Loughrigg - Loweswater

Loughrigg, with Rydal.—See Rydal.

LOUGHRIGG, with Rydal.—See Rydal.

Loughton (All Saints)

LOUGHTON (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 3½ miles (N. W.) from Fenny-Stratford; containing 361 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the great north road, near the London and Birmingham railway, and comprises about 1500 acres; the surface is gently undulated, and the soil a strong clay. Limestone is quarried for the roads. About 150 women and children are employed in making pillow-lace. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £14. 5. 2½.; net income, £228; patrons, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge: the tithes were commuted in 1769, for 250 acres of land. The Baptists have a place of worship.

Loughton (St. John the Baptist)

LOUGHTON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Epping, hundred of Ongar, S. division of Essex, 14 miles (N. E. by N.) from London; containing 1333 inhabitants. The parish contains 4000 acres, of which nearly 'one-half is uninclosed, within Epping Forest, and the remainder is arable and pasture land in nearly equal portions; the surface is varied, and the scenery of pleasing character. Loughton Hall, the residence of Queen Anne when Princess of Denmark, was destroyed by fire in December 1836, after having been completely reinstated by the present owner at a large expense; it was an Elizabethan pile of considerable beauty, and the front and ceiling of the inner hall, and the stone staircase, which were highly admired, were designed by Inigo Jones. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £18. 3. 9.; income, £458; patron, W. Whitaker Maitland, Esq. A church dedicated to St. John the Baptist was lately built, in lieu of the old parish church of St. Nicholas. There is a place of worship for Baptists. Almshouses were founded by a bequest of the late lady of the manor, Mrs. Anne Whitaker; and some tenements were purchased a few years since by subscription for the deserving poor.

Loughton

LOUGHTON, a chapelry, in the parish of Chetton, union of Cleobury-Mortimer, hundred of Stottesden, S. division of Salop, 9 miles (N. E. by E.) from Ludlow; containing 113 inhabitants. This chapelry, which is locally separated from the main portion of the parish, and distant from it about six miles, is situated near the road from Bridgnorth to Ludlow, about ten miles from each place. It comprises 1026 acres, of which about 44 are common or waste; the soil is generally a heavy clay, and the climate is cold, being in the immediate neighbourhood of the Brown Clee hill. The chapel is a small neat structure, which, by an inscription at the chancel end, appears to have been built by Bonham Norton in 1625. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £85.

Lound, with Toft, Lincoln.—See Toft.

LOUND, with Toft, Lincoln.—See Toft.

Lound

LOUND, a township, in the parish of Sutton, union of East Retford, Hatfield division of the wapentake of Bassetlaw, N. division of the county of Nottingham, 4 miles (N. by W.) from East Retford; containing 438 inhabitants. The township comprises by measurement 2112 acres; and the river Idle intersects it on the east. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Lound (St. John the Baptist)

LOUND (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the incorporation and hundred of Mutford and Lothingland, E. division of Suffolk, 5 miles (N. W. by N.) from Lowestoft; containing 412 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £8, and in the gift of Benjamin Dowson, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £407, and the glebe comprises 22 acres, with a house. The church is an ancient building with a thatched roof, and has a round tower containing three bells; the windows retain some fragments of stained glass.

Louth (St. James)

