Pollack - Pooley

Pollack

POLLACK, a tything, in the parish and union of South Stoneham, hundred of Mainsbridge, Southampton and S. divisions of the county of Southampton; containing 228 inhabitants.

Pollards-Lands

POLLARDS-LANDS, a township, in the parish of St. Andrew Auckland, union of Auckland, N. W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing 224 inhabitants. This place, which was anciently held by the family of Pollard, is situated on the east side of the river Gaunless, adjoining the town of Bishop-Auckland.

Pollecot

POLLECOT, a hamlet, in the parish and hundred of Ashendon, union of Aylesbury, county of Buckingham, 6 miles (N.) from the town of Thame; containing 102 inhabitants.

Pollington

POLLINGTON, a township, in the parish of Snaith, union of Goole, Lower division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross, W. riding of York, 2¾ miles (S. W.) from Snaith; containing 585 inhabitants. The township comprises by computation nearly 2000 acres. The Earl of Mexborough is lord of the manor, and derives from this place his titles of Baron and Viscount Pollington. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Polperro

POLPERRO, a small sea-port, partly in the parish of Llansalloes, and partly in that of Talland, union of Liskeard, hundred of West, E. division of Cornwall, 5 miles (E.) from Fowey, and 3 (W. S. W.) from West Looe; containing 913 inhabitants. It is romantically situated on the sides of two steep rocky hills, between which, through a very narrow valley, flows a small river, separating the parishes. Here is a harbour for vessels of 150 tons' burthen: the imports are chiefly coal, culm, and limestone; grain is occasionally exported; and a pilchard-fishery and an extensive hook and line fishery are carried on, the latter of which supplies Bath, Plymouth, &c., with large quantities of fine whiting, pipers, dace, plaice, and turbot. A small market is held on Friday; and a pleasure-fair commences on July 10th, which continues for several days. At Polperro was a chapel dedicated to St. Peter, some remains of which, called the Chapel-house, are still to be seen on the brow of the western hill above the town. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans.

Polruan

POLRUAN, a township, in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey, union of Liskeard, hundred of West, E. division of Cornwall; containing 720 inhabitants. The fishing-village of Polruan had anciently a market and a fair, and appears to have been of some importance, having furnished one ship and 60 mariners to the fleet before Calais, in the reign of Edward III.

Polsham

POLSHAM, a tything, in the out-parish of St. Cuthbert, city and union of Wells, hundred of Wells-Forum, E. division of the county of Somerset; containing 91 inhabitants.

Polstead (St. Mary)

POLSTEAD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Cosford, hundred of Babergh, W. division of Suffolk, 9 miles (N.) from Colchester; containing 989 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises 3396a. 2r. 31p., is highly picturesque; a small stream, on which is a mill, runs through it, and empties itself into the Stour. A fair is held on Polstead Green for two days, commencing on the Wednesday after July 2nd. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £22, and in the gift of F. R. Reynolds, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for about £880. The church is pleasantly situated on an eminence in Polstead Park, and is a very ancient building, chiefly in the early Norman style, of which the nave is a good specimen; the tower is surmounted by a spire. Near the churchyard are the living remains of a fine oak, more than thirty feet in circumference, supposed from its vicinity to the site of the church, to have once been used as a gospel oak. The rectory-house is a good dwelling, with 17 acres of glebe around it. Polstead will long be remembered as the scene of the tragic death of Maria Martin in 1828; the Red Barn still exists in good repair, and is not unfrequently visited by strangers, but the family of the Corders have entirely left the place.

Poltimore (St. Mary)

POLTIMORE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of St. Thomas, hundred of Wonford, Wonford and S. divisions of Devon, 4 miles (N. E.) from Exeter; containing, with the hamlet of Ratslow, 264 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Clist, and comprises 1616 acres, of which 109 are common or waste; the soil is clay and sand, and the surface level, and in some parts subject to inundation. There are mines of manganese. The living is a rectory, with that of Huxam united, valued in the king's books at £15. 15. 5., and in the gift of Lord Poltimore: the tithes of Poltimore have been commuted for £297, and the glebe comprises 65 acres. The church, which is principally in the decorated English style, with an elegant wooden screen, was built by John Bampfylde, who died in 1390, and to whose memory it contains a slab. A school is supported by subscription; and there is an almshouse for four persons, founded by a female member of the family of Bampfylde about the year 1595, and endowed at different times by Sir Amias Bampfylde and several of his descendants. Poltimore gives the title of Baron to the family.

Ponders-End

PONDERS-END, a hamlet, in the parish of Enfield, union and hundred of Edmonton, county of Middlesex, 9 miles (N. N. E.) from London. Here is an establishment for finishing crape, at which about 150 persons are employed. The Lea navigation passes within a mile of the village, and the road from London to Waltham-Cross runs through it: the Ponders-End station of the Cambridge railway is 11¾ miles distant from the London terminus, at Shoreditch. A church has been built at an expense of £4000, and the Independents have a place of worship.—See Enfield.

