Hendred, East - Henstead

Hendred, East (St. Augustine)

HENDRED, EAST (St. Augustine), a parish, in the union, and partly in the hundred, of Wantage, and partly in the hundred of Reading, county of Berks, 7 miles (S. W. by S.) from Abingdon; containing 858 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2900 acres, the soil of which is generally a calcareous marl, varying in different parts in its proportions of chalk and clay; the surface is chiefly level, and the low lands are watered by a brook that flows into the river Isis, near Appleford. There are several manors in the parish; one of them belongs to the crown, and the stewardship of it constitutes one of the nominal offices given for the purpose of vacating a seat in the house of commons. The village contains some good houses. A fair is held on the 11th of October. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £15. 5. 2½., and in the gift of the Bishop of Salisbury: certain impropriate tithes have been commuted for £136. 8. 4., and the incumbent's for £64. 6.; the glebe comprises 53 acres. There is a place of worship for Roman Catholics. Part of an ancient chapel belonging to the monks of Sheen has been converted into a dovecote. Here are vestiges of a Roman road; and a barrow on the ridgeway was opened in 1838, but nothing found of any consequence. Archbishop Chicheley was rector of the parish.

Hendred, West (Holy Trinity)

HENDRED, WEST (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union and hundred of Wantage, county of Berks, 3¾ miles (E.) from Wantage; containing, with the tythings of East Ginge and Sparsholt-Court, 320 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1780a. 1r. 28p., of which 178 acres are common or waste land. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 19. 9½.; net income, £613; patrons and impropriators, the President and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Adjoining the manor-house of Sparsholt was a chapel of ease, now taken down.

Henfield

HENFIELD, a hamlet, in the parish of Westerleigh, poor-law union of Chipping-Sodbury, hundred of Puckle-Church, W. division of the county of Gloucester; containing 101 inhabitants.

Henfield (St. Peter)

HENFIELD (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Steyning, hundred of Tipnoak, rape of Bramber, W. division of Sussex, 6 miles (N. E. by N.) from Steyning; containing 1763 inhabitants. This place belonged to the Saxon earl Warbald and his countess Tedburga, the site of whose castle is still pointed out, with the moat by which it was surrounded, now inclosing a piece of ground called the Chapel Garden; and in the vicinity, foundations are frequently discovered by the plough, the only remains of a residence of the early bishops of Chichester, to whom the manor was given by King Osmand, about the year 770. The parish comprises 4862a. 1r. 34p., of which 2078 acres are arable, 1200 meadow, 484 pasture, and about 100 rough and waste. It is pleasantly situated on the road from London, by way of Shoreham, to Brighton, and on the river Adur, by which it is bounded on the west, and which is navigable from Shoreham to Mock bridge. A market for corn is held on Friday; and there are pleasure-fairs on the 4th of May and 31st of July. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16; net income, £280; patron, the Bishop of Chichester; impropriator, the Hon. Robert Curzon. By deed of endowment, in 1837, the stipend of the resident officiating minister, whether vicar or curate, was augmented with £60 per annum, arising from funds in the hands of trustees. The church is a handsome structure, principally in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, and contains several mural monuments. There is a place of worship for Independents. Dr. Thomas Stapleton, a celebrated controversial writer, was a native of the parish.

Hengrave

HENGRAVE, a parish, in the union and hundred of Thingoe, W. division of the county of Suffolk, 3¾ miles (N. N. W.) from Bury St. Edmund's; containing 228 inhabitants. The parish is intersected by the navigable river Lark, over which is a neat bridge. Hengrave Hall, built by Sir Thomas Kytson in the reign of Henry VIII., is a fine specimen of the domestic style of that period. The living is a rectory, united to that of Flempton, and valued in the king's books at £9. 7. 1.: the tithes have been commuted for £241. Since the union of the livings in 1589, the inhabitants have attended the church of Flempton; but the church of Hengrave, a small edifice with a round tower, and containing many fine monuments of great variety and interest, is still kept up as a mausoleum for the family residing at the Hall. An almshouse of four tenements was founded by Sir T. Kytson the younger, and endowed with a rent-charge of £30 by his widow in the 20th year of the reign of James I.