LOUTH (St. James), a market-town and parish, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the Wold division of the hundred of LouthEske, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 28 miles (E. N. E.) from Lincoln, and 150 (N. by E.) from London; containing 8935 inhabitants. The ancient Latin name of this town was Luda, from its vicinity to the Lud, a small stream formed by the junction of two rivulets. It was distinguished for the number of its religious houses previously to the Reformation, and the inhabitants were the first to resist the measures enforced by Henry VIII. for their suppression. In 1536 they took part in the insurrection called the "Pilgrimage of Grace;" and the prior of Barlings, who was their leader, the vicar of Louth, four other priests, and seven laymen, were executed at Tyburn in the following year. A destructive plague, which raged here in 1631, from April until the end of November, swept away 754 persons. The town is pleasantly situated in a fertile vale eastward of the Wolds, bounded on the north and south by chalk hills, which command extensive and varied prospects. It is neat and well built, the houses being chiefly of brick and covered with tiles; the streets are paved, and lighted with gas, and the inhabitants are supplied with excellent water from several springs in the neighbourhood: the air is highly salubrious. Great improvements have been made of late years, including the addition of handsome frontages to many of the buildings in the principal streets; that of the King's Head hotel attracts much admiration. Gasworks were completed in April, 1826, by a company of proprietors with a capital of £9000, raised in £50 shares, under an act passed in 1825; in which year, also, an act was procured for lighting, paving, and watching the town. Assemblies and concerts are held in the mansionhouse, which contains an elegant suite of apartments, ornamented in the Grecian style; and a mechanics' institute, consisting of about 200 members, has offices in an extensive building in Mercer-row, erected in 1833, and which also comprises a subscription newsroom and library, a savings' bank, and a large apartment for public meetings.

The town, from its position in the centre of a rich grazing and agricultural district, has continued to increase in the extent of its trade, the population having been more than doubled since the commencement of the present century. A carpet and blanket factory, a paper-mill, a soap-house, and several tanneries and roperies, afford employment to a considerable number of persons; there are likewise a few worsted manufacturers and wool-staplers, and in the vicinity are extensive quarries of limestone, of which large quantities are burnt for farming purposes. At Riverhead, also, are spacious granaries, and coal and timber yards. In 1761 an act of parliament was obtained for cutting a canal between the town and the Humber, which was completed at an expense of £12,000; and by means of this mode of communication, vessels of considerable burthen regularly trade with London, Hull, and several other parts of Yorkshire, carrying out corn and wool, and bringing back coal, timber, iron, grocery, and other articles: in 1828, an act was passed for maintaining and improving this navigation. An act was obtained in 1846 for a railway from Great Grimsby, by Louth, to Boston. The wool-market is a commodious building, opened in June, 1825. The general market-days are Wednesday and Saturday, and there is a market for sheep every Friday during the spring and autumn; the market-place occupies a large area in the centre of the town. Fairs are held on the third Wednesday after Easter, on August 5th, and November 22nd.

A charter was granted to the town by Edward VI., who vested the government in a warden and six assistants. This was confirmed in the 5th of Elizabeth, who gave to the corporation "the manor of Louth and divers lands there," of which the annual value then was £78. 14. 4½., reserving to the crown the annual payment of £84; and the privileges of the town were again confirmed and extended by James I. The municipal government is now vested in a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, under the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; the borough is divided into two wards, and the number of magistrates is five. The general quarter-sessions for the southern parts of the division of Lindsey are held here and at Spilsby alternately; petty-sessions occur weekly in the mansionhouse. The powers of the county debt-court of Louth, established in 1847, extend over part of the registrationdistrict of Louth. The guildhall was erected at a cost of £1460, about the year 1815, when the old hall, a small square edifice, was taken down; and a sessions' house, gaol, and house of correction for the division of Lindsey, were built in 1827, at a considerable expense, near the site of the old prison: the sessions'-house is a handsome pile, with a portico of Roman-Doric architecture.

The parish is co-extensive with the borough, and comprises, exclusively of roads, 2560a. 3r. 25p., of which 1160 acres are arable, 527 meadow, 791 pasture, and 77 ground occupied by buildings. The living is a discharged vicarage, with that of St. Mary's united, in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln, and valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £300. There were formerly two churches, dedicated respectively to St. Mary and St. James. The latter, which alone remains, is one of the finest structures in the county, and a remarkably good specimen of the later English style; at the east end is a window of seven lights, with very beautiful tracery, and at the western extremity is a lofty tower with a rich crocketed spire. The spire having been blown down in 1634, the present octangular one, 288 feet in height, was erected; it was struck by lightning in 1828, and repaired the following year. The burial-ground has not been used for upwards of half a century, the churchyard formerly belonging to the church of St. Mary being the general place of interment. A commodious vicarage-house was lately erected by the Rev. E. R. Mantell, vicar. Holy Trinity church, erected in 1834, chiefly through the exertions of one individual, is a brick edifice with an octagonal tower, contains 600 sittings, and cost £1800, raised by subscription, to which Mr. Isaac Smith was a large contributor: the patronage is vested in certain Trustees for forty years, and afterwards in the Incumbent of the parish. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, and others.

