Mabe - Maidstone

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Mabe (St. Mabe)

MABE (St. Mabe), a parish, in the union of Falmouth, E. division of the hundred of Kerrier, W. division of Cornwall, 4½ miles (W.) from Falmouth, on the road to Penryn; containing 594 inhabitants. It comprises 1963a. 7p., of which 770 acres are common, and the remainder arable and pasture. The substratum is principally granite of very excellent quality, of which considerable quantities are shipped at Penryn, and which was raised for the erection of Waterloo bridge over the Thames. The surface is generally elevated, and the scenery picturesque. The living is a vicarage not in charge, consolidated with that of Mylor: the tithes have been commuted for £139. The church is a very ancient structure in the early English style, with a lofty tower of granite, embattled, and crowned by pinnacles. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. At Hellind is an old cross.

Mablethorpe (St. Mary)

MABLETHORPE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Louth, Marsh division of the hundred of Calceworth, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 7 miles (N. E. by N.) from Alford; containing 261 inhabitants. This place is supposed to have obtained its name from the great number of maple-trees with which it formerly abounded, and the stumps of which are still to be seen at low water. The parish is bounded on the east by the ocean, and comprises by computation 2700 acres of good land. The air is remarkably salubrious; and from its excellent sands, which extend for miles along the beach, the village is resorted to from June to October by numerous visiters, for whose accommodation a spacious hotel has been opened at a short distance from the shore, containing every arrangement for sea-bathing, and also for warm sea-water baths. The living is a rectory, with that of Stane united, valued in the king's books at £17. 10. 2½.; net income, £1000; patron and incumbent, the Rev. Lovick Cooper.

Mablethorpe (St. Peter)

MABLETHORPE (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Louth, Marsh division of the hundred of Calceworth, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln; containing 62 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, united in 1745 to that of Theddlethorpe St. Helen, and valued in the king's books at £7. 10. 2.

Mabyn, St.

MABYN, ST., a parish, in the union of Bodmin, hundred of Trigg, E. division of Cornwall, 3¼ miles (E. by N.) from Wadebridge; containing 870 inhabitants. The parish comprehends some richly varied scenery, with a fine view of the river Camel, whose lofty banks are clothed with wood to their summit. A fair is held on Feb. 14th. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £36; net income, £712; patron, the Earl of Falmouth. The church is a handsome structure, with a lofty embattled tower crowned by pinnacles, and has been repaired and entirely repewed at the expense of the Rev. G. L. Gower. At Trevisquite and Colquite were formerly chapels. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The Rev. C. Peters, author of a dissertation on the Book of Job, was for some years rector.

Macclesfield

MACCLESFIELD, a market-town, parochial chapelry, and newly-enfranchised borough, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the parish of Prestbury, and hundred of Macclesfield, and the head of a union, in the N. division of the county of Chester, on the road from London to Manchester, 36 miles (E. by N.) from Chester, and 167 (N. W. by N.) from London; the township containing 24,137 inhabitants, of whom 11,192 are in the east, and 12,945 in the west, division. Previously to the Norman Conquest, this place constituted a portion of the demesne of the earls of Mercia, who held a court here for the ancient hundred of Hamestan; thus, in the record of Domesday, it is represented to have been one of the seats of Earl Edwin. At the time that survey was made, it was comprised within the earldom of Chester, of which it continued to form part until the abolition of the jurisdiction, when the hundred, manor, and forest of Macclesfield lapsed to the crown. The forest was anciently protected by the same laws, and entitled to the same rights, as other royal forests, and a few of the executive offices under these laws survive; the grand serjeantcy of the hundred, and the mastership of the forest, have long been hereditary in the family of Davenport, and the office of bailiff of the manor and forest is vested in the noble family of Cholmondeley. After the territory came to the crown, parcels of the forest were granted away at different times, and the whole is now under cultivation; the last portion of the common and waste land having been inclosed under an act obtained in 1796, when an allotment was assigned to the king as lord of the manor, which, with the mineral contents of the soil, has since been alienated.

An ecclesiastical council was held at Macclesfield in 1332, and another in 1362, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whilst the town continued to be the residence of the earls of Chester, it was surrounded by a rampart, or walled fence, which had three principal gates, viz., Back-wall gate, Church gate, and New gate; and part of the wall and doorway of one of the gates is still remaining. In 1508, Thomas Savage, a native of the town, who became successively Bishop of London and Archbishop of York, founded a college of secular priests, of which the chapel, once communicating with the church of St. Michael by a door now blocked up, still remains, as the sepulchral chapel of the family. During the great civil war in the 17th century, the town experienced much injury from the parliamentarians, by whom it was besieged and taken, and who retained possession of it, under Sir William Brereton, commander-in-chief of the republican forces of this county, after an obstinate attempt on the part of Sir Thomas Acton to gain it for the king. On a hill to the east are vestiges of an encampment constructed by the parliamentarians, from which, during the siege, the spire of St. Michael's church was battered by the cannon of the assailants. After the decapitation of Charles I., a council was held here, at which it was resolved to raise four regiments, of 700 men each, for the service of Charles II., who was then at the head of an army in Scotland. In 1745, a party of 100 cavalry seized the town for the Pretender, who, on the evening of the same day, arrived with 5000 men and his whole train of artillery: after passing the night here, he held a council of war, and the day following marched towards Derby; but being alarmed at the approach of the forces under the Duke of Cumberland, he fell back upon Macclesfield, to which place he was pursued by the duke, whom the inhabitants received with every demonstration of joy.

