once was a City of Truth a holy Mountain in regard of the Doctrine of truth and holinesse preached therein then certainly London may Insomuch that Foraigners Hungarians Germans Batavians others learn our Language and come over to this City that they may hear our Preachers and read our English Divines London-Bridge is an admirable Workmanship of stone hewen out of the Quarry upon nineteen Arches besides the Draw-bridge and is furnished on both sides with passing fair houses joyning one to another in manner of a street that for bignesse and beauty it may worthily carry away the prize from all the Bridges in Europe The whole City is divided into six and twenty Wards and the Councel of the City consisted of as many ancient men named of their age in our tongue Aldermen as one would say Senatours who each one have the over-seeing and rule of his several Ward The chief Magistrate is the Lord Maior and two Sheriffs whereof the one is called the Kings the other the Cities Sheriff In Henry the Sixths Reign Godfrey Bolein was Lord Maior of London being the Ancestor of two renowned and virtuous Queens of England Anne second wife to King Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth their Daughter through whose great vigilancy and providence the City stood so well guarded that the Kings peace was dutifully kept notwithstanding the great Lords of both the Factions Yorkists and Lancastrians were with so great Troops of followers lodged within and about the same In Edward the Thirds Reign Henry Picard Maior of London in one day sumptuously feasted four Kings Edward the Third King of England John King of France the King of Cyprus then arrived in England David King of Scots See the courage and piety of a Lord Maior in King James his time in Wilsons History of Great-Britain p. 106. The Merchants meeting place standing upon Pillars which the common people call the Burse and Queen Elizabeth with a solemn Ceremony named The Royal Exchange was set up by Sir Thomas Gresham Citizen and Knight a magnificent work whether you respect the Model of the building the resort of Merchants from all Nations thither or the store of wares there Which Sir Thomas Gresham being withall an exceeding great lover of Learning consecrated a most spacious house his own habitation to the furtherance of Learning and instituted the Professours of Divinity Law Physick Astronomy Geometry and Musick with liberal Salaries and Stipends to the end that London might be a place not only furnished with all kind of Traffick but also with the Liberal Arts and Sciences There is also a fair and goodly Library in Sion-Colledge containing an hundred twenty and one foot in length and above five and twenty foot in breadth In the Reign of King James Robert Earl of Salisbury caused to be erected a stately building in the Strand which upon Tuesday the tenth of April in the yeer 1609. was begun to be richly furnished with Wares and the next day after the King the Queen and Prince with many great Lords and Ladies came to see and then the King gave it the name of Britains Burse Westminster was called in times past Thorney of Thorns now Westminster of the West situation and the Monastery A City of it self having its peculiar Magistrates and Priviledges It is renowned for the Abbey Church the Hall of Justice and the Kings Palace This Church is famous especially by reason of the Inauguration and Sepulture of the Kings of England William the Conquerour and Matilda his wife were first crowned at Westminster and since them all other Kings and Queens of this Realm have been there crowned Stows Surveigh of London It is a Church of very fair Workmanship supported with sundry rows of Marble Pillars a peece of work that cost fifty yeers labour in building It was founded by King Edward the Confessour King Henry the Seventh for the Burial of himself and his children adjoyned thereto in the East end a Chappel of admirable elegancy Leland calleth it The wonder of the world all the curious and exquisite work that can be devised is there compacted It is reported That the Chappel cost ten thousand pound or as others say fourteen thousand pound There is a Collegiate Church and famous School Forty Scholars in their due time are preferred to the Universities Here are buried the Prince of English Poets Geffrey Chaucer as also he that for pregnant wit and an excellent gift in Poetry of all English Poets came neerest unto him Edmund Spenser Isaac Casaubone William Camden Clarenceux King of Arms Westminster-Hall is the greatest Hall in England and the very Praetorium or Hall of Justice In this are the Judicial Courts the Upper-Bench the Common-Pleas and the Chancery and in places neer thereabout the Starre-Chamber the Exchequer Court of Wards and Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster In which at certain set times we call them Terms Causes are yeerly heard and tried This Judgement Hall King Richard the Second built out of the ground as appeareth by his Arms engraven in the stone-work and many arched beams There are a hundred twenty and one Churches more than Rome it self can shew Redcliff so called of the Red cliff a pretty fine Town and dwelling place of Sailers Enfield-Chase a place