Aldingham - Alfreton

Aldingham (St. Cuthbert)

ALDINGHAM (St. Cuthbert), a parish, in the union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 5¾ miles (S.) from Ulverston; containing 907 inhabitants. Immediately after the Conquest, Aldingham was granted to Michael Flandrensis or le Fleming, sometimes called de Furness, who is supposed to have accompanied William I. to England. The parish is situated on the western shore of Morecambe bay, which has encroached so much upon the lands that the church, said to have been formerly in the centre of the parish, is now within the reach of a high tide. The soil is a friable loam and marl, constantly melting down; and the sea threatens greater ravages: the present area is about 7500 acres, whereof two-thirds are arable. The population is principally engaged in the cultivation of the land, and several neat farm-houses have recently been erected by the Earl of Burlington. Limestone is quarried, and there are numerous limekilns. The Tarn beck flows from Urswick beck, southward, to Gleaston, in the parish, where it receives the name of the Gleaston beck; it falls into the bay near the small hamlet of Roosebeck.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £39. 19. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £1093. The church is supposed to have been founded by Michael le Fleming: the present edifice is a low, long, and narrow structure, with whitened walls, and chipstones of red stone; the tower, supported by buttresses and surmounted by pinnacles, is strong and bulky. The churchyard is protected from the sea by an artificial rampart of stone, which appears to be of some antiquity. In the village of Gleaston are the mouldering ruins of a castle which, according to tradition, was built by the lords of Aldingham immediately after the sea had swept away the lower part of the parish; the date is uncertain. The ruins consist of two towers, nearly perfect, on the west side, and there are traces of towers on the east; the interior is now a browsy pasture, of uneven surface, covered in many places with masses of fallen stone. From a promontory on the coast, which was once surrounded by a moat, and is supposed to have been an exploratory station during the incursions of the Picts and Scots, is an extensive prospect over the counties of Westmorland and York.

Aldington (St. Martin)

ALDINGTON (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of East Ashford, partly in the liberty of RomneyMarsh, but chiefly in the franchise and barony of Bircholt, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 5½ miles (W. by N.) from Hythe; containing 733 inhabitants. It is crossed by the South-Eastern railway; and comprises 3576 acres, of which 320 are in wood. The living is a rectory, with the chapel of Smeeth annexed, valued in the king's books at £38. 6. 8.; net income, £1014; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church displays the early English style in its general structure; the tower presents a specimen of very good masonry. Erasmus, the celebrated divine, was rector of the parish.

Aldington

ALDINGTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Badsey, union of Evesham, Upper division of the hundred of Blackenhurst, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 2 miles (E.) from Evesham; containing 102 inhabitants. At the time of the Domesday survey, this was a berewic, or corn-farm, annexed to the manor of Offenham, and held by the abbey of Evesham: in the reign of Henry III. the abbot built a grange here. The hamlet comprises 642 acres, forming the northern part of the parish; on the west it is bounded by the Avon, and on the north by a stream which falls into that river. The soil is of the most fertile quality. There is a small, but very respectable village; and the manor-house is well designed, and pleasantly situated.

Aldridge (St. Mary)

