Brisley (St. Bartholomew)

BRISLEY (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union of Mitford and Launditch, hundred of Launditch, W. division of Norfolk, 6 miles (N. W.) from East Dereham; containing 388 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1201a. 2r. 18p., of which 785 acres are arable, 188 meadow and pasture, and 197 common, roads, and gardens. Brisley Green is a fine piece of uninclosed ground of 150 acres, the favourite resort of cricketplayers. The living is a discharged rectory, with the vicarage of Gately annexed, valued in the king's books at £8. 7. 8½.; net income, £486; patrons, the Master and Fellows of Christ-Church College, Cambridge. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a lofty square embattled tower: in the chancel are three sedilia of stone and a piscina. Richard Taverner, who published in 1539 a new translation of the Bible, for which he was committed to the Tower by Henry VIII., was a native of the place.

Brislington (St. Luke)

BRISLINGTON (St. Luke), a parish, in the union and hundred of Keynsham, E. division of Somerset, 3 miles (S. E. by E.) from Bristol; containing 1338 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road between Bath and Bristol, and contains 2090 acres; it is bounded on the north-east by the river Avon, and intersected by the Great Western railway. Coal was formerly wrought; iron is found, and stone quarried for building. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £159; patron, E. W. L. Popham, Esq.; impropriators, the family of Langton. The church was enlarged in 1818 by 265 sittings: in the churchyard is a handsome cross. There is a place of worship for Independents. Brislington House, an asylum for lunatics, was erected by Edward Long Fox, M.D., who first introduced the classification of patients in such establishments, and was celebrated for the cure of mental diseases: the buildings comprise a spacious central edifice with detached wings, extending in front 495 feet; the estate is well planted, and consists of about 200 acres. A chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, was founded by one of the Lords de la Warre, in the northern part of the manor; but there are not any vestiges of it. A variety of Roman coins was found in an adjoining field. in 1829. Langton, who married the widow of Sir Thomas Cobb, of Langton Court, in the parish, and was the intimate friend of Addison, is said to have written many of the papers of the Spectator in a summer-house belonging to the mansion. The Rev. W. D. Conybeare, author of some well-known works on geology, was for some years curate and lecturer of the parish.

Bristol

BRISTOL, a city and county of itself, and a considerable port, situated near the mouth of the Bristol Channel, and between the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, into both of which the town extends, 34 miles (S. W. by S.) from Gloucester, 12 (N. W.) from Bath, and 118 (W.) from London; containing, in the old city, 64,266 inhabitants, exclusively of those in Clifton, Bedminster, and the outportions of the parishes of St. James, St. Paul, and St. Philip and St. Jacob, which form the suburbs, and which, if included, would increase the number to 122,034. This place, called by the Britons Caer Brito, and supposed to have been the Abona, or Trajectus, of Antonine, probably derives its name from the Saxon Brito stow. In 1063, Harold set sail from this port for the subjugation of Wales; and soon after the Conquest, his sons, attempting to overthrow the government of William, made an assault upon Bristol, but were defeated by the inhabitants. At that time an extensive traffic in English slaves was carried on here, which was abolished by William, at the intercession of Archbishop Lanfranc. In 1089, Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutance, taking part in a confederacy against William Rufus, for the purpose of raising the king's elder brother, Robert, to the throne, assembled his forces in the town, and fortified it with walls, portions of which still remain. In the struggle between Stephen and Matilda, the Earl of Gloucester, having taken possession of the city for the empress, rebuilt the castle, into which she retired on her escape from Arundel, at that time besieged by her opponent. Stephen, having been soon after made prisoner, was confined in this castle, and, by Matilda's order, loaded with chains, till he was released, after an imprisonment of nine weeks, by the capture of the earl, for whom he was exchanged. In 1142, Prince Henry, afterwards Henry II., being brought from Normandy on a visit to his mother, was placed at Bristol, under the protection of the Earl of Gloucester, where he remained for four years, and received part of his education. Edward I. kept the festival of Christmas, and held a council, here, in 1285. During the war between Edward II. and the barons, Henry de Willington and Harry de Mumford, who had been taken prisoners, were executed at Bristol, in 1322. Edward III., in 1353, removed the staple for wool from the several towns in Flanders to England, and, among other places, to this city, which, in consequence, rapidly grew into importance as a place of trade, and in 1373 was erected into a separate county, under the designation of the "City and County of the City of Bristol." In 1399, the Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV., besieged the city with a powerful army, and, on its surrender, sentenced the governor, Scroop, Earl of Wiltshire, Sir Henry Green, and Sir John Bushy, to be beheaded; in the same year, parliament exempted the place, by "land and water," from the jurisdiction of the lord high admiral.

In 1471, the Duke of Somerset, Earl of Devonshire, and other nobles in the interest of the house of Lancaster, entering into a confederacy against Edward IV., assembled their forces here, and were greatly assisted by the inhabitants (who were attached to the Lancastrian cause), in their attempts to replace Henry VI. upon the throne. Henry VII. visited Bristol in 1485, on which occasion the citizens, to evince the greater respect, appeared in their best apparel; but the king, thinking their wives too richly dressed for their station, imposed a fine of twenty shillings upon every citizen who was worth £20. During the civil war in the reign of Charles I. the city was garrisoned by the parliamentarians, who appointed Nathaniel Fiennes governor. The king, sensible of the importance of the place, endeavoured to gain possession of it by means of his partisans within the town; but their proceedings having been discovered, Alderman Yeomans and Mr. Bourchier were hanged as traitors, by order of the governor. In 1643, Prince Rupert closely invested the city, which surrendered on the third day; and the king, arriving soon after, remained for a short time, and attended divine service in the cathedral on the following Sunday. Bristol continued in the possession of the royalists for nearly two years; but, after sustaining a vigorous assault with incredible valour, the garrison capitulated to Fairfax, and Cromwell soon afterwards ordered the castle and the fortifications to be demolished. The city was the scene of a serious riot, in the autumn of 1831, during the progress of the Reform bill in parliament. It commenced by an attack upon the recorder, who was opposed to that measure, on his entrance into the city, prior to holding the quarter-sessions, on Saturday the 29th of October, and, owing to the want of energy on the part of the civil and military authorities, continued until the Monday following, during which period the gaols were broken open and burnt. The episcopal palace, mansion-house, and custom-house, were destroyed; and many private dwellings, particularly in Queen-square, were set on fire.

