Risca - Rivington

Risca (St. Michael)

RISCA (St. Michael), a parish, in the union and division of Newport, hundred of Wentlloog, county of Monmouth, 5 miles (N. W. by W.) from Newport; containing 1072 inhabitants, many of whom are employed in collieries and fire-brick works. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £102; patron, the Vicar of Bassaleg; appropriator, the Bishop of Llandaff. The great tithes have been commuted for £80, and those of the incumbent for £49. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Rise (All Saints)

RISE (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Skirlaugh, N. division of the wapentake of Holderness, E. riding of York, 11 miles (N. N. E.) from Hull; containing 181 inhabitants. The family of Fauconberg were lords of this manor for nearly 400 years; after the restoration of Charles II., it came to the Bethell family, the present owners. The parish comprises 2012a. 2r. 5p., of which about 897 acres are arable, 931 pasture, and 184 wood; the surface is level, and the soil chiefly clay, producing wheat, oats, and beans. The mansionhouse of Rise, the seat of Richard Bethell, Esq., is a large and handsome structure, completed in 1820 on the site of a more ancient edifice, and in the Grecian style, with an interior of exceedingly elegant design; it stands in a finely-wooded park, and the scenery in the vicinity is attractive and varied. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 0. 5., and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for £537. 15.; the glebe consists of 53 acres, with a rectory-house, rebuilt in 1809, surrounded by grounds partaking of the beauties of the locality. The present church, consecrated by the Bishop of Bangor in November 1845, was erected at the expense of Mr. Bethell; the interior is well arranged, the ceiling painted blue, and studded with gilt stars, and there are four stainedglass windows.

Risebrough, Thornton

RISEBROUGH, THORNTON, a township, in the parish of Normanby, union of Pickering, wapentake of Ryedale, N. riding of York, 3¼ miles (W. by S.) from Pickering; containing 33 inhabitants. It is situated on a bold acclivity on the east side of the river Seven, and comprises about 700 acres of land. There was formerly a village, of which no remains now exist except the foundation stones: it is not improbable that it was destroyed in the reign of the Conqueror, who commanded the whole of this riding to be laid waste.

Riseholme (St. Mary)

RISEHOLME (St. Mary), a parish, in the wapentake of Lawress, parts of Lindsey, union and county of Lincoln, 2½ miles (N. by E.) from Lincoln; containing, with the extra-parochial district of Grainge-deLigne, 98 inhabitants. Riseholme Hall, a large mansion with well-wooded and picturesque grounds, the seat of Francis Chaplin, Esq., was lately purchased, with the surrounding estate, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the Bishop of Lincoln, for whom they have erected a palace. The episcopal mansion comprises part of the old Hall, with new external walls, all of beautiful masonry, in the Doric order: the south front is 86 feet long, with a colonnade the whole length; the west front is 66 feet long, and lighted by handsome windows. The grand entrance is in the north front, through a fine vestibule, 20 feet by 18, beyond which is the entrance hall, 20 feet square, lighted from the roof, and having a stone gallery round it. The building is of two stories, with a beautiful medallion cornice and balustraded pediment, and the interior has many spacious and elegant apartments. The parish comprises 1000 acres of land, and there are 700 in Grainge-de-Ligne. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £4, and in the patronage of Balliol College, Oxford.

Rishangles (St. Margaret)

RISHANGLES (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union and hundred of Hartismere, W. division of Suffolk, 4 miles (S.) from Eye; containing 261 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 13. 1½.; net income, £323; patron and incumbent, the Rev. T. Carew Elers. The glebe contains 70 acres. The church is chiefly in the early English style, with an embattled tower on the south side; the font is of Caen stone, and elaborately sculptured.

