Sedlescomb - Selworthy

Sedlescomb (St. John the Baptist)

SEDLESCOMB (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Battle, hundred of Staple, rape of Hastings, E. division of Sussex, 3 miles (N. E.) from Battle; containing 668 inhabitants. Ironstone is obtained in the parish, and formerly here were furnaces for smelting the ore. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £9. 4. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for above £350, and the glebe consists of 45 acres. The church is principally in the early English style, and was enlarged in 1838 by the erection of a south aisle. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. There are some mineral springs, similar to those of Tonbridge Wells. The Knights Templars had a preceptory here.

Sedrup

SEDRUP, a hamlet, chiefly in the parish of Hartwell, but partly in that of Stone, union and hundred of Aylesbury, county of Buckingham; containing 63 inhabitants.

Seend

SEEND, a chapelry, in the parish, union, and hundred of Melksham, Melksham and N. divisions of Wilts, 3½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Melksham; containing 992 inhabitants. The Kennet and Avon canal passes through. The chapel is dedicated to the Holy Cross. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Seer-Green

SEER-GREEN, a hamlet, in the parish of Farnham-Royal, union of Amersham, hundred of Burnham, county of Buckingham, 2¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Beaconsfield; containing 281 inhabitants. Here is a chapel in the early English style, consecrated in Oct. 1846: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of Eton College, with an income of £100.

Seething (St. Margaret)

SEETHING (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union of Loddon and Clavering, hundred of Loddon, E. division of Norfolk, 2½ miles (E.) from Brooke; containing 449 inhabitants. It comprises 1615a. 2r. 4p., of which 1160 acres are arable, 413 pasture, and 39 woodland. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £140; patrons and impropriators, the Trustees of the Great Hospital, Norwich, whose tithes have been commuted for £458. The church is an ancient structure, chiefly in the decorated English style, with a circular tower, and contains an elaborately-sculptured font.

Sefton (St. Helen)

SEFTON (St. Helen), a parish, in the union and hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire; containing, with the townships of Aintree, Great and Little Crosby, Ince-Blundell, Litherland, Lunt, Netherton, Orrell with Ford, and Thornton, 6164 inhabitants, of whom 395 are in Sefton township, 7 miles (N.) from Liverpool. Previously to the Conquest, " Sextune," one of the original parishes of Lancashire, was held by five thanes. The family of Molyneux or Molines subsequently settled here. William des Molines, so named from Moulines, a town of Bourbonnois, in France, is mentioned in the Norman Chronicles as a man of noble origin, held in high esteem by the Duke William, afterwards William I. of England. In the roll of Battle Abbey, his name stands the eighteenth in order; and soon after the Conquest, he acquired, by gift of Roger de Poictou, the lordships of Sefton, Thornton, and Kerden, of which he made Sefton his chief seat. Richard Molyneux, of this family, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1586; and, on the institution of the order of baronets, 22nd May, 1611, was the 2nd baronet advanced to that dignity, by James I. Sir Richard, his successor, was elevated to the peerage of Ireland, by the title of Viscount Molyneux, in 1628; and Charles William, the 9th viscount, was created Earl of Sefton, in November 1771. The townships or manors in the parish now belonging to this noble family, are, Sefton, Litherland, Orrell and Ford, Netherton, Thornton, Lunt, and Aintree.