The free grammar school was founded by Edward VI., and endowed with the property of some ancient guilds in the town, consisting of about 350 acres of land, with the tolls of markets and fairs; the income is nearly £800 per annum, of which sum one-half is appropriated to the master, one-quarter to the usher, and one-quarter to the maintenance of twelve women, who reside in almshouses under the schoolroom. By the 136th clause in the Municipal act, the warden and six assistants are continued a corporate body for the regulation of the school, and remain seized of all the lands, tolls, and tenements granted by Edward VI. The Rev. John Waite is the present head master. Another school, founded in 1562 by Richard Hardie, is endowed with lands, the income of which is about £90. A third, for boys, was endowed by the will of Dr. Robert Mapletoft, Dean of Ely, in 1677, with a rent-charge of about £40 per annum: Thomas Espin, F.S.A., whose views of the cathedral, churches, and ruins in the county, are much admired, was master of the school for 30 years, and on his death, in 1822, was interred in a mausoleum near his late residence in the town. A national school was erected in 1818, an infants' school in 1835, and a British school in 1840. The poor-law union of Louth comprises 88 parishes or places, containing a population of 29,588 persons: the workhouse occupies a pleasant site at the head of Broad-bank, in the immediate vicinity, and was built in 1837, at a cost of £6000, for the reception of 350 paupers. About a mile from the town is the hamlet of Louth-Park, containing 87 inhabitants, where are some slight vestiges of an abbey founded by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1139, for monks of the Cistercian order, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary; it was a cell subordinate to Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire, and at the Dissolution had a revenue of £169. 5. 6.

Loversall

LOVERSALL, a parish, in the union and soke of Doncaster, W. riding of York, 3½ miles (S.) from Doncaster, on the road to Worksop; containing 159 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 2150 acres, of which 720 acres, with the manor and Hall, are the property of the Rev. Alexander Cooke, and 1300 acres that of Miss Elizabeth Banks; the scenery is generally of pleasing character, and in many parts beautifully picturesque. Loversall Hall, the seat of the Rev. A. Cooke, is a handsome mansion of stone, in a well-wooded demesne. St. Catherine's, the seat of Miss E. Banks, is a spacious and elegant structure in the later English style of domestic architecture, embellished with porticos, turrets, and pinnacles, and beautifully situated on an eminence commanding richly-diversified prospects: in the grounds is St. Catherine's well, much celebrated in former times, and from which the house derives its name. The substratum of the parish abounds with limestone, which is quarried for the roads and for building. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £53; patron, the Vicar of Doncaster. The church, originally a small ancient structure, was enlarged in the reign of Henry VIII., by the erection of a chapel on the south side of the chancel, by the Wyrrall family: it contains an altar-tomb over the remains of the founder; in the chancel is a recumbent effigy of a knight, probably one of the Middleton family, and in the churchyard is a tablemonument with a cross fleuri.

Lovington (St. Thomas à Becket)

LOVINGTON (St. Thomas à Becket), a parish, in the union of Wincanton, hundred of Catsash, E. division of Somerset, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from CastleCary; containing 239 inhabitants, and comprising by admeasurement 799 acres. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £76; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Wells, whose tithes have been commuted for £215, and who have a glebe of 14 acres. John Whitehead in 1715 bequeathed land, and James Clarke subsequently gave a house, for a school, the income of which is now about £12 per annum.

Low Abbot-Side, county of York.—See Abbot-Side, Low.

LOW ABBOT-SIDE, county of York.—See AbbotSide, Low.—And all places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Lowdham, Suffolk.—See Petistree.