Rishton

RISHTON, a township, in the parish and union of Blackburn, Lower division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire, 3½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Blackburn; containing 917 inhabitants. This place was styled a manor in the time of Edmund de Lacye, who died 42nd Henry III. Before the reign of Edward I. it had given name to a family who held a moiety of it, the other moiety being held by the Talbots, of Bashall, who had the privilege of free warren in the township. Henry, grandson of Henry de Blackburn, took the name of Rishton or Rushton; the Walmsleys purchased the moiety held by this family, and it has been latterly enjoyed by their representative, George Petre, Esq., of Dunkenhalgh. The township is a large, dreary, barren tract, intersected by the road from Blackburn to Burnley, and containing the villages or hamlets of Tottleworth, Cunliffe, and Cowhill-Fold. The Leeds and Liverpool canal also passes through, and here is a spacious reservoir belonging to that navigation.

Rishworth

RISHWORTH, a township, in the chapelry of Ripponden, parish and union of Halifax, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York, 7 miles (S. W.) from Halifax; containing 1710 inhabitants. The township comprises about 6190 acres. Nearly two-thirds of the land are uncultivated moor, bordering on the Blackstone and Booth Dean ranges of hills, upon the confines of Lancashire; the surface is boldly undulated, and on the summits of some of the hills are Druidical remains, and traces of encampments. Near the Rockingstone is a mineral spring called the Booth Dean Spa. The village is situated on the old Manchester road, and consists of many scattered houses: there are places of worship for Baptists and Independents. A free grammar school was founded in 1727, by John Wheelwright, Esq., of North Shields, who endowed it, for the maintenance, education, and apprenticing of children, with all his property in the county of York, except £8 per annum payable to the parish of Dewsbury. From the great increase in the value of the property, the income in 1824 was found to be £1939 (and is now considerably more), exclusive of £7476. 7. 9. three per cents., and £1521. 10. in the hands of the trustees. Under a decree in chancery, made in that year, a large sum was appropriated to the erection of a spacious school-house, with houses for the masters of the grammar school; and to the erection of a preparatory school for 25 boys and 15 girls, under a master and mistress. In the grammar school, 30 boys are maintained, and instructed in all the branches of a classical and commercial education. £100 per annum are now paid to the school at Dewsbury; and the surplus income is appropriated to founding two exhibitions of £150 per annum at Oxford or Cambridge.

Risingham

RISINGHAM, in the parish of Corsenside, union of Bellingham, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 17 miles (N. by W.) from Hexham. This place is the site of the celebrated Roman station Habitancum, supposed to have been founded by Julius Agricola in the year 79 or 80. It is situated on a small brook, near the east margin of the river Rede, and about half a mile from the beautiful hamlet of Woodburn: the ancient Watling-street passes close to it on the west. The walls of the fort inclose an area of nearly four acres of rich dry ground: on the east and south it was defended by ditches, and on the west by a natural slope of the land, and the bed of the Chester burn; and though it is overlooked by higher grounds at short distances on the east and south-west, yet its position is very strong. Many antiquities were discovered here, and were removed to Conington, by Sir Robert Cotton, by whom they were bequeathed to Trinity College, Cambridge. Sir Walter Scott makes mention of Risingham in the notes to his Rokeby.

Risley (All Saints)

RISLEY (All Saints), a parish, in the hundred of Stodden, union and county of Bedford, 5¼ miles (S. W. by W.) from Kimbolton; containing 971 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 2300 acres. The soil is in some parts a strong clay, and is divided between rich pasture and good corn land; the surface is undulated, and the village is situated in a valley through which a road passes from Kimbolton to Bletsoe. A fair is held on Shrove-Tuesday. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 7. 6.; net income, £177; patron and impropriator, Lord St. John. The glebe contains 26 acres, with a house. The church is a handsome structure with a square tower, and has been repewed, and enlarged by the building of galleries. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; also a Moravian establishment. Near Melchburne House, here, the seat of Lord St. John, are the remains of the old castle from which the family derive their title.