The parish extends seven miles in length and four in width, and comprises 9525 acres, of which 1140 are in the township of Sefton. The western townships are bordered by the Irish Sea and the mouth of the Mersey, a range of dreary sandhills forming a barrier along the shore, which is lined with marshes and covered with rabbit-warrens. The river Alt, fed by numerous rills, flows by Aintree, Lunt, and Ince-Blundell, and discharges itself into the sea to the north, below Formby Point. At Sefton, this stream resembles a canal, and in wet seasons overflows the meadows, a flat district extending several miles, which, during inundations, assumes the appearance of an arm of the sea. The Leeds and Liverpool canal intersects the parish. The principal halls are those of Little Crosby and Ince-Blundell. Sefton Hall existed in 1372, and was a stately pile, with a circular moat (still in existence) inclosing about a quarter of an acre of elevated ground, opposite the church. The farmhouse which subsequently occupied the site of this ancient seat of the Molyneuxs, has been taken down, and all that now remains of the mansion is a few heaps of stones scattered from its strong and massive walls. A brewery here, established about a century ago, is conducted by Mr. Molyneux Rothwell. The pursuits of the inhabitants are chiefly rural.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £30. 1.8.; net income, £1378; patron and incumbent, the Rev. Richard Renshaw Rothwell. The tithes of the township of Sefton have been commuted for £211, and the glebe consists of 5 acres. The church is a large and handsome structure, and one of the finest in the county, originally erected in 1111, and partly rebuilt in the reign of Henry VIII. by Anthony Molyneux, a distinguished preacher, then rector. It is partly Norman, and partly in the later English style, with a lofty spire; and the interior is remarkably elegant. The chancel, separated from the nave by a magnificent screen, contains sixteen richly-sculptured stalls, and numerous monuments to the family of Molyneux, of whom Sir William performed signal acts of valour under the banner of the Black Prince, at Navaret; as did Sir Richard in the battle of Agincourt, and another Sir William in that of Flodden-Field. In what is called Lord Molyneux's chapel are several modern monuments of the family, one of them, particularly fine, in white marble, to the memory of Caryll, Viscount Molyneux, who died in 1699. At Great Crosby, Seaforth, and Waterloo are distinct incumbencies; and the Roman Catholics have chapels in several places. A sunk forest on the coast, is one of the most remarkable characteristics of the parish; and so abundant is the timber imbedded in the earth, generally two feet or more below the surface, that fifty loads of trees, chiefly of oak, arc sometimes found in a single acre.

Seghill.—See Sighill.

SEGHILL.—See Sighill.

Seighford (St. Chad)

SEIGHFORD (St. Chad), a parish, in the S. division of the hundred of Pirehill, union, and N. division of the county, of Stafford, 2¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Stafford; containing 903 inhabitants. The parish includes the hamlets of Aston, Great and Little Bridgeford, Coton-Clanford, Doxey, and Derrington; and comprises 4600 acres, forming a highly cultivated district, of which two-thirds are arable, and the remainder pasture: the surface is undulated, and the scenery picturesque. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway runs through the parish for a distance of three and a half miles. Seighford Hall, an ancient half-timbered house with modern wings, stands in a small park at the west side of the village. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6, and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £119; impropriator, Francis Eld, Esq. The church was partly rebuilt of brick, about a century ago; it contains many neat mural monuments. There is a Church Sunday school. CotonClanford is remarkable as the birthplace of William Wollaston, author of The Religion of Nature Delineated; he died in 1724.—See Aston.

Seisdon

SEISDON, a township, and the head of a union, in the parish of Trysull, S. division of the hundred of Seisdon and of the county of Stafford, 6 miles (W. S. W.) from Wolverhampton; containing 213 inhabitants. It gives name to the hundred; and also to a poor-law union which comprises 12 parishes or places, 11 of them in the county of Stafford, and one in that of Salop, the whole containing a population of 13,097. Near Seisdon Common is a large triangular stone called the War Stone, and at a short distance is a small square camp.

Selattyn (St. Mary)

SELATTYN (St. Mary), a parish, in the hundred of Oswestry, N. division of Salop, 3¼ miles (N. N. W.) from Oswestry; containing 1128 inhabitants. The parish comprises 5553a. 34p. of land. The soil is various: the substratum abounds with limestone, which is burnt for manure, and sandstone of good quality for building is extensively quarried. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 9. 9½., and in the gift of the family of Lloyd: the tithes have been commuted for £800, and the glebe comprises 83 acres. The church has been greatly enlarged within the last thirty years, and is now a handsome cruciform building. A chapel of ease was erected at Hengoed in 1825. There are two free schools with small endowments; one forming a portion of the premises devised by Bishop Hanmer, in 1628, for the poor; and the other erected in 1812, in a distant part of the parish, on land given by G. H. Carew, Esq. A national school has also been built. Offa's Dyke is part of the western boundary of the parish; and here stood the ancient Castle Brogyntyn, of which scarcely any remaius exist. James Wylding, one of the assembly of divines during the Interregnum, and Dr. Sacheverell, were rectors here.