Henham

HENHAM, a parish, in the union of Bishop-Stortford, partly in the hundred of Clavering, but chiefly in that of Uttlesford, N. division of Essex, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Stansted-Mountfitchet; containing, with the hamlet of Pledgdon, 855 inhabitants. The parish is separated from that of Ugley by the river Granta or Cam, and is about three miles in length and two in breadth; the lands are generally elevated and richly wooded, and the soil is luxuriantly fertile. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £17; patrons and impropriators, J. S. Feake, Esq., and others. The great tithes have been commuted for £510, and the vicarial for £331. 16.; the glebe comprises 2 acres, and attached to the living is a farm of 70 acres. The church is in the early English style, with a massive tower surmounted by a lofty spire, and has a nave, separated from the north and south aisles by clustered columns supporting finely pointed arches; and a chancel, divided from the nave by an ancient screen, and containing some old monuments. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Henham

HENHAM, a hamlet, in the parish of Wangford, union and hundred of Blything, E. division of Suffolk, 5 miles (E. by N.) from Halesworth; containing 128 inhabitants, and comprising 1648 acres of arable and pasture land. Henham Hall, the seat of the Earl of Stradbroke, was built by the first earl, in 1793, to replace the old mansion, burnt down in 1773.

Henheads

HENHEADS, a township, in the parish of Bury, union of Haslingden, Higher division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 1½ mile (E.) from Haslingden; containing 176 inhabitants. This is a small township among the hills, and is partly extra-parochial. In the reign of Edward II. it was a vaccary of Rossendale.

Henhull

HENHULL, a township, in the parish of Acton, union and hundred of Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester, 1¾ mile (N. W. by W.) from Nantwich; containing 114 inhabitants. It comprises 493 acres, of a sandy and a clayey soil. The Nantwich branch of the Chester canal passes in the vicinity. The tithes have been commuted for £21 payable to an impropriator, and £18. 18. to the vicar.

Henlade

HENLADE, a hamlet, in the parish of Ruishton, poor-law union of Taunton, hundred of Taunton and Taunton-Dean, W. division of Somerset; containing 116 inhabitants.

Henley

HENLEY, a hamlet, in the parish of High Ham, union of Langport, hundred of Whitley, W. division of Somerset; containing 93 inhabitants.

Henley (St. Peter)

HENLEY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union and hundred of Bosmere and Claydon, E. division of Suffolk, 4 miles (N.) from Ipswich; containing 329 inhabitants, and comprising by measurement 1200 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10. 0. 10.; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Norwich. The great tithes have been commuted for £240, and the glebe consists of 50 acres; the small tithes have been commuted for £118, and the glebe comprises 16 acres.

Henley, Cold

HENLEY, COLD, a tything, in the parish and union of Whitchurch, hundred of Evingar, Kingsclere and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 3¼ miles (N. by E.) from Whitchurch; containing 35 inhabitants.

Henley-in-Arden

HENLEY-IN-ARDEN, a market-town and chapelry, in the parish of Wootton-Wawen, union of Stratford-upon-Avon, Henley division of the hundred of Barlichway, S. division of the county of Warwick, 10 miles (W. by N.) from Warwick, and 101 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing 1223 inhabitants. This town takes the adjunct by which it is distinguished from other places of the name of Henley, from its situation in the Forest of Arden, a large tract of woodland extending over part of Warwickshire and the adjoining counties. A considerable portion of it was burnt at the battle of Evesham, in the reign of Henry III.; from which injury, however, it had recovered in that of Edward I. Henry VI., in the 27th of his reign, granted to Sir Ralph Boteler, Knt., lord of the manor, a charter reciting and confirming previous charters, under which the place enjoyed numerous privileges now obsolete. The town is pleasantly situated, near the confluence of the rivers Arrow, and Allen or Alne, and consists principally of one spacious street, extending for nearly a mile along the road from London, through Oxford, to Birmingham. The houses are in general neat and well built, but of ancient appearance, occasionally interspersed with handsome modern buildings; the inhabitants are amply supplied with water from pumps and wells. The manufacture of nails, needles, and fishhooks, affords occupation to fifty persons. The market is on Monday; the fairs are on March 25th, for cattle and sheep; the Tuesday in Whitsun-week, a pleasurefair; and October 29th, a large fair for hops. The market-house is a plain building of stone, supported on pillars; and near it is a handsome ancient cross, the shaft of which, of one entire stone, rises from a pedestal, and terminates in a rich canopy. By charter of Henry VI. the government is vested in a high and a low bailiff, appointed at the court of the lord of the manor, when constables and other officers are also chosen. A pettysession is held weekly by the county magistrates.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £104; patrons, the Inhabitants; impropriators, the Knight and Phillips families. The chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a small but elegant structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower; the west entrance is a highly enriched and beautiful specimen of the later period of that style: the old roof, of ribbed and carved oak, is still preserved in the chancel, and throughout the building traces of a pure design are discernible. There is a place of worship for Baptists. A charity school was founded by the corporation, to whom George Whately, in the 28th of Elizabeth, gave a messuage in trust for that purpose; and it is now supported by the appropriation of part of the funds at their disposal, arising from various benefactions. An hospital was built in the reign of Henry VI., for the relief of the poor and of strangers, and John Carpenter, then Bishop of Worcester, granted an indulgence for three years to all who should contribute towards its support. There was also a guild founded in the chapel by Ralph Boteler. About two miles to the north-west of the town are the Leveridge hills, where is a Roman encampment; and 300 yards to the east is Henley Mount, said to have been thrown up by Cromwell as an exploratory station.