The city is pleasantly situated in a valley, near the confluence of the rivers Avon and Frome; the old town, which forms the nucleus of the present, consists of four principal streets, diverging at right angles from the centre, and intersected by smaller streets. The houses in the interior of the town are mostly ancient, being built of timber and plaster, with the upper stories projecting; but in the outer parts are spacious streets and squares, containing good houses, uniformly built of stone and brick. The town is well paved, lighted with gas, and supplied with excellent water from springs, and from public conduits, originally laid down by the monks, in convenient situations: an act for its better supply with water was passed in 1846. A handsome stone bridge of three wide arches over the Avon, which flows through the town, was completed in 1768, on the site of a former one, connecting the northern with the southern part; and over the river Frome is a swing bridge, admitting of the passage of ships. The theatre, said to have been admired by Garrick for its just proportions and arrangement, was built by Mr. Powell, in 1766; it is opened during the winter season, and has been the nursery of some of the best performers on the London stage. The City Library, in King-street, a handsome stone edifice beautifully ornamented with sculpture and literary emblems, contains a large collection of books and numerous manuscripts. The Philosophical Institution in Park-street, a neat building with a Grecian portico, contains reading-rooms, a theatre in which lectures are delivered, a laboratory, a philosophical apparatus, an extensive museum, and a room for the exhibition of paintings. The Statistical Society was instituted in Nov. 1836, soon after the meeting of the British Association; and the Academy of the Fine Arts, more recently. The Exchange, in Corn-street, erected about the year 1760, by the corporation, at an expense of more than £50,000, is a spacious and elegant structure, 110 feet in length, with a rustic basement; in the centre are handsome columns of the Corinthian order, forming the principal entrance, and supporting a pediment, in the tympanum of which are the king's arms: the edifice is principally used as a corn-market. The Commercial Rooms, erected in 1811, and having a portico of four pillars of the Ionic order, contain apartments for the despatch of business, and a reading-room; the principal hall is 60 feet in length, 40 feet wide, and 25 feet high. The Post-office is a neat building of freestone, to the west of the Exchange. A handsome structure called the Victoria Rooms, intended for public assemblies, was lately erected from the designs of Mr. Charles Dyer; it is situated near the top of Park-street, and is built entirely of Bath stone. The south front, which is the principal, has a noble octo-style Corinthian portico, recessed within the building as well as advanced forward; the grand hall is a noble apartment, 117 feet by 55, and 48 in height.

Bristol is represented by Malmsbury as having been, so early as the reign of Henry II., a "wealthy city, full of ships from Ireland, Norway, and every part of Europe, which brought to it great commerce." It carries on an extensive trade with the West Indies, North and South America, and the countries bordering on the Baltic and Mediterranean seas: the principal articles of importation are sugar, rum, coffee, tobacco, wine, corn, timber, tar, turpentine, &c.; those exported consist chiefly of the produce of the manufactories within the town and neighbourhood. It has also a great coasting-trade, and considerable intercourse with Ireland. Of late, a new and important feature in the commerce of the place was introduced, by the establishment of steam communication with North America: the large steam ship, the "Great Western," which sailed from the port on the 2nd June, 1838, was the first steamer which crossed the Atlantic by the power of steam only. In 1842, 336 British ships of the aggregate burthen of 63,227 tons, and 49 foreign ships of 9671 tons, entered the port. The total tonnage in that year was 403,627; and in 1845, 492,720.

A few years since, a considerable reduction was made by the corporation in the local dues; and the port was materially enlarged and improved, in 1803, by changing the course of the Avon, and damming up its old channel, to form an extensive floating-dock, communicating by means of reservoirs with the river and the quay; to which vessels have access at any time, and from which they may sail directly into the Bristol Channel. Over this new course of the Avon two handsome iron bridges were erected, and the entire work was completed, in 1809, at an expense of more than £600,000. An act has been lately obtained for building a bridge from the parish of St. Philip and St. Jacob, over the floatingharbour, to the parish of Temple. The quay, extending for more than a mile along the sides of the Avon and Frome, is accessible to ships of any burthen, and conveniently adapted for the despatch of business. In 1837, an act for removing and preventing encroachments, and for better regulating the shipping, quays, and markets, and for other purposes, was procured. Immediately behind the quay is a spacious square, part of which was burned in the riots during the agitation of the Reform bill; in the centre is an equestrian statue of William III. in the Roman costume. On the banks of the Avon, a little below the town, are several dock-yards, where ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent.

The principal articles of manufacture are brass, copper, zinc, patent-shot, lead, leather, floor-cloth, china, glass, glass-bottles, and glass ware of every kind (for which there are numerous furnaces), and the celebrated stone ware: the brass and copper works here are the most extensive in England, and the zinc is thought to be superior to that made at any other place. There are several sugar refineries, breweries, distilleries, and ironfoundries; for the supply of all which, abundance of coal is brought into the town from collieries in the neighbourhood. The construction of a railroad from Coal-Pit Heath, in the county of Gloucester, to Bristol, considerably reduced the price of coal. The terminus of the Great Western railway, from London to Bristol, which was opened June 30th, 1841, is situated at Temple Mead; the station-house and offices are raised on arches of rough stone, and some of the heaviest works on the line of this vast undertaking occur in the neighbourhood of the city. The Bristol and Exeter railway commences by a junction with the London line at Temple Mead. An extensive fire, which took place in April, 1841, at the terminus, destroyed property belonging to the Exeter company to the amount of several thousands of pounds. In 1845 an act was passed for a junction line of about half a mile, at Bristol, forming a better connexion between the Great Western and the Exeter lines; and there is also a railway to Gloucester and Birmingham, which commences at Temple Mead, and of which the Coal-Pit Heath line now forms part. An act was passed in 1846 for opening a railway and steamferry communication to the South Wales railway, in Monmouthshire, on the west bank of the Severn. The market-days are Tuesday and Friday, for corn, hay, and straw; Wednesday and Saturday, for general provisions, fish, cheese, and hides; and Thursday, for corn, cattle, and hides. There are several excellent market-houses, well supplied. The principal market-place forms a spacious quadrangle; one side is occupied by the back of the exchange, forming a rustic arcade, over which is a pediment ornamented with the city arms, and surmounted by a handsome turret. Fairs, each continuing eight days, on the two first of which there is a considerable show of cattle, are held on March 1st and September 1st. A spacious market-place for cattle has recently been erected by the corporation, and trustees of the church lands of St. Thomas', at an expense of £20,000; it occupies an area 400 feet square.