The town is pleasantly situated near the southern extremity of the forest. The greater part stands on the acclivity of an eminence rising gradually from the western bank of the river Bollin, which flows through the lower part, hence denominated "the Waters;" these parts are connected by two bridges of stone, and one of wood. The rapid increase of population has created a proportionate augmentation of the number of buildings, and an extension of the town in every direction within a short period. Many improvements have been made, under the provisions of an act obtained in 1814, by the introduction of police regulations, by widening the streets, and removing unsightly objects; the streets are well paved, and lighted with gas, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. A public subscription library, established for more than half a century, contains a valuable collection of works, and a commodious house has been taken for the accommodation of the subscribers, and fitted up with reading and other rooms. A public newsroom is supported; there are a neat theatre, and a handsome suite of assembly-rooms. Macclesfield is noted for the manufacture of silk, which is carried on in all its branches to a considerable extent; the first mill here was erected in 1756, since which period the trade has rapidly increased, and at present there are not less than 70 mills for throwing silk, which is here manufactured into handkerchiefs and broad silks, the weaving of these articles, with the manufacture of twist, sewing-silk, and buttons, being the principal source of trade. In 1823, there were 3000 looms in the town, and the number has now increased to about 10,000. The cotton manufacture was introduced about the same time, and has progressively increased; there are several large dye-houses, and other establishments connected with these branches of manufacture. In the neighbourhood are extensive mines of coal; also quarries of slate, and of stone of a superior quality for building, of which great quantities are sent to Stockport, Manchester, Staffordshire, and other parts of the country. A canal passes by the east side of the town, and joins the Peak-Forest canal at Marple. The Macclesfield branch of the Manchester and Birmingham railway, opened in November, 1845, diverges from the main line about three miles south of Stockport, and pursues a picturesque and tolerably direct course of nearly eleven miles to Macclesfield. In 1846, an act was passed for a railway from Macclesfield to Congleton and the potteries of Staffordshire; and another act was obtained in the same year, for a railway to Uttoxeter and Burtonon-Trent. The market is on Tuesday; a market for vegetables is held on Saturday: the fairs are on May 6th, June 22nd, July 11th, October 4th, and November 11th, for cattle, woollen-cloth, hardware, and toys.

Macclesfield, which was constituted a borough by Ranulph, third earl of Chester of that name, was first incorporated in the 45th of Henry III., by Edward, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, who conveyed additional privileges, but imposed the usual obligation of grinding at the king's mill, and baking at his oven; and various other charters were subsequently granted till that of Charles II., according to which the town was until recently governed. The corporation now consists of a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 36 councillors, under the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; and the borough is divided into six wards, including the townships of Sutton and Hurdsfield. The freedom is inherited by all the sons of a freeman, or acquired by servitude. The borough sends two representatives to parliament, the boundaries comprising 3145 acres; the mayor is returning officer. The mayor and other magistrates hold meetings three times a week; and the county justices meet as often at the police-office, for offences committed out of the borough. The powers of the county debt-court of Macclesfield, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Macclesfield. A court of record for debts to any amount arising within the hundred, and a similar court called a halmote court for the manor and forest, are held twice a year by the Earl of Derby, as hereditary steward; and courts leet for these several jurisdictions occur within a month of Michaelmas, when constables are appointed for the different townships. The guildhall, taken down in 1826, and rebuilt in the Grecian style, at the expense of the corporation, is a spacious edifice, containing, in addition to the court-rooms, handsome assembly and concert rooms.

The parochial chapelry consists of the nine townships of Hurdsfield, Kettleshulme, Macclesfield, MacclesfieldForest, Pott-Shrigley, Rainow, Sutton, Wildboar-Clough, and Wincle. The township of Macclesfield comprises 2210 acres. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £214, in the patronage of Simeon's Trustees. The parochial chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient structure, founded by Eleanor, queen of Edward I., about 1278, and made dependent on the mother church at Prestbury: the tower was formerly surmounted by a spire, which was battered down in the parliamentary war; the north side of the edifice was rebuilt in 1740, and the whole has recently undergone a thorough repair and embellishment. Christchurch, a spacious structure of brick, with a square tower, was erected in 1775, at the expense of Charles Roe, Esq., who endowed it with £100 per annum, and to whose memory is a monument on the south side of the chancel: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £259, exclusively of rents of pews; patron, C. S. Roe, Esq. St. George's church, in Sutton, erected as a dissenters' place of worship, was purchased for the service of the Established Church, and consecrated on the 8th of June, 1834: the same township contains a church dedicated to St. James. A neat church of stone was lately built in the township of Hurdsfield; and there are other incumbencies at Macclesfield-Forest, Pott-Shrigley, Rainow, and Wincle. In the year 1844, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners endowed two church districts under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37, namely, St. Paul's and St. Peter's, Macclesfield; churches were subsequently consecrated, and the districts then became ecclesiastical parishes, St. Paul's being the first parish, though not the first district, formed under the act. The church of St. Paul, consecrated October 10th, 1844, is built of white stone, and has a tower 71 feet high, surmounted by a spire of 70 feet; the interior is 120 feet in length, and has a fine organ by Nicholson: the cost of the edifice was £5500. St. Peter's church, raised in 1847, was erected at an expense of about £2600, and is in the early English style: corresponding with it is a beautiful school-house, completed at a cost of £1200. Each of the two livings is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £150; St. Paul's is in the gift of the Bishop of Chester, and St. Peter's in that of the Crown and the Bishop, alternately. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Socinians, and Roman Catholics.

