Bockleton - Bolehall

Bockleton (St. Michael)

BOCKLETON (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Tenbury, chiefly in the Upper division of the hundred of Doddingtree, Tenbury and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, but partly in the hundred of Broxash, county of Hereford, 5 miles (S.) from Tenbury; containing, with the hamlet of HamptonCharles in the latter county, 358 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2440 acres, of which 1026 are pasture, 936 arable, and 88 woodland; there are also some cider orchards and hop-grounds. The soil is in general a reddish clay, on a substratum of coarse limestone or freestone; and the surface is gently undulated. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £127; patrons, the Gibson family: the glebe consists of rather more than 100 acres. The church, a substantial edifice of stone, has a chancel at the east end, a tower, and two Norman doorways on the north and south; it has lately undergone considerable repair. There is a national school.

Boconnoc

BOCONNOC, a parish, in the union of Liskeard, hundred of West, E. division of Cornwall, 3¾ miles (E. N. E.) from Lostwithiel; containing 312 inhabitants. In 1644, during the parliamentary war, Charles I. resided for a short time at Boconnoc House, where he had a narrow escape from assassination, having been fired at by a rebel while walking in the grounds. In the park are vestiges of lead-mines, one of which was wrought in the seventeenth century, and again about the middle of the eighteenth. The living is a discharged rectory, with which that of Broadoak was consolidated in 1742, valued in the king's books at £9. 17. 8.; patrons, the family of Grenville. The tithes of Boconnoc have been commuted for £185, and of Broadoak for £195; in the latter parish is a glebe of 83½ acres. The church contains a font of considerable beauty.

Boddington (St. Mary Magdalene)

BODDINGTON (St. Mary Magdalene), a parish, in the union of Tewkesbury, partly in the Lower division of the hundred of Westminster, and partly in that of the hundred of Tewkesbury, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from Cheltenham; containing 414 inhabitants. This place is distinguished as the scene of the last great battle fought (in 893) between Alfred the Great and the Danes, who, having intrenched themselves, were surrounded by the king with the whole force of his dominions, with the view of reducing them by famine. After having been compelled to eat their horses, many perished from hunger, and the remainder made a desperate sally upon the English; a great number fell in the action, but a considerable body effected their escape. The living is annexed to the vicarage of Staverton.

Boddington, Lower and Upper (St. John the Baptist)

BODDINGTON, LOWER and UPPER (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Banbury, hundred of Chipping-Warden, S. division of the county of Northampton, 9¾ miles (S. W. by S.) from Daventry; containing 675 inhabitants, of whom 324 are in the lower, and 351 in the upper, division. The parish is situated on the confines of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, the three-shire-stone which marks the bounds of the respective counties being at its western extremity. It comprises 3020a. 3r. 31p., of which 1721a. 34p. are in Upper, and 1299a. 2r. 37p. in Lower, Boddington; of the former number 1286 acres are pasture, and the remainder arable, and of the latter 1088 are pasture, and the remainder arable. The surface is diversified by several elevations, and the soil is in general clayey. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20, and in the gift of Emmanuel College, Cambridge; net income, £850, derived from 470 acres of land: there is a glebe-house. The church is a very ancient edifice, with a square tower. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. The family of Lupworth, in 1600, gave 18 acres of land to the poor of Upper Boddington, who now occupy it in garden plots; the annual rent is £38, with which coal is purchased, and distributed to the poor on St. Thomas's day. Richard Lamprey, in 1758, gave a tenement for a school-house; and the interest of £300, being the amount of different benefactions, is paid to a master for instructing poor children.