ALDRIDGE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Walsall, S. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Walsall; containing, with the chapelry of Great Barr, 2083 inhabitants, of whom 1005 are in the township of Aldridge. This parish, anciently Alrewich, comprises 7752 acres, whereof 480 are common or waste land: in the township of Aldridge are about 2500 acres, all arable, with the exception of 100 of grass and 20 woodland. The soil is principally sandy and gravelly, producing good crops if well manured; much of the surface is elevated, the celebrated Barr Beacon being the highest hill in the inland counties. The neighbourhood affords a kind of red clay, well adapted for the finer sort of flower-pots, tiles, &c.; it is thirty feet deep, and makes, also, superior blue bricks for building, The Blue-tile works of Messrs. G. and J. Brawn were established here in 1825; the excellence of the tiles consists in their lightness, durability, and colour, being similar to slate: about 100 hands are employed in this species of manufacture. The trade is greatly facilitated by the Wyrley and Essington Extension canal, now incorporated with the Birmingham canal, and which passes a short distance west of the village. There is not a running stream in the parish; the Bourne rivulet separates it from Shenstone, and the old London and Chester road passes at the east end. The village is pretty, and contains some good houses: about a mile southward of it is Aldridge Lodge, occupying elevated ground, surrounded with 200 acres, and commanding a panoramic view of the circumjacent country; it is the property of the Rev. Thomas Burrowes Adams, M.A. Druids' Heath and Mill Green, two hamlets in the manor of Aldridge, are also within a mile of the village. The Living is a rectory, with the perpetual curacy of Great Barr annexed, valued in the king's books at £8. 1. 3.; patron, Sir E. D. Scott, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £1300 per annum; and there are 70 acres of glebe, with a good glebe-house situated near the church, near which, also, is the residence of Edward Tongue, Esq. The church was partly rebuilt in 1842, at a cost of £728; it has a monument of a Knight Templar, and its square tower is very ancient. There are two free schools, one of them with an endowment of £126 per annum, founded in 1718 by the Rev. John Jordan; and the other for girls, of whom six are instructed in consideration of an endowment of £12 per annum arising from land left by Mrs. Wheeley. A national and Sunday school is supported by subscription. At the back of the church is a small tumulus.

Aldringham (St. Andrew)

ALDRINGHAM (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union and hundred of Blything. E. division of Suffolk, 2½ miles (N. by W.) from Aldborough; containing, with the hamlet of Thorpe, 401 inhabitants. The parish derives its name from the river Alde (by some improperly called the Hundred brook), which separates it from Aldborough; it comprises 1736 acres, whereof 323 are common or waste. A market was formerly held, which has fallen into disuse: there is a small fair on St. Andrew's day, called Cold Fair. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £59; patron and impropriator, Lord Huntingfield, whose tithes have been commuted for £205. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists.

Aldrington, East

ALDRINGTON, EAST, a parish, in the union of Steyning, hundred of Fishergate, rape of Lewes, E. division of Sussex, 3 miles (W. by N.) from Brighton; containing about 650 acres. This place is by Camden, Stillingfleet, and others, identified with the Portus Adriani of the Romans; and urns, skeletons, pottery, and other relics of Roman antiquity have been frequently discovered in this and the adjoining parishes; which appear to have been the first points of attack when the Saxons began to infest the coasts. It is bounded on the south by the English Channel, which has made such encroachments on the land as to have completely destroyed the village; and the parish is now without any population, except one individual returned in the last census. The road and railway from Brighton to Shoreham both pass through it. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 10. 2½.; net income, £294; patrons, the Masters and Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge. The church is in ruins.

Aldstone.—See Alston.

ALDSTONE.—See Alston.

Aldsworth (St. Peter)

ALDSWORTH (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Northleach, hundred of Brightwell's Barrow, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3½ miles (S. E.) from Northleach; containing 365 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar of Turkdean; net income, £66. The tithes were commuted for land and an annual money payment, by an inclosure act, in 1793. The peculiar of Aldsworth is regularly inhibited during the bishop's visitation, although his right has been and still continues to be resisted by the patron and ordinary of the peculiar, notwithstanding an award of the Dean of Arches, in 1741, in the bishop's favour.

Aldsworth

ALDSWORTH, a tything, in the parish and union of West Bourne, hundred of West Bourne and Singleton, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex; containing 118 inhabitants. It is situated in the northern extremity of the parish.

Aldwark

ALDWARK, a township, in the parish of Alne, union of Easingwould, wapentake of Bulmer, N. riding of York, 6½ miles (E. S. E.) from Boroughbridge; containing 224 inhabitants. This place comprises 2217 acres, of which 57 are common or waste. The village is seated in the vale of the Ouse, and nearly a mile to the south is Aldwark bridge, a substantial wooden structure, which crosses the river and its banks by twenty-seven arches and culverts. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £75, and the impropriate for £3. 11.