The free grammar school was founded in 1502, by Sir John Percival, lord mayor of London, who was born near the town; but the endowment lapsing to the crown, the school was refounded by Edward VI., in 1552, and more amply endowed, under the designation of the "Free Grammar School of King Edward VI.:" the income exceeds £1100 per annum. The school enjoys a high reputation, and in the list of masters appear the names of Brownswerd, a celebrated grammarian and Latin poet, and Brancker, a philosopher and mathematician, both of whom lie interred in the chapel of St. Michael. In 1838, an act was passed enabling the governors to establish a commercial school. An almshouse was founded in 1703, by Mrs. Stanley, for three widows; and various bequests have been left for the poor. The union of Macclesfield comprises 41 parishes or places, containing a population of 56,018. Near the road to Congleton is the Castle-field, supposed to have been the site of the palace of the earls of Chester; and some slight vestiges still exist of an ancient mansion said to have been the residence of the celebrated Duke of Buckingham. Macclesfield gives the title of Earl to the family of Parker.

Macclesfield-Forest

MACCLESFIELD-FOREST, a township and chapelry, in the parish of Prestbury, union and hundred of Macclesfield, N. division of the county of Chester, 4 miles (E. by S.) from Macclesfield; containing 256 inhabitants. The township comprises 2152 acres, light land, and mossy in some parts. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £60; patron, the Earl of Derby.

Macefen

MACEFEN, a township, in the parish of Malpas, union of Nantwich, Higher division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester, 2 miles (E.) from Malpas; containing 58 inhabitants. It comprises 300 acres, partly sand, and partly clay. The tithes have been commuted for £32. 4.

Machen (St. Michael)

MACHEN (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Newport, partly in the hundred of Wentlloog, county of Monmouth, in England, and partly in the hundred of Caerphilly, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 5½ miles (W. by N.) from Newport; the English part containing 1371 inhabitants, of whom 803 are in Lower, and 568 in Upper, Machen. The parish is bounded on the north by the river Ebba, and on the south by the Rhymney, and contains by computation 3156 acres, of which 349 are common or waste. The soil is generally gravel, alternated with clay; the surface is hilly. The substratum abounds with coal, ironstone, calamine, and tin; there are extensive quarries of limestone, and a woollen-factory affords employment to a small part of the population. The Monmouthshire canal, and the Rhymney and Tyrhowey railways, afford facility of conveyance to Newport. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 16. 5½., and in the gift of Sir Charles Morgan, Bart.: certain impropriate tithes have been commuted for £14, and the incumbent's for £469. 3. 9.; there is a glebe-house, with about an acre of garden. The church is an ancient structure, of the early English style. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. Here are several mineral springs; also the remains of an old building, called "the Castle."

Mackworth (All Saints)

MACKWORTH (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Belper, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, S. division of the county of Derby, 2¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Derby; containing, with the township of MarkEaton, 561 inhabitants. The lands, consisting of 3400 acres, are chiefly in pasture, and considerable quantities of cheese are sent to market. The surface is pleasingly varied, and richly wooded; the principal timber is oak and ash, which thrive well. The parish is the property of William Mundy, Esq., and Lord Scarsdale. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Allestree annexed, valued in the king's books at £9. 3.; net income, £161; patron and impropriator, Mr. Mundy. The church is a venerable structure partly in the decorated style, consisting of a nave, chancel, a fine tower, and an octagonal spire; the chancel, built about the time of Edward I., is much older than the other parts, and the details of the whole are very correct. Schools are supported by the Mundy family; and among the charities is a payment of twelve guineas annually, the gift of German Pole, of Redbourn, for apprenticing a boy. Here is the gateway of a castle, anciently the seat of the De Mackworths, and said to have been demolished during the parliamentary war.

Maddington (St. Mary)

MADDINGTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Amesbury, hundred of Branch and Dole, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 5¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Amesbury; containing 445 inhabitants. The parish comprises 3973 acres, of which 629 are common or waste land. The manor belonged to Sir Stephen Fox, ancestor of the earls of Ilchester and lords Holland. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £60; patron and impropriator, James Maton, Esq.

Madehurst (St. Mary Magdalene)

MADEHURST (St. Mary Magdalene), a parish, in the union of West Hampnett, hundred of Avisford, rape of Arundel, W. division of Sussex, 3¾ miles (N. W. by N.) from Arundel; containing 150 inhabitants. It is situated in a rich and fertile district, and comprises 1870a. 3r. 8p. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 8. 10.; patron, the Bishop of Chichester; impropriator, John Smith, Esq. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £81. 4., and the glebe comprises 23 acres. The church is a plain structure.