Bodenham (St. Michael)

BODENHAM (St. Michael), a parish, and anciently a market-town, in the union of Leominster, hundred of Broxash, county of Hereford, 8½ miles (N. N. E.) from Hereford; comprising the townships of Bodenham, Bowley, Bryan-Maund, Whitechurch-Maund, and the Moor; and containing 1017 inhabitants, of whom 341 are in the township of Bodenham. The parish is intersected by the river Lug, and comprises 4974a. 3r. 3p., of which the surface is hilly, and the soil a stiff clay. Walter Devereux, in 1379, obtained permission to hold a market on Tuesday, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of the Assumption of Our Lady; but they have been long discontinued. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 1. 5½.; net income, £686; patrons, the family of Arkwright: the tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1802; the glebe consists of 469 acres. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; also a small endowed school. Thomas Mason, Esq., in 1773, bequeathed nine acres of land, for the benefit of poor housekeepers.

Bodenham, Wilts.—See Nunton.

BODENHAM, Wilts.—See Nunton.

Bodham (All Saints)

BODHAM (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Erpingham, hundred of Holt, W. division of Norfolk, 3¼ miles (E.) from Holt; containing 292 inhabitants. This parish comprises about 1400 acres, and has a pleasant village on an acclivity near the source of the river Glaven: the heath was inclosed in 1808, and much of it has been planted. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £9, and in the patronage of Thomas J. Mott, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £375. The church, which is in the later English style, consists of a nave and chancel, with a square embattled tower.

Bodiam (St. Giles)

BODIAM (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Ticehurst, hundred of Staple, rape of Hastings, E. division of Sussex, 2 miles (S. W.) from Sandhurst, and 12 (S. S. E.) from Lamberhurst; comprising 1594 acres, and containing 377 inhabitants. A castle was erected here in 1386 by Sir Edward Dalyngrudge, which, during the civil war in the reign of Charles I., was dismantled by the parliamentarian troops; the remains are in some parts tolerably entire, and the whole, though in a dilapidated state, still forms a stately and magnificent pile. The parish is bounded on the south by the river Rother, which is here navigable; and on the north and north-east by the county of Kent. The living is a vicarage endowed with the rectorial tithes, valued in the king's books at £6. 18. 6½.; patron, the Rev. J. Image. The tithes have been commuted for £320, and the glebe comprises 10 acres. The church is a neat edifice in the later English style, with a low square embattled tower.

Bodicot

BODICOT, a chapelry, in the parish of East Adderbury, union of Banbury, hundred of Bloxham, county of Oxford, 1¾ mile (S. by E.) from Banbury; containing 729 inhabitants. It comprises about 1240 acres; the surface is gently undulated, and the scenery generally of pleasing character. On the north-eastern boundary flows the river Cherwell, which here separates the county from Northamptonshire; the chapelry is intersected by the Oxford canal, which runs near to and almost parallel with the river, and the road leading from Banbury southward to East Adderbury runs through the village. The chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was nearly wholly rebuilt, and reconsecrated in April, 1844; the cost amounted to £1575: the tower is on the north side. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. Bodicot Cross was standing in the middle of the village, until the early part of the present century.

Bodmin (St. Petrock)