Ponsnooth

PONSNOOTH, a hamlet, in the parishes of Gluvias, Perran-Arworthal, and Stithians, union of Falmouth, E. division of the hundred of Kerrier, W. division of Cornwall, 3 miles (N. W.) from Penryn, on the road to Falmouth and Redruth. The village is considerable, and the inhabitants are partly employed in the woollen manufacture, and in the Kennal gunpowder-works, which are in the immediate vicinity. There are places of worship for Bryanites and Wesleyans; and a school supported by subscription.

Ponsonby

PONSONBY, a parish, in the union of Whitehaven, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 4¾ miles (S. E. by S.) from Egremont; containing 187 inhabitants. It is bounded on the north by the river Calder: freestone is obtained within its limits. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £113; patron and impropriator, E. Stanley, Esq. The church is a neat structure, containing some ancient stained glass brought from Dalegarth Hall. On an eminence at Infell are the remains of a Roman camp.

Pontefract (St. Giles)

PONTEFRACT (St. Giles), a borough, markettown, and parish, in the Upper division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross, W. riding of York; comprising the townships of Carleton, East Hardwick, Monkhill, Pontefract, and Tanshelf, and the chapelry of Knottingley; and containing 9851 inhabitants, of whom 4669 are in the borough, 23 miles (S. S. W.) from York, and 177½ (N. N. W.) from London. This place, which appears to have risen from the ruins of Legeolium, a Roman station in the vicinity, now Castleford, was by the Saxons called Kirkby, and after the Conquest obtained the name of Pontfrete, according to some, from Pontfrete in Normandy, whence sprang the Lacys, lords of Pontefract. But by others it is stated to have been called Pontfract from the demolition of a bridge over the river Aire in 1070, by the Northumbrian insurgents, of whom William I., with a formidable army, was in pursuit; by which act the king was detained at this place for many days, till one of his Norman knights discovered a ford across the river at Castleford, over which he passed with his army. Though not itself a Roman station, it was probably in some way connected with Legeolium; the Watling-street passed through the park, near the town, and vestiges of a Roman camp were distinctly traceable previously to the recent inclosure of the waste lands. During the time of the Saxons, to whom some historians attribute the building of the town, a chief named Alric erected a castle here, which, having been demolished or suffered to fall into decay, was repaired, or more probably rebuilt, by Ilbert de Lacy, to whom, at the period of the Conquest, William granted the honour and manor of Pontefract.

In the reign of Edward II. the castle, then in the possession of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who had revolted against the king on account of his partiality to Piers Gaveston, was besieged and taken by the royal forces; and the earl being soon after made prisoner by Andrew de Harcla, at Boroughbridge, was brought to Pontefract, where he was beheaded on a hill in sight of his own castle, and several of the barons who had joined his party were hanged. The earl was canonized after his death; and a chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, was erected in honour of his memory, on the spot where he had suffered decapitation. His descendant, the renowned John of Gaunt, retired to this castle in the reign of Richard II., and fortified it against the king; but a reconciliation taking place, through the medium of Joan, the king's mother, no further hostilities ensued. Henry de Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, then an exile in France, exasperated by the king's attempt to deprive him of the duchy of Lancaster and honour of Pontefract, to which he had succeeded by the death of his father, John of Gaunt, landed at Ravenspur, near the mouth of the Humber, in this county; and being joined by the Lords Willoughby, Ross, D'Arcy, Beaumont, and other persons of distinction, a considerable force was raised, and the conspiracy terminated in the capture of the king, and the exaltation of the duke to the throne by the title of Henry IV. Richard, after his deposition, was for some time confined in this castle, where he was inhumanly put to death. Henry frequently resided in it; he held a parliament here after the battle of Shrewsbury, and in 1404 signed at Pontefract the truce between England and Scotland. Scroop, Archbishop of York, having raised an insurrection, in which he was joined by the Earl of Northumberland, for the dethronement of the king, was by treachery made prisoner, and, being brought hither, was sentenced to death, in 1405. In 1406, the young prince, subsequently James I. of Scotland, who had been taken on his voyage to France, was imprisoned in the castle; and after the battle of Agincourt, in the reign of Henry V., the Duke of Orleans and several French noblemen of the highest rank, were confined here.

During the war between the houses of York and Lancaster, the castle was the place of confinement of numerous noblemen, and several were put to death within its walls. Earl Rivers, who was kept a prisoner here by the Duke of Gloucester, whose designs he had ineffectually attempted to oppose, was at length put to death in the castle, together with Sir Richard Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan. In 1461, Edward IV., with an army of 40,000 men, fixed his head-quarters at Pontefract, whence he marched against the Lancastrians at Towton. After the union of the houses of York and Lancaster in the person of Henry VII., that monarch visited the castle, in the second year of his reign. It was honoured also by visits from Henry VIII., in 1540; from James I., in 1603 and 1617, on his way to Scotland; and from Charles I., in 1625. In the rebellion called the Pilgrimage of Grace, in the reign of Henry, it was surrendered by Thomas, Lord D'Arcy, to the troops under the command of Aske.