Madeley (All Saints)

MADELEY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Newcastle-under-Lyme, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 5 miles (W. by S.) from Newcastle; containing, with the township of Onneley, 1492 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the roads from Whitchurch and Nantwich to Newcastle, and comprises by estimation 5734a. 24p., of which 2070 acres are arable, 2850 meadow and pasture, 630 woodland, and the remainder waste. Its surface is hilly, and the prevailing timber, oak and ash; the soil is very various, in some parts loam, clay, gravel, and sand, and in others peat-bog. The substratum abounds with coal, which has been raised here for more than a century; several mines are in operation, and the works of Thomas Firmstone, Esq., employ 500 hands. Ironstone is also obtained, and two blast-furnaces for smelting the ore were erected in 1841. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway passes for more than four miles through the parish, and has a station here. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 16., and in the patronage of the Hon. Mrs. Cunliffe Offley, who is also impropriator: the great tithes have been commuted for £333. 8. 5., and the vicarial for £192; the glebe comprises 12 acres. The church is an ancient stone structure, and a fine specimen of the later English style. Free schools for boys and girls were endowed in 1645, with a rent-charge of £60, by Sir John Offley, who in the same year founded almshouses for ten persons, and endowed them with £45 per annum.

Madeley-Market (All Saints)

MADELEY-MARKET (All Saints), a markettown and parish, and the head of a union, within the liberties of the borough of Wenlock, S. division of Salop, 4½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Shiffnall, 15 (S. E.) from Shrewsbury, and 148 (N. W.) from London; containing 7368 inhabitants. The name of this town indicates its situation between two rivers, and the adjunct arose from the grant of a market here, in the time of Henry III., to a community of Cluniac monks at Wenlock, to whom Madeley belonged. After the disastrous battle of Worcester, in 1651, Charles II. obtained temporary shelter in a house near the church, then occupied by Mr. Wolfe, and which is still remaining. Madeley stands on rising ground, and extends to Colebrookdale, which is environed by lofty hills and hanging woods, and in which are most extensive iron-works. Across the Severn, here, is a cast-iron bridge of one arch, erected in 1779, the span of which is 100 feet 6 inches, and the height from the base line to the centre, 40 feet; the total weight of iron being 378 tons: all the principal parts were erected in three months. Part of the parish derives the name of Iron-Bridge from this stupendous undertaking. About two miles south-eastward from Madeley, at the junction of the Shropshire canal with the Severn, is Coalport, where coal is landed from the mines in the neighbourhood, and whence it is conveyed to different parts of the counties of Gloucester and Worcester. Here are likewise a porcelain manufactory, a rope-yard, timber-yard, and mill for extracting linseed-oil. A neat iron bridge was constructed across the river at this point, in 1817, instead of a former bridge of wood; and not far distant, a tunnel about one mile in length, and partially arched with brick, was begun, as a more direct conveyance for coal, but was never completed. The market of Madeley having fallen into disuse, it was revived about 1763, when a new markethouse was erected near the foot of the iron bridge in Colebrook-dale: the market is on Friday; and fairs are held on January 26th, May 29th, and October 12th. The powers of the county debt-court of Madeley, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Madeley and Shiffnall.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 17. 10.; net income, £241; patron, Sir J. R. Kynaston, Bart.; impropriator, Sir J. Hawley, Bart. The ancient church, which exhibited several early Norman specimens, was pulled down in 1796, when the present edifice was erected. An additional church was built in 1834, to which a district, called St. Luke's, Iron-Bridge, was assigned in 1845; it contains 1060 sittings, 660 of which are free: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar of Madeley. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Roman Catholics. The house of industry here was completed in 1797, at an expense of £1086, of which £806 were raised by subscription, and £235 by the sale of certain property previously held in trust for the poor. The union of Madeley comprises 12 parishes or places, containing a population of 26,253. In the different strata of coal, iron-ore, and sandstone, which abound in the neighbourhood, numerous petrifactions, with impressions of animal and vegetable substances, of various kinds, have been found. The Rev. John William Fletcher, a native of Switzerland, whose Checks to Antinomianism is a standard theological work, and whose character is so deservedly admired, was appointed to the vicarage of Madeley in 1760, and held it until his death in 1785; he was interred in the churchyard.

Madingley (St. Mary)

MADINGLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Chesterton, hundred of Northstow, county of Cambridge, 3½ miles (W. N. W.) from Cambridge; containing 282 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 9. 7., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Ely, the appropriator: the bishop's tithes have been commuted for £395, and those of the vicar for £74. 1.; the former has 9, and the latter nearly 10, acres of glebe.

Madley (St. Mary)

MADLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Dore, hundred of Webtree, county of Hereford, 7 miles (W. by S.) from Hereford; containing 932 inhabitants. The parish consists of 5037 acres of productive land, and is intersected by the road from Hereford to Hay. The living is a vicarage, with that of Tiberton annexed, valued in the king's books at £16. 1. 8., and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford: the tithes of the two parishes have been commuted for £1327, of which £750 are payable to the Dean and Chapter; there are 3 acres of glebe. The church is a large and handsome edifice, principally in the decorated style, with an embattled tower. Here is a place of worship for Baptists.