Henley-Upon-Thames (St. Mary)

HENLEY-UPON-THAMES (St. Mary), an incorporated market-town having separate jurisdiction, a parish, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Binfield, county of Oxford, on the high road from London to Oxford and Cheltenham, 23 miles (S. E.) from Oxford, and 25 (W.) from London; containing 3622 inhabitants. This is supposed by some antiquaries to have been a town of the ancient Britons; according to others it was the Roman station Calleva, which has with greater probability been fixed at Silchester, in Hampshire. Leland mentions the discovery of gold, silver, and brass coins of the Romans; but no notice of the town occurs in history till after the Norman Conquest. A bridge across the Thames was erected here at an early period, and it is not improbable that Henley owed its origin to that circumstance. In the reign of Henry III. the manor belonged to Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, the king's nephew, on whose death it reverted to the crown; and in the 10th of Elizabeth, a charter of incorporation was granted to the town, in which it is denominated Hanleygang or Hanneburg. In 1643, the republican forces were quartered in the vicinity, when they were attacked by the royalists, who entered the town, but were dispersed by the firing of a cannon down Duke-street, which did much execution: in the following year the inhabitants sustained considerable damage from the wanton conduct of the parliamentary soldiers, who plundered most of the houses.

The town, which is remarkably dry and healthy, is situated on an ascent from the western bank of the Thames, which here takes one of its most agreeable curves. It is surrounded by hills clothed with lofty beech-woods and extensive plantations, interspersed with elegant villas; and as approached from London, the general appearance is striking, and the scenery remarkably picturesque. At the entrance is a handsome stone bridge over the Thames, erected in 1786, at an expense of £10,000, and consisting of five elliptical arches, surmounted by a balustrade. The key-stone on each face of the central arch is adorned with a sculptured mask, from the chisel of the Hon. Mrs. Damer: that towards the north represents the Genius, or presiding Deity, of the Thames; the mask on the other key-stone exhibits the goddess Isis. The Henley Fishing Society was established in 1834, for preserving the water, this portion of the river abounding with pike, perch, and eels, the last famed for their excellence. The hills that give name to the Chiltern Hundreds form a ridge extending from Henley, along the southern part of the county of Buckingham, to Tring in Hertfordshire: the appellation is derived from the Saxon words cealt, cylt, or chilt, signifying chalk, of which substance they are principally composed. Henley has four principal streets, paved, and lighted with gas, and at the intersection are a plain stone cross and a conduit; the houses, though irregular, are spacious and well built, and some of them handsome. Every facility of carriage to London is afforded by the Thames; and it is stated that, so far back as the reign of Anne, there had been sold as much as 300 cart-loads of malt, and various kinds of grain, at the weekly markets: at this period the town enjoyed also the manufacture of glass, to the composition of which, a black flint, and a kind of sand that formed part of the soil, essentially contributed. There are a silk-mill on a small scale, a paper-mill, and an extensive brewery established for more than a century; and the manufacture of sacking is carried on to a limited extent. A few miles south of the town is the Twyford station of the Great Western railway. The market is on Thursday, for corn (which is pitched), seeds, &c.; and fairs are held on March 7th, for horses and cattle; HolyThursday, for sheep; the Thursday in Trinity-week; and the Thursday after September 21st.