much renowned for hunting In this County without the City of London are reckoned Parishes much about seventy three with the City Liberties and Suburbs an hundred twenty and one Monmouthshire IT is enclosed on the North-side with the River Munow that separateth it from Herefordshire on the East-side with Wye running between it and Glocestershire on the West with the River Remmey which severeth it from Glamorganshire and on the South with the Severn The East part is full of Grasse and Woods the West is somewhat hilly and stony yet not unthankfull to the Husbandman Monmouth the chief Town of the Shire Munow and Wye at their confluence do compasse it almost round about and give it the name On the North-side where it is not defended with the Rivers it was fortified with a wall and ditch In the midst of the Town hard by the Mercat place standeth a Castle which as it is thought John Baron of Monmouth built It was the Birth place of Henry the Fifth that triumpher over France and the second Ornament of the English Nation It glorieth also that Geffrey Ap Arthur or of Munmouth Compiler of the British History was born and bred there a man well skilled in Antiquities but as it seemeth not of antique credit so many toyes and tales he every where enterlaceth out of his owne brain as he was charged while he lived Chepstow a famous Town and of good resort situate upon the side of an Hill rising from the very River fortified round about with a Wall of a large circuit which includes within it both Fields and Orchards It hath a very spacious Castle situate over the River Strighall Castle it belongs to the
dwelleth whom we call in Latine Vicecomitem as one would say the Deputy of the Comes or Earl and in our tongue Sheriff It is his duty to gather the common moneys of the Prince in his County to collect and bring into the Exchequer all fines imposed even by distreining to be attendant upon the Judges and to execute their commandments to assemble and empanel the twelve men which in causes do enquire of the Fact and make relation thereof and give in their Verdict to the Judges for Judges with us sit upon the right onely of a cause and not upon the fact to see condemned persons executèd and to examine and determine certain smaller actions OF THE Several Counties IN ENGLAND CAmden begins with Cornwall and ends with Northumberland I shall mention the Counties of England rather according to the Letters of the Alphabet Barkshire IT is called in Latine Berkeria It is bounded upon the East with Surrey upon the North with the River of Thames from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire upon the West with Wiltshire and upon the South with Hantshire Abbendune or Abington so called of the Abbay rather than of one Abben an Irish Eremite of the Abby there See Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 97. Farendon famous now for a Mercate there kept Wadley It is situate in a vale though not so fertile a soil as some vales afford yet a most commodious site wholsome in a delicious air a rich and pleasant seat Newbury as much as the Newburgh a fair Town well seated in a Champion plain Reading of the Brittish word Redin which signifieth Fearn that growing here plentifully excelleth all other Towns of this Shire in fair streets and goodly houses for wealth also of the Townsmen and their name in making of Cloath There is a very great Market Maidenhead so named of the superstitious worshipping of I wot not what British Maidens-Head Camd. Brit. Maidenhead or Maidenhith Hith in the old Saxon did signifie a Wharf Haven or Landing-place It had its name from the Wharf or Ferry belonging at that time to some neighbouring Nunnery or to some private Maidens dwelling thereabout who then received the profits of it So Queen-Hith in London took that appellation because the profits of the Wharf were anciently accounted for to the Queens of England Dr. Heylins Animadvers on the Church Hist. of Brit. lib. 1. p. 20. See Camden of Maiden-bradly in Wiltshire fol. 243. Windesore A Royal Castle and House of the Kings with the Town adjoyning A Princes Seat cannot have a more pleasant situation For from a high Hill that riseth with a gentle ascent it enjoyeth a most delightfull Prospect round about With the pleasantnesse of this place Princes were allured very often to retire themselves hither and here was Edward the Third that most puissant King borne who here built new out of the ground a most strong Castle in bignesse equal to a pretty City fortified with Ditches and Bulwarks made of stone and forthwith after he had subdued the French and Scots held at one and the self same time John King of France and David King of Scotland prisoners together in the same In this place King Edward the Third for to adorn Martial Prowesse with Honours the Guerdon of Vertue ordained the most Noble Order and Society of Knights whom he called Knights of the Garter who wear on their left Legge somewhat under the knee a Blew Garter with these golden Letters in French HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENS'E Shame to him that evil thinks and fasten the same with a Buckle of Gold as with the Band of a most inward Society in token of Concord and Unity