Blankney - Blenkinsopp

Blankney, or Blackney (St. Oswald)

BLANKNEY, or Blackney (St. Oswald), a parish, in the union of Sleaford, Second division of the wapentake of Langoe, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 10 miles (N.) from Sleaford; containing, with the hamlet of Linwood, 640 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 5000 acres, chiefly arable land. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 10. 7½.; net income, £752; patron, C. Chaplin, Esq. On Blankney heath are the remains of a British camp about eighty yards in diameter, with a fosse; the site has been recently planted by Mr. Chaplin.

Blaston (St. Michael)

BLASTON (St. Michael), a chapelry, in the parish of Hallaton, union of Uppingham, hundred of Gartree, S. division of the county of Leicester, 7 miles (N. E.) from Market-Harborough; containing, with Blaston St. Giles, 102 inhabitants. The chapel is a small plain building. Another chapel, called the Nether chapel, dedicated to St. Giles, was founded by Richard I., to whom the manor belonged, and rebuilt about 1710: it is a donative belonging to the lord of the manor; patron, the Rev. G. O. Fenwick. The tithes of Blaston St. Michael's, payable to the minister of Hallaton, have been commuted for £74, and there is a glebe of 7 acres: the incumbent of Blaston St. Giles' receives £169, and has a glebe of 44 acres.

Blatchington, or Bletchington, East (St. Peter)

BLATCHINGTON, or BLETCHINGTON, EAST (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Newhaven, hundred of Flexborough, rape of Pevensey, E. division of Sussex, ¼ of a mile (N.) from Seaford; containing 163 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 700 acres, of which 405 are arable, and 295 pasture; and is bounded on the south by the English Channel, and intersected by the road from Newhaven to Seaford. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £14; net income, £88; patron, the Rev. R. N. Dennis. The church is a neat edifice in the early English style of architecture.

Blatchington, West (St. Peter)

BLATCHINGTON, WEST (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Steyning, hundred of Whalesbone, rape of Lewes, E. division of Sussex, 1½ mile (N. W. by W.) from Brighton; containing 64 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, consolidated with the vicarage of Brighton, and valued in the king's books at £6. 4. 4½.: the tithes have been commuted for £200. The church is in ruins. On an elevated spot commanding an extensive range of the coast, were discovered in 1818 the site and some vestiges of a Roman villa.

Blatchinworth, with Calderbrook

BLATCHINWORTH, with Calderbrook, a township, in the parish and union of Rochdale, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 4 miles (N. E.) from Rochdale; containing 4456 inhabitants.—See Littleborough.

Blatherwycke (Holy Trinity)

BLATHERWYCKE (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Oundle, hundred of Corby, N. division of the county of Northampton, 8 miles (W. S. W.) from Wansford, and 8 (E. N. E.) from Rockingham; containing 236 inhabitants, with a portion of Rockingham Forest, said to be extra-parochial. This parish, which is intersected by the road from Kettering to Stamford, comprises 2105a. 2r. 39p. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £14. 13. 3.; net income, £394; patron, Augustus Stafford, Esq.: the glebe consists of about 400 acres, with a house. Blatherwycke anciently included two parishes, united in 1448, since which one of the churches, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, has been demolished; the existing structure is a mixture of the Norman and early English styles. There are a chalybeate and a sulphureous spring in Blatherwycke Park.

Blawith

BLAWITH, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 7 miles (N.) from Ulverston; containing 186 inhabitants. Portions of the manors of Ulverston, Egton with Newland, Torver, and Conishead, constitute this township. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £59; patron and impropriator, T. R. G. Braddyll, Esq. The chapel existed in 1715. In 1772 Margaret Lancaster bequeathed £50, and in 1777 William Lancaster gave £110, for the support of a school.

Blaxhall (St. Peter)

BLAXHALL (St. Peter), a parish, in the union and hundred of Plomesgate, E. division of Suffolk, 3¾ miles (E. by N.) from Wickham-Market, and 7 (N. E.) from Woodbridge; containing 173 inhabitants. It comprises 1975 acres, of which 115 are common or waste. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20, and in the gift of Andrew Arcedeckne, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for a yearly rent-charge of £510, and there are 80 acres of glebe.

Blaxton

BLAXTON, a township, in the parish of Finningley, union and soke of Doncaster, W. riding of the county of York, 4¾ miles (N. by E.) from Bawtry; containing 183 inhabitants.