Aldwark

ALDWARK, a township, in the parish of Ecclesfield, union of Wortley, N. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 2½ miles (N. E.) from Rotherham. Aldwark, or "the old work," the ancient seat of the Clarelles, Fitzwilliams, and Foljambes, lies remote from the rest of the parish, and has consequently never been considered a part of Hallamshire: its long line of resident proprietors presents a fine subject for the genealogist and antiquary. A few years since, the extensive corn and oil mills on the opposite side of the river Don were burnt down.

Aldwark

ALDWARK, a township, in the parish of Bradborne, union of Bakewell, hundred of Wirksworth, S. division of the county of Derby, 5¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from Wirksworth; containing 82 inhabitants. The manor was given to the monks of Darley by Sewall, ancestor to the Shirley family: Queen Elizabeth granted it to the Hardwickes, whose heiress brought it to Sir William Cavendish, ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire.

Aldwick

ALDWICK, a tything, in the parish of Pagham, union of West Hampnett, hundred of Aldwick, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex; containing 203 inhabitants.

Aldwinkle (All Saints)

ALDWINKLE (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Thrapston, hundred of Huxloe, N. division of the county of Northampton, 4 miles (N.) from Thrapston; containing 272 inhabitants. It is situated on the navigable river Nene, and contains about 1000 acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 4. 2.; net income, £311; patron, the Rev. R. Roberts, D.D. The tithes were commuted for land and a moneypayment, by an inclosure act, in 1792; the land comprises 205 acres. The church is remarkable for its beautiful tower; there are some windows in the decorated English style, and a small ornamented chapel adjoining the southern side of the chancel. The sum of £30 per annum, the rental of a plantation of twelve acres, is divided between the poor of the two parishes of Aldwinkle All Saints and St. Peter. There is a chalybeate spring. The poet Dryden was born in the parsonagehouse, in 1631.

Aldwinkle (St. Peter)

ALDWINKLE (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Thrapston, hundred of Huxloe, N. division of the county of Northampton, 3¾ miles (N. by E.) from Thrapston; containing 183 inhabitants. The river Nene, which is navigable to the North Sea, and communicates with the Northampton canal, flows through the parish. Here are the remains of a singular cruciform building, called Liveden, erected by the Tresham family, and richly decorated with sculpture, especially round the cornice, which exhibits a Roman Catholic legend and a variety of religious symbols. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 6. 3.; net income, £230; patron, Lord Lilford: the glebe consists of 183 acres. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. Fuller, author of The Worthies of England and other learned works, was born in the parish.

Aldworth (St. Mary)

ALDWORTH (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Wantage, hundred of Compton, county of Berks, 4½ miles (E. by S.) from East Ilsley; containing 314 inhabitants. This place, which is supposed by Hearne to have been a Roman station, comprises 1785a. 3r. 32p., and nearly the whole is cultivated land; the village is situated on an eminence commanding extensive and interesting views. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 16. 0½.; patrons and impropriators, the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge. The great tithes have been commuted for £400, and the vicarial for £100; the impropriate glebe consists of 27, and the vicarial of 16, acres. The church is an ancient structure of simple character, containing eight altar-tombs, on which are nine recumbent figures, under highly enriched arches, elegantly sculptured, supposed to represent different members of the De la Beche family, and to have been executed in the fourteenth century.

Alemouth.—See Alnmouth.

ALEMOUTH.—See Alnmouth.

Alethorpe

ALETHORPE, an extra-parochial liberty, locally in the parish of Fakenham, union of Walsingham, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 2 miles (N. E. by E.) from Fakenham; containing 8 inhabitants. It comprises 237 acres of land.

