Mickleover - Middlesex

Mickleover (All Saints)

MICKLEOVER (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Burton-upon-Trent, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, S. division of the county of Derby, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from Derby, on the road to Uttoxeter; containing, with the chapelries of Findern and Littleover, 1673 inhabitants, of whom 760 are in the township of Mickleover. The manor was given, with Findern, Littleover, and Potlac, by William the Conqueror, to Burton Abbey; Henry VIII. granted these manors to Sir William Paget, and in 1648 Edward Wilmot purchased two shares of the property. In 1801 Edward Sacheverel Chandos Pole, Esq., purchased the portion held by Sir Robert Wilmot, Bart. The other part of the manor was sold in 1648 by the heiress of Sir William Withepol to Sir John Curzon, from whose family it passed to the Newtons. The manor of Mickleover, Littleover, and Findern, now belongs jointly to E. S. C. Pole, and William Leaper Newton, Esqrs. The parish, called also Great Over, comprises about 5000 acres, whereof 2296a. 3r. are in Mickleover township; of the latter area, 1671 acres are grass, 602 arable, 16 plantation, and 7 gardenground. The soil is rather strong, with strata of marl and clay beneath. The scenery is beautiful, and very extensive, embracing, to the south, the town of Burtonupon-Trent, the village of Repton, Breedon Hill, and Charnwood Forest; to the west, Etwall, and the Weaver hills in Staffordshire; and from various points are seen many seats of the nobility and gentry. Among the more distinguished of these may be mentioned, Foremark, the seat of Sir Robert Burdett, Bart.; Calke Abbey, that of Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart.; Bretby Hall, of the Earl of Chesterfield; Sudbury Park, of Lord Vernon; and Radbourn, of Mr. Pole.

Within the parish are some good residences, the principal of which are Mickleover House, The Cedars, The Limes, and The Pastures. On the border of the parish, but within the parish of Etwall, is the estate of Bearward-cote or Barrocote, consisting of 427 acres, the property of Mr. Newton; it formerly had a manor-house in the Elizabethan style, surrounded by a moat, but the mansion was taken down about 1796. The old manorhouse of Mickleover, once the seat of the Newtons, and now the property of Mr. Newton, having become much dilapidated, has been recently restored and embellished by the present owner. The village, which is large and well built, is situated on an eminence commanding a fine view of the valley of the Trent and the mansions and grounds already named. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 11. 5½.; net income, £550, with a neat modern house; patrons, Lord Scarsdale, and Sir Henry Sacheverel Wilmot, Bart., the former of whom has two presentations, and the latter one. The glebe of the vicar comprises 187 acres. The impropriation belongs to Mrs. Chapman, and the impropriate tithes of the township of Mickleover have been commuted for £158. 15. The church is a plain substantial building, consisting of a nave, chancel, aisles, and a low embattled tower with pinnacles: the date is not known. The Wesleyan Methodists have a place of worship; and a school is supported by subscription.

Micklethwaite, Yorkshire.—See Bingley.

MICKLETHWAITE, Yorkshire.—See Bingley.

Micklethwaite-Grange

MICKLETHWAITE-GRANGE, an extra-parochial liberty, in the Upper division of the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash, W. riding of York, ½ a mile (S. by W.) from Wetherby; containing 43 inhabitants. It comprises 600a. 2r. 2p.: the hamlet is on the south side of the river Wharfe, opposite to Wetherby.

Mickleton (St. Lawrence)

MICKLETON (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Shipston-upon-Stour, Upper division of the hundred of Kiftsgate, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 2½ miles (N. by E.) from Chipping-Campden; containing, with the hamlets of Clopton and Hidcote-Bartrim, 698 inhabitants. It comprises nearly 4000 acres: the soil is chiefly a deep clay, producing excellent crops of grain; the surface is irregular, and includes a portion of the Cotswold hills. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 14. 4½., and in the patronage of the Crown; impropriator, J. Roberts, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £144, and the vicarial for £105; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe comprises 30 acres. The church is a handsome structure, partly Norman, and partly of later date. Several members of the family of Graves, eminent for their literary talents, were born or resided here; and Sir Anthony Keck, an eminent lawyer, and one of the commissioners of the great seal in 1688, was a native of the parish.