BODMIN (St. Petrock), a parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Trigg, E. division of Cornwall; containing, with the municipal borough of Bodmin, 4643 inhabitants, of whom 4025 are in the borough, 20½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Launceston, and 234½ (W. S. W.) from London, on the western road. This place, in the Cornish language called Bosvenna, "the houses on the hill," and in ancient charters Bos-mana and Bod-minian, "the abode of the monks," owes its origin to a Monastery founded by King Athelstan, in 936, on the site of a cell for four brethren established by St. Petrock about 518, and which had been previously a solitary hermitage, originally occupied by St. Guron. Historians are widely at variance concerning the claims which Bodmin possesses to the distinction of having been the primary seat of the bishopric of Cornwall. Dr. Borlase, whose opinion has been entertained by others, states that Edward the Elder in 905 conferred upon it this honour, which it retained till 981, when, the town, church, and monastery having been burnt by the Danes, the episcopal chair was removed to St. Germans. But this has been strenuously combated by Mr. Whitaker, in his work entitled The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall Historically Surveyed, in which he shows that the see was founded in 614, and that St. Germans was made the original seat of it; asserting, on the authority of a grant by King Ethelred, that the monastery of Bodmin was annexed by that monarch, in 994, to the episcopate of St. Germans, and that both places combined to furnish a title to the future prelates until the annexation of the bishopric of Cornwall to that of Crediton, in the county of Devon, in 1031, about twenty years after which Exeter was made the head of the diocese. He refers the Danish conflagration to the monastery of St. Petrock at Padstow, and in this conclusion he is borne out by the flourishing state of the church at Bodmin, as described in Domesday book, where its possessions are enumerated, including 68 houses, with the privilege of a market. This religious house, under different renewals of the establishment, the last of which was by one Algar, in 1125, appears to have been successively inhabited by Benedictine monks, nuns, secular priests, monks again, and canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, whose prior, from the circumstance of his possessing a gallows and a pillory, had evidently the power of inflicting capital punishment. Its revenue at the Dissolution amounted to £289. 11. 11.: the site and demesne were granted to Thomas Sternhold, one of the first translators of the Psalms into English metre. St. Petrock was buried here; for, says Leland, "the shrine and tumbe of St. Petrok yet stondith in thest part of the chirche."

The town appears to have increased rapidly after the Conquest. Leland describes the market as being "lyke a fair for the confluence of people," and enumerates, in addition to the parochial church and the cantuary chapel near it, two other chapels; a house and church of Grey friars, begun by John of London, a merchant, about 1239, augmented by Edward, Earl of Cornwall, and in the time of Elizabeth converted into a house of correction for the county; and two hospitals, dedicated respectively to St. Anthony and St. George; besides the hospital of St. Lawrence, a mile off. Norden, also, says, "It hath been of larger recite than now it is, as appeareth by the ruynes of sundrye buyldings decayde." William of Worcester, citing the register in the church belonging to the Grey friars, states that 1500 of the inhabitants died of the plague, about the middle of the fourteenth century. It was one of those decayed towns in the county to repair which an act was passed in the 32nd of Henry VIII.

In 1496, Perkin Warbeck, the pretended duke of York, on landing in Cornwall, assembled here a force of 3000 men, with which he marched to attack the city of Exeter; and in 1498, an insurrection of the Cornish men was organized, under the influence of Thomas Flammoc, a lawyer, and Michael Joseph, a farrier, in this town, who, being chosen leaders, conducted the insurgents to Wells, where they were joined by Lord Audley, who placed himself at their head. The rebels continued their march into Kent, and encamped at Eltham, where, in the battle of Blackheath, they were surrounded by the king's troops, made prisoners, and dismissed without further punishment; but Lord Audley, Flammoc, and Joseph, were executed as ringleaders. During the depression of trade and agriculture, in the reign of Edward VI., the Cornish men, attributing their distresses to the Reformation, assembled at Bodmin to the number of 10,000, under the command of Humphrey Arundel, governor of St. Michael's Mount, and, being countenanced by the inhabitants, encamped at Castle Canyke, near the town. The insurgents marched thence to besiege Exeter, demanding the re-establishment of the mass and the restoration of the abbey lands; but, after having reduced the inhabitants of that city to extreme privation, they were defeated by Lord Russell, who had been sent with a reinforcement to the relief of the citizens. Subsequently to their dispersion, Sir Anthony Kingston, provost-marshal, who had been sent to Bodmin to punish the insurgents, is said to have hanged the mayor at his own door, after having been hospitably entertained in his house. During the civil war in the reign of Charles I., the town, which had no permanent garrison, was alternately occupied by each party, till, in 1646, General Fairfax finally took possession of it for the parliament. After the Restoration, Charles II. visited the place on his journey to Scilly, and humorously declared it to be the most polite town through which he had passed, "one-half of the houses being prostrate, and the remainder uncovered."