that there might be among them a certain Consociation and Communion of Vertues Some attribute the original of it unto the Garter of the Queen or rather Joan Countesse of Salisbury a Lady of incomparable beauty which fell from her as she danced and the King took up from the floor for when a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by laughed thereat he made answer again That shortly it would come to passe that Garter should be in high honour and estimation This is the most common and most received report There is a Book entituled Catechismus ordinis Equitum Perifcelidis written long since by Belvaleti the Popes Nuncio here and published in the year 1631. by Bosquierus wherein the Authour makes an Allegory on the whole habit of the Order the Matter Colour Fashion Wearing to the very Girdle Dr. Heylins Antidotum Lincolniense Sect. 3. ch. 10. The mightiest Princes in Christendome reputed it amongst their greatest honour to be chosen and admitted into this Company and since the first Institution thereof there have been already received and enrolled into this Order which consisteth of six and twenty Knights two and twenty Kings or thereabout besides our Kings of England who are named Sovereigns thereof to speak nothing of Dukes and others of most high calling very many The Founders of the Order which in those dayes for stout courage and warlike Prowesse had few or no Peers and were in that regard advanced to that honour Edward the Third King of England Edward his eldest Sonne and Prince of Wales Henry Duke of Lancaster Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick Peter Copit de la Bouche Ralph Earl of Stafford William de Montacute Earl of Sarisbury Roger Mortimer Earl of March John Lord Lisle Sir Bartholomew de Burgherst Sir John Beauchamp John Lord Mohun of Dunstere Sir Hugh Courtne Sir Thomas and Sir Otho Holland Sir John Gray of Codnor Sir Richard Fitz Simon Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Walle Sir Hugh Wrothesly Sir Neel Lorenge Sir John Chandos Sir James Audley Sir Henry Eswi◠Sir Sanchio Dampredicourt Sir Walter Pavely There is an honourable Family of Barons surnamed of Windsore Eaton is hereto adjoyned by a wooden Bridge over the Thames and in it a fair Colledge and a famous School of good literature founded and built by King Henry the Sixth wherein besides the Provost eight Fellows and the singing Choristers there are threescore Scholars instructed in Grammar and in due time preferred to the University of Cambridge It containeth twenty Hundreds twelve Market Towns and an hundred and forty Parishes Bedfordshire BEdford is the principal Town whereof the Shire also taketh name A Town to be commended more for the pleasant situation and antiquity thereof then for beauty or largenesse although a man may tell five Churches in it Hockley in the Hole so named of the miry way in Winter time very troublesome to travellers for the old Englishmen our Progenitors called deep mire Hock and Hocks Dunstable This Town seated in a Chalky ground well inhabited and full of Innes hath four streets answering to the four quarters of the world in every one of which there is a large Pond of standing water for the publique use of the Inhabitants It contains ten Market Towns an hundred and sixteen
large in compasse fruitfull full of Woods plentifull of Saffron and very wealthy encircled as it were on the one side with the main Sea on the other with Fish-full Rivers which also do afford their peculiar Commodities in great abundance The Air is temperate and pleasant only towards the waters somewhat aguish insomuch that in one Hundred they will ask a stranger merrily Whether the Bayliff of the Hundred hath yet arrested him Waltham Forest of the Town Waltham It was stored very full with Deer that for their bignesse and fatnesse withall have the name above all other Rochford it hath given name to an Hundred It is aguish Rumford the glory whereof dependeth on a Swine Mercat Brent-wood a Mercat Town Engerstone a Town of note for nothing else but the Mercat and Innes for travellers Chensford a good big Town situate in the heart of the Shire between two Rivers Of note onely for the Assizes Cogeshall a Mercate Town Maldon for the number of the Inhabitants and the bignesse it is worthily counted one of the principal Towns in all Essex and in Records named The Burgh of Maldon It is a Haven commodious enough and for the bignesse very well inhabited being but one especial street descending much about a mile in length upon the ridg of an Hill answerable to the termination of Dunum which signified an hilly and high situation Colchester a proper and fine Burrough well traded and pleasantly seated as being situate upon the brow of an Hill stretching out from West to East walled about beautified with several Churches some of which were lately demolished The Inhabitants affirm that Flavia Julia Helena the Mother of Constantine the Great was borne and bred there Harewich a most safe Road whence it hath the name The Town is not great but well peopled fortified by Art and Nature Walden of Saffron * called Saffron Walden among the fields looking merrily with most lovely Saffron A very good Mercat Town Here Sir Thomas Smith