Henley was incorporated by Elizabeth, but the charter by which it is now governed was granted by George I., in 1722, to the "mayor, aldermen, bridgemen, and burgesses," with power to elect a high steward, "who shall be a baron of this kingdom, or at least a knight," and a recorder. The corporation consists of a mayor, high steward, ten aldermen, two bridgemen, and sixteen burgesses, with a recorder, town-clerk, and inferior officers; and the mayor, recorder, and two senior aldermen, are justices of the peace, and have the power of holding a weekly court of record for the recovery of debts to the amount of £10, the mayor presiding. Quarter-sessions, also, are held regularly. One bridgeman is appointed by the corporation at Michaelmas, and the junior bridgeman for the preceding year then becomes the senior for the year ensuing; these officers, according to ancient custom, being also the churchwardens of the parish. The townhall, erected in 1796, stands on an elevation in the Highstreet, and is supported by sixteen Doric columns.

The parish comprises by measurement 1550 acres, of which 984 are arable, 317 meadow and pasture, 200 woodland, and 20 common or waste. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £21. 1. 3., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Rochester: the tithes have been commuted for £481. 10., and there are ¾ of an acre of glebe. The church is a spacious structure, chiefly in the decorated and later English styles; in the walls are some portions of chequered work in flint and chalk. It has a fine tower, erected by Cardinal Wolsey, and some good tracery in the window of the chancel. The present north aisle appears to have constituted the body of the church; and in the north part of the chancel are indications of the original altar, with two canopied niches, in one of which is a recess formerly used for the eucharist. A large sepulchral chapel, or chantry, founded by the family of Elmes, was in 1820 converted into a vestry-room and library, and contains many valuable works, the liberal bequest of Dean Aldrich, rector of Henley, who died in 1737. In the chancel is a handsome monument with a recumbent effigy of Lady Elizabeth Periam, the benefactress to Balliol College, Oxford: there are also monuments to Dr. Crawley, father of Lady Kneller, who died in 1709, and to Mr. William Hayward, of Shrewsbury, the architect of Henley bridge; and in a vault on the south side are deposited the remains of Gen. Dumourier, celebrated in the revolutionary history of France. Richard Jennings, the "Master Builder of St. Paul's Cathedral," who died at Badgemore, near the town, lies interred in the churchyard. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends and Independents.

A grammar school was founded in 1604, by James I., and endowed with the proceeds of certain church lands and other property, partly bequeathed by Augustine Knapp; its funds were augmented by William Gravett, in 1664. A Blue-coat school for boys was established in 1609, by Lady Elizabeth Periam; and in 1774 these two schools were united by act of parliament, and their incomes consolidated, amounting at present to about £360 per annum. A Green school was founded in 1717, in consequence of a bequest by Mr. John Stephens, and subsequently endowed with property producing £54 per annum. An almshouse for five men, and an adjoining house for three women, were founded and endowed by John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1547; and there are ten almshouses endowed with a bequest by Humphrey Newbury, in 1664; four houses for widows, founded in 1743, by Mrs. Ann Messenger; and numerous other charities. The poor-law union of Henley comprises 24 parishes or places, 19 of which are in the county of Oxford; and contains 15,639 inhabitants.

Henllis (St. Peter)

HENLLIS (St. Peter), a parish, in the union and division of Newport, hundred of Wentlloog, county of Monmouth, 3¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from Newport; containing 245 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 3000 acres, of which about 1000 are arable, 1000 pasture, 500 wood, and 500 mountain moorland; the soil is generally clay. The surface is boldly varied, and the scenery richly embellished with wood; the prevailing timber is oak, of which there are some beautiful specimens. The substratum abounds with coal. The living is a perpetual curacy; patron, the Vicar of Bassaleg: the tithes have been commuted for £58, payable to the incumbent, £60 to the Bishop of Llandaff, and £33 to another impropriator. The church is a neat ancient structure, with a handsome tower; the churchyard contains some remarkably fine yew-trees. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Henlow (St. Mary)

HENLOW (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Biggleswade, hundred of Clifton, county of Bedford, 4¼ miles (S. by W.) from Biggleswade; containing 776 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 2190 acres, of which 1660 are arable, 340 meadow, and 190 pasture: the soil is partly light, and partly a strong clayey loam; the surface is flat, and watered by a small stream which flows through the grounds of the Grange. Straw-plat is made. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £265; impropriator, G. N. Edwards, Esq. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1795; the glebe contains about 17 acres. The church is a neat structure, in the later English style.

Henney, Great (St. Mary)

HENNEY, GREAT (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Sudbury, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 2¾ miles (S. by W.) from Sudbury; containing 417 inhabitants. It forms part of a district of elevated land, including also Little Henney, and comprises an area about three miles in circumference; the soil in some parts is light, and intermixed with sand. The river Stour, running along the east side of the parish, and separating it from the county of Suffolk, is navigable to the sea. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books, with the living of Little Henney, at £13. 6. 8., and in the gift of the Earl of Verulam: the tithes have been commuted for £375, and the glebe comprises 60 acres. The church, a small ancient edifice, with a tower of wood, is pleasantly situated on an eminence.