The town is situated on a gentle elevation rising out of a vale, between two hills, almost in the centre of the county: it consists of several streets, the principal of which is a mile in length; it is well paved, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. The races, which formerly took place annually after the summer assizes, have been discontinued for several years; the course, which is one of the best in England, is about a mile and a half distant. In July an annual procession of the populace, on horseback and on foot, carrying garlands of flowers, was till lately made to a place in the vicinity, called Halgaver Moor: this ceremony, the memorial of some ancient festival, was called "Bodmin Riding." The manufacture of bone lace, which formerly flourished, has given place to that of shoes, a great quantity of which is exposed for sale in the neighbouring markets and fairs; there are also a large tan-yard and a brewery. A railway has been constructed to Wadebridge. The market is on Saturday: fairs are held on Jan. 25th, the Saturday preceding Palm-Sunday, the Tuesday and Wednesday before Whitsuntide, July 6th, and Dec. 6th, for horses and horned-cattle; large cattlefairs are also held in the hamlet of St. Lawrence on Aug. 21st, and Oct. 29th and 30th. The inhabitants were incorporated in the 12th century, by Richard, Earl of Cornwall; and charters were subsequently granted by Edward III., Richard II., Elizabeth, and George III. By the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., c. 76, the corporation now consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, of whom the mayor and late mayor are justices of the peace, and hold petty-sessions weekly for the borough. The shire-hall is a substantial building of granite, 104 feet long and 56 broad, erected by the county, at an expense of £8000, upon a portion of the site of the ancient convent of Grey friars; it was first opened at the Midsummer sessions of 1838. Nearly adjoining, elegant and commodious lodgings for the accommodation of the judges of assize were erected by the town-council, at an expense of nearly £4000; and in consequence of these improvements, both the assizes were, by order of the privy council, July 6th, 1838, appointed to be holden at Bodmin, the summer assize only having been previously held here. The quarter-sessions for the county are also held at the place. The powers of the county debt-court of Bodmin, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Bodmin. The elective franchise was conferred in the 23rd of Edward I., since which time the borough has continued to return two members: the limits of the borough were extended for parliamentary purposes, in 1832, to 13,651 acres; the mayor is returning officer. The county gaol and house of correction, built in 1780 on Mr. Howard's plan, and since greatly enlarged for the proper classification of prisoners, is a neat and compact building.

The parish comprises 4586 acres, whereof 330 are common or waste. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8., and in the gift of Lady Basset; net income, £283. The church, formerly the conventual church of the monastery, was rebuilt in 1472, and is a spacious structure chiefly in the later style of English architecture, with a venerable tower on the north side, formerly surmounted by a lofty spire, which was destroyed by lightning in 1699; the interior contains some exquisitely carved oak, a large Norman font curiously sculptured, and several interesting monuments. Near the altar was a small chapel, taken down in 1776, in which the shrine of St. Petrock was preserved till the Reformation; and at the north side of the chancel is a fine altar-tomb of grey marble, resembling that of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey, and on which is a recumbent effigy of Prior Vivian, removed from the ancient priory. In the churchyard is a building supposed to have been a chantry chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, with a crypt underneath; it was used, until a few years since, for the free grammar school, and is at present occupied as a national school for girls. There are places of worship for Bryanites, the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon, and Wesleyans. The grammar school was founded by Queen Elizabeth, who endowed it with £4. 13. 8. per annum, payable out of the exchequer: no appointment has been made since the death of the late master. The poor law union of Bodmin comprises 21 parishes or places, and contains a population of 20,800. The county lunatic asylum was built here in 1820, at an expense of £15,177, including the furniture; it is of an octagonal form, consisting of six ranges, each containing two galleries.

About a mile to the west of the town are some remains of the hospital of St. Lawrence, originally endowed for nineteen lepers, two sound men and women, and a priest, who were incorporated by Queen Elizabeth in 1582, from whom they received the grant of a market, now discontinued, and two fairs, still held. There are three intrenchments in the parish, namely, Castle Canyke, the Beacon (near the town), and one in Dunmere wood; and above the ford at Nantallon a Roman camp has lately been discovered, in which coins of Vespasian and Trajan, and some pottery were found. On the north side of the town is a ruined tower, called Berry Tower, 418 feet above the level of the sea; it belonged to the chapel of the Holy Rood, and was built in the reign of Henry VII.