Blaydon

BLAYDON, a village, in the parish of Winlaton, union of Gateshead, E. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 4 miles (W.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; containing 1114 inhabitants. This place is situated on the south of the Tyne; the soil is generally light, but produces good wheat, turnips, and potatoes, and the scenery is varied with hill and dale, wood and water. The river affords great facility for the conveyance of coal, of which immense quantities are sent in keels from the Townley-main, Blaydon-main, and Cowen's collieries, to the shipping at Shields. There is an extensive manufactory and depôt for lead; the lead is brought from the Allendale and Weardale mines, where it is smelted, to the works here, where it is manufactured, and shipped for the London market. At this place are also some white-lead and sulphuric-acid works, established in 1839; an iron manufactory for chains, nails, &c.; a cast-iron foundry for ovens, stoves, engines, and other articles; a coke and lamp-black factory; a steel and iron forge; and a fire-brick manufactory. A good road from Newcastle crosses the Tyne by an elegant suspension-bridge at Scotswood, and forms a junction with the Gateshead and Hexham turnpike here; the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, also, has a station at which the trains meet from Newcastle and Gateshead. A church, for which a site was given by Mr. Beaumont, was consecrated in August, 1845; it is called St. Cuthbert's. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Methodists of the New Connexion.

Blaydon-Burn

BLAYDON-BURN, a hamlet, in the parish of Winlaton, union of Gateshead, W. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 6 miles (W. S. W.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is picturesquely situated on the Tyne, at the confluence of a small rivulet or burn; and has an extensive establishment where fire-bricks, fire-clay retorts for gas-works, flint for potteries, and almost every article of which fireclay is susceptible, are manufactured: the first fire-clay made into bricks in this part of the country, was produced at these works about 80 years ago. A colliery is in full operation, employing from 200 to 300 hands; and there is a private railway winding through the romantic dell of Blaydon-Burn, opened in 1841, and extending to the Tyne, whence goods are conveyed by wherries to Newcastle and Shields, and there shipped.

Blazey (St.)

BLAZEY (ST.), a parish, in the union of St. Austell, E. division of the hundred of Powder and of the county of Cornwall, 4 miles (E. N. E.) from St. Austell; containing 3284 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1480 acres, of which 71 are common or waste; the surface is hilly, and in the lower grounds is subject to inundation. The substratum is rich in mineral produce, and mines of copper and tin are extensively wrought. The living is a vicarage, in the gift of Col. Carlyon: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £120, and the vicarial for the same amount. A church district named Par was formed in 1846 out of the parishes of St. Blazey and Tywardreth, by the Ecclesiastical Commission. There are places of worship for Wesleyans.

Bleadon (St. Peter)

BLEADON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Axbridge, hundred of Winterstoke, E. division of Somerset, 5¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Axbridge; containing, with the hamlets of Oldmixton and Shipslade, 778 inhabitants. It comprises 2745 acres, whereof 854 are common or waste. The navigable river Axe passes through the parish, and a considerable trade in coal is carried on. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 7. 8½.; net income, £469, patron, the Bishop of Winchester. Meric Casaubon, D.D., an eminent critic and divine, and son of the celebrated Isaac Casaubon, was collated to the benefice about 1624. Here are vestiges of a British settlement, but the Roman road on which it stood can scarcely be traced; and there are several barrows on an eminence in the vicinity.

Bleane.—See Cosmus (St.) and Damian.

BLEANE.—See Cosmus (St.) and Damian.

Bleasby

BLEASBY, a hamlet, in the parish of Legsby, union of Caistor, W. division of the wapentake of Wraggoe, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln; containing 123 inhabitants.

Bleasby (St. Mary)

BLEASBY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Southwell, Southwell division of the wapentake of Thurgarton, S. division of the county of Nottingham, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Southwell; containing 353 inhabitants. It comprises 1468a. 1r. 5p., of which 760 acres are arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture: the surface presents hill and vale; the soil is clay and sand. The village occupies a secluded situation on the western side of the river Trent, over which is a ferry; it is a pleasant, straggling place. Within the limits of the parish are the hamlets of Notown, Goverton, and Gibsmere, and Heaselford ferry, near which the Trent forms two channels, and encompasses an island of twenty acres, called the "Knabs." The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Southwell, valued in the king's books at £4; it is held with the perpetual curacy of Morton, and has a net income of £115. The tithes were commuted for land in 1777; the vicarial portion consists of 58 acres, and there is a vicarage-house, built in 1843. The church is an ancient edifice, in the early English style, with modern alterations, and is in good repair.