The earliest charter of incorporation is supposed to be that of Henry II.; many others were subsequently granted, the principal of which were by Henry III., Edward III., Henry VII., Elizabeth, Charles II., and Queen Anne. By the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76, the corporation now consists of a mayor, sixteen aldermen, and forty-eight councillors, and the city is divided into ten wards; a sheriff, recorder, and other officers required by the act, are also appointed, and the total number of magistrates is twenty-five. The elective franchise has been exercised since the 23rd of Edward I., two members being returned. The right of election was formerly vested in the freeholders and freemen at large, in number about five thousand; but, by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the nonresident freemen, except within seven miles of the city, were disfranchised, and the privilege was extended to the £10 householders of an enlarged district: the ancient boundary comprised about 784 acres, but the present embraces by estimation 4674. The sheriff is returning officer. A court of general sessions of the peace is held quarterly before the recorder, who is sole judge; prisoners charged with offences not cognizable at the sessions are removed for trial at the assizes for the county of Gloucester. A court of assize and nisi prius is held annually at the close of the summer assizes for the western circuit, at which the senior judge on that circuit presides. A court called the Tolzey court (from having been anciently held at the place where the king's tolls, or dues, were collected), is held by prescription every Monday under the sheriff, in his character of bailiff of the hundred, aided by a steward, who must be a barrister of three years' standing; its jurisdiction extends over the whole of the county of the city, and on the river down to the Flat and Steep Holmes, below Kingsroad, twenty miles from the city. It takes cognizance of all actions for debt, and other civil actions, to an unlimited amount, arising within the city; it also holds pleas of ejectment, and issues processes of attachment on the goods of foreigners sued for debt. A branch of this, similar in all its proceedings and jurisdiction, is the court of pie-poudre, held for fourteen days in the open air, in the Old market, commencing on the 30th of September; and during this period the proceedings in the Tolzey court are suspended. The powers of the county debt-court of Bristol, established in 1847, extend over Bristol, Clifton, Bedminster, and part of Keynsham. The court of bankruptcy, established in 1842, and held daily, embraces several counties. The guildhall lately pulled down to make way for a new edifice, was a very ancient building, decorated with the arms of Edward VI., those of George IV., and a statue of Charles II.; and contained, in the north wing, a small chapel dedicated to St. George, founded in the reign of Richard II., by William Spicer, mayor. The new guildhall is similar in style to the new Palace of Westminster, and was erected in 1845; the front is elaborately enriched, and ornamented in the centre by a handsome tower. The Council-house, for the transaction of civic affairs, is an elegant edifice of freestone, of the Ionic order, with a handsome portico and balustrade, and ornamented with a figure of Justice over the pediment. Merchants' Hall, Coopers' Hall, and others formerly belonging to trading companies, and many of them good buildings, are now appropriated to private uses. The common gaol comprises ten wards, with day-rooms and airing-yards, for the classification of prisoners. The house of correction was destroyed by fire, by the rioters, in 1831, except a few of the cells, which have been repaired. Lawford's Gate prison, without the city, is appropriated to that part of the suburbs lying in the county of Gloucester.

Bristol was separated from the diocese of Salisbury in 1542, and raised into a see, the jurisdiction of which extended over the county of the city, the county of Dorset, and a few parishes in the shire of Gloucester. By the act of the 6th and 7th of William IV., cap 77, the sees of Gloucester and Bristol have been united, and new limits assigned: Dorsetshire has been transferred to Salisbury. The establishment of Bristol consists of a dean, six (to be reduced to four) canons or prebendaries, four honorary canons, an archdeacon, a chancellor, four minor canons, a deacon, sub-deacon, and other officers: the Dean and Chapter possess the patronage of the minor canonries, and of thirty-three benefices. The Cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was the collegiate church of a priory of Black canons, founded by Robert Fitzharding in 1148, and raised into an abbey in the reign of Henry II., the revenue being at the Dissolution £767. 15. 3. It is a venerable and highly-finished cruciform structure, with a lofty square embattled tower rising from the centre, strengthened with buttresses and crowned with pinnacles; it contains portions in the early, decorated, and later English styles, in all of them exhibiting specimens of the purest design and most elaborate execution. The nave was destroyed during the parliamentary war: the roofs of the choir and transepts, all of equal height and finely groined, are supported on clustered columns, richly moulded; and the remaining parts, from the striking beauty of their details, afford evidence of the grandeur of the interior when entire. At the entrance into the choir is an empannelled screen, ornamented with carvings of the minor prophets; and in several small chapels of exquisite beauty are many interesting monuments, among which may be noticed those of Robert Fitzharding and several of the abbots and bishops; of Mrs. Draper, the eulogized Eliza of Sterne; Lady Hesketh, celebrated by Cowper; and the wife of the Rev. William Mason, with a beautiful epitaph written by that poet; there is also a bust of Southey. The chapter-house, a spacious edifice, highly enriched, in the latest style of Norman architecture, and part of the cloisters in the later English style, are still remaining; the entrance gateway, in the lower part Norman, and in the upper part later English, is in excellent preservation.