Bodney (St. Mary)

BODNEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Swaffham, hundred of South Greenhoe, W. division of the county of Norfolk, 9 miles (N. N. E.) from Brandon; containing 98 inhabitants. This parish comprises 2605a. 18p., of which 1384 acres are arable, 1177 meadow and pasture, and 43 woodland and plantations; much ground is also rabbit-warren. The ancient Hall was for some time the retreat of the nuns of Montargis, of whom Eloise Adelaide de Bourbon, daughter of the Prince de Condé, assumed the veil here in 1805, and is interred at this place. The house has been rebuilt in a handsome style. The living is a discharged rectory, united to that of Great Cressingham, valued in the king's books at £6. 7. 3½.: the tithes have been commuted for £195. The church is a plain thatched building, with an ornamented window, and a wooden belfry.

Bognor

BOGNOR, a market and post town, chapelry, and bathing-place, in the parish of South Bersted, hundred of Aldwick, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 7 miles (S. E.) from Chichester, and 67 (S. W. by S.) from London; containing 576 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Bogenor, implying, in the Saxon language, "a rocky shore," was prior to 1790 an insignificant village, inhabited only by a few labourers and fishermen; but in that year, Sir Richard Hotham, Knt., perceiving the natural advantages which it possessed, erected a handsome villa for his own residence, and several lodging-houses, which he furnished at considerable expense for the accommodation of visiters. The town is chiefly resorted to by persons suffering from pulmonary complaints, and such as dislike the tumult and expense of more populous watering-places; it has also been visited by numerous members of the royal family. The whole is divided into Upper and Lower; the former consisting of several beautiful marine villas, standing in grounds tastefully laid out; the latter comprising the town, pleasantly situated near the peninsula of Selsey, on a plain at the foot of the South Down hills, which shelter it from the north and east winds. The parade and drive along the coast have of late years been greatly improved, and extend about two miles, forming a delightful promenade, and commanding most extensive sea and land views.

The town is paved, macadamized, and supplied with water from pumps; and its internal regulation, under a general act of improvement passed in 1835, is vested in a body of commissioners. On the Steine are warm and cold baths, conveniently arranged; and for those who prefer the open sea there are numerous bathing-machines on the beach. Here are two subscription libraries; and a handsome assembly-room, with refreshment and other apartments, erected in 1837. Races occasionally take place on the sands. Bognor is celebrated for prawns and the silver-mullet, great quantities of which are sent to London and Brighton; and off the coast are extensive oyster-beds. A large brewery here is noted for its ale; and there is a small manufactory for Roman cement, made from the Kidney rock which abounds in the sands. The Brighton and Portsmouth railway passes a few miles to the north of the town. The markets, established within a few years, and for which a market-place has been erected, are on Thursday and Saturday; and a fair is held on the 5th and 6th of July. The living is a perpetual curacy; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury; net income, £107, with a good residence. The chapel, dedicated to St. John, is a neat building, with an embattled tower at the east end; it was consecrated in 1822. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. In opening the rocks, various fossils have been discovered; beautiful agates and pebbles, and, after storms and high tides, pyrites, are found in profusion on the beach.

Bolam

BOLAM, a township, in the parish of Gainford, union of Auckland, S. W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham, 5 miles (S. by W.) from Bishop-Auckland; containing 119 inhabitants. It is situated on a lofty ridge of limestone, commanding an extensive prospect to the south and west; and comprises 950 acres, of which 500 are arable, 438 grass land, and 12 wood: the soil, with a trifling exception of cold clay, is productive. The township is remarkable for a whinstone dyke, which proves itself to be of later formation than the coal-field through which it runs, as the coal is, on both sides of the stone where they have come in contact, converted into cinders: quarries are worked, supplying a material for the repair of roads. The rectorial tithes have been commuted for £62. 10., payable to Trinity College, Cambridge, and the vicarial for £46. 10. A chapel has been recently erected. William Garth, father of the celebrated Sir Samuel, physician and poet, was a landowner in the place; and the name of the family occurs twice in the parochial register of Gainford in the year 1747.