Risley

RISLEY, a chapelry, partly in the parish of Sandiacre, and partly in that of Wilne, union of Shardlow, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, S. division of the county of Derby, 7½ miles (E. by S.) from Derby, on the road to Nottingham; containing 240 inhabitants. It comprises 1100 acres, whereof two-thirds are arable and the remainder pasture; the land is well wooded. The Rev. J. H. Hall is lord of the manor and principal owner, the property having come into the possession of his family by purchase about 1770. The Sawley station of the Midland railway, and the Stapleford station of the Erewash railway, are distant each about a mile and a half. The living is a perpetual curacy, with that of Breaston annexed; net income, £119; patron, the Earl of Stamford and Warrington. The tithes have been commuted for £287. The chapel, dedicated to All Saints, was enlarged and thoroughly repaired in 1841, at a cost of £545, raised by subscription, and is a neat edifice consisting of a nave, chancel, and handsome pinnacled tower. Two schools were built in 1718, by Elizabeth Grey, who endowed them with land now producing, with a rent-charge of £13. 6. 8. previously bequeathed by Catherine Willoughby, an income of £340. These schools are free to several parishes, the children of which are entitled to a classical and general education according to the principles of the Church of England. The Rev. H. Banks Hall, LL.B., is the present head master: the appointment is in the gift of Trustees, subject to the approval of the lord of the manor. There is a house for the head master, and another for the second master. At Silver Hill a silver dirk was found, now in the British Museum. Sir Hugh Willoughby, who was employed to discover the North-West Passage, and was frozen to death with his crew on the coast of Lapland in 1554, was a native of this place.

Rissington, Great (St. John the Baptist)

RISSINGTON, GREAT (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Stow-on-the-Wold, Lower division of the hundred of Slaughter, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 5¾ miles (S.) from Stow; containing 483 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 2500 acres. The surface is in some parts hilly, with a soil light and stony; but the lower grounds, through which the Windrush flows, are clayey and gravelly. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £22. 0. 5.; net income, £647; patron, Lord Dynevor. The tithes were commuted for land in 1812; the glebe altogether contains 500 acres.

Rissington, Little (St. Peter)

RISSINGTON, LITTLE (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Stow, Lower division of the hundred of Slaughter, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3¾ miles (S.) from Stow; containing 318 inhabitants. The parish is separated on the west from that of Bourton-on-Water by the river Windrush, and the road from Burford to Stow runs along its eastern boundary. It comprises 1300 acres, whereof about 500 are arable, and 800 meadow and pasture, some of which is very rich land; the upper stratum of the hills is oolite limestone. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 3. 1½., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £294. The tithes of the parish, except those upon a meadow of 27 acres, called Temple-ham, formerly belonging to the Knights Templars, were commuted for 175 acres of land about the year 1712. The chancel of the church has lancet windows.

Rissington, Wick (St. Peter)

RISSINGTON, WICK (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Stow-on-the-Wold, Lower division of the hundred of Slaughter, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3 miles (S.) from Stow; containing 207 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 2. 6, and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £230. The tithes have been commuted under two inclosure acts; by the first a payment of £80 per annum was agreed upon for a part, and by the second, upwards of 100 years since, 80 acres of land were awarded. The church has been enlarged.

Riston, county of Norfolk.—See Ryston.

RISTON, county of Norfolk.—See Ryston.

Riston, with Brompton

RISTON, with Brompton, a township, in the parish of Church-Stoke, hundred of Chirbury, S. division of Salop, 7 miles (N. W.) from Bishop's-Castle; containing 190 inhabitants, of whom 71 are in Riston.

Riston, Long (St. Margaret)

RISTON, LONG (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union of Skirlaugh, N. division of the wapentake of Holderness, E. riding of York, 6½ miles (E. N. E.) from Beverley; containing, with part of the township of Arnold, 403 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 2000 acres, one-sixth of which is pasture, and the rest arable, with a little ornamental wood; the surface is level, and the soil a strong clay. The village is pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence. The living is a rectory, united to the vicarage of Hornsea: the glebe contains 160 acres. The church is an ancient edifice with a tower. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans; also a parochial school, partly supported by £12 per annum left by Peter Neville, Esq., in 1807.