Madresfield

MADRESFIELD, a parish, in the union of Uptonupon-Severn, Lower division of the hundred of Pershore, Upton and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 7 miles (S. S. W.) from Worcester; containing 180 inhabitants. This parish, which is partly bounded on the east by the river Severn, comprises by admeasurement 1192 acres, whereof 356 are arable, 688 pasture, 98 woodland, and 9 in hop plantations. The surface is varied, and the soil is a rich deep loam, producing abundant crops of wheat and beans, and apples and pears in profusion. Madresfield Court, a fine old mansion approached by an avenue of trees of gigantic growth, is the seat of Earl Beauchamp. The living is a rectory, with the chapelry of Clevelode annexed, valued in the king's books at £3. 13. 11½., and in the gift of the Earl: the tithes have been commuted for £222, and the glebe comprises 15 acres. The church, a stone structure, exhibits some portions of ancient architecture, and contains 200 sittings.

Madron (St. Madern)

MADRON (St. Madern), a parish, in the union of Penzance, W. division of the hundred of Penwith and of the county of Cornwall; containing, with the market-town of Penzance, 11,144 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the coast, and comprises by measurement 6000 acres, whereof 2440 are common or waste; the surface is boldly undulated, and the higher grounds command a delightful view of Mount's bay and the adjacent country. The substratum is rich in mineral produce, but no mines are worked. Stone of suitable quality for the roads is quarried, and granite of a superior kind is found in abundance; clay, also, of a peculiar sort, is obtained for making bricks for smelting-houses and furnaces, being capable of enduring an intense degree of heat. The living is a vicarage, with that of Morvah annexed, valued in the king's books at £21. 5. 10.; patron, the Rev. M. N. Peters; impropriators, the Rev. C. V. Le Grice, and D. P. Le Grice, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £431. 10. 10., and the vicarial for £660; the vicarial glebe contains half an acre. The church is partly in the decorated and later English styles, with a square embattled tower. At Penzance is a district church; also the chapel of St. Paul; and the Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans have places of worship. A school was founded by Mr. George Daniel, and endowed with lands now let for about £106 per annum. Here is a stone with an ancient British inscription, stating it to be a sepulchral monument to Rialobran, son of Cunoval; the parish likewise contains the once celebrated well of St. Madern.

Maer (St. Peter)

MAER (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Newcastle-under-Lyme, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 7 miles (S. W.) from Newcastle; containing 559 inhabitants, of whom 287 are in the township of Maer, and 272 in the hamlet of Maerway-Lane. This place derives its name from a natural lake or mere, which occupies about 22 acres, at the foot of the village, and is the source of the Tern. The parish comprises by measurement 2614 acres. On the north side are several rocky hills, rising abruptly to a considerable elevation, and rendered highly picturesque by their summits being covered with plantations. Maer heath, an extensive rugged moor lying west of the village, was inclosed, and divided among the freeholders, upwards of twenty years ago; but a large portion of it is still in a state of nature, and much of it is planted with trees. There are two sandstone-quarries, which are worked for rough building. The Whitmore station on the Liverpool and Birmingham railway is within half a mile. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., who is also impropriator: the great tithes have been commuted for £45, and the small for £160; the glebe comprises about an acre, with a house. The church, mostly rebuilt in 1610, is a neat structure in the later English style, with an embattled tower; in the chancel is a handsome monument to Sir John Bowyer, Knt., and his lady.

Maesbury

MAESBURY, a township, in the parish, hundred, and union of Oswestry, N. division of the county of Salop; containing 484 inhabitants.

Magdalene-Stocklinch, in the county of Somerset.—See Stocklinch, Magdalene.

MAGDALENE-STOCKLINCH, in the county of Somerset.—See Stocklinch, Magdalene.

Maghull

MAGHULL, a chapelry, in the parish of Halsall, union of Ormskirk, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 8 miles (N. by E.) from Liverpool, on the road to Ormskirk; containing 1032 inhabitants. The family of Maghull, which derived its name from this place, were for many ages connected with it; the Hulmes, originally of the Fylde, were afterwards proprietors. The chapelry comprises 2073 acres of good land, chiefly arable; it stands elevated, is of level surface, and is separated from Sefton by the river Alt. Here is a station on the Preston, Ormskirk, and Liverpool railway; and the Leeds and Liverpool canal passes through. Maghull Hall, built in 1760, a large mansion of brick, with bay-windows, is the seat of Gillibrand Unsworth, Esq. Moss-Side House, with forty acres of land, is the property of Thomas Harrison, Esq. Bank House belongs to Mrs. Matthew Ford, and is the residence of her mother, Mrs. Massey; Woodland Mount is the residence of Peter Bretherton, Esq., and Maghull Cottage that of R. P. Collison, Esq. The chapel, which contains a Norman arch, has been repaired and enlarged: the living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £155, and a parsonage-house; patron, the Vicar of Halsall, whose tithes here have been commuted for £630. A school is endowed with £12 per annum; the premises were rebuilt in 1839.