Mickleton

MICKLETON, a township, in the parish of RomaldKirk, union of Teesdale, wapentake of GillingWest, N. riding of York, 8 miles (N. W.) from Barnard-Castle; containing 513 inhabitants. It comprises about 4890 acres, of which the greater portion is a high moorland tract, extending along the south side of Lunedale to the borders of Westmorland. The tithes were commuted for land in 1803. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Mickley

MICKLEY, a chapelry, in the parish of Ovingham, union of Hexham, E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 11 miles (E. by S.) from Hexham; containing 297 inhabitants. It is situated a little south of the road from Gateshead to Hexham: the village is distant about a mile eastward of Bywell St. Andrew's. A colliery here is entered by a level from the side of a hill. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £155; patron, J. B. Wrightson, Esq. A rentcharge of £197. 14. has been awarded as a commutation for the impropriate tithes. The chapel was erected in 1824, in that part of the chapelry called Hallyards, near the village, by W. B. Wrightson, Esq., who had previously built a schoolroom.

Middle (St. Peter)

MIDDLE (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Ellesmere, partly in the liberties of Shrewsbury, but chiefly in the hundred of Pimhill, N. division of the county of Salop, 8 miles (N. by W.) from Shrewsbury; containing 1330 inhabitants, of whom 456 are in the township. The parish comprises 4500a. 2r. 18p. The soil is chiefly red sand, but partly a rich loam, alternated with stiff clay, producing good wheat; the surface is undulated, and there is a lake of about 10 acres, called Marton Pool. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 7. 3½., and in the patronage of the Trustees of the Earl of Bridgewater: the tithes have been commuted for £1100, and the glebe comprises 3 acres. At Hadnall-Ease is a separate incumbency. In the parish are the remains of a castle built by Lord L'Estrange.

Middle Quarter

MIDDLE QUARTER, a township, in the parish of Kirk-Linton, union of Longtown, Eskdale ward, E. division of Cumberland; with 536 inhabitants.

Middle Quarter

MIDDLE QUARTER, a district, in the parish of Kirkby-Ireleth, union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 6 miles (N. W.) from Ulverston; containing 834 inhabitants.

Middlebere

MIDDLEBERE, a hamlet, in the out-parish of Holy Trinity, Wareham, union of Wareham and Purbeck, hundred of Winfrith, Wareham division of the county of Dorset; containing 8 inhabitants.

Middleham (St. Mary and St. Alkeld)

MIDDLEHAM (St. Mary and St. Alkeld), a market-town and parish, in the union of Leyburn, wapentake of Hang-West, N. riding of York, 10 miles (W.) from Bedale, and 10 (S.) from Richmond; containing 930 inhabitants. The name of this town is said to be derived from its situation in the centre of a number of hamlets. About the year 1190, a splendid castle was built here by Robert Fitz-Ranulph, in which, according to Stowe, Falconbridge, a partisan of Henry VI., was beheaded in 1471; though Speed says he was executed at Southampton. Edward IV. was confined in the fortress by the Earl of Warwick, but having escaped, he levied an army, and obtained a decisive victory over his opponent at the battle of Barnet. This king, whose son Edward, afterwards Prince of Wales, was born here, subsequently gave the castle to his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The remains of the fabric stand upon a rocky eminence near the town; the ancient Norman keep is surrounded by a quadrangular building, measuring 210 feet by 175, and flanked by a square tower at each angle.

The town is situated in Wensleydale, on a gentle eminence rising from the river Ure; the houses are well built, and adequately supplied with water from springs. About half a mile from it is Middleham Moor, a noted place for training horses. The inhabitants find employment in the various training establishments, or are engaged in agriculture. Fairs are held on Easter-Monday and Whit-Monday, and Nov. 5th and 6th, for live-stock, &c.; and the petty-sessions for the wapentake of HangWest are held here. The parish comprises 2108a. 2r. 34p., of which 1482 acres are meadow and pasture, 163 arable, 44 woodland, and 44 common. The living forms a deanery of itself, and is a royal peculiar, valued in the king's books at £15. 9. 4½., and in the patronage of the Crown; the dean's tithes have been commuted for £205, and his glebe consists of 66 acres. The church, a venerable edifice, was made collegiate by Richard III., when Duke of Gloucester, for a dean, six chaplains, now styled canons, four clerks, and six choristers. By various charters and deeds from the crown, from the Archbishop of York, the Archdeacon of Richmond, and other ecclesiastics, the members of the collegiate church are exempt from all spiritual jurisdiction except that of the dean, who holds his own visitations, issues marriage licences, and grants probate of wills and letters of administration; the college is governed by statutes drawn up at the time of its foundation in 1478, and the crown, by the lord chancellor, is sole visiter. The deanery will, however, be suppressed on the next vacancy. There are places of worship for Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists.