At the commencement of the civil war, the castle was garrisoned for the king, and in 1644 was closely invested by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had taken possession of the town for the parliament. The Royalists maintained a spirited defence under a heavy cannonade, which continued several days; and held out till the arrival of a detachment of 2000 men, under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who, after a severe conflict with the parliamentarians in Chequer-field, in which he was assisted by sallies from the castle, at length obliged them to raise the siege. On the departure of Sir Marmaduke, the republicans again obtained possession of the town, and throwing up intrenchments for a blockade, renewed their efforts to reduce the castle. The garrison, under Governor Lowther, fought with obstinate intrepidity, and did considerable execution by frequent sallies; but being in want of provisions, and unable, from the blockade of the town, to procure supplies, it capitulated on honourable terms. After the castle had been for a short time in the hands of the parliamentarians, it was retaken by Col. Morrice and a small band of determined royalists, disguised as peasants carrying in provisions, who entered it without being suspected, and, having a reinforcement at hand, secured Col. Cotterell, the governor, and his men, in the dungeons. The castle was afterwards invested by Cromwell in person; but the royalists maintained their post, and it was not till the execution of the king that they surrendered the fortress, which the parliament soon ordered to be dismantled. Of this castle, so memorable for its connexion with the most interesting periods of English history, and which consisted of numerous massive towers, connected by walls of prodigious strength, and occupying the summit of an isolated rock, only a small circular tower now remains.

The town is pleasantly situated on dry and elevated ground, near the confluence of the rivers Aire and Calder. The streets are spacious and well paved; the houses, mostly of brick, are commodious and well built, and the town is supplied with excellent water from springs. Gas-works were erected in 1832, at an expense of upwards of £4000, the greater portion of which was raised by means of shares of £10 each, and the remainder borrowed on interest; the two gasometers are capable of containing 5000 cubic feet of gas. There are two subscription reading-rooms: the theatre, a small building erected by subscription, has been converted into a British school. At a short distance from the town, a neat monument was erected in 1818, in commemoration of the battle of Waterloo. The environs abound with interesting and diversified scenery; the gardens and nursery-grounds produce abundance of fruit and vegetables for the supply of the adjacent markets, and are famous for a superior kind of liquorice, which is cultivated extensively, and manufactured into cakes. The town has an excellent local trade, arising from the populousness and respectability of the neighbourhood. The Aire and Calder canal affords a conveyance from the ports of Hull and Goole to Ferrybridge, from which place there is direct land-carriage to Pontefract; the Wakefield and Goole railway runs by the town, and the York and North-Midland railway has a station within two miles, at Castleford. The market, which is well supplied with corn and provisions of every kind, is on Saturday. The market-place is spacious: in the centre of it was formerly a cross in honour of St. Oswald, around which, for a certain distance, extended the privilege of freedom from arrest, and the area was for a considerable time kept unpaved, as a memorial of that right; the cross was removed in 1734, and a neat market-house, ornamented with pillars of the Doric order, erected in pursuance of the will of Mr. Solomon Dupier, by his widow. Fairs are held on the first Saturday in December, May 5th, Oct. 5th, and the Saturday before Palm-Sunday; also every fortnight, on the Saturday next after the fairs of York.

Pontefract, which had enjoyed various privileges under charters of the lords of the honour and manor, was first incorporated by royal charter in the reign of Richard III., which was confirmed by Henry VII. and Edward VI., and by James I. in the 4th year of his reign. The charter was enlarged in the 29th of Charles II., and a new one was granted by James II. in the first of his reign. The government is now vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, under the act 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; the municipal borough is co-extensive with the township of Pontefract, and the number of magistrates is eight. The town exercised the elective franchise in the 23rd and 26th of Edward I., and the privilege was revived by James I. in 1621, since which time it has regularly returned two members to parliament: the mayor is returning officer. The recorder holds a court of quarter-sessions; and a court of record for the borough occurs every three weeks, for the recovery of debts to any amount. Petty-sessions are held every alternate Saturday in the West-riding court-house, and the borough magistrates meet every Monday in the town-hall; the general quarter-sessions for the riding are held here at Easter. The county debt-court of Pontefract, established in 1847, has jurisdiction over the registration-district of Pontefract. The town-hall is a neat building, erected at the joint expense of the county and the corporation; the lower part, surrounded by an open corridor, forms a prison, and above is the hall, which is conveniently arranged for the borough courts, and occasionally used as an assembly-room: the front of the building is ornamented with pilasters of the Doric order, surmounted by a cornice. The court-house, erected at the expense of the county, is a handsome structure of freestone, in the Grecian style, and of the Ionic order.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown, in right of the duchy of Lancaster; net income, £313; impropriator, the Earl of Harewood. The old parochial church, dedicated to All Saints, now a district church, was nearly demolished in the parliamentary war, and is still partly in ruins, but the north and south transepts and the tower were restored in 1831, at an expense of £4300, raised by subscription: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Crown, endowed with £200 per annum, arising from lands bequeathed by Mr. Fothergill. The church of St. Giles, rendered parochial by an act of parliament passed in the 29th of George III., is a neat edifice, of which the old tower was taken down and rebuilt; it is situated on elevated ground in the market-place, and forms a conspicuous feature in the view of the town. The collegiate chapel dedicated to St. Clement, within the precincts of the castle; and the free chapel of St. Thomas, erected on the spot where the Earl of Lancaster was beheaded, have long since disappeared. At Knottingley, East Knottingley, and East Hardwick, are separate incumbencies. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans, and a Roman Catholic chapel. A free grammar school was founded, and endowed with a house and garden, and £50 per annum from the revenues of the duchy of Lancaster, in the 2nd year of the reign of Edward VI.; and the endowment was augmented in the reign of Elizabeth. Having fallen into decay, the institution was refounded, on petition of the inhabitants, 32nd of George III.