Bleasdale

BLEASDALE, a chapelry, in the parish of Lancaster, union of Garstang, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 7 miles (E. by N.) from Garstang; containing 249 inhabitants. The forest of Bleasdale, which is held of the crown, in right of the duchy of Lancaster, comprises about 8490 acres, and is co-extensive with the township; it is wild and mountainous, and the upper ridge of hills joins the county of York: the soil is of a clayey quality. There is a good stone-quarry; also a paper-mill. Six thousand acres belong to William Garnett, Esq., whose house here, called Bleasdale Tower, is the residence of his son, W. J. Garnett, Esq. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Lancaster; net income, £73, with a house: there are about 22 acres of glebe. The chapel, called Admarsh Chapel, is a neat edifice with a square tower, rebuilt in 1835; it has a beautiful east window of stained glass, executed by Ward of London, the gift in 1840 of Mr. Sergeant Bellasis. A school here has an endowment of £22 per annum.

Bleatarn

BLEATARN, a hamlet, in the parish of Warcop, East ward and union, county of Westmorland, 4¾ miles (W. by S.) from Brough. John Tailbois, in the reign of Henry II., gave the manor to the abbot of Byland, in Yorkshire, who founded a cell in the vicinity, the ruins of which indicate the conventual buildings to have been somewhat extensive. The Sawbridge estate, and others within the manor, are tithe-free if occupied by their respective owners, but subject to the claim if held by a tenant. Limestone abounds.

Blechingdon (St. Giles)

BLECHINGDON (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Bicester, hundred of Ploughley, county of Oxford, 5 miles (E. by N.) from Woodstock; containing 638 inhabitants. It is bordered on the south-west by the Oxford canal; and contains quarries of stone well adapted for building and paving. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 9. 4½., and in the gift of Queen's College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £272. 18., and the glebe consists of 209½ acres. Leonard Power, by will in 1620, endowed an almshouse for four poor persons; it was rebuilt about the end of the last century, and £33 per annum are assigned for the support of the inmates. Dr. Mills, Principal of St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, and author of the Prolegomena, was rector of the parish; he was interred in the church, and a handsome monument has been erected to his memory.

Bledington (St. Leonard)

BLEDINGTON (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Stow-on-the-Wold, Upper division of the hundred of Slaughter, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 4 miles (S. E. by E.) from Stow; containing 354 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 1400 acres, and is divided from Oxfordshire by the Evenlode stream, by which the flat grounds are sometimes flooded; the soil is gravelly, with some clay, and the surface level. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4.; net income, £88; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Canons of Christ-Church, Oxford, to whom land and a money payment were assigned in lieu of tithes in 1769.

Bledlow (Holy Trinity)

BLEDLOW (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Aylesbury, county of Buckingham, 5½ miles (E. S. E.) from Thame; containing 1205 inhabitants. It comprises 4112a. 1r. 1p., of which about 500 acres are woodland, 100 pasture, and onethird of the rest meadow and two-thirds arable. There are two paper-mills, and females find employment by making cotton and blond lace by hand on pillows. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16. 9. 7.; net income, £250; patron, Lord Carrington: land and money payments were assigned in 1809, in lieu of all tithes, woodlands excepted. The church was erected about the year 1200. At Bledlow Ridge, three miles from the church, is a chapel, which was rebuilt by subscription in 1835, and is vested in three trustees; the vicar, who is also chaplain, being one. There is also a Wesleyan meeting-house at Bledlow Ridge; and several endowments, amounting to about £30 per annum, have been left to the poor.

Blencarn, with Kirkland.—See Kirkland.

BLENCARN, with Kirland.—See Kirkland.

Blencogo

BLENCOGO, a township, in the parish of Bromfield, union of Wigton, Cumberland ward, E. division of Cumberland, 4½ miles (W. by S.) from Wigton; containing 211 inhabitants. The Rev. Jonathan Boucher, who published a Supplement to Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, was born here in 1738.

Blencow, Great

BLENCOW, GREAT, a township, in the parish of Dacre, union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 5 miles (W. N. W.) from Penrith; containing 64 inhabitants. In 1772 land and a money payment were assigned to the impropriator in lieu of tithes. A grammar school, of high repute, was founded in 1576 by Thomas Burbank, who endowed it with property now producing about £200 per annum: a new schoolroom, and a house for the master, were built in 1793. The late Lord Ellenborough received a part of his early education at this school, which has also produced several distinguished clergymen.