Ritton-Colt Park

RITTON-COLT PARK, a township, in the parochial chapelry of Nether Witton, union of Rothbury, W. division of Morpeth ward, N. division of Northumberland, 6 miles (S. by E.) from Rothbury; containing 50 inhabitants. In the time of Henry I. the convent of Newminster received a grant of Rittun, and with that establishment the estate continued till the Dissolution, since which time the property has belonged to various families, including those of Scudamore, Widdrington, Allgood, and Trevelyan. The township consists of three farms called respectively Ritton, Colt Park, and Birkheads-moor; and comprises about 907 acres. The land is principally occupied for breeding and grazing sheep and cattle, and has been much improved by plantations, which break the sweeping north and west winds from the Rothbury hills. Excellent coal is obtained in the north of the township. The river Pont flows on the south-west.

Ritton-Whitehouse

RITTON-WHITEHOUSE, a township, in the parochial chapelry of Nether Witton, union of Rothbury, W. division of Morpeth ward, N. division of Northumberland, 5¾ miles (S.) from Rothbury; containing 26 inhabitants. In 1663, Ritton-Whitehouse and Roughlees are stated to be the property of Sir Thomas Riddell, of Cheeseburn Grange; after which, a family named Forster held the estates; and subsequently, the Kerrs and the Trevelyans came into possession. The township comprises about 616 acres, and consists of three farms. The land is high, and much exposed to the winter blast from the hills to the north and west.

Rivaulx

RIVAULX, a township, in the parish of Helmsley, union of Helmsley, wapentake of Ryedale, N. riding of York, 2 miles (W. by N.) from Helmsley; containing 257 inhabitants. An abbey, the first of the Cistercian order in Yorkshire, was founded here in 1131 by Walter L'Espee, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and at the Dissolution possessed a revenue of £351. 14. 6. The venerable ruins of this once sumptuous monastery are situated near the village of Rivaulx, in a sequestered valley through which winds the river Rye, encompassed by heights crowned with majestic woods. The principal remains, which are those of the church and the refectory, exhibit a mixture of Norman and early English architecture: the choir, in particular, is a beautiful composition, still in good preservation, 144 feet long by 63 wide; the transept is 118 feet by 33, and the length of the nave is 166 feet. These dimensions entitle the church to rank amongst the largest abbey churches in the kingdom. Adjoining the village, on the top of a hill, is a terrace nearly half a mile in length, and of ample breadth, from which the ruins of the abbey beneath, together with the valley which contains them, are seen to great advantage. At one end of this magnificent lawn, is a circular temple with a Tuscan colonnade, and at the other, a similar building with an Ionic portico; on the ceiling of the latter edifice is painted a copy of Guido's Aurora, from the pencil of Bernice.

Rivenhall (St. Mary and All Saints)

RIVENHALL (St. Mary and All Saints), a parish, in the union and hundred of Witham, N. division of Essex, 2¾ miles (N. by E.) from Witham; containing 722 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £21. 5. 5., and in the gift of the family of Western: the tithes have been commuted for £950, and the glebe comprises 136 acres. The church, an ancient edifice, with an embattled tower surmounted by a shingled spire, was re-roofed and beautified by the late Lord Western. Thomas Tusser, author of the popular work Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry, was born here about the beginning of the sixteenth century.

River (St. Peter and St. Paul)

RIVER (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Dovor, hundred of Bewsborough, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 2½ miles (N. W.) from Dovor; containing 516 inhabitants. It is situated on the road to London, and comprises 1181 acres, of which 750 are arable, 230 pasture, and 125 plantation. The manufacture of paper is extensively carried on; and upon the river Doure, which flows through the parish, are some extensive flour-mills. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 1. 0½.; net income, £136; patron and appropriator, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church has been enlarged. Upon a hill on the north side of the parish, several tumuli have been opened, each of which contained a skeleton, the head of a spear, and a sword about three feet long and two inches broad.

River-Green

RIVER-GREEN, an extra-parochial liberty, in the union of Morpeth, W. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 5 miles (W. S. W.) from Morpeth; containing 48 inhabitants. The principal families who have held property here, are those of Cambo, Herle, Heron, Delaval, Wallis, Lisle, and Ridley; and the last-named, represented by Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., are the present owners. The place once belonged to an ecclesiastical body, but to which is a matter of doubt, although it is supposed, with some probability, that it was the priory of Brinkburne. The township is bounded on the north by the river Wansbeck, and comprises about 460 acres of land: the scenery is very beautiful. The mansion-house is a building of the seventeenth century.