LOWDHAM, Suffolk.—See Petistree.

Lowdham (St. Mary)

LOWDHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Southwell, S. division of the wapentake of Thurgarton and of the county of Nottingham, 7¾ miles (N. E.) from Nottingham; containing, with the townships of Caythorpe and Gunthorpe, 1483 inhabitants, of whom 819 are in the township of Lowdham. A road from Nottingham to Newark passes through the village (which is a polling-place for South Notts); and the hamlet of Gunthorpe is bounded by the navigable river Trent, near which also Caythorpe is situated. Part of the population is employed in the manufacture of stockings. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 18. 4.; net income, £276; patron and impropriator, Earl Manvers. The tithes, with certain exceptions, were commuted for land in 1765; some impropriate tithes have been commuted under the recent act for a rent-charge of £26, and some vicarial for £14: the vicarial glebe consists of about 104 acres. The church is an ancient structure, with a tower and small spire: a gallery was lately added. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans. A national school was built in the year 1844, in the centre of the village.

Lowe, with Ditches

LOWE, with Ditches, a township, in the parish and union of Wem, Whitchurch division of the hundred of North Bradford, N. division of Salop, 1 mile (N. W.) from Wem; containing 98 inhabitants.

Lower Allithwaite.—See Allithwaite, Lower.

LOWER ALLITHWAITE.—See Allithwaite, Lower.—And all places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Lowesby (All Saints)

LOWESBY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Billesdon, hundred of East Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 9¾ miles (E. by N.) from Leicester; containing, with the chapelry of Cold Newton, 220 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 1. 5½.; income, £98; patron and impropriator, Sir F. G. Fowke, Bart.

Lowestoft (St. Margaret)

LOWESTOFT (St. Margaret), a sea-port, markettown, and parish, in the incorporation and hundred of Mutford and Lothingland, E. division of Suffolk, 44 miles (N. E. by N.) from Ipswich, and 115 (N. E. by N.) from London; containing 4647 inhabitants. The name of this town, anciently Lothnwistoft or Laystoft, is derived either, as some suppose, from Lothbroch, a noble Dane, who obtained part of the kingdom of the East Angles, and resided here; or, according to others, from Low-toft, a market formerly held beneath the cliffs. In 1349, the great plague which devastated the continent of Europe, raged here with such fury that not more than one-tenth of the inhabitants escaped the contagion; and in 1547 and 1579 the malady again prevailed. In 1605, Lowestoft suffered severely from fire; and during the usurpation of Cromwell, it was exposed to heavy exactions for its attachment to the royal cause: in 1643, Cromwell entered the town at the head of 1000 cavalry, and seizing several persons, sent them prisoners to Cambridge. In the war with the Dutch, two sanguinary engagements took place off the coast, in 1665 and 1666; two of the British admirals on that occasion being natives of Lowestoft. In consequence of the repeated occurrence of shipwreck, two lighthouses were erected by the Trinity House; one on the cliff, built in 1676, and the other on the beach beneath. By steering in such a direction as to make the upper and lower lighthouses coincide, vessels are guided to a channel a quarter of a mile in breadth between the holme and Barnard sands. A life-boat, which is maintained by voluntary contribution, has been stationed here for some years, and has been instrumental in preserving numerous lives. There were formerly forts at the north and south ends of the beach, and at the Ness.