The city comprised within its ancient limits, the parishes of All Saints, St. Augustine, Christ-Church, St. Ewin or Owen, St. John the Baptist, St. Leonard, St. Mary-le-Port, St. Mary Redcliffe, St. Michael, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, St. Stephen, St. Thomas, and St. Werburgh, besides Temple parish or Holy Cross; part of the parishes of St. James, St. Paul, and St. Philip and St. Jacob; and the extra-parochial ward of Castle Precincts, which has no church, and is exempted from all ecclesiastical assessments. By the Municipal act the parish of Clifton, part of Westbury-upon-Trym, and those portions of the parish of St. Philip and St. Jacob, and of the united parishes of St. James and St. Paul, which were in the county of Gloucester, with part of the parish of Bedminster, in Somerset, have been comprehended within the county of the city of Bristol. The living of All Saints' is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 3. 4.; net income, £160; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Bristol. The church, to which a tower was added in 1716, is a very ancient structure; the interior is a fine specimen of the early English style, and contains a magnificent monument, by Rysbrack, to the memory of Edward Colston, an eminent philanthropist, and a great benefactor to the city. The living of St. Augustine's is a discharged vicarage, valued at £6; net income, £320; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter. The church, which was built about the year 1480, combines various portions in the early, with several in the later, English style. The living of Christ-Church parish is a discharged rectory, with that of St. Ewin's united, valued in the king's books at £11. 10.; net income, £390; patron, the Rev. J. Strickland. The church is a handsome modern edifice in the Grecian style, with a lofty tower of two stages, decorated with light columns and pilasters, and surmounted by an octangular turret and spire. The living of St. John the Baptist's is a discharged rectory, with which that of St. Lawrence's was consolidated in 1578, valued at £7. 4. 7.; net income, £150. The church is a handsome edifice, chiefly in the later English style; a gallery was erected in 1833 with 120 sittings. The living of St. Leonard's is a discharged vicarage, with that of St. Nicholas' united, valued at £12; net income, £253; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter. The living of the parish of St. Maryle-Port is a discharged rectory, valued at £7; net income, £150; patron, the Duke of Buckingham. The church is a very ancient structure, of early English architecture, with a square embattled tower crowned by pinnacles.

The living of St. Mary's Redcliffe is a perpetual curacy, with that of St. Thomas' united, and, with the living of Abbot's-Leigh, is annexed to the vicarage of Bedminster; it is valued in the king's books at £12. 6. 3. The church was founded in 1376, by Simon de Burton, mayor, and after the damage it sustained from a violent storm, in 1445, that blew down two-thirds of the spire, was extensively repaired by William Cannyngs. It is a spacious and magnificent cruciform structure, with a lofty and finely-proportioned tower at the west end, surmounted by the remaining part of the spire, which has not been rebuilt. The interior exhibits a continued series of the richest specimens, in every variety, from the early to the later style of English architecture; the proportions are grand, and the details exquisitely finished: but the beautiful east window has been blocked up with paintings from the pencil of Hogarth, and the organ, which has been removed to the west end of the nave, is supported by a heavy mass of modern masonry, by no means harmonising with the character of the building. The north porch, which is entirely in the decorated style, is exceedingly elegant; and the Lady chapel, now used as a schoolroom, is a fine specimen of the later style. In the church are two monuments to the memory of Cannyngs, one bearing his effigy in magisterial robes, surmounted by a canopy; the other representing him as Dean of Westbury, he having been promoted to that dignity on entering into holy orders towards the close of his life. This exquisitely beautiful structure, being built of soft porous stone, has been greatly impaired by time, and is now being restored in all the richness of its original details, which have mouldered into ruin: the first stone of the restorations was laid in April, 1846, by the mayor, in the presence of 15,000 persons. The remains of Sir William Penn, father of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, are deposited here.

The living of St. Michael's is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6; patrons, Trustees; net income, £372. The church is a neat structure, in the ancient English style, with a very old tower. The living of St. Nicholas' is a discharged vicarage, united to that of St. Leonard's, and valued at £21. 1. 1. The church is a plain modern edifice, of ancient English architecture; the interior forms a spacious area undivided by pillars: in the crypt is a handsome monument to the memory of Alderman John Whitson, who represented the city in four parliaments. The living of St. Peter's is a discharged rectory, valued at £6. 7. 6.; net income, £239. The church is a venerable structure, and though so frequently repaired as to leave little of the original building, still retains much of its character and interest: Richard Savage, whose talents and sufferings have excited so much admiration and sympathy, was interred in it. The living of St. Stephen's is a discharged rectory, valued at £16, and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £292. The church, founded in 1470, by John Shipward, mayor, is a very handsome structure in the later style of English architecture, with a lofty and beautiful tower crowned with light pierced battlements and turrets, and a porch the details of which are exquisitely rich. The living of Temple parish is a discharged vicarage, valued at £3. 4. 2.; net income, £387. The church, founded by the Knights Templars in 1145, is a spacious edifice, partaking of the late Norman and early English styles, with a fine tower, declining considerably from the perpendicular, disunited from the body of the church by the vibration caused by ringing the bells. The living of St. Thomas' is a perpetual curacy, united to that of St. Mary's Redcliffe, and with it annexed to the vicarage of Bedminster: the church, founded in the twelfth century, was rebuilt in 1793, and is a handsome structure in the later English style. The living of St. Werburgh's is a discharged rectory, valued at £10, and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £70. The church, founded in 1190, and, with the exception of the tower, which was added to it in 1385, rebuilt in 1761, is in the later style of English architecture; it is highly ornamented within, and contains a monument to the memory of Robert Thorne, founder of the grammar school. In this church, the Litany was first celebrated in English, in 1543.

The living of St. James' is a perpetual curacy; patrons, Trustees; net income, £551. The church, anciently collegiate, was made parochial in 1347, when the tower was added; the interior contains some fine portions in the Norman style, particularly a curious circular window: the edifice was restored in 1846. Robert, Earl of Gloucester, founder of the priory of St. James, to which the church belonged; and Eleonora, niece of King John, who is said to have been forty years confined in Bristol Castle; are supposed to lie interred in the church. The living of St. Paul's is a perpetual curacy; net income, £513. The living of the parish of St. Philip and St. Jacob is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £15, and in the gift of Trustees; net income, £440; impropriator, R. C. Blathwayte, Esq. The church, founded in the twelfth century, is a spacious and handsome structure in the early English style, with a lofty square embattled tower: 700 additional sittings have been lately provided.