Selborne (St. Mary)

SELBORNE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Alton, hundred of Selborne, Alton and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 4½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Alton; containing 1052 inhabitants. In the time of the Saxons, Selborne was held in royal demesne. In 1233 a priory of Black canons, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded here by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester; but it was subsequently suppressed, and became part of the endowment of Magdalen College, Oxford. The parish comprises 8506 acres, of which 3097 are common or waste land. A fair is held on May 29th. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 2. 1., and in the gift of the College. The church is principally in the early English style; the altar-piece is ornamented with a fine painting by Albert Durer, representing the Offerings of the Magi, presented by the Rev. Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne, and similar works, who was born here in 1720, and chiefly resided in the parish. At Temple, lived Sir Adam Gurdon, the noted freebooter in the time of Henry III.

Selby (St. Mary and St. German)

SELBY (St. Mary and St. German), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash, W. riding of York, 14½ miles (S. by E.) from York, and 177 (N. by W.) from London; containing 5376 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Salebeia, and supposed to have been a Roman station, was selected by William the Conqueror, in 1069, as the site of a magnificent abbey for Benedictine monks, which was dedicated to St. Mary and St. Germanus. The establishment acquired, in process of time, such extensive possessions and immunities as to render it equal in rank to the church of St. Peter at York; and the superior of this place, with the superior of St. Mary's in that city, were the only mitred abbots north of the Trent. When the Conqueror came to Selby, accompanied by his queen, to settle the endowment of the abbey, she was here delivered of a son, subsequently King of England by the title of Henry I. The monastery continued in a flourishing state till the Dissolution, when its revenue was valued at £819. 2. 6. Part of the abbey came afterwards by purchase into the hands of Sir Ralph Sadler, who shortly alienated it, with the park and the manor, to Leonard Beckwith and his heirs, the Walmesleys of Dunkenhalgh, from whom, by the marriage of the heiress, it came into the family of Petre, with whom it still remains. At an early period of the great civil war, the town appears to have been held for the parliament; and although subsequently taken by the royalists, it was eventually recaptured by Sir Thomas Fairfax, when the majority of the king's party were made prisoners, with several horses, pieces of ordnance, and a large quantity of ammunition.

The town is situated on the river Ouse, and upon the great road from London to Edinburgh. The streets are well paved, and lighted with gas; the houses are in general well built, and many changes have been lately made by widening the thoroughfares, erecting new houses, and laying down pavement. About eighteen years since, a considerable alteration was effected by the lord of the manor, by opening up at a large cost a continued view of the west front of the church, and by enlarging the market-place and the roads down to the wharfs. More recently a new street has been formed called the Crescent, which consists of commodious houses, and adds considerably to the appearance of the town. The fertility of the surrounding district has been greatly increased by a process of irrigation by which the water of the rivers Ouse and Aire is detained upon the land until a sediment has been deposited, forming excellent manure. A large quantity of woad, for the use of dyers, is produced in the vicinity, and flax was at one time cultivated and prepared to a considerable extent; this branch of trade, however, has declined, owing to the importation of that article from France and the Netherlands, but flax-spinning is still carried on to some extent.