Alexton (St. Peter)

ALEXTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Billesdon, hundred of East Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 3½ miles (W. by N.) from Uppingham; containing 81 inhabitants. This parish, which is separated from Rutland by the river Eye, and is situated near the road from Leicester to Cambridge, comprises 997a. 28p., nearly the whole of it good grazing land, and, with the exception of 200 acres, tithe-free; the soil is a stiff clay, and the surface undulated and pleasingly wooded. The ancient Hall, built in the reign of Elizabeth, is adorned with avenues of Scotch and Balm of Gilead firs, which are considered the finest in this part of the country. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 18. 4.; net income, £140; patron, Lord Berners. Attached are 24 acres of glebe within the parish, and two in Belton Field. The church was built in 1594, by Edward Andrewes.

Alfold (St. Nicholas)

ALFOLD (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Hambledon, First division of the hundred of Blackheath, W. division of Surrey, 8½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Godalming; containing 519 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2726a. 1r. 33p., whereof 72 acres are common or waste, and abounds with oak, ash, and elm: in parts there is a bed of stone, which is used for repairing roads, but is not hard enough for building. The Arun and Wey Junction canal passes through. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 11. 2., and in the gift of the Sparkes family: the tithes have been commuted for £355, and the glebe comprises 14 acres. The church consists of a nave, chancel, and south aisle, with a tower surmounted by a small spire: the parsonage-house is situated on the south side of the churchyard.

Alford (St. Wilfred)

ALFORD (St. Wilfred), a market-town and parish, in the union of Spilsby, Wold division of the hundred of Calceworth, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 34 miles (E.) from Lincoln, and 137 (N. by E.) from London; containing 1945 inhabitants. This place, which derives its name from an old ford over a stream that twice runs through it, is a small, though ancient, town; and is described by Leland as consisting of one street of mean buildings, covered with thatch. Since that writer's time, however, it has been considerably improved, particularly during the last 20 years: it is pleasantly situated, and is one of the polling-stations for the parts of Lindsey. The market is held on Tuesday, and fairs occur on WhitTuesday and the 8th of November: a court leet takes place annually, and petty-sessions once in every three weeks. The parish comprises about 1000 acres of land. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the living of Rigsby annexed, valued in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln, the appropriator, with a net income of £122: the church is a large structure of stone, repaired with brick, and is embellished by a tower commanding very extensive views of the adjacent districts; it has many ancient monuments. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists, Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans.

The free grammar school was founded and endowed by Francis Spanning, in 1565; and its revenue has been considerably augmented by subsequent benefactions of land at Farlesthorpe, Thoresthorpe, Woodthorpe, Strubby, and Cumberworth, containing in the whole 260 acres, and yielding an annual rent of £268. 18.; together with the living of Saleby, the patronage being vested in the governors. By a charter obtained in 1576, it was made a royal foundation, to be called "The Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth," and the management vested in eleven governors, who are a body corporate, and have a common seal. It has two quinquennial fellowships at Magdalene College, Cambridge; and there is a scholarship of £6. 8. 6. per annum at Jesus' College, Cambridge, for students from Alford, Caistor, or Louth schools. The premises consist of a substantial brick house for the master, with two commodious rooms adjoining, and a large garden in the town. Another school, in which 130 children of both sexes are instructed, was founded by John Spendluffe, who endowed it with an estate now producing £70 per annum. Almshouses for six poor people were erected and endowed by Sir Robert Christopher, Knt., in 1668; the endowment was subsequently augmented by Lord Harborough, in 1716. A salt spring, efficacious in scurvy, jaundice, &c., was discovered in 1670. Alford confers the title of Viscount on the family of Brownlow.

Alford (All Saints)

ALFORD (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Wincanton, hundred of Catsash, E. division of Somerset, 1¾ mile (W. by N.) from Castle-Cary; containing 90 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, consolidated with that of Hornblotton by act of parliament in 1836, and valued in the king's books at £9. 9. 9.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. J. G. D. Thring. The tithes have been commuted for £140, and there are 40 acres of glebe. At a farmhouse, called Alford Well, about threequarters of a mile from the church, is a saline chalybeate spring, now disused.