St. Mark's, commonly called the mayor's chapel, in College-green, formerly collegiate, is a small edifice containing elegant specimens of the early, decorated, and later styles of English architecture, with a beautiful tower. The altar-piece, a few years since restored, contains some handsome niches in the later style, and fine tabernacle work; and to the east of the tower is a small chapel, now used for a vestry-room, with a ceiling of fan tracery of exquisite workmanship. There are several episcopal chapels, the principal of which are, Foster's, in Steep-street, and Colston's, on St. Michael's Hill. Trinity chapel, a neat building in the later English style, was erected at an expense of £8800, of which £6000 were granted by the Commissioners for Building New Churches: the living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £140, in the patronage of the Vicar of the parish of St. Philip and St. Jacob. St. George's church, in Great George-street, is a handsome structure, with a portico of the Doric order: the living is a vicarage, not in charge; net income, £285; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter. The church of St. Barnabas, near Ashley-place, in St. Paul's parish, was consecrated Sept. 1843, and is a plain edifice with a tower and spire, the whole erected at a cost of £2200: the living is a perpetual curacy in the gift of the Incumbent of St. Paul's, with a net income of £150. St. Luke's church, in the parish of St. Philip and St. Jacob, cost £2700, and was consecrated a few days after that of St. Barnabas: the living is a perpetual curacy in the gift of the Vicar. The same parish contains the churches of St. Simon and St. Jude, each of them a perpetual curacy, in the alternate patronage of the Crown and the Bishop, and each having a net income of £150. Part of St. Paul's parish, and part of that of Horfield, now form the district of St. Andrew Montpelier, for which a church was consecrated January 1845; the building is cruciform, of correct though plain design, and in the style which prevailed at the end of the 13th century: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £150; patron, the Bishop. A district named The Weir was formed in 1846, out of the parishes of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Philip and St. Jacob, and endowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon, Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, Moravians, Scotch Seceders, Swedenborgians, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics, besides two synagogues. An act for establishing a general cemetery was obtained in 1837.

The free grammar school was founded in 1532, by Robert Thorne, who bequeathed £1000 for the purpose. This sum, together with houses and land belonging to the dissolved hospital of St. Bartholomew, was appropriated to its erection and endowment, and various benefactions having since been made, the school now possesses 590 acres of land and some houses; it has several exhibitions, and two small fellowships at St. John's College, Oxford. The grammar school in Collegegreen is attached to the cathedral, and endowed with £40 per annum, for the instruction of the choristers by one of the minor canons. The free grammar and writing school in the parish of Redcliffe, was established by letters-patent granted in the 13th of Elizabeth, and endowed by Alderman Whitson and others, with annuities amounting to £21. Queen Elizabeth's hospital, founded in 1586 by John Carr, an opulent citizen, whose endowment of it, increased by subsequent benefactions, produces about £2400 per annum, is under the management of charity trustees: a new building for this hospital was erected in 1845, the front of which is 400 feet long; it stands on the side of Brandon hill, between Bristol and Clifton. The free school in St. Augustine's parish, called Colston's Hospital, was instituted in 1708, by Edward Colston, who endowed it for 100 boys: Chatterton was maintained for seven years in this school, and within that period is thought to have composed several of his poems. The free school in Temple parish was endowed with £80 per annum by Mr. Colston. The Merchants' Hall school, in St. Stephen's parish, was established in 1738, by Susannah Holworthy, and endowed by her and other benefactors; the Merchants' Society, in part of whose hall the school is held, pay a master £80 per annum. The school in Pile-street, for boys of the parishes of Redcliffe and St. Thomas, is supported partly by an endowment of £20 per annum, by Mr. Colston; the income is about £170. The Red Maids' school was founded in 1627, and endowed by Alderman Whitson, for girls: a building in the ancient collegiate style, has been erected for it on a more eligible site, from the designs of Mr. C. Dyer. There are also, a school in Temple parish, endowed with a permanent fund for girls; the Diocesan school, containing 240 boys and 120 girls; the Clergy Daughters' school, established in 1833; Ellbridge's school for girls, supported by endowment; and national and other schools opened in various parts of the city.

Trinity hospital, or almshouse, for ten aged men and thirty-six poor women, is of very ancient date; the endowment, increased by benefactions, produces £790 per annum, and the premises consist of two separate ranges of buildings, on opposite sides of Old Marketstreet, to one of which is attached a neat chapel. Foster's almshouses, in Steep-street, were founded and endowed, in 1492, by John Foster, merchant, for fourteen aged persons, whose revenue is at present about £330; they are built of stone, and have a small chapel annexed. Temple hospital was founded and endowed in 1613, by the Rev. Dr. White; its revenue amounts to upwards of £600, and the number of the inmates has been increased to 24: the premises consist of two parallel ranges of buildings, connected at one end by a wall, the area forming a garden. Two almshouses of stone, one in Temple-street, containing twelve tenements, and the other in the old market-place, containing sixteen, were founded in 1679, by Alderman Stevens; the endowment, consisting of 354 acres of land, produces £750 per annum. The Merchants' almshouses, in Kingstreet, were founded by John Welch and other mariners, in the 4th of Elizabeth; they are endowed with £1000, the bequest of Richard Jones, Esq., of Stowey, and comprise 31 tenements, occupied by nineteen seamen and twelve women. Colston's almshouses, on St. Michael's Hill, were founded and endowed in 1696, by Edward Colston, for twelve aged men and twelve aged women; the income is about £300. Mrs. Sarah Ridley, in 1716, founded an almshouse, which she endowed with £2200, for five bachelors and five maids; the endowment was augmented by Mr. John Jocham with £1000, and, with subsequent benefactions, produces £155 per annum. The almshouses in Milk-street were founded in 1722, by Mrs. Elizabeth Blanchard, who endowed them for five aged persons; the income is £95. The revenue arising from the various charitable endowments amounts to nearly £17,000 per annum. The Infirmary, the great medical and surgical school for the western counties, is conducted on a plan of truly beneficent liberality, and embraces every possible case of calamity or disease; it was opened for the reception of patients in 1786, and is nobly supported by donations and voluntary subscriptions. The building to which a new wing was added a few years since, at an expense of £10,000, is spacious and well arranged, and in an open and healthy situation. A new hospital and dispensary have been instituted in the populous parish of Bedminster, on the Somersetshire side of the city; and numerous other charitable and benevolent institutions are extensively patronized.

Of the ancient fortifications,—the tower gateway, a plain arch at the end of John-street, and St. John's gate, under the tower of St. John's church, decorated with statues and much ornamented, are all that now exist. There are partial remains of some of the numerous Religious Houses which once flourished in the city and its immediate vicinity, comprised in the buildings of the schools and charitable institutions established by the corporation and by individuals. Of these houses the principal were, a priory of Benedictine monks, to the north-east of the city, founded by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, in the latter part of the reign of Henry I., or the beginning of that of Stephen; a nunnery, to the north of the city, established in the time of Henry II., by Eva, widow of Robert Fitzharding, of which she was prioress, and the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, was £21. 11. 3.; St. John's hospital, on the road to Bath, instituted in the reign of King John, the revenue of which was £51. 10. 4.; St. Catherine's hospital, founded in the reign of Henry III., by Robert de Berkeley, and the revenue of which was £21. 15. 8.; St. Lawrence's hospital for lepers, established in the time of Henry III.; an hospital dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St. Mark, instituted in 1229, by Maurice de Gaunt, and the revenue of which was £140; a house of Black friars, by the same founder, who also erected a college of calendaries; a house of Grey friars, established in 1234; a house of White friars, instituted in 1267 by Edward I., when Prince of Wales; an establishment for Augustine friars, founded in the reign of Henry II., by Simon and William Montacute; and Trinity hospital, near Lawford's Gate, established by John Barstable in the time of Henry V. In excavating for the Great Western railway, about the beginning of June, 1839, a remarkably fine tusk of the mammoth was discovered, lying on a bed of new red sandstone, about seven feet below the surface, between the Bristol cottonworks and St. Philip's bridge; some very fine specimens of iron and lead ores were also found near the same spot.