Middleham, Bishop's (St. Michael)

MIDDLEHAM, BISHOP'S (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Sedgefield, N. E. division of Stockton ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing, with the townships of Cornforth, GarmondswayMoor, Mainsforth, and Thrislington, 1434 inhabitants, of whom 511 are in the township of Bishop's-Middleham, 4 miles (N. E.) from Rushyford. This place is of considerable antiquity: its church was given in 1146 to the convent of Durham, by Osbert, nephew of Bishop Ralph Flambard; and soon afterwards, the manor appears to have been conveyed to the see of Durham, the bishops of which resided here, up to the end of the 14th century. Their castle was situated on a lofty brow of limestone, overlooking the marshy level of the Skerne; and the last remaining portion of it, a low oblong arched room, was removed some years since. The parish is in several parts marshy, and there is little wood, except the plantations around the principal houses. The produce of a colliery here is shipped on the Tees; limestone is abundant, and is quarried for building and for manure. The village is on the sides of two hills ascending from a deep vale, through which the road runs. At Cornforth are paper-mills and tile-kilns. A halmote court for the manor is held once in six months, at Middleham, Cornforth, and Sedgefield, in rotation, for the recovery of debts under 40s. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 19. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income £152; impropriators, W. Russell, R. Surtees, and H. Williamson, Esqrs. The great tithes of the township of Bishop's-Middleham have been commuted for £219, and the small tithes for £76. The church, originally a handsome structure in the early English style, and said to have been erected by Bishop Anthony Beck, has been much disfigured by injudicious alterations and repairs; it contains a fine old font of Stanhope marble.

Middlehope

MIDDLEHOPE, a township, in the parish of Diddlebury, union of Ludlow, hundred of Munslow, N. division of Salop; containing 100 inhabitants. The tithes have been commuted for £44 payable to the Dean and Chapter of Hereford, and £20 to the vicar.

Middlemarsh

MIDDLEMARSH, a tything, in the parish of Mintern-Magna, union of Cerne, hundred of Cerne, Totcombe, and Modbury, Cerne division of Dorset, 12 miles (N. by W.) from the town of Dorchester. It was the place of retirement of the abbots of Cerne, and afterwards the principal seat of the Napiers, who had a fine mansion here.

Middle-Mead

MIDDLE-MEAD, a hamlet, in the parish of Little Baddow, union and hundred of Chelmsford, though locally in the hundred of Dengie, S. division of the county of Essex, 5 miles (E. N. E.) from Chelmsford; containing 175 inhabitants.

Middleney

MIDDLENEY, a tything, in the parish of Drayton, union of Langport, hundred of Abdick and Bulstone, W. division of Somerset, 2¾ miles (S. by W.) from Langport; containing 31 inhabitants.

Middlesbrough

MIDDLESBROUGH, a town and parish, on the river Tees, in the union, and within the limits of the port, of Stockton-upon-Tees, W. division of the liberty of Langbaurgh, N. riding of York; containing, with the township of Linthorpe, 5709 inhabitants, of whom 5463 are in the township of Middlesbrough, 4 miles (E. N. E.) from Stockton. This place, at a very early period, had a chapel dedicated to St. Hilda, which, in the reign of Henry I., was granted by Robert de Brus to the monks of Whitby Abbey, on condition of their founding here a cell to that monastery; this condition was fulfilled, and the institution that was established continued to flourish till the Dissolution, when its revenue was returned at £21. 3. 8. The town was a small and inconsiderable hamlet, prior to the year 1829; but about that time it began to rise into notice from its selection for the construction of a commodious shipping place, accessible to vessels of large burthen, and from the projected extension from Stockton of the Stockton and Darlington railway, for the purpose of conveying directly to this, as a principal place of shipment, the produce of the collieries in the Weardale district of the county of Durham, without the delay and expense of lighterage down the Tees from Stockton. Immediately on the completion of that undertaking in 1830, the population of the hamlet increased very considerably; and in the following year, on the formation of the Clarence railway, which is a passage from the Auckland and other mineral districts in the county of Durham to Samphire Batts, on the banks of the Tees, directly opposite Middlesbrough, the importance of the town was permanently established.