Blencow, Little

BLENCOW, LITTLE, a township, in the parish of Greystock, union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 4¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Penrith; containing 69 inhabitants. Near an ancient house, once the residence of the Blencows, are some dispersed ruins of buildings, particularly those of a chapel, with a burial-ground adjoining; and near the road is an inclosed cemetery, in which stands a stone cross, with the arms of the family engraved on it.

Blendon

BLENDON, a hamlet, in the parish of Bexley, union of Dartford, hundred of Lessness, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent; containing 122 inhabitants.

Blendworth (St. Giles)

BLENDWORTH (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Catherington, hundred of Finch-Dean, Petersfield and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, ¾ of a mile from Horndean; containing 280 inhabitants. It comprises 1421a. 1r. 23p., of which 611 acres are arable, 146 meadow, 386 downs, and 253 woodland: the soil is chalky, and the surface level and dry. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 7. 8½., and in the gift of the Rev. Edward Langton Ward: the tithes have been commuted for two rentcharges, £130 payable to the incumbent of Chalton, and £243 to the rector of Blendworth, who has also a glebe of 6 acres. William Appleford, in 1695, gave £200 in trust, to be invested in land, and the proceeds applied to education.

Blenheim-Park

BLENHEIM-PARK, an extra-parochial district, in the liberty of Oxford (though locally in the hundred of Wootton), union of Woodstock, county of Oxford; containing 109 inhabitants. This district was granted in 1704, by Queen Anne, to John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, in reward of the splendid victory obtained by him over the French and Bavarians, on the 2nd of August, near the village of Blenheim; and the grant was confirmed by parliament in the following year, when the house of commons voted the sum of £500,000 for the erection of a palace. The structure was completed in 1715, after a design by Sir John Vanbrugh, and is a magnificent pile 850 feet in extreme length, generally considered to be the only public work of magnitude sufficient for the full development of the genius of that architect, and consequently regarded as his chef d'æuvre. In the centre of the principal front is a projecting portico of the Corinthian order supporting a triangular pediment, crowned on the apex by a statue of Minerva, and displaying in the tympanum the armorial bearings of the duke; at each extremity of the front is a lofty massive tower. The demesne, which comprises 2940 acres, and is inclosed by a wall twelve miles in circuit, is intersected by the river Glyme, which passes in its several windings under bridges of elegant design, and expands into a noble and beautifully picturesque lake, 250 acres in extent. On a fine lawn is a column 130 feet in height, surmounted by a colossal statue of the duke, holding in one hand his baton of command, and in the other a figure of Victory. In different parts of the grounds are temples, grottoes, and statues of beautiful design; and the numerous lodges at the various entrances into the widely-extended demesne, form interesting features in the scenery of the contiguous villages: the principal approach is from Woodstock, under a triumphal arch. The Roman Akeman-street passes through the northern portion of the park, and may be distinctly traced near the lodge.

Blenkinsopp

BLENKINSOPP, a township, in the parish and union of Haltwhistle, W. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 1½ mile (W.) from Haltwhistle; containing 845 inhabitants. This has long been the property of the Blenkinsopp family. In 1399 "Thomas de Blencansopp" had a license to fortify his mansion: it occurs in the list of border castles about 1416; and in 1488 its proprietor committed the custody of it to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, at that time warden of the west and middle marshes, when it is supposed that the Blenkinsopps abandoned it finally as a residence. The township comprises 4725 acres, whereof 3844 are common or waste; and is situated on the road from Newcastle to Carlisle, and near the site of the Roman station Magna, now called Caer Voran, which latter name it must have received from the ancient Britons, probably from having been placed under the tutelage of the virgin goddess Minerva, Caer Vorwen or Morwen signifying Maiden's fort. The foundations of buildings and traces of streets are still evident to the view; the Roman wall is strongest near this station, and at the distance of a quarter of a mile is more than twelve feet high and nine broad. The geological features of the district are generally interesting, and the township abounds in mineral wealth: coal of good quality is very extensively wrought by a company, and near the collieries are quarries of grey slate and limestone. The Newcastle and Carlisle railway passes through the township, and attains its summit level a mile and a half to the northwest of the village of Greenhead (which see), where four locomotive engines are usually stationed. Blenkinsopp Castle, the seat of the ancient family of that name, and now in the possession of their descendant, John Blenkinsopp Coulson, Esq., is a venerable pile of grey massive walls, with a farmhouse attached, used as the residence of the agent of the colliery.