The city is distinguished as the birthplace of many Eminent Characters, among whom may be noticed Sebastian Cabot, who first discovered the continent of North America, in 1498; Hugh Elliot, who discovered Newfoundland, in 1527; William Grocyn, Greek professor at Oxford in the beginning of the sixteenth century; Tobias Matthew, Archbishop of York; the Rev. Mr. Catcott, author of a treatise on the Deluge; Sir William Draper, who distinguished himself by his epistolary replies to the strictures of Junius; Admiral Sir William Penn; the Rev. John Lewis, author of the Life of Wycliffe, History of the Translations of the Bible, &c.; the poet Chatterton; Mrs. Mary Robinson, from the sweetness of her poetry called the British Sappho; Edward Colston, merchant, who died in 1721, and Richard Reynolds, one of the Society of Friends, and a proprietor of the iron-works at Colebrook-dale, both distinguished for their munificent charities; Thomas Edward Bowditch, the African traveller; Robert Southey; and Sir Thomas Lawrence, Bird, and several other artists of eminence. Bristol gives the titles of Earl and Marquess to the family of Hervey.

Briston (All Saints)

BRISTON (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Erpingham, hundred of Holt, W. division of Norfolk, 4 miles (S. S. W.) from Holt; containing 963 inhabitants. It comprises 2824a. 1r. 5p., of which about 2181 acres are arable, 242 meadow, pasture, and woodland, and 400 waste and common; the village, which is considerable, is situated near the springhead of the river Bure. A swine and sheep market is held every Tuesday, a cattle-fair on the 26th of May, and a wake on the day after Old Michaelmas-day. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 9. 9½., and in the gift of the Rev. Robert Bond: the impropriation belongs to Winton charity; the glebe contains 39½ acres. The church, which is in the decorated and later English styles, and consists of a nave and chancel, formerly had a north aisle, the arches, though now filled up, being still visible; the tower fell down in 1724. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists.

Britford, or Burford (St. Peter)

BRITFORD, or Burford (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Alderbury, hundred of Cawden and Cadworth, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 1½ mile (S. E. by S.) from Salisbury; containing, with the hamlets of East Harnham and Longford, 878 inhabitants. A stream in the parish was cut for a canal in the reign of Charles II., to form a line of communication with Christchurch, in the county of Southampton; but owing to the shifting of the sand, it was never completed. The manufacture of horse-hair is carried on to a limited extent; and a large fair for sheep is held on Aug. 12th. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13; net income, £281; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. The great tithes have been commuted for £700, and the glebe comprises 39 acres; the vicarial have been commuted for £350, and the glebe comprises one acre. The church, a spacious cruciform structure, with a central tower, contains a tomb considered by some to be that of the Duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded by Richard III.

Brittenton

BRITTENTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Standlake, union of Witney, hundred of Bampton, county of Oxford; containing 162 inhabitants.

Britwell

BRITWELL, a liberty, in the parish and hundred of Burnham, county of Buckingham, 4 miles (N. N. W.) from Eton; containing 94 inhabitants.

Britwell-Prior

BRITWELL-PRIOR, a chapelry, in the parish of Newington, union of Henley, hundred of Ewelme, county of Oxford, 6¼ miles (S. S. W.) from Tetsworth; containing 52 inhabitants. The mansion-house was formerly a nunnery, and subsequently belonged to the Weld family.

Britwell-Salome (St. Nicholas)

BRITWELL-SALOME (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Henley, hundred of Lewknor, county of Oxford, 5½ miles (S. by W.) from Tetsworth; containing 233 inhabitants. It comprises 726a. 3r. 26p., exclusively of ground occupied by a beech wood on the west side of Britwell Hill. An act for inclosing lands was passed in 1842. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 19. 2.; net income, including glebe, £200; patron, the Earl of Carrington. The lower Ikeneld-street passes under the hill.

Brixham (Virgin Mary)

BRIXHAM (Virgin Mary), a sea-port, markettown, and parish, in the union of Totnes, hundred of Haytor, Paignton and S. divisions of Devon, 27¾ miles (S.) from Exeter, and 198 (W. S. W.) from London; containing 5684 inhabitants. This town, at which William, Prince of Orange, landed on the 5th of November, 1688, is pleasantly situated near the southern extremity of Torbay, on the west side; and is irregularly built, though containing many good houses, several of which are on the cliffs above the harbour: a handsome column of granite has been erected on the spot where the prince landed. The inhabitants are amply supplied with water; the air is salubrious, the environs pleasant, and its vicinity to Torquay renders it desirable as a place of residence. During the late war, it was of some importance as a garrison town, the barracks, at Bury Head, being sufficiently spacious to accommodate several regiments; they are inclosed in two regular fortresses, which, with the ditches and drawbridges, remain in complete repair, though the barracks have been dismantled. The port is a member of that of Dartmouth, and carries on a considerable coasting-trade, in which 120 vessels, of from 60 to 150 tons' burthen, are employed; they are also engaged in the foreign fruit-trade during the season. The harbour, consisting of two basins, communicating with each other, is safe and commodious; the outer basin was formed by the erection of a second pier, which was begun in 1803, and completed in 1809, by subscription, under an act authorizing the lords of the manor to raise £6000 on security of the tolls. On the liquidation of the debt now due, it is in contemplation to erect another pier, on the eastern side of the harbour, towards Bury Head; in furtherance of which object, an act for improving the pier, harbour, and market, and for the formation of a breakwater, was obtained in 1837: vessels will then be enabled to ride in perfect safety during easterly winds, and Brixham will be a safe harbour for both homeward and outward bound ships. During spring-tides the water rises to the height of 24 feet at the pier-head. There are 105 vessels of from 20 to 45 tons' burthen, and 64 smaller boats, engaged in the fishing-trade, which is carried on to a considerable extent; the fish caught are chiefly turbot and soles, for the supply of the London, Bath, and Exeter markets. The trade of the town has derived some increase from being the rendezvous of ships of war, which here lay in their supply of water. There are some extensive quarries of marble in the vicinity. The marketdays are Tuesday and Saturday; a fair is held on WhitTuesday and two following days.