Alfreton (St. Mary)

ALFRETON (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, in the union of Belper, hundred of Scarsdale, N. division of the county of Derby, 14 miles (N. N. E.) from Derby, and 140 (N. N. W.) from London; comprising the township of Alfreton, the manor of Riddings (in which is Ironville), and the townships or hamlets of Swanwick, Greenhill-Lane, Newlands, Summercotes, and Birchwood; and containing 7577 inhabitants, of whom 1774 are in Alfreton township. This place, called in King Ethelred's charter to Burton Abbey "Alfredingtune," and in Domesday book "Elfretune," is supposed to have derived its name from Alfred the Great. At the time of the Norman survey it was the property of Roger de Busli, and in the PipeRolls of the reign of Henry II. it is recorded that Randulph was then enfeoffed of the barony of Alfreton; he served the office of sheriff of the counties of Derby and Nottingham, in the 9th year of that reign. Fitz-Randulph, his son, the founder of Beauchief Abbey, in this county, and said to have been one of the murderers of Thomas à Becket, was also sheriff of the same counties, in the 12th and subsequent years of the same king; and the like honour descended to his son William, whose heir, Robert, in the 13th of John, was certified to hold half a knight's fee in the adjoining manor of "Ryddinges," and in "Watnow" in Nottinghamshire. On the death of Thomas Fitz-Randulph the manor of Alfreton was transferred, in moieties, to William de Chaworth and Robert de Latham, who married his sisters, co-heiresses. The first charter for a market here was granted to Thomas de Chaworth, son of William, and to Robert de Latham, in the 36th of Henry III., and was renewed to one of their successors in the 5th of Edward VI. Thomas de Chaworth had free warren granted him in the 41st Henry III.; and in the 4th of Edward III. he claimed a park at Alfreton, with the privilege of having a gallows, tumbrell, and pillory, for the use of the manor. He purchased Robert de Latham's moiety. The last of the race was William de Chaworth, whose only daughter married John Ormond in the time of Henry VII.; and by the heiress of the latter, the manor passed to Sir Anthony Babington, of Dethick, in this county, by whose grandson it was sold, about 1565, to John Zouch, of Codnor. After a sale by a son of Zouch, in 1618, to Robert Sutton, it finally passed, by purchase in 1629, to Anthony Morewood and his son Rowland, in whose descendants it still continues, the present possessor being William Palmer Morewood, Esq.

The parish comprises 4550 acres of land. The town is pleasantly situated on the brow of a hill, sloping towards the south, and consists of four streets in the form of a cross, with a market-place at the point of intersection; the houses are irregularly built, but some of them are good specimens of the ancient style of domestic architecture. The manufacture of stockings is carried on to a considerable extent in the parish; and there are large iron-works at Riddings; and extensive collieries there, as well as in Alfreton, Greenhill-Lane, and the other townships. The produce is conveyed by the Cromford canal, a branch of which passes through Riddings and Summercotes: the Midland railway runs within about a mile and a half of the town; and roads to Chesterfield, Mansfield, Nottingham, Derby, and Matlock pass through it. An act was passed in 1845 for making a railway from the parish of Alfreton to Sawley, on the Midland railway; the line is called the Erewash Valley railway, and communicates with the Mansfield and Pinxton line. The market-day is Friday; and fairs are held on January 26th, Easter-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, July 31st, October 7th, and November 24th, the last being the day for the annual hiring of servants in husbandry. The town is a polling-place for the Northern division of the county; and petty-sessions are held here: the powers of the county debt-court of Alfreton, established in 1847, extend over part of the registrationdistricts of Belper, Chesterfield, Mansfield, and Basford. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 18. 9.; net income, £150; patron, Mr. Morewood: the great tithes have been purchased by the Landowners. The church is an ancient structure, with an embattled tower crowned by pinnacles. At Riddings is a second church. There are places of worship within the township of Alfreton for Wesleyans, General Baptists, and Independents.