The town is situated on a lofty cliff bordering on the North Sea, and consists of one well-paved street, nearly a mile in length, and of several small ones, which diverge from it obliquely; the whole well lighted with gas. The houses, for the most part of brick, are neat and modern, and the inhabitants are supplied with water chiefly from wells; the air is salubrious, and the shore, gradually descending and having a firm bottom, is adapted for bathing. There are a theatre, a spacious assemblyroom, and a subscription reading-room and library. A bathing-house, fitted up with hot and cold baths, was erected by subscription in 1824; it is a handsome building of pebble stones, with rusticated angles, situated at the south end of the High-street, on the beach. The trade principally arises from the mackerel and herring fishery, in which about 80 boats are engaged, of from 40 to 50 tons' burthen each; employing about 800 men. Large quantities of mackerel are sent to London; and about 40,000 barrels of herrings, many of which are forwarded to the metropolis and other home markets, and to Italy, are cured and smoked in houses at the base of the cliff, extending the whole length of the town. There are breweries, and rope and twine manufactories; and shipbuilding is carried on. Agreeably with the provisions of an act of parliament obtained in 1827, for forming a navigable communication between Lowestoft and Norwich, a cut was made from the sea to Lake Lothing near the town, which forms a harbour capable of receiving vessels of about 200 tons' burthen, opened by the admission of the sea, on the 18th of May, 1831. A company was formed in 1845 for improving the harbour, and constructing a railway to the Norwich and Yarmouth railway at Reedham; the line was opened July 1st, 1847, and is 11½ miles long. The market is on Wednesday, for grain and provisions; and toy-fairs are held on May 12th and October 10th. The county magistrates hold petty-sessions weekly, and manorial courts occasionally take place: the powers of the county debt-court of Lowestoft, established in 1847, extend over part of the registration-district of Mutford and Lothingland. The town having been part of the ancient demesnes of the crown, the inhabitants are exempted from serving on juries out of it. There are a commodious town-hall and a market-cross.

The parish comprises 1485 acres, of which 196 are common or waste land. The living is a discharged vicarage, endowed with the rectorial tithes, valued in the king's books at £10. 1. 0½., and in the gift of the Bishop of Norwich: the tithes have been commuted for £351, and the glebe comprises 4½ acres. The church is a large and handsome structure in the later English style, with a tower surmounted by a wooden spire covered with lead, and a south porch; it contains a fine east window of stained glass, a large brass eagle, formerly used as a reading-desk, and a very ancient font. In 1698, a chapel of ease was rebuilt by subscription, near the centre of the town; but it is now used for parochial purposes, a new church having been erected by subscription in 1833, a handsome structure in the early English style, containing 1263 sittings, of which 939 are free. Here are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans. A free school was endowed in 1570, by Thomas Annot, with £16 per annum. Another school, on the east side of the High-street, was founded by Mr. John Wilde, in 1735; the bequests now produce £121 per annum, and the surplus, with other parish property, is applied to the augmentation of the salary of the master of Annot's school, and other charitable uses. There are also a fishermen's hospital, a neat building below the cliff, erected in 1838, for six aged masters of fishing vessels; and a dispensary and infirmary, built in 1840. In the centre of the Highstreet are vestiges of a religious house, consisting of a curious arch, and cellars with groined arches, evidently part of an ancient crypt. The cliffs abound with organic remains, such as the bones and teeth of the mammoth, and the horns and bones of the elk; with cornua ammonis; and with shells and fossils of various kinds. The celebrated William Whiston, professor of mathematics at Cambridge; and Mr. Potter, the learned translator of Æschylus and Euripides, were vicars of the parish; as was also, for the space of 51 years, John Tanner, brother of the author of the Notitia Monastica: he greatly embellished the church, and purchased the impropriate tithes for the benefit of his successors.

Loweswater

LOWESWATER, a parochial chapelry, in the union of Cockermouth, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 7 miles (S. by E.) from Cockermouth; containing, with the hamlet of Mockerkin with Sosgill, 436 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 2480 acres of fair land, of which about 250 are woodland; there are, besides, 3000 acres of common or waste. The river Cocker runs along the deep and extensive vale here, which is bounded by lofty mountains, and contains the picturesque lake of Loweswater, part of Crummock Lake, and Scale Force; the last, the most stupendous cataract in this celebrated region, falls 156 feet into a great chasm surrounded by rocks overhung with trees. A lead-mine was lately opened. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £49; patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The chapel was erected by subscription, in 1827, on the site of an ancient edifice founded by a prior of St. Bees, to which parish this was formerly a chapelry.