In 1829, six gentlemen, now usually termed "the Middlesbrough owners," purchased about 600 acres of land, and laid out the plan of the present town, consisting of several regular streets diverging at right angles from a square in the centre, and now containing more than 600 well-built houses. The principal founders were Thomas Richardson, Esq., of Stamford Hill, London, and of Ayton House, in Cleveland; Joseph Pease, jun., Esq., of Darlington; and Henry Birkbeck, Esq., of Norwich; to whose enterprise and public spirit may be attributed the projection and rise of the place. A dock, exceeding nine acres in extent, has been constructed; capacious warehouses have been erected, and also convenient staiths both in the dock and on the Tees, affording facility of dropping the coal from the railway-carriages into vessels. The terminus of the Stockton and Darlington railway is admirably adapted to its use, and consists of several lines of way to the docks and shipping-staiths, for numerous trains, each usually conveying about forty wagons laden with coal. Two yards for building and repairing ships have been constructed, and every arrangement has been made which can contribute to the improvement and increasing prosperity of the town. The streets are lighted with gas; and a handsome structure in the Grecian style of architecture, called the Exchange, has been erected at an expense of upwards of £5000, by a body of shareholders. There are numerous good shops for various articles of merchandise; four public breweries; three iron-foundries, one of which employs regularly about 400 men; a sailcloth manufactory in which the cloth is woven by patent machinery; and an extensive manufactory of pottery and earthenware, and for bricks and tiles, for which clay of excellent quality is found in the neighbourhood. A branch bank has been opened in the town, and a market is held under an act of parliament obtained in 1841 for the general improvement of the place; a branch of the Stockton custom-house has also been established. A railway to Redcar was opened in June, 1846, within less than a year from the passing of the act authorising its construction; it is 7½ miles in length, and runs along the coast. The number of vessels that cleared outwards in 1841, was 7579, and the aggregate quantity of coal shipped in that year was 1,014,918 tons.

The parish is in the district of Cleveland, and bounded on the north by the Tees, which separates it from the county of Durham. It comprises, with the township of Linthorp, about 2300 acres, of which 600 are meadow and pasture, and the remainder, with the exception of a few acres of plantations, arable land in good cultivation. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Thomas Hustler, Esq., of Acklam Hall. The church was erected in 1840, on the site of the ancient chapel of St. Hilda, at an expense of £2500, of which £500 were a grant from Her Majesty's Commissioners, £1200 the proceeds of a bazaar, and the remainder raised by subscription; it is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower surmounted by a lofty and well-proportioned spire, and contains 600 sittings, of which one-half are free. There are places of worship for Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. Of the ancient cell to Whitby Abbey no remains exist, but the cemetery is still used.

Middlesceugh

MIDDLESCEUGH, a hamlet, in the parish of St. Mary, Carlisle, union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of the county of Cumberland, 6½ miles (E. N. E.) from Hesket-Newmarket; containing, with the hamlet of Braithwaite, 181 inhabitants.

Middlesex

MIDDLESEX, an inland county, bounded on the south by Surrey and a very small part of Kent, from both which it is separated by the river Thames; on the east by Essex, from which it is divided by the river Lea; on the north by Hertfordshire; and on the west by Buckinghamshire, from which it is separated by the river Colne. It extends from 51° 23' to 51° 42' (N. Lat.), and from 2' (E. Lon.) to 32' (W. Lon.); and comprises 282 square miles, or 180,480 acres. There are 207,629 inhabited houses, 9779 uninhabited, and 3185 in course of erection; and the population, including that part of the metropolis which is locally within its limits, amounts to 1,576,636, of whom 738,904 are males.

At the time of Cæsar's invasion, this part of the British territory, together with the district now forming the county of Essex, was inhabited by the Trinobantes, the first British tribe that submitted to the Romans; and on the final reduction of Britain to the condition of a Roman province, it was included in the division called Flavia Cæsariensis. The name is a slight corruption of the Anglo-Saxon Middel-Seaxe, signifying "the country of the Middle Saxons," from the situation of this portion of the English territory in the centre of the early Saxon sovereignties in South Britain. Middel-Seaxe did not, however, form a distinct kingdom, but was included in that of the East Saxons, established in Essex about the year 530. The county is in the diocese of London, and province of Canterbury, and forms a deanery and archdeaconry, comprising, with the exception of those metropolitan parishes which are given in a tabular form under the head of London, 70 parishes. Its civil divisions are, the hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Isleworth, Ossulstone (including the divisions of Finsbury, Holborn, and the Tower), and Spelthorne; and the liberties of the cities of London and Westminster. It comprises the city of London (locally); the borough, commonly called the city, of Westminster; the newlyenfranchised boroughs of Mary-le-bone, Finsbury, and the Tower Hamlets; and the market-towns of Brentford, Staines, and Uxbridge. Two knights are returned to parliament for the shire, four citizens for London, and two burgesses for each of the four boroughs. The shrievalty of Middlesex is united to that of London, under the head of which place it is described. The county is within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, in the Old Bailey, London, where all cases usually tried at courts of assize are determined. The quartersessions are held at the sessions-house on Clerkenwell Green.