The college and hospital of St. Nicholas was originally founded by an abbot of the monastery of St. Oswald, in the county of York, for a reader and thirteen persons, and was endowed with an income of £23. 13. 4., payable out of the revenue of the duchy of Lancaster. It was vested in the corporation of the borough by James I., and was rebuilt, or largely repaired, by means of a sum of £100 bequeathed by Mr. Thomas Sayle. The endowment, by subsequent donations, has been increased to £36 per annum. Knolles, or the Trinity, almshouse was founded in the reign of Richard II., by Sir Robert Knolles, and endowed with an annual sum, also payable from the revenue of the duchy, with the moiety of an estate in Whitechapel, London, devised by Mr. John Mercer, and other property, producing a yearly income of more than £108. The premises comprise rooms for seven aged men and nine women. Perfect's hospital was built at the joint expense of the corporation and the town, and endowed by Mr. William Perfect with land, which, with other donations, produces £40 per annum; the premises comprise three dwellings, each for an aged man and his wife. The Bede House, of which the origin is unknown, is maintained by the overseers. The building called Thwaites' hospital was bequeathed for the residence of four aged unmarried women, by Richard Thwaites, in 1620. Cowper's hospital was founded in 1668, by Robert Cowper, and has been rebuilt at the expense of the parish, for four aged widows. Two almshouses, built respectively by Mr. Matthew and Mr. Robert Franks, in 1737, and containing each apartments for two aged widows, have endowments of £11. 10. and £17. 10. per annum. Watkinson's hospital was founded in 1765, by Edward Watkinson, M.D., who endowed it with estates producing £87. 14.; the premises contain apartments for eight aged men and women. George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, gave in trust to the corporation £200 per annum, to be employed in loans to tradesmen; and there are numerous bequests for distribution among the poor generally.

Among the various monastic institutions that existed here, was a Cluniac priory, founded in the reign of William Rufus by Robert de Lacy, and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist; the revenue at the Dissolution was £472. 16. 1. A convent of Carmelites was established in the year 1257, by Edmund Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. A convent of Dominican or Black friars was instituted in 1266, by Simon Pyper, in a place now called Friar-Wood; at the Dissolution it consisted of a prior, seven brethren, and a novice. There was also an hospital for Lazars, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, of uncertain foundation, to which, in 1286, Archbishop Romain was a benefactor, and of which the site is supposed to be occupied by Franks' hospital. An hospital for a chaplain and eight poor brethren, established in the reign of Edward III., by William La Tabourere, is by some identified with the Bede House. On the 25th of March, 1822, as two labourers were trenching the land for liquorice, in a field called Paper-Mill Field, near St. Thomas' Hill, one of them struck his spade against a stone coffin, which weighed about a ton and a half, and which, on examination, was found to contain the skeleton of a man, with the head between the legs, in good preservation. These were supposed to be the decapitated remains of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who suffered on the 22nd of March, 1322, exactly 500 years previously. The coffin and its contents were removed into the grounds of R. P. Milnes, Esq., of Frystone Hall, where they now remain, inclosed within a palisade. Near a windmill occupying the site of St. Thomas' chapel, great quantities of beautifully carved stones were dug up in 1841, which were removed by the Earl of Mexborough, as owner of the soil: from the sculpture of the stones, the building to which they belonged seems to have been of pointed architecture. Thomas de Castleford, a monkish historian, was a brother of the Dominican convent. Dr. Bramhall, who after the Restoration was made primate of Ireland, was a native of Pontefract; and Dr. Johnson, a physician and eminent antiquary, resided in the town. It gives the title of Earl to the family of Fermor, who are styled Earls of Pomfret.