Magor (St. Mary)

MAGOR (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newport, division of Christchurch, hundred of Caldicot, county of Monmouth, 8 miles (E. by S.) from Newport; containing, with the chapelry of Redwick, 641 inhabitants, of whom 386 are in Magor township. The parish is bounded on the south by the Bristol Channel, and consists of about 1300 acres of land; the soil is of a sandy and loamy quality, with a basis of limestone. A fair for cattle, &c., is held on the 11th of October. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 1. 0½.; net income, £285; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Beaufort. The church, which exhibits combinations of the early, decorated, and later English styles, is a cruciform structure, with a tower rising from the intersection of the transepts. Near it are the remains of a religious house. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Maidenhead

MAIDENHEAD, a market-town, partly in the parish of Bray, and partly in that of Cookham, having separate jurisdiction, though locally in the hundred of Bray and Cookham, union of Cookham, county of Berks, 13 miles (N. E. by E.) from Reading, and 26 (W.) from London; containing 3315 inhabitants. The ancient name of this place was South Aylington or Elington, to distinguish it from a manor called North Elington, now North Town. The town consists principally of one street, which extends to the bottom of Folly Hill, and separates the two parishes, the north side being in Cookham, and the south in Bray; the street is lighted with gas and paved, and is on the great thoroughfare from the metropolis to Bath, Bristol, and the west of England. Tradition states that at the house formerly known as the Greyhound inn, the unfortunate Charles I. had his last interview with his family. A bridge of timber was erected over the Thames here previously to the year 1297, and a tree was allowed annually out of Windsor Forest for its repair. This bridge was succeeded in 1772 by the present substantial edifice, consisting of seven semicircular arches of stone, with three smaller arches of brick at each end, the whole built by the corporation from a design of Sir Robert Taylor's, at an expense of about £20,000; by an act of parliament the corporation were authorised to transfer the tolls received from vessels passing under the bridge, to the traffic on the road over it. The adjacent country is in a high state of cultivation, and is richly adorned with woodland scenery, interspersed with elegant villas; the banks of the river are enlivened by the crowning heights of Taplow, and the dark belting wood of Clifden, the respective seats of the Earl of Orkney and Sir George Warrender, Bart., and the latter celebrated by Pope.

The trade is chiefly in malt, corn, meal, and timber, which are conveyed to London. The Great Western railway has a station here, and the line is carried across the Thames by a handsome bridge of 10 brick arches, of which the two principal, each spanning 128 feet, are perhaps the widest, considering the smallness of the elevation, of any brick arches ever built; the others, which serve to lighten the abutments, are from 15 to 25 feet in span. The market, established by Henry VI., is on Wednesday, and the trade in corn is of the best description. There are three fairs, each of which continues for three days, commencing respectively on the Wednesday in Whitsun-week, for horses, horned-cattle, and pigs; September 29th, for horses, cattle, and the hiring of servants; and November 30th, for horses and cattle.

The principal inhabitants of the town, with a priest from the adjacent priory of Hurley as warden, were constituted a guild or fraternity, so early as 1452, by letters-patent of Henry VI., with permission to elect brethren and sisters into it, and to use a common seal; the chief object being to keep the bridge in repair and uphold a chantry, for which purpose a toll was granted on the river, and on all commodities sold in the market. These privileges were suspended at the Reformation; but in 1577 an inspeximus was issued, and it is a curious fact that, in the reign of Elizabeth, new letters-patent were bestowed upon the fraternity, confirming all former liberties, with its ancient Roman Catholic rights. This revival, however, continued only for four years, when the guild was abolished, and a lay corporation substituted; for, in the 24th of Elizabeth, was conferred the first charter of incorporation, which was renewed by James I., and, with still further powers, by Charles II. A charter subsequently granted by James II. was the governing one previously to the passing of the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76, by which the corporation now consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors; the total number of borough magistrates is seven. Petty-sessions for the division are held here by the county justices, on the second and fourth Monday in every month. The town-hall is a commodious structure, under which the market is held; there is a small gaol.

The chapel here, dedicated to St. Andrew and St. Mary Magdalene, was built in 1826, by subscription, aided by a grant of £500 from the Incorporated Society, nearly on the site of a former edifice; it is a neat structure in a chaste and simple style, from a design of the late Mr. Busby's, and contains 400 free sittings. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, about £200; patron, S. F. Maitland, Esq. The chapel first erected was commenced about 1269, by some of the inhabitants, on the boundary line of the two parishes. A commodious parsonage-house has been erected by the corporation. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, Wesleyans, and Independents. A national school is supported, partly by £30 per annum from an estate given by Abraham Spoore. A school for girls was established and endowed by Lady Pocock; and every two years a bounty of £100, in sums of £10 each, is given to ten female servants of good character who have lived in the same family for a period of seven years. An almshouse for eight men and their wives, founded in 1659 by James Smyth, has an endowment of £48 per annum. Sir Isaac and Lady Pocock bequeathed property for supplying poor persons weekly with bread, and 100 families with bread, meat, and coal, at Christmas; together with £50 in small sums to the aged and infirm, at the commencement of every year.

Maiden-Newton (St. Mary)

MAIDEN-NEWTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Dorchester, hundred of Tollerford, Dorchester division of Dorset, 8¼ miles (N. W.) from Dorchester; containing 729 inhabitants, and comprising by measurement 2853 acres. The manufacture of twine gives employment to about 70 persons. A market formerly held under charter of Henry III., has been long discontinued; a fair for cattle is still held on the 22nd of November, The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £30. 5., and in the gift of the Wyndham family, and the Earl of Ilchester, alternately: the tithes have been commuted for £496, and the glebe comprises 111 acres. The church is an ancient cruciform structure, in the Norman style, with a large embattled tower rising from the intersection. Near it is the rectoryhouse, a spacious antique building, the windows of which exhibit the arms of Wadham, Wyndham, &c., in stained glass. There are places of worship for Independents. At the southern extremity of the parish is a fine specimen of Roman tessellated pavement.