The surface of the greater part of this small county is gently undulated, and diversified with plantations and winding streams, together with almost innumerable villas and ornamented grounds and lawns. The northern border, being high ground, adds, by the shelter which it affords, much to the fertility of the other parts. All the land to the south of the road passing from Brentford, through Hounslow, to Longford, is very nearly an entire flat, the greater part of which is less than ten feet above the level of the Thames, which runs along the whole southern side of it; whilst the summits of the principal elevations in the northern part of the county rise to the height of about 400 feet above the level of high-water mark in that river. From Staines, by Ashford and Hanworth commons, to Twickenham, a distance of 7½ miles, extends another flat, lying from ten to twenty feet above the surface of the Thames. In the western part of the county, stretching chiefly to the north of Hounslow heath, is a considerable corn tract, and there is another in the north-eastern part of it; but by far the greater portion of the land is meadow or pasture. On several of the hills, where the soil is naturally thin and unproductive, particularly on the hills of Hampstead and Highgate, and at Hadley, the ground is nevertheless of great value, on account of the fine situations for building. With good cultivation, and the manure procured from London, the soil has every where been ameliorated, so that in most places it assumes the appearance of loam, though varying in quality. The total amount of arable land is about 14,000 acres, or one-thirteenth of the whole county; the corn is almost wholly wheat and barley, rye and oats being sown only in very small quantities. Beans, peas, turnips, and cabbages, are commonly grown. About seven eighteenths of the county, or 70,000 acres, consist of upland meadows and pastures, which, from careful cultivation, and the abundant supply of manure obtained from London, are of the best quality. In different parts of this large tract of land, and more especially in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis, the grass is mown constantly every year, and sometimes twice, or even thrice, a year. Besides the above, the banks of the river Lea contain some excellent grass lands, comprising altogether about 2000 acres, of which 1200, lying in the parishes of Enfield and Edmonton, are inclosed, the rest being divided by landmarks among a great number of proprietors. This tract is frequently flooded in winter, and sometimes in summer; the water, in consequence of the interruptions it meets with in the lower part of its course towards the Thames, remains long on the ground, and does much damage to the herbage. The Isle of Dogs, containing 500 acres, is situated at the south-eastern corner of the county, and would be overflowed by every tide, were it not for the security of its banks: this is reputed to be the richest grazing land in the county, and is divided and drained by ditches, which communicate with the Thames, at low water, by means of sluices. Bordering on the river Colne, also, are about 2500 acres of meadow and pasture, stretching from Staines to Harefield, and, being little elevated above the level of the river, much subject to floods.

The number of cows kept in the county for supplying the metropolis with milk is between 7000 and 8000, usually of the Holderness breed. Many early house lambs are fed, the stock from which they are bred being sought with great diligence from all parts of Dorsetshire, and the fairs where such stock is usually sold; grass lambs are also reared for the Smithfield market. A vast extent of land in the vicinities of Kensington, Hammersmith, Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth, and Twickenham, is occupied by fruit gardens, for the supply of the metropolis; and a very great quantity of the richest ground in its vicinity is applied to the raising of vegetables. At Chelsea, Brompton, Kensington, Hackney, Dalston, Bow, and Mile-End, much land is occupied by nurserymen, who spare no expense in collecting the choicest sorts and greatest variety of fruit-trees, ornamental shrubs, and flowers, from every quarter of the globe, which they cultivate to a high degree of perfection. The grounds occupy about 1500 acres; and many plants are exported from them to Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, and Russia. In the Thames are some islands planted with osiers for the use of basket-makers. The common lands yet remaining uninclosed are of small extent; the principal are Ashford, Littleton, and Laleham commons, Staines and Cowley moors, Hallingdon heath, Uxbridge and Harefield commons, Clapton marshes, and Hadley, an allotment from Enfield Chase.

The manufactures are too numerous and extensive for detail; the two most important are, that of silk, in the parishes of Spitalfields, Shoreditch, and Bethnal-Green, and that of watches, in the parish of Clerkenwell. With regard to the consumption of agricultural produce, the distilleries are of vast importance, and they yield a revenue equal to that of all the other distilleries in Great Britain; the breweries, too, are of great extent. Besides the prodigious amount of the imports and exports of the port of London, innumerable small cargoes of merchandise of various descriptions, including grain, malt, and flour, are conveyed away or received by means of the inland barges on the Thames and the Lea.