Pontefract-Park

PONTEFRACT-PARK, an extra-parochial liberty, in the Upper division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross, W. riding of York, ½ a mile (N. W. by N.) from Pontefract; containing 96 inhabitants. The park comprises about 325 acres. It is managed by 24 resident persons who are the highest rate-payers, and is thrown open from the 12th of May till the 10th of October for the benefit of those inhabitants of Pontefract, PontefractPark, and Tanshelf, who have been resident three years. About 300 head of cattle are annually taken in, the number being fixed by the trustees; the pasture of a horse is 21s., that of a cow 12s., and any person stocking the park with cattle not bonâ fide his own property, forfeits his right of pasture for a given period.

Ponteland (St. Mary)

PONTELAND (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and W. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland; comprising the townships of BerwickHill, Little Callerton, Coldcoats, Darras-Hall, HighamDykes, Kirkley, Milburn, Milburn-Grange, Ponteland, part of High Callerton, and part of Prestwick; the whole containing 1094 inhabitants, of whom 424 are in Ponteland township, 7½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Newcastle, on the road to the north. The origin of this place is attributed to Elius Hadrianus by Camden, who supposes it to have been the station of the first cohort of the Cornavii. A treaty of peace was concluded here in 1244, between Henry III. and the King of Scotland; and in the following century the town and castle were burnt by the Scots, previous to the battle of Otterburn. The parish is situated on the west bank of the river Pont, from which it takes its name, and is intersected by the river Blyth; it comprises about 10,000 acres, and was originally much larger, including Dinnington, which is now a separate parish. The soil is chiefly a strong clay, well adapted for wheat, and there are extensive tracts of rich pasture; the surface is generally level. The substratum abounds with stone of good quality for building, and in the neighbourhood are some coal-mines. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8.; patrons and impropriators, the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford. The great tithes have been commuted for £2067. 10., with a glebe of 85 acres; and the tithes of the vicar for £296. 4., with a glebe of 143 acres. The church, formerly collegiate, is partly in the Norman style, with a square tower surmounted by a low spire; it was repaired in 1810. There is a place of worship for Scottish Presbyterians; also a free school, founded in 1719 by Richard Coates, Esq., who bequeathed property now producing about £70 a year, for its support.

Pontesbury (St. George)

PONTESBURY (St. George), a parish, in the union of Atcham, hundred of Ford, S. division of Salop, 7 miles (S. W. by W.) from Shrewsbury; containing 3311 inhabitants, of whom 1471 are in the first division, 966 in the second, and 686 in the third. The parish is intersected by the road from Shrewsbury to Montgomery, and comprises 10,673 acres, of which 6320 are arable, 3460 meadow and pasture, 345 wood and plantations, 239 in homesteads and cottages, 217 common, and 92 uninclosed. Its surface is undulated, presenting in one part an insulated rocky hill and a woody ravine; and the soil varies considerably: the timber consists chiefly of oak, ash, fir, and Carolina poplar. There are some thin strata of coal; and lead, though not dug in the parish, is smelted in large quantities. The living is a rectory, in three portions: the first is valued in the king's books at £17. 13. 4.; net income, £800; patron, the Rev. Ham Harrison: the second also at £17. 13. 4.; net income, £825; patrons, the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College, Oxford: and the third at £8. 10; net income, £483; patron, W. E. S. Owen, Esq. The church formerly had a dean and three prebendaries; it was rebuilt in 1828, at a cost of £5200, raised by rate and subscription, and is in the early English style, with a tower 90 feet in height. A chapel of ease, in the same style, was built at Cruckton, by subscription, in 1840, at an expense of £900; and at Longdon is a chapel with 140 sittings, which forms a separate incumbency. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Pontisbright, or Chapel

PONTISBRIGHT, or Chapel, a parish, in the union of Lexden and Winstree, Colchester division of the hundred of Lexden, N. division of Essex, 6 miles (E. S. E.) from Halsted; containing 429 inhabitants. This is a daughter parish to Great Tey, and comprises 1152 acres, of which about 200 acres are pasture, 40 woodland, and 125 common or waste. A fair for toys is held on the first Tuesday after the 11th of June. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Parishioners: the rectorial tithes have been commuted for £227. 10., and those of the incumbent for £140. 12.; there are 45½ acres of glebe appertaining to the rectory, and 10 to the curacy. The church is a small ancient edifice.

Ponton, Great (Holy Cross)

PONTON, GREAT (Holy Cross), a parish, in the union of Grantham, wapentake of Winnibriggs and Threo, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 4 miles (S.) from Grantham; containing 469 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 2800 acres of land, chiefly arable. It is situated on the great north road, and the river Witham runs through the village, which was the Ad Pontem of Antoninus: Roman coins, tessellated pavements, &c., have been discovered at different periods. There are some quarries, producing stone suitable for building. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 9. 7.; net income, £463; patron, the Prebendary of North Grantham in the Cathedral of Salisbury. The church is a beautiful edifice in the later English style, erected in 1519, at the expense of Anthony Ellys, a merchant of London; the tower and spire are much admired. W. Archer, in 1713, endowed a free school with land and houses now producing £53 per annum.