Maiden-Well

MAIDEN-WELL, a parish, in the union of Louth, Wold division of the hundred of Louth-Eske, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 5½ miles (S.) from Louth; containing 59 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the rectory of Farforth, united in 1753 to the rectory of Ruckland; appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln.

Maidford (St. Peter and St. Paul)

MAIDFORD (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Towcester, hundred of Green's-Norton, S. division of the county of Northampton, 6¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from Towcester; containing 339 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1051a. 2r. 16p., of which 74 acres are woodland, and the remainder arable and pasture in about equal portions. There are extensive quarries of limestone of excellent quality, which supply the adjoining parishes with lime for manure; also some veins of good freestone. The manufacture of silk stockings is carried on to a moderate extent, and many of the females are employed in making lace. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 8. 9.; net income, £300; patron, W. Grant, Esq. The greater portion of the tithes has been commuted for land, under an act of inclosure; the glebe altogether comprises 172 acres, with a house. The church is an ancient structure, with a lofty well-built tower surmounted by a pyramidal roof of tiles. There is a chalybeate spring, formerly in high repute.

Maids'-Moreton.—See Moreton, Maids'.

MAIDS'-MORETON.—See Moreton, Maids'.

Maidstone (All Saints)

MAIDSTONE (All Saints), a borough, markettown, and parish, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Maidstone, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent, of which it is the county town, 8 miles (S.) from Rochester, and 34½ (S. E. by E.) from London; containing, with the hamlet of Loddington, 18,086 inhabitants, of whom 9206 are in East, and 8880 in West, Maidstone. Some writers have thought this to be the Caer Meguiad or Megwad enumerated by Nennius among the principal cities in Britain. Camden considers it to be the Vagniacæ mentioned in the second Itinerary of Antoninus; but more modern authors are doubtful as to the accuracy of this opinion, on a supposition that that celebrated antiquary confounded the Watling-street with another Roman road passing by the town to London, from the Portus Lemanis, the landing-place for the Romans after the Portus Rutupensis and Dubris had fallen into disuse. All, however, allow Maidstone to have been occupied by the Romans, and that it was at an early period of considerable note; and several Roman coins and urns have been found in the neighbourhood. The Saxons named it Medwegestun, a town on the Medwege or middle river, now Medway; in Domesday book it is written Meddestane, and in records of the time of Edward I., Maydenestane, from which the transition to its present appellation is easy. Among the historical events that contribute to distinguish the place, may be mentioned the celebrated meeting on Penenden Heath, about a mile north-eastward from the town, for the purpose of adjusting the differences that had arisen between Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Odo, Earl of Kent, brother of the Conqueror, in consequence of the appropriation by the earl of various lands and privileges previously enjoyed by the primate, and which this assembly decided should be restored. During the reign of Mary, Maidstone was deprived of its charter, in consequence of the firmness the inhabitants evinced in support of the Protestant cause by opposing the queen's marriage with Philip of Spain; many of the townspeople were put to death, and Sir Thomas Wyat, who had excited them to make a stand in favour of their religious principles, was executed on Hay Hill, London, and his estates confiscated. In 1648 the town was stormed by Fairfax, at the head of 10,000 of the parliamentary forces, and taken after a most obstinate resistance.

The town, which is well paved, and lighted with gas, consists chiefly of four large streets, and stands principally on the eastern bank of the river Medway, over which is a bridge of five arches. The inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water, conveyed from a reservoir at Rocky Hill, about half a mile distant, by means of pipes laid across the bed of the Medway. Among the improvements of late years, is the formation of a new line of road from Trinity church, past the infirmary, into the Queen Anne road, where are several good houses; also the erection of some handsome houses, near the London road, called Rocky-Hill Terrace; and of some respectable residences on the Bower-road. Pleasantly situated on the bank of the river are the barracks, used as a depôt for the king's regiments of cavalry serving in the East Indies and at the Cape of Good Hope, and for drilling recruits previous to embarkation. Opposite, on the other side of the road, are the county ball-rooms, built in 1819; and a theatre, a small neat building in the High-street, is opened every third year for a limited number of nights. The Medway being navigable up to the town for large hoys, Maidstone enjoys the advantages of a cheap communication by water with the metropolis. In 1843 an act was obtained to enable the South-Eastern Railway Company to make a branch railway to the town, which was completed and opened in September following; the branch is ten miles in length, and passes along a remarkably picturesque valley, joining the main line at the Paddock-Wood station, 46 miles from the London terminus. Here are mills for the finer sorts of paper: many of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of blankets, thread, hopbagging, ropes, linseed-oil, and oil-cakes; and a considerable trade is carried on in corn, timber, grocery, orchard-fruit, and hops, for the production of which two last the soil in the neighbourhood is particularly favourable. The market for corn and hops is held on Thursday, in a magnificent room lately erected; and at the back of the premises, that for provisions takes place on Thursday and Saturday. The market for cattle is on the second Tuesday in each month; and the fairs are on February 13th, May 12th, June 20th, and October 17th, for cattle and pedlery, and the last also for hops.