The principal rivers are the Thames, the Lea, and the Colne, besides which are the smaller streams of the Brent and the Cran. The Thames, so celebrated throughout the world, as connected with the port of London, constitutes the southern boundary of the county for a distance of 43 miles. The largest ships in the service of the East India Company come up this river with safety to the corner of the county at Blackwall; it is navigable for West India ships to London bridge, and for large barges in the whole of its course on the border of Middlesex, along which the tide flows up it, for the distance of about 25 miles, to Teddington. The Lea forms the entire eastern boundary of the county, and is divided in the greater part of its course, into several natural channels, uniting into one shortly before its influx into the Thames near Blackwall. The river has been made navigable, from its mouth upwards, to the distance of about eight miles; a canal navigation then branches from it on the western side, and runs nearly parallel with it through the meadows of Tottenham, Edmonton, and Enfield, whence it is continued to Hertford. The Grand Junction canal commences at the Thames at Brentford, and quits the county for Hertfordshire near Ricksmanworth, in the latter county. From it, at Bull bridge, commences an important branch, called the Paddington canal, which passes on one level, through the central part of the county to Paddington, whence it has been continued by the Regent's canal, round the whole northern side of London, to the Thames at Limehouse. The Regent's canal is nearly nine miles long. Besides the Lea navigation already mentioned, there is an important side cut from that river at Bromley to a basin at Limehouse, communicating with the Thames. A creek from the Thames to Kensington is also navigable. The New River, projected by Sir Hugh Myddelton, for supplying the metropolis with water, is described under the head of Clerkenwell. The London and Birmingham railway commences at Euston-square, and, after passing through a tunnel at Primrose Hill, and by the town of Harrow, quits the county near Pinner Hill: the Great Western railway, commencing at Paddington, and pursuing a westward course, quits it a little beyond West Drayton; and parts of the county are intersected by the Eastern-Counties railway, in the east. There are also the two short lines called the London and Blackwall, and the West London, the former about 3¼ miles long, and the latter, which runs from Kensington to the Great Western and Birmingham railways, near Holsden-Green, about 3 miles long. The principal turnpike roads bear conspicuous marks of their vicinity to a great city; and scattered villas, and genteel houses, frequently in handsome rows and terraces, are erected on one or both sides of them to the distance of five or six miles out of London.

The only Roman station within the limits of the county, besides Londinium, the seat of the Roman government of Britain, appears to have been Sulloniacæ, the supposed site of which was on Brockley Hill, near Elstree, where various Roman remains have been discovered. The ancient Watling-street is thought to have run from Dowgate, on the north bank of the Thames, along the line of the modern Watling-street in the city of London, to Aldersgate, and to have been continued in a northwestern direction, and fallen into the line of the present road to St. Alban's by Paddington and Edgware. The Ermin-street led northwards, through Islington, by StokeNewington and Hornsey Wood, to Enfield, and, diverging near the latter place, passed Clay Hill, and entered Hertfordshire. A third Roman road led from the metropolis westward into Surrey and Berkshire, in the line of the present great western road through Brentford, Hounslow, and Staines: a fourth is believed to have led eastward, along Old-street and over Bethnal Green to Old Ford, where it crossed the Lea into Essex; and it is probable that another left the city at Aldgate, and pursued the course of the present high road through Whitechapel and Stratford-le-Bow, into Essex. Roman antiquities have been found in different parts; the most important are described in the article on London. The number of religious houses in the county prior to the Reformation, exclusively of those in the metropolis and its suburbs, was few. Among the most perfect specimens of ancient domestic architecture are Holland House, Harefield Place, and Wyer Hall at Tottenham; and of the mansious most distinguished for grandeur or elegance may be enumerated (in addition to the vast number of magnificent residences in the metropolis) the royal palaces of Hampton Court and Kensington; Sion House, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland; Chiswick House, of the Duke of Devonshire; Osterley Park, of the Earl of Jersey; Bentley Priory, of the Marquess of Abercorn; Caen Wood, of the Earl of Mansfield; Fulham Palace, of the Bishop of London; and Wrotham Park, that of the late George Byng, Esq. In various parts of the county are springs of mineral water, some of which have been in great repute for their medicinal properties, but none of them are now much frequented.