The general trade was much improved by the formation of a canal connecting the navigable rivers Ouse and Aire, thus opening a more direct communication with Leeds and other parts of the West riding of Yorkshire. A new road from Doncaster, by Askerne, through Selby, to York, was opened in 1834. The Leeds and Selby railway was completed in 1840, and has its terminal station a little to the south of the town; the building is spacious, covering an area divided by two lines of castiron pillars into three compartments, with seven lines of way extending throughout the whole length, and continued to a jetty for steam-vessels projecting into the Ouse. Contiguous is the terminal station of the Hull and Selby railway, which line is carried over the Ouse by a handsome swivel-bridge that opens for the admission of vessels to the quay here. This line communicates with the Leeds and Selby, in conjunction with which, and with the Manchester and Leeds and Manchester and Liverpool railways, it opens a communication between the Irish Sea and the German Ocean. A railway was completed from Selby to Market-Weighton at the close of 1847; and the great line from London to York will pass through the town. The bridge of timber across the Ouse, constructed in 1795, is remarkable for the ease with which it can be turned round, being opened and closed within the space of a minute, though weighing 70 tons. A custom-house has been established, subordinate to the custom-house at Goole. The chief article exported is stone, which is sent coastwise: ships of 150 to 200 tons' burthen navigate to Selby; and steam-boats pass daily to and from Hull. In a ship-yard here, many steam-packets and sailingvessels are built. There are two large flax-mills; several rope, sailcloth, and sacking factories; an iron-foundry, two tanneries, some breweries, &c. The market is on Monday; and fairs are held on Easter-Tuesday, the Monday after June 22nd, and on Michaelmas-day, for cattle, horses, cloth, &c.: in the centre of the marketplace is a handsome cross, in the ancient English style. A petty-session for the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash occurs every alternate Monday in the town-hall, a neat brick building erected in 1825; and courts leet and baron are held twice a year, by the lord of the manor. The powers of the county debt-court of Selby, established in 1847, extend over the registration district of Selby.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £97; patron, the Hon. E. R. Petre. The church, anciently belonging to the abbey, was made parochial by letterspatent of James I., dated March 20th, 1618. The monastery stood on the west side of the river Ouse, and the principal buildings were on the west and south side of the church; the barn and granary are yet remaining. The gateway was taken down about thirty years since: over it was the abbot's court-house, with two rooms on the sides for the jury and the witnesses; on one side was the porter's lodge, and on the other a room in which to serve the poor. The appearance of this venerable church is strikingly impressive; and the magnificence, yet comparative simplicity, of the west front renders it deserving of particular notice. The entrance is by a richly-adorned Norman doorway, supported by six columns with simply-ornamented capitals: the triple arches above the doorway are in the English style, and its embellishments partake in character with many found on the north and west doorways, and in internal parts of the church; the central arch forms the west window, and is considerably larger than the arches at the sides. The walls of the nave and north transept are Norman, though few exterior arches of that date now remain, having been mostly replaced by windows, &c, in the English style, at different periods. The most striking feature on the north side is the porch, which has circular and pointed arches indiscriminately introduced, with similar mouldings; the doorway is Norman, less enriched, but more elegantly proportioned, than that at the west end. The interior of the nave is of massive and simple design; and the choir, the window of which is highly enriched with tracery, is a perfect example of the early English style: on both sides of the choir are stalls of wood, enriched with tabernacle-work. Among the other striking peculiarities in the church are two clusters of columns, or piers, supporting arches in the gallery, on the north side of the nave: the font is simple, with a cover of carved wood suspended from the second arch, also on the north side of the nave. In 1826, a fine-toned organ was erected, which adds considerably to the elegance of the choir. The upper part of the central tower fell down, destroying the south transept and the roof of the western part of the south aisle, on March 30th, 1690; and the tower was rebuilt probably about the year 1700, but in a style by no means corresponding with the original. The chapter-house is a beautiful building attached to the south side of the choir, and the principal room, now the vestry-room, appears, from its simplicity, to be of a very early date; over it is an apartment now appropriated as a school. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, and Unitarians; and a Roman Catholic chapel. The poor have several considerable bequests. The union comprises 24 parishes or places, of which 16 are in the West, and 8 in the East, riding; and contains a population of 15,100. Thomas Johnson, a botanist, who published the first local catalogue of plants in the kingdom, and an improved edition of Gerard's Herbal, and who fell in a skirmish with a body of the parliamentarian forces in 1644, was a native of Selby.

Selby's-Forest

SELBY'S-FOREST, a township, in the parish of Kirk-Newton, union, and W. division of the ward, of Glendale, N. division of Northumberland; containing 61 inhabitants. This district comprises 11,709 acres, of which 11,630 consist of moors and mountains, including the Cheviot height, from which the celebrated range of hills so called derives its name, and on the summit of which is a large lake, occasionally frozen in the summer.

Selham (St. James)

SELHAM (St. James), a parish, in the union of Midhurst, hundred of Eastbourne, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 3½ miles (W. by S.) from Petworth; containing 121 inhabitants. The Rother, or Arundel, navigation passes through. Part of the parish is within the parliamentary borough of Midhurst. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £4. 15. 11½.; net income, £150; patrons, the Principal and Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford. The church is in the early English style; the chancel is separated from the nave by a circular arch supported by slight columns with ornamental capitals.