The parish is divided into Higher and Lower Brixham, and comprises 5213a. 3r. 12p., of which 777 acres are common or waste. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Churston-Ferrers annexed, valued in the king's books at £52. 15., and in the patronage of the Crown; impropriator, Miss Knollis; net income, £494, with a house. The church, situated in Higher Brixham, is an ancient structure, containing some interesting monuments, among which is the cenotaph of the late Judge Buller; it was enlarged in 1825. The church at Lower Brixham was erected about the year 1822, by the vicar, aided by a large subscription, and by a grant of £1200 from the Parliamentary Commissioners, and was made a district church by act of the 58th of George III.; it is a neat building in the English style, and contains 300 free sittings. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Crown; net income, £150. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans. At Higher Brixham is Lay Well, the water of which ebbs and flows about nine times in an hour; the variation is about an inch and a quarter. Bury Head is said to have been the site of a Roman fortress: several ancient coins, in excellent preservation, were found in the vicinity in 1830.

Brixton

BRIXTON, a parish, in the union of Plympton St. Mary, hundred of Plympton, Ermington and Plympton, and S. divisions of Devon, 5 miles (E.) from Plymouth; containing 823 inhabitants. This parish comprises 2838a. 33p.; and the road from Plymouth to Exeter, through Totnes, and that from Plymouth to Dartmouth, through Modbury and Kingsbridge, intersect the village. Quarries of slate and marble are wrought, the marble being used for building, for the making of lime, and for mending roads; coal and culm are imported, and agricultural produce and slate are exported, by means of the river Yealm, which forms the southern boundary of the parish. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £124; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor; impropriator, T. Splatt, Esq., whose tithes have been commuted for £642. The church is a remarkably neat structure, in the later English style, and is supposed to have been built about the close of the fifteenth century, with the exception of the chancel, which is part of a former chapel. Lewis Fortescue, a baron of the exchequer in the reign of Henry VIII., was born at Spriddleston; and Elizæus Heale, of the Inner Temple, in the reign of Elizabeth, who was called "Pious uses Heale," from his bequeathing £1500 per annum for charitable purposes, was born at Wollaton; both which places are in Brixton parish.

Brixton, or Brighstone (St. Mary)

BRIXTON, or Brighstone (St. Mary), a parish, in the liberty of West Medina, Isle of Wight incorporation and division of the county of Southampton, 7 miles (S. W. by W.) from Newport; containing 710 inhabitants. The village is pleasantly situated, commanding an extensive view of the British Channel; and in the neighbourhood are several of those chasms which form so distinguishing a feature in this part of the coast. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £30. 3. 4., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Winchester: the tithes have been commuted for £670. The church is of very primitive character, with a massive tower surmounted by a low spire of lead; the interior is neatly fitted up. The rectory-house is a pleasant residence, and the glebe comprises 5 acres. The Rev. Noel Digby, rector, conveyed in 1814 an estate in trust for the establishment of a school. The celebrated Bishop Ken was rector of the parish, as was also the present Bishop Wilberforce.

Brixton

BRIXTON, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish and union of Lambeth, E. division of the hundred of Brixton and of the county of Surrey, 4½ miles (S. S. W.) from London; containing 10,175 inhabitants. This is one of the most agreeable suburbs of the metropolis, and is divided into two parts, North Brixton and Brixton Hill. It consists principally of a line of road leading from Kennington to Streatham, upwards of two miles in length, on each side of which are ranges of neat and well-built houses, with others in detached situations surrounded by small shrubberies. Within its limits, also, is Tulse Hill, a gradual ascent from the church, declining a little towards the east, and returning near its greatest acclivity into the main road at Brixton Hill. On both sides are elegant villas and handsome cottages, the country residences of respectable families, commanding a fine view of the metropolis, and rich prospects over the adjacent country. Works on a very extensive scale have been formed for supplying the neighbourhood with water. On Brixton Hill stands the house of correction for the county, containing ten wards and ten day-rooms for the classification of prisoners; the treadmill, completed in 1821, was the first established.

The church, dedicated to St. Matthew, and consecrated in June, 1824, was erected pursuant to an act of parliament for dividing the extensive and populous parish of Lambeth into five districts, Brixton being one. It is in the Grecian style, with a handsome portico supported by four fluted columns of the Doric order at the west, and contains 1926 sittings, of which 1022 are free; the expense of its erection amounted to £15,192, and was defrayed by Her Majesty's Commissioners. The tower was struck down by lightning, April 24th, 1842. The living is a district incumbency; net income, £650; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. At Denmark Hill, in the district, is a chapel dedicated to St. Matthew. Holland Chapel, North Brixton, is a neat edifice, with a bell-turret; it was built in 1823, for Independents, but has for some years been an episcopal proprietary chapel. There are three places of worship for Independents, and one each for Wesleyans and Unitarians. The St. Ann's Society, for the maintenance, clothing, and education of children whose parents have been previously in more prosperous circumstances, was originally founded in 1709, and for nearly a century had only a day school in London for clothing and instructing thirty children of each sex from all parts of the kingdom. The first asylum which the society established was at Lavenham, in Suffolk, where twenty boys were admitted in 1794; this was subsequently removed to Peckham, in Surrey, and, in 1830, to the present building at Brixton Hill, erected for 150 children at an expense of £8000, of which £2500 were paid for the site. In 1838 the building was enlarged so as to admit 200 boys and 100 girls. It is a handsome edifice of brick, having a basement of stone, with a central piazza, from which rises a portico of four Ionic columns, supporting a triangular pediment, with a frieze and cornice continued round the building, which is also decorated at the angles with antæ of corresponding character; it occupies, with the grounds attached, more than two acres of freehold land. In Acre Lane is Trinity Asylum, for aged females, founded and endowed by Thomas Bayley, Esq., in 1824; the building comprises sixteen neat tenements. Mrs. Mary Bayley, his widow, has invested the sum of £2000 towards founding, in connexion with the above, an asylum for the education and maintenance of the orphans of gospel ministers and others. The Reform almshouses, erected from a fund raised by subscription, in commemoration of the passing of the Reform act, were intended to form three sides of a quadrangle: one range only, however, has been erected, containing 31 houses occupied by 60 tenants, behind each of which is an allotment of garden-ground.