Henney, Little

HENNEY, LITTLE, a parish, in the union of Sudbury, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 3 miles (S.) from Sudbury; containing 65 inhabitants. The living is a sinecure rectory, in the gift of N. Barnardiston, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £88, and the glebe comprises 11 acres. The church has been demolished upwards of 200 years.

Hennock (St. Mary)

HENNOCK (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newton-Abbott, hundred of Teignbridge, Teignbridge and S. divisions of Devon, 3 miles (W. N. W.) from Chudleigh; containing 828 inhabitants. It is bounded on the east by the North Teign river, and comprises 3052 acres, of which 70 are common or waste land. Pipe-clay and potters'-clay, and, in the granite-rock, lead and iron, are found. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16; patrons and impropriators, the Corporation of Exeter: the great tithes have been commuted for £186, the vicarial for £230, and the glebe comprises 18 acres. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Hensall

HENSALL, a township, in that part of the parish of Snaith which is in the Lower division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross, W. riding of York, 3½ miles (W. by N.) from Snaith; containing 290 inhabitants. The township is situated in the vale of the river Aire, and comprises by computation 1150 acres.

Henshaw

HENSHAW, a township, in the parish and union of Haltwhistle, W. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 11 miles (W.) from Hexham; containing 569 inhabitants. This manor was for six generations the property of the great family of Cumin, until their Tindale lands were divided between two coheiresses, Joan, wife of David de Strathbolgi, Earl of Athol, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Richard Talbot, of Herefordshire; and at a very early period Richard Cumin, and Hextilda, Countess of Ethehetala, confirmed to the church of Hexham half a carucate of land situated at Ryshiels, in Henshaw. In the northern part of the township were the lands called, from the sporting purposes to which they were devoted, the Huntlands of Tindale. Here, also, and in the back part of the township of Thorngrafton, was an extensive waste that was termed the "Forest of Lowes," on account of the number of loughs or small lakes within it. On the eastern verge of the township, and opposite to Chester-Holme, the beautiful cottage ornée of the late Rev. Anthony Hedley, is the site of a considerable Roman station, where have been discovered several magnificent altars, and other remains, such as pottery, glass, hardware, shoes, and coins. Of the coins, between 200 and 250 were of the reigns of Constantine, Constans, and Constantius, and one of Magnentius, valuable from its scarcity, there having been but one coinage during the few months of his usurped authority: on a piece of pottery was embossed a cross, a proof that Christianity had made its way into the Roman armies. The township includes the hamlets of Bardon-Mill and Greenley, and comprises 10,662 acres, of which 558 are common or waste land. In the hamlet of Henshaw are places of worship for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists. At HardRiding, in the township, the martyred Bishop Ridley is said to have been born; but Plainmellor and Ridley townships, in the same parish, also contend for the honour of his birth.

Hensingham

HENSINGHAM, a chapelry, in the parish of St. Bees, union of Whitehaven, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 1 mile (S. E.) from Whitehaven; containing 1019 inhabitants. The village, occupying an elevated site, commands an interesting view of the town and harbour of Whitehaven, and there are some neat villas in the neighbourhood. A manufactory for thread and check is in operation; and at Overend a large quantity of limestone is obtained and burnt. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £126: patron and impropriator, the Earl of Lonsdale: the tithes were commuted for land in 1767. Archbishop Grindal was born here in 1519.

Hensington

HENSINGTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Bladon, union of Woodstock, hundred of Wootton, county of Oxford, ¼ of a mile (E.) from the town of Woodstock; containing 288 inhabitants.

Henstead (St. Mary)

HENSTEAD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Blything, E. division of Suffolk, 5¾ miles (S. E. by E.) from Beccles; containing, with the hamlet of Hulverstreet, in the hundred of Wangford, 573 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 1481 acres; and the road from London to Yarmouth passes through the eastern portion of it. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12, and in the gift of the Rev. Thos. Shireffe: the tithes have been commuted for £411, and the glebe comprises 40 acres. The church is an ancient structure, in the later English style, with a handsome Norman doorway on the north side, a similar arch on the south side, and a square embattled tower; the chancel was burnt down some years since. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. Robert Echard, the ecclesiastical writer, was rector of the parish.