Bolam (St. Andrew)

BOLAM (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union, and partly in the W. division, of Castle ward, but chiefly in the W. division of Morpeth ward and N. E. division of Tindale ward, N. and S. divisions of Northumberland; comprising the townships of Trewick, Bolam, Bolam-Vicarage, Gallow-Hill, Belsay, Bradford, Harnham, and Shortflatt; and containing 603 inhabitants, of whom 66 are in the township of Bolam, and 17 in that of Bolam-Vicarage, 9½ miles (W. S. W.) from Morpeth. It derives its name from being situated on a bol, or high swell of land. The old town of Bolam had its grant of a market and fair from Edward I., and consisted of a castle, a church, and two rows of houses running from east to west: the tower of the castle was standing some years since; and on the commanding hill near Bolam House, the seat of Lord Decies, where it stood, are intrenchments of a period anterior to the Conquest. The parish comprises upwards of 7000 acres, of which 1116 are in the township of Bolam. A large portion of the soil is a dark earth resting on clay, and there are fine portions of a sandy loam with a substratum of freestone, and also coal and limestone; in the township of Bolam a great part is rich grass land, interspersed with many thriving plantations, and a small but picturesque lake has been formed by the noble owner. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown: the great tithes have been commuted for £247. 3. 8., and the vicarial for £72. 10. 6.; the glebe consists of about 130 acres. The township of Bolam-Vicarage comprises only the glebe land, lying on the eastern side of the church, which is of the Norman style. A branch of the Watling-street, called the "Devil's Causeway," may be distinctly traced about a mile westward; and near it are two large barrows, and a stone pillar of rude form, with a tumulus which, on being opened, was found to contain a coffin. On an intrenched rock, on the north-east side of Bolam moor, is a British camp.

Bolas, Great (St. John the Baptist)

BOLAS, GREAT (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Wellington, Newport division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop, 7 miles (N.) from Wellington; containing 288 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the road from Wellington to Drayton, comprises by measurement 1845 acres; the surface is pleasingly varied, and watered by the rivers Mees and Terne, which add greatly to the fertility of the soil and beauty of the scenery. There are two quarries of red sandstone, used for building. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 9. 4½., and in the patronage of Lord Hill: the tithes have been commuted for £330, and there are about 49 acres of glebe. The church is a plain neat edifice, of comparatively modern erection, and in good repair.

Bold

BOLD, a township, in the parish and union of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 4½ miles (E. S. E.) from Prescot; containing 712 inhabitants. The family of Bold resided here even previously to the Conquest, and preserved an uninterrupted succession of male heirs down to the time of Peter Bold, Esq., parliamentary representative for the county, who died in 1761. The whole estate passed, in 1803, from his daughter Anna Maria to the husband of her sister, Thomas Patten, Esq., who assumed the name of Bold; and by an heiress of the latter family, it became vested in the Hoghtons, of Hoghton Tower. The present elegant mansion of Bold Hall was built after a design by Leoni: the old Hall, a curious edifice, is now the farming-house belonging to it. The township comprises 4261 acres of land. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £335. 17., payable to Trinity College, Cambridge, and the vicarial for £117. 19. 5. The Rev. Richard Barnes, promoted to the see of Carlisle in 1570, and to that of Durham in 1577; and his brother, John Barnes, the chancellor, were natives of the place.