Riverhead

RIVERHEAD, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Seven-Oaks, hundred of Codsheath, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 1½ mile (N. W. by N.) from Seven-Oaks; containing 1563 inhabitants. A chapel was erected and endowed in 1831, by the late Lord Amherst, and M. Lambard, Esq., aided by a grant of £700 from the Incorporated Society. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £45; patron, the Vicar of Seven-Oaks. A house for the minister was also built by Lord Amherst, aided by the commissioners of Queen Anne's Bounty.

Rivington, or Rovington

RIVINGTON, or Rovington, a chapelry, in the parish of Bolton, union of Chorley, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 8 miles (N. W.) from Bolton; containing 1972 inhabitants, of whom 471 are in the township of Rivington. This was doubtless a member of the barony of Manchester, though in the ancient survey of the barony the name of the lord of Rivington does not occur. A branch of the Pilkington family early became the principal proprietors, and few families in the county are more closely interwoven with its history than the members of this knightly house. The battle of Bosworth-Field proved almost as fatal to the fortunes of the parent stock of the Pilkingtons, as to the power of the royal tyrant Richard: and in the grant made by Henry VII. under the great seal, to Thomas, Earl of Derby, of divers manors and lands in Lancashire, forfeited by Sir Thomas Pilkington, was this manor. The chapelry comprises the townships of Rivington, Anglezarke, and part of Sharples; and is about eight miles in length, and four in breadth. It consists chiefly of moors; and the range of hills called Rivington Pike and Anglezarke moors, form a conspicuous object to those travelling along the high road, being 1545 feet above the level of the sea, and from six to seven hundred feet above the general plain of the surrounding country, commanding a prospect which for extent and variety is unequalled in this part of the kingdom. Within the circle of vision, towns, villages, and hamlets, parks and mansions, with manufacturing establishments and towering chimneys, multiply around, and fill up an amphitheatre in the centre of Lancashire, having a clear radius from the hill of about thirty miles. In the time of the civil wars the Pike served as a watchtower, and it still forms a good sea-mark. Anglezarke and the Pike are a favourite resort for the Manchester folk at Whitsuntide, and also in summer for pic-nic parties. Coal exists in the chapelry, in small quantities, and good stone is obtained: hand-loom weaving is carried on to some extent by the cottagers and small farmers. The Leeds and Liverpool canal and the Bolton and Preston railway pass about two miles from the church; and the chapelry is crossed at its southwestern extremity by the Bolton and Preston road.

The township of Rivington comprises 2538 acres, of which 1692 are inclosed, and 846 are moorland; its population has diminished 48 persons during the present century, having been in 1801, according to the then census, 519. Rivington Hall is the seat of Robert Andrews, Esq., who is lord of the manor, and owner of the greater part of the township. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £90; patrons, the Inhabitants: the incumbent has a house. The chapel is a plain structure, supposed, from a monumental inscription, to have been erected about the year 1530, or a little later, by Richard Pilkington; but the pulpit, the screen separating the nave from the chancel, and the font, from their elaborate construction and total dissimilarity of character, are thought to be of much higher antiquity. The Unitarians have a place of worship, with a house for the minister, and a small endowment. The Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth was founded in 1566, pursuant to letters-patent granted on petition of James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, a native of Rivington Hall: the original endowment amounted only to £30 per annum; the present income is about £320, of which the three masters receive £200. John Shaw, of Anglezarke, in the year 1627 gave to the poor £6. 13. 4. per annum; George Shaw, of the same township, prior to 1650 gave £290, stock; and George Shaw, of Blackburn, about the same period gave £220, also in stock. These sums were laid out in land at Swinton (near Manchester), at Lower Darwen, and other places, and now yield a rental of £327 per annum, which is distributed on Good-Friday to the poor of Rivington, Anglezarke, Heath-Charnock, and Anderton. There are several chalybeate springs; and in the Dean-Wood is a waterfall with a descent of thirty-two feet, forming an object of curiosity.