Ponton, Little (St. Guthlake)

PONTON, LITTLE (St. Guthlake), a parish, in the union of Grantham, wapentake of Winnibriggs and Threo, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 2½ miles (S. S. E.) from Grantham; containing 212 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the great north road, and intersected by the river Witham: it comprises by measurement 1900 acres. Limestone and freestone are quarried. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 10.; net income, £336; patron, the Rev. Dr. Dowdeswell. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1811; there are about 26 acres of glebe. The church, an humble edifice without tower or spire, has the date 1657, the time, probably, when it was dismantled.

Pontop, county of Durham.—See Collierly.

PONTOP, county of Durham.—See Collierly.

Pont-Y-Pool

PONT-Y-POOL, a market-town and chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Trevethan, division of Pont-y-Pool, hundred of Abergavenny, county of Monmouth, 20 miles (S. W. by W.) from Monmouth, and 146 (W. by N.) from London; containing 2865 inhabitants. This town, the name of which is a corruption of Pont ap Howel, is situated on a declivity between the river Avon and the canal to Newport, near the base of the bold elevation of Mynydd-Maen. It appears to have arisen out of the village of Trevethan, and to owe its present importance to the inventive genius of Thomas Allgood, a native of Northamptonshire, who made some discoveries here, of much advantage to the manufactures of the country, in the art of imitating japan varnish, from which the articles were denominated Japan ware. His son, also, introduced, and carried on here for a considerable time, a branch of art in cleansing and polishing iron, which produced articles of such excellent workmanship, as eventually to obtain for them the name of "Pont-y-Pool ware." The prosperity of the town was increased towards the close of the sixteenth century, by the establishment of iron-works, under the auspices of Capel Hanbury.

The town is situated on the great basin of coal and ironstone extending westward through Wales to Pembrokeshire. It is irregularly built, chiefly in two streets, which contain many neat detached houses; the streets are partially macadamized, are lighted with gas, and the town is well supplied with water from the small river Avon and the adjacent springs. The surrounding scenery is of a rugged character, and the prospect from some points is exceedingly wide. The iron-works, begun in 1565, and enlarged by John Hanbury, Esq.; and some forges and iron-mills, for making tin-plate; afford employment to a large portion of the population. The manufacture of the Japan and Pont-y-Pool ware, also, is still carried on. The chief articles of trade are, iron of every description and quality; and coal, in which the neighbouring hills abound. Some business is done in the leather-trade, and there is a good brewery. Facility of conveyance is supplied by several tram-roads, and to the port of Newport by the Monmouthshire and Brecon canals, which pass through Pont-y-Pool, and form a junction at the village of Pont-y-Moile. In 1845 an act was passed for a railway to Newport, and another act in 1846 for a railway to Hereford. The market is on Saturday, and during the summer there is an additional market on Wednesday; fairs are held on April 2nd and 22nd, July 5th, and October 10th, for horses, cattle, sheep, cheese, &c. Petty-sessions are held here; also an annual court leet for the lords of the manors of Wensland and Brynwyn, at which the stewards preside. The powers of the county debt-court of Pont-y-Pool, established in 1847, extend over nearly the whole of the registration-district of Pont-y-Pool. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £84; patron, the Vicar of Llanover; appropriators, the Chapter of Llandaff. The chapel, dedicated to St. James, is a very ancient building, but has undergone such considerable repairs as to make it a neat and commodious structure. Here are places of worship for Baptists, Wesleyans, Independents, the Society of Friends, and Roman Catholics. The poor-law union of Pont-y-Pool comprises 22 parishes or places, with a population of 25,037.

Pool, with Byrome.—See Byrome.

POOL, with Byrome.—See Byrome.

Pool, Nether and Over

POOL, NETHER and OVER, townships, in the parish of Eastham, union, and Higher division of the hundred, of Wirrall, S. division of Cheshire, the former 7½, and the latter 8 miles (N. by W.) from Chester; containing respectively 32 and 96 inhabitants. According to the Domesday survey, both townships formed part of the possessions of the barons of Nantwich, one of whose adherents shortly settled at Nether Pool, and assumed the name of Pulle or Pul. His estates falling to three co-heiresses, they quit-claimed the lands about 1220 to William le Hare, who adopted the local name, and became the founder of the families of Pole, in Devonshire, and Poole, in Cheshire. The Pulls frequently occur in the annals of the county, as holding important offices, nor were the services of the family confined to their own country: Randall de Pull fought in the van of the English army under the Black Prince. Over Pool eventually became the property of the monastery at Chester, and was held by the monks at the Dissolution; after being retained by the crown for some time, it was granted to William and John Glasior, and Thomas Glasior was lord of the manor so late as 1710. The estate afterwards passed to the Pooles, and on the death of the Rev. Sir Henry Poole, was purchased by the late Marquess of Westminster, to whose successor both townships now belong.