Sellack (St. Tesiliah)

SELLACK (St. Tesiliah), a parish, in the union of Ross, Upper division of the hundred of Wormelow, county of Hereford, 4¼ miles (N. W.) from Ross; containing 335 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1565 acres, of which 40 are common or waste land; the scenery is diversified, and the village lies in a deep valley watered by the navigable river Wye. The living is a vicarage, with that of King's-Caple annexed, valued in the king's books at £16. 6. 8.; net income, £420; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The great tithes of the parish have been commuted for £320, and the vicarial for £140; there is a glebe of 95 acres, with a house. The church is a handsome structure with a spire, and is beautifully situated on the bank of the Wye.

Selling (St. Mary)

SELLING (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Faversham, hundred of Boughton-under-Blean, Upper division of the lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Faversham; containing 590 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 2420 acres, of which 1619 are arable, 199 pasture, 257 woodland, and the remainder garden and orchard ground. A fair is held on Whit-Tuesday. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the gift of Lord Sondes: the great tithes have been commuted for £810, and the vicarial for £357. The church is in the early English style. On Shottendon Hill, here, is an ancient fortification of irregular form, thought to be Roman, an extensive Roman intrenchment being still visible in a wood two miles to the south-east. There is also a tumulus in the neighbourhood.

Sellinge (St. Mary)

SELLINGE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Elham, hundred of Street, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 5¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Hythe; containing 476 inhabitants. It comprises 2056a. 2r. 9p., of which about 800 acres are arable, 700 pasture, 200 wood, and 100 marshy land. The South-Eastern railway passes through the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 4. 5., and in the patronage of the Crown: the appropriate tithes, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, have been commuted for £400, and the vicarial tithes for £191; the glebe comprises 19 acres. The church has an admixture of the various styles of English architecture.

Selmeston (St. Mary)

SELMESTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Firle, hundred of Danehill-Horsted, rape of Pevensey, E. division of Sussex, 6¼ miles (E. S. E.) from Lewes; containing 228 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 1140 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, with that of Alciston annexed, valued in the king's books at £7. 5. 8.: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £140, with a glebe of 3 acres; and the great tithes for £290, with 22 acres of land. The church is in the early English style, with a spire, and contains an altar-tomb under a canopy, inscribed to Lady Braye, who died in 1532.

Selsey (St. Peter)

SELSEY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of West Hampnett, hundred of Manhood, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 8 miles (S.) from Chichester; containing 879 inhabitants. The name of this place, according to Bede, is derived from the Saxon Seals-ey, signifying the island of Seals. The Saxons, on their first expedition to take possession of the southwestern region of Britain, landed upon this peninsula, where they soon afterwards founded a colony; and in the earliest annals mention is made of Selsey as among the more ancient of the Saxon establishments. A monastery dedicated to the Blessed Virgin was founded here about 681, by St. Wilfrid, who, having previously converted many of the South Saxons to Christianity, and obtained of King Ædilwach the lands of the peninsula for its endowment, placed therein some religious, who had been his companions in exile. Eadbercht, abbot in 711, was consecrated first bishop of the South Saxons, and fixed his episcopal residence at this place. Selsey remained a see till 1075, when William the Conqueror removed the seat of the diocese to Chichester, and Stigand, the last bishop of Selsey, was appointed the first of Chichester. Vestiges of the ancient city are mentioned in old records as being plainly visible at ebbtide; and bones of large animals, trunks of trees, and fossil shells are occasionally found by the fishermen when dredging for oysters.