Boldon (St. Nicholas)

BOLDON (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of South Shields, E. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 4½ miles (N. W.) from Sunderland; comprising the rustic villages of East and West Boldon, and containing 915 inhabitants. The manor has been annexed, time immemorially, to the see of Durham; and gives name to a survey of the possessions of the bishopric, made in 1184, and called "Boldon Buke," it being the first manor which occurs in that record, and on account of the numerous references in it to the services in this district. On Boldon hills, in the spring of 1644-5, some severe conflicts occurred between the army under the command of the Marquess of Newcastle, and the Scots, who then held Sunderland. The parish is situated on the road from Newcastle to Sunderland, and contains 3954 acres, of which two-thirds are arable, and one-third grass land; 63 acres are common or waste: in the valleys the soil is clay. The views from the higher grounds are fine and extensive, and the air is remarkable for its salubrity. The district abounds with limestone. The Shields and Pontop railroad, and the Brandling Junction railroad, run through the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £24. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes have been commuted for £539. 10., and there are 148 acres of glebe. The church, which is in West Boldon, is an ancient and very neat fabric, with a spiral tower, and with octagonal pillars and pointed arches; it stands on high ground, and the prospect from the churchyard extends over the whole of the level country northward, the lower vale of Tyne, and the rising grounds in Northumberland. At East Boldon is a parochial chapel. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Boldre (St. John)

BOLDRE (St. John), a parish, in the union of Lymington, partly in the E. division of the hundred of New Forest, and partly in the hundred of Christchurch, Lymington and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 2 miles (N.) from Lymington; including the chapelry of South Baddesley, and the tythings of Battramsley, Pilley with Warborne, Sway, and Walhampton; and containing 2888 inhabitants. This parish, in the Domesday survey named Bovreford, or "the ford for cattle," comprises by computation 6000 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the livings of Lymington and Brockenhurst annexed, valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £394; patron, J. B. Shrubb, Esq.; impropriators, Joseph Weld, Esq., and others. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1811. The church, occupying an elevated site commanding an extensive prospect of great beauty and variety, is a very ancient and irregular edifice, with a low square embattled tower, singularly placed at the south-eastern part of the structure, and partially rebuilt in 1697. At Baddesley is a small chapel, of modern architecture, erected and endowed by the Worsley family; and at East Boldre is a church, the incumbent of which has an income of £100: a district church was built in Sway tything in 1838. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. A school, for instructing and clothing 20 boys and 20 girls, was founded at Pilley by the Rev. William Gilpin, vicar, celebrated for his intense feeling and accurate delineation of natural beauty, and especially of that of forest scenery: he was born at Scaleby Castle, in Cumberland, about the year 1724, and reckoned among his ancestors the amiable reformer, Bernard Gilpin; he died here, April 5th, 1804.

Boldron

BOLDRON, a township, in the parish of Bowes, union of Teesdale, wapentake of Gilling-West, N. riding of York, 2 miles (S. W. by S.) from BarnardCastle; containing 169 inhabitants. It lies in the manor of Bowes, and comprises by computation 1340 acres. The road from Brough to Barnard-Castle passes north of the village. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £80.

Bole (St. Martin)

BOLE (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Gainsborough, North-Clay division of the wapentake of Bassetlaw, N. division of the county of Nottingham, 3½ miles (S. W. by S.) from Gainsborough; containing 191 inhabitants. It comprises about 1460 acres of land, of which the soil is a strong clay producing excellent red wheat, and the surface flat and liable to inundations from the river Trent, which divides the parish from the county of Lincoln. The Bole ferry is now a mile distant from the village; the river, about twenty years ago, having formed a new course. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 13. 4.; net income, £84; patron, the Bishop of Lincoln: there are 20 acres of glebe. The church is a small ancient structure, and has a handsome pinnacled tower with three bells.

Bolehall

Bolehall, with Glascote, a township, in the parish and union of Tamworth, Tamworth division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of the county of Warwick, 1 mile (S. S. E.) from Tamworth; containing 495 inhabitants, and comprising 1193 acres. The road from Atherstone to Tamworth crosses the township, which is also intersected by the Coventry canal and the Birmingham and Derby railway.