Brixton-Deverill (St. Michael)

BRIXTON-DEVERILL (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Warminster, hundred of Heytesbury, Warminster and S. divisions of Wilts, 4½ miles (S.) from Warminster; containing 197 inhabitants. It comprises by admeasurement 2450 acres, which, with the exception of 50 of woodland, are chiefly arable; and the river Willy runs through the parish: the surface is hilly, and the soil clayey. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £19. 1. 0½., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Salisbury: the tithes have been commuted for £370, and there are 70½ acres of glebe. Alfred the Great is said to have slept here on the night before the battle of Westbury. Dr. Huntingford, late Bishop of Hereford, was for some time curate of the parish.

Brixworth (All Saints)

BRIXWORTH (All Saints), a parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Orlingbury, N. division of the county of Northampton, 6 miles (N.) from Northampton; containing 1050 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the west by a branch of the river Nene, and intersected by the road from Northampton to Harborough; it presents a moderately undulated surface, and consists of 2972 acres, of a very superior soil. The village, lying on the left of the road, is of some extent. A considerable portion of the female population are employed in making lace; and there are some stone-quarries and clay-pits. A chartered fair is held on June 5th, but it has dwindled into a sale only for earthenware and gingerbread. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 15. 10.; net income, £300; patron, the Chancellor in the Cathedral of Salisbury, as Prebendary of Brixworth. Land and a certain annual money payment were assigned in lieu of tithes, under an inclosure act, in 1780. The church is a remarkable edifice, of large dimensions, and of very remote antiquity, being partly Anglo-Roman or early Saxon, and partly Norman, with repeated alterations and insertions in the various styles of English architecture. The walls are mostly built with rough red ragstone, in pieces not much larger than common bricks; and all the arches are turned, and most of them covered, with courses of Roman bricks or tiles. The nave and lower part of the square tower are of Anglo-Roman or early Saxon architecture, exhibiting, since the removal of the plaster and whitewash, the Roman bricks, or tiles, in admirable preservation. The upper part of the tower, and the lofty steeple, the summit of which is about 140 feet from the ground, have been recently rebuilt; and attached to the western side of the square tower is a round Saxon tower, containing a winding flight of stone steps, leading to the upper story of the former. On inspecting the opening of a grave in the chancel, on the 4th of Feb. 1841, the Rev. Mr. Watkins, the vicar, discovered a portion of the original apse, which having been subsequently traced, the whole circuit of the original wall was found, together with an ancient floor of hardened cement, four feet below the floor of the present chancel. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A free school is endowed with a moiety of 22 acres of good land, the bequest of Thomas Roe, of Scaldwell, in 1665; and there are also schools supported by the dissenters. Divers plots of land have been assigned by unknown benefactors for charitable purposes, consisting of six acres for repairing the church, and thirteen for the benefit of the poor. The union of Brixworth comprises 33 parishes or places, under the superintendence of thirty-eight guardians, and contains a population of 14,330. It is thought that a monastery, or nunnery, anciently existed in the parish. Ammonites, belemnites, and terebratulæ are occasionally discovered in the marlstone beds here.

Broad Blunsdon.—See Blunsdon, Broad.

BROAD BLUNSDON.—See Blunsdon, Broad.— And other places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Broadbridge

BROADBRIDGE, a tything, in the parish of Bosham, union of West Bourne, hundred of Bosham, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex; containing 9 inhabitants.

Broad-Chalk (All Saints)

BROAD-CHALK (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Wilton, hundred of Chalk, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 5¾ miles (S. W. by S.) from Wilton; containing, with the tythings of Knighton and Stoke-Farthing, 775 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, with the vicarages of Alvediston and Bower-Chalk united, valued in the king's books at £27. 14.; net income, £336; patrons, the Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, the impropriators of the two vicarages. A portion of land was assigned in commutation of a modus on certain estates in this parish and in that of Chilmark, by a private act obtained in 1814. There are several vestiges of antiquity, the principal of which are, an encampment including nearly six acres, and a barrow called Gawen's barrow.

Broadfield

BROADFIELD, a parish, in the union of Buntingford, hundred of Odsey, county of Hertford, 3 miles (N. W. by W.) from Buntingford; containing 6 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, annexed to that of Cottered, and valued in the king's books at £10: the church is in ruins.

Broadfield

BROADFIELD, a tything, in the parish of Wrington, union of Axbridge, hundred of Brent with Wrington, E. division of Somerset; containing 575 inhabitants.

Broadgate, or Bradgate

BROADGATE, or Bradgate, an extra-parochial liberty, in the hundred of West Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 5 miles (N. W.) from Leicester; containing 7 inhabitants. Here are the ruins of a mansion once the property of the noble family of Grey of Groby, of which was the accomplished and unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, who was born here in 1537. The ruins are small, chiefly composed of brick, and exhibit no signs of architectural grandeur, the house having been a large but low building in the form of a square, and turreted at each corner; it was built in the early part of the 16th century, by Thomas, Lord Grey, second Marquess of Dorset. Situated on the verge of Charnwood forest, it combined the variety of rocky and mountainous scenery on one side, and a rich and fertilized plain on the other. The grounds of which the park is formed, are about six miles in circumference, and surrounded and intersected by walls; they are well stocked with deer, and an extensive rabbit-warren supplies the neighbouring town of Leicester. A small stream, abounding in trout, enters the park near the church of Newtown-Linford, and, working its way amidst the rock and wood with which this part of the demesne is overspread, adds materially to the romantic beauty of the scenery. The Earl of Stamford and Warrington is the proprietor of Broadgate, which consists of about 1200 acres.

Broadgreen

BROADGREEN, a hamlet, in the parish of Broadwas, union of Martley, Lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, Worcester and W. divisions of the county of Worcester; containing 113 inhabitants. It lies a short distance north of the road from Worcester to Bromyard, and half a mile north-east of the village of Broadwas.