The parish is bounded on the east and south by Pagham harbour and the English Channel, and, including the beach to low-water mark, comprises 3494 acres, of which 600 are pasture, and 133 common or waste land. The soil is chiefly a hazel mould, well adapted for wheat. The western division is flat and low, and is frequently overflowed by the sea, from which it suffered very severely in the great storm of November 23rd, 1824, when nearly half the parish was under water. The village, consisting principally of one street of neatly-built houses, occupies a dry gravelly site. There is an extensive fishery for prawns, lobsters, and crabs; and oysters in great quantities are taken on the coast in the winter season: cod is also taken. A court baron is held annually; and a fair for toys, &c., on July 14th. The living comprises a discharged vicarage and sinecure rectory united, the former valued in the king's books at £8, and the latter at £11. 3. 4.; patron, the Bishop of Chichester. The tithes have been commuted for £896. 13., and the glebe comprises 52 acres. The church is a stately edifice, principally in the early English style; in the nave are several coffin-shaped gravestones, with crosses and various other devices, and against the north wall of the chancel is a mural monument of Caen stone, with carved effigies of John and Agatha Lews, of the time of Henry VIII. There is a place of worship for Bryanites. Near the church is an intrenched mound, supposed to have been a Roman military station. Selsey gives the title of Baron to the family of Peachey.

Selside

SELSIDE, a chapelry, in the parish, union, and ward of Kendal, county of Westmorland, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Kendal; containing 530 inhabitants, of whom 335 are in the township of Selside with Whitwell. The township is situated between the river Mint on the east and the Sprint river on the west, and on the turnpikeroad from Carnforth to Eamont-Bridge. The Grayrigg station on the Lancaster and Carlisle railway is within three miles. The chapelry includes the township of Fawcett-Forest, and part of the townships of Whinfell, Skelsmergh, and Strickland-Roger; and comprises 11,000 acres. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £114; patrons, the Landowners; impropriators, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, was erected in lieu of a more ancient edifice, about 1720, by the inhabitants, on a site given by William Thornburgh, Esq.; and was rebuilt on an enlarged scale in 1837, at an expense of about £600. A free school is supported from several sources, the principal of which is an estate left by John Kitching in 1730, and producing an income of £40. Whitwell was an extensive common previously to 1825, when it was inclosed by act of parliament.

Selston (St. Helen)

SELSTON (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Basford, N. division of the wapentake of Broxtow and of the county of Nottingham, 9 miles (S. W.) from Mansfield; containing, with the hamlets of Bagthorpe and Underwood, 1982 inhabitants. The parish is situated near the source of the river Erewash, which divides it from the county of Derby; it comprises 2330 acres of inclosed land, with 900 acres of open common, and abounds in coal and ironstone. In the immediate vicinity are extensive collieries; and several of the inhabitants are employed in frame-work knitting and in the manufacture of lace. The Mansfield and Pinxton railway intersects a part of the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5; net income, £109; patron and impropriator, Sir W. W. Dixie, Bart. The church is an ancient structure, with a tower. About the year 1830 an earthen vase, containing Roman silver coins, was found in a field in the parish; it had been deposited about eighteen inches below the surface, and was discovered by the occupier of the field, when ploughing it to an unusual depth. The coins were in excellent preservation, and were of the reigns of Nero, Galba, Vitellius, Vespasian, Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan, besides family coins: among them, was a counterfeit coin of the reign of Vespasian; a curious historical fact, which gives a high antiquity to the practice of such frauds.

Selworthy (All Saints)

SELWORTHY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Williton, hundred of Carhampton, W. division of Somerset, 4 miles (W.) from Minehead; containing, with the tything of Allerford, the manor of Blackford, and the hamlets of Brandy-street, Buddie-hill, Holnicote, Knowle, Lynch, and Tivington, 505 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2218 acres, of which 358 are common or waste land. It is intersected by a ridge from east to west, and a ridge from east to south. The soil is various, light and stony in the higher grounds, and fertile in the valleys; there are considerable plantations of larch, fir, and of forest trees, which add beauty to the scenery, and a fine trout-stream winds through the lower lands. The substratum contains limestone, which is burnt into lime for agricultural uses. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 15. 5., and in the gift of Sir T. D. Acland, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £270, and the glebe comprises 54 acres. The church is a neat edifice in the decorated style, with a plain embattled tower. There are remains of two chapels; one at Tivington, now used as a schoolroom, and the other at West Lynch, converted into a barn; and on a hill to the north-west of the church are vestiges of an ancient encampment called Bury Castle, of an elliptical form, with a rampart of earth and stones, inclosing an area of about an acre and a half.