The present Pool Hall was built by Sir Thomas Poole, Knt., sheriff of Cheshire in the 19th of Henry VIII., and is a remarkably fine specimen of the domestic architecture of that period. The north and east fronts are built of gray stone, now covered with moss; the other parts of the building are composed of timber and plaster, and are carried up in gables, in the usual style of the ancient Cheshire halls. The east front is lighted with large bay-windows, and is terminated at each end with an octagonal turret of the same height as the centre gable. One of these turrets has a large heavy embattled porch, approached by a flight of steps, and forming the entrance to a spacious hall, over the chimney-piece of which is the date 1547. In Nether Pool township are 449 acres, the soil of which is clay. From its situation on the shore of the river Mersey, which here turns off nearly at right angles towards Liverpool, it is peculiarly exposed to the violence of the stream, and large quantities of land have been washed away. Over Pool comprises 446 acres, of a like soil: the village consists of a few humble cottages and small farmhouses, also near the Mersey, between which river and the road from Chester to Birkenhead both townships lie. The Chester and Birkenhead railway is not far distant.

Pool, South (St. Cyriac)

POOL, SOUTH (St. Cyriac), a parish, in the union of Kingsbridge, hundred of Coleridge, Stanborough and Coleridge, and S. divisions of Devon, 4¾ miles (S. E.) from Kingsbridge; containing, with the hamlets of Frogmoor and North Pool, 555 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1746 acres, of which 24 are common or waste land. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £22. 16. 5½., and in the joint patronage of Mrs. Treby, and A. Kelly and T. H. Hayes, Esqrs.: the tithes have been commuted for £376, and there are 45½ acres of glebe.

Poole

POOLE, a township, in the parish of Acton, union and hundred of Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester, 2¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Nantwich; containing 201 inhabitants. It comprises 720 acres, of which the soil is partly sand and partly clay. The Chester canal passes within its western boundary; and the railway from Chester to Crewe, which runs on the north, and the road from Nantwich to Tarporley and Chester, which pursues a course nearly parallel with the canal, also afford means of communication. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £40. 19. 1., and the vicarial for £23. 7. 4.

Poole (St. James)

POOLE (St. James), a sea-port, borough, and market-town, a county of itself, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Cogdean, Shaston (East) division of Dorset, 27 miles (E.) from Dorchester, and 104 (S. W. by W.) from London; containing 6093 inhabitants. This place, which derives its name from its commodious harbour, appears to have risen first into notice as a fishing-hamlet. In the time of Edward III., the port was much frequented, and the inhabitants had attained such prosperity as to be able to furnish four ships and ninetyfour men towards the armament of that sovereign for the siege of Calais. After much fluctuation in the succeeding reigns, the population had greatly increased in the time of Henry VI., from whom, and his immediate successors, the inhabitants obtained grants of various privileges. The town subsequently became the resort and also the residence of Spanish merchants; and the trade rapidly increased till after their departure, on the breaking out of the Spanish war in the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, when it materially declined. But this check was not of long continuance, and some additional immunities having been conferred on the town, its importance was soon established upon a more solid and permanent basis. During the civil war of the seventeenth century, it was garrisoned for the parliament, and became the scene of some severe and sanguinary contests; after the Restoration the fortifications were demolished.

The town is situated on a peninsula in the northern part of the harbour, connected by an isthmus with the main land. It consists of several good streets; the houses are in general well built and of respectable appearance, with some of a superior class intermixed, and the streets are paved under the provisions of the general highway act, and watched and lighted under a local act obtained in the 29th of George II. The inhabitants are well supplied with water. Considerable improvements have been made by the corporation, who recently expended £1500 in the purchase of houses, that have been taken down in order to widen the High-street. In 1834 an act was procured for building a bridge between Poole and Hamworthy. Several reading societies have been formed; a newsroom is supported by subscription; and a public library is established, for which an appropriate building was erected in 1830, at the expense of the Hon. W. F. S. Ponsonby (now Lord de Mauley), then one of the representatives of the borough, on a site of ground given by B. L. Lester, Esq., the other member. An amateur concert has been established upwards of seventy years. The town-house, a neat building on the quay, lately built by subscription, is used by the subscribers, who are chiefly merchants, as a newsroom.