The town was incorporated in 1549, by Edward VI., but it appears that the charter was not in force in the 2nd year of the reign of Elizabeth, who bestowed a new one, which was confirmed and extended by James I. and George II. The charter of the last named monarch, bearing date 17th of June, 1747, was that whereby the town was governed until the passing of the Municipal act. The government is now vested in a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors; and the borough is divided into four wards, called High-street, King-street, Stone-street, and Westborough: the number of magistrates is eleven. The freedom is obtained by birth or apprenticeship. Maidstone returns two members to parliament; the parliamentary borough is co-extensive with the parish, comprising an area of 4232 acres (of which 170 are woodland), and the mayor is returning officer. The corporation hold quarter-sessions for the trial of persons charged with offences not capital; pettysessions take place twice a week; and the assizes for the county, and the quarter-sessions for the western division, are held here. The powers of the county debtcourt of Maidstone, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Hollingbourne and Maidstone, and part of the district of Malling. The shire-hall, on that part of Penenden Heath which is in the parish of Boxley, is a neat edifice of stone, built in the year 1830: the Heath is the place of election for the western division of the county. The county gaol, situated at the north end of the town, contains seventeen wards for males; the house of correction for males has twelve wards: the common gaol for females consists of four classes, and the house of correction for females comprises three. New courts, in which the assizes are held, have been built adjoining the gaol. The entire structure occupies fourteen acres of ground inclosed within walls, and is built of Kentish ragstone.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the appropriator; net income, £720. The church, situated at the south-western end of the town, is the largest in the county: the time when it was built, is not with certainty known. Archbishop Courtenay obtained leave of Richard II. to convert the parochial edifice into a collegiate one, for the warden, chaplain, &c., of a college which he had established here; and the church had formerly two chantries, one founded in 1366, by Robert Vintner, of the parish of Boxley, and the other about 1405, by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury. On the dissolution of the college, the church was again used for its original purpose. The altar-piece, painted by Mr. William Jefferys, a native of the town, justly excites admiration. In the vestry-room is a parochial library, considerably augmented in 1735 by a collection left by Dr. Bray. The district church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, containing 1200 free seats, and 800 other seats, was built at an expense of about £13,000: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Archbishop. Another district church, with a neat parsonage-house, in the hamlet of Tovil, was erected on a site given by the Earl of Romney, and consecrated by the archbishop in August, 1839; it is of Kentish ragstone: the living was endowed by the Archbishop, and John Charlton, Esq., lord of the manor of Pimps-Court, who exercise the patronage alternately. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and Unitarians. The Free Grammar school was founded in 1548, by the corporation, who purchased the lands belonging to the fraternity of Corpus Christi for the sum of £205, given by the crown for a school; it has two scholarships in University College, Oxford, of £15 per annum each, founded agreeably to the will, dated December 15th, 1618, of the Rev. Robert Gunsley. The Blue-coat school was founded in 1711, by the Rev. Dr. Woodward, for girls; and Sir Charles Booth's school, endowed by Sir Charles, in 1795, with the interest of £2000 (now augmented to more than £3000), affords instruction to boys. An excellent infirmary and dispensary was built in 1832, and there are several societies for the relief of the indigent. The almshouses are, six founded and endowed by Sir John Banks, Bart., a native of the town, and one of its representatives in several parliaments, who in 1697 bequeathed the yearly income of £60; six by Edward Hunter, Esq., in 1748; four by John Brenchley, Esq., in 1789; and three by Mrs. Duke, for decayed gentlewomen of the Presbyterian denomination: in 1826 another house was added. The poor-law union of Maidstone comprises 15 parishes or places, containing a population of 32,310.

The palace here, which was the residence of the archbishops of Canterbury, was commenced in 1348, by Archbishop Ufford, and finished by Simon Islip; it now forms two dwelling-houses. An hospital for pilgrims, or travellers, was founded in 1244, or, according to some, in 1260, by Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, and dedicated to St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Thomas the Martyr: the chapel of the house, called St. Peter's, was consecrated in 1839, and is now used for the district of Westborough, the patronage belonging to Mrs. T. T. Baker. The foundation was called the Hospital of the New Work of Prestes Helle, and a dwellinghouse erected on part of the site is still known by the name of Newark. The college founded by Archbishop Courtenay, which possessed various lands, was dissolved about 1546, and is now a farmhouse. The house of the fraternity of Corpus Christi, at present used as the grammar school, was founded by a few of the inhabitants; the religious professed the rules of St. Benedict, and their number was from 120 to 130. A small part of St. Faith's Church, considered by some parochial, though more probably a free chapel, is still remaining; it was at successive periods used as a place of worship by the Walloons who settled in the town in the reign of Elizabeth, and by English Presbyterians. In digging the foundation for a soap-manufactory, near the ground on which the chapel stood, several human skeletons were found. The Rev. William Newton, who published the History and Antiquities of Maidstone; and William Woollett, engraver to the king, to whose memory a monument was erected in Westminster Abbey, were natives of the town; and in the churchyard are deposited the remains of William Shipley, Esq., founder of the Society of Arts. Maidstone gives the inferior title of Viscount to the Earl of Winchilsea.