The trade of the port, which was principally with Newfoundland, has of late years become more general; a considerable foreign trade is now carried on, and a large coasting-trade has been established. Among the exports are, provisions, wearing-apparel, cordage, nets, and commodities of all kinds, to Newfoundland, and manufactured goods; the imports include cod and salmon, chiefly for foreign markets, and oil, seal-skins, furs, and cranberries, for home consumption, Corn is both exported and imported in great quantities; many thousand tons of clay are shipped to Liverpool annually, for the Staffordshire potteries, and coal is imported from the north of England, for the use of the neighbouring district. The number of vessels belonging to the port, of above fifty tons, is 81, and their aggregate burthen 12,155 tons. The harbour is one of the safest in the island; during the severest gales, vessels may ride here in perfect security at single anchor: the quays, nearly a mile in length, are accessible to vessels at all times of the tide, and along the whole extent are commodious warehouses, affording every facility for commerce. An oyster-fishery was formerly carried on; but the beds have almost entirely failed, from the rapacity and improvidence of the fishermen. The manufactures of the town and vicinity consist principally of rope, twine, and sailcloth, which are extensive; and there are several yards for ship-building. The Southampton and Dorchester railway passes near the town, and has a branch to it, two miles in length. The market is on Thursday, and there is another on Monday for provisions; fairs commence on the festival of St. Philip and St. James, and on All Souls' day, both of which are continued for nine days. The butchers' market is held under the guildhall, and there are two adjacent market-places for vegetables and poultry, one of them lately erected by the corporation.

The inhabitants were first incorporated in the reign of Richard I., by William Long 'Espee, lord of the manor of Canford, of which Poole then formed part; and the grant was confirmed in the 45th of Edward III. by William de Montacute, and in the 12th of Henry IV. by Thomas de Montacute, both earls of Salisbury and lords of the manor of Canford. The charter was extended in 1559, by Elizabeth, who re-incorporated the inhabitants, and erected Poole into a county of itself, independent of Dorset; and other privileges were bestowed by Charles II., in the 19th, and by James II. in the 4th, year of his reign. The corporation now consists of a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, under the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; the borough is divided into two wards, the municipal boundaries being co-extensive with those for parliamentary purposes; the mayor and late mayor are justices of the peace, and the total number of magistrates is fourteen. The town first sent representatives to parliament in the reign of Edward III., and afterwards discontinued till the 31st of Henry VI., from which period it has regularly returned two members: the right of election was extended in 1832, to the £10 householders of an enlarged district, comprising by estimation 352 acres: the sheriff is returning officer. The corporation hold quarterly courts of session for the borough; and petty-sessions take place at the guildhall every Tuesday. A court of admiralty was held by the mayor, but it was abolished by the Municipal Corporations' act. The sheriff holds his Tourn annually, at which presentments of illegal weights and measures are made. The powers of the county debt-court of Poole, established in 1847, extend over nearly the whole of the registrationdistrict of Poole. The guildhall, a neat and substantial building, was erected in 1761, at the joint expense of Joseph Gulston, Esq., and Lieut.-Col. Calcraft.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of J. M. Elwes, Esq.; net income, £307. The church is an elegant modern structure, erected at an expense of £15,000, towards which the corporation gave £1300. St. Paul's episcopal chapel, in the Grecian style, built at a cost of £3000, by subscription, and endowed from the same source, was consecrated on the 17th of January, 1833, and can accommodate from 700 to 800 persons: the living is in the patronage of Trustees. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, Unitarians, Swedenborgians, and Roman Catholics. A free school is supported by Mr. Harbin's bequest of £300, now producing £20 per annum. The poor-law union of Poole comprises eight parishes or places, with a population of 12,074: a union-house has been erected at Longfleet, at an expense of £6000. Sir Peter Thompson, many years Fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, was a native of this place, of which he collected all the known ancient records; and John Lewis, an eminent divine and antiquary, was also born here.

Poole

POOLE, a chapelry, in the parish of Otley, Upper division of the wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York, 2½ miles (E.) from Otley; containing 363 inhabitants. It comprises about 810 acres; the soil is fertile, and the prevailing scenery of pleasing character. Here are some quarries of good building-stone. The village is situated on the south bank of the river Wharfe, over which is a bridge; it has a corn-mill, two papermills, and a scribbling and fulling mill. The chapel, rebuilt in 1840, is a neat structure with a campanile turret, and contains 200 sittings, of which 80 are free; the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £59; patron, the Vicar of Otley; impropriators, Mr. Fawkes and others. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Poole-Keynes (St. Michael)

POOLE-KEYNES (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Cirencester, hundred of Malmesbury, Malmesbury and Kingswood, and N. divisions of Wilts, 5 miles (S. S. W.) from Cirencester; containing 184 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises about 1500 acres, is intersected by the river Thames, about a mile from its source; and the Cheltenham and Great-Western Union railway runs through. The houses are of stone dug on the spot; and in some places forest marble is found. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 12. 6.; net income, £226, derived from land; patron, the Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. The church was rebuilt in 1777.

Pooley

POOLEY, a neat village, in the township of High Barton, parish of Barton, West ward and union, county of Westmorland, 5½ miles (S. W. by S.) from Penrith. This place is situated at the foot of the lake Ulswater; and the river Eamont, which flows out of the lake, is here crossed by a handsome bridge of three arches, uniting at this point Westmorland and Cumberland. It possesses great attractions, having extensive and diversified scenery, resources for angling, and several barges and skiffs. From Pooley to Patterdale, the head of the lake, the distance is nine miles, in a serpentine course, through an enchanting country.