Secretary to Queen Elizabeth a wise and learned man was born Audley-end a magnificent House built by the Earl of Suffolk where there is a spacious and very broad Gallery Barrington-Hall where dwelleth that right ancient Family of the Baringtons Lees-Abbey now the Seat of the right Honourable Lord Rich Baron Lees and Earl of Warwick It contains twenty Hundreds one and twenty Market Towns and four hundred and fifteen Parishes Glocestershire ON the West-side butteth on Monmouthshire and Herefordshire on the North on Worcestershire on the East upon Warwickshire and Oxfordshire both on the South with Somersetshire A pleasant Countrey and fruitfull in Corn Wooll Apples and Pears and Severn full of Salmon Commonly through all Glocestershire there is good plenty of Corn Pasture and Wood saving in Coteswold where the great flocks of Sheep be and yet in some places there groweth fair Corn Lelands Itinerary Forest of Dean or Dean-Forest was wholly bespread with thick tall Wood It is between two navigable Rivers Wie and Severn It was a wonderfull thick Forest and in former ages so dark and terrible by reason of crooked and winding wayes as also the grisly shade therein that it made the Inhabitants more fierce and bolder to commit robberies Since that rich Mines of Iron were here found out those thick woods began to wax thinne by little and little Tewksbury It is a great and fair Town having three Bridges to passe over standing upon three Rivers famous for the best Mustard One may carry it in bals a long way Glocester the head City of this Shire It lieth stretched out in length over Severne on that side where it is not watered with the River it hath in some places a very strong Wall for defence A proper and fine City both for number of Churches and for the buildings Above the Quire in an Arch of this Church there is a Wall built in forme of a Semi-circle full of Corners with such an artificial devise that if a man speak with never so low a voice at the one part thereof and another lay his ear to the other being a good way distant he may also hear every syllable Cotswold it took its name of Woulds and Cotes that is Hils and Sheepfolds Here feed in great numbers flocks of Sheep long necked and square of bulk and bone by reason of the hilly and large situation of their pasturage whose Wooll being most fine and soft is had in passing great account among all Nations Barkly honoured with a Castle whereof the Lord Barklies are entituled Camden a Mercat Town well peopled and of good resort Near unto it standeth Weston where there is a fair House which maketh a goodly shew built by Ralph Sheldon for him and his posterity Hales in late time a most flourishing Abbey and deserving commendation for breeding up of Alexander of Hales a great Clerk and so deeply learned above all others in that subtil Divinity of the Schoolmen as he carried away the surname of Doctor Irrefr agabilis the Doctor ungain said as he that could not be gain-said Winchelcomb a great Town and well inhabited Cyrencester a famous Mercat Town both for Corn upon the Monday and for Wooll and Yarn on the Friday Bibery There is a spring under the side of a Hill which is so forcible that it serves to drive a Mill about a stones cast from it Strowd whence the name of Strowdwater where are multitudes of rich Clothiers fair building and famous also for dying of Cloaths by reason of the nature of the water It containeth thirty Hundreds two hundred and eighty Parishes Hantshire ON the West it hath Dorsetshire and Wiltshire on the South the Ocean to bound it on the East it joyneth to Sussex and Surrey and on the North it bordereth upon Barkshire A small Province it is fruitful in Corn rich in plenteous Pasture and for all commodities of sea most wealthy and happy Wools Cloathes and Iron are the general Commodities of this Shire Ringwood a well frequented Mercat Town New-Forest King William of Normandy pulled downe all the Townes Villages Houses and Churches farre and neare cast out the poore Inhabitants and when he had so done brought all within thirty miles compasse or thereabout into a Forest and Harbour for wilde Beasts Hurst-Castle commandeth Seaward every where South-hanton a Town populous rich and beautifull from whom the whole Shire deriveth her name Andover Winchester * in Latin Wintonia a City flourishing even in the Romans times It is indifferently well peopled and frequented having plenty of water by reason of the River conveyed divers wayes into it it containeth about a mile and half in circuit within the Wals which open at six Gates and have every one of them their Suburbs reaching forth without a good way It is adorned with magnificent Churches and a Bishops See There is a fair Colledge which William Wickham Bishop of this See built for a School out of which both for Church
within the Wals whereof the Church of Alhallows is principal standing in the heart of the Town and is large and well builded Lelands Itinerary Mercat Wellingborow Kettering a Mercat Town well frequented Higham-Ferrers The excellent ornament of this place was Henry Chichley * Archbishop of Canterbury who built All-Souls Colledge in Oxford and another here where he placed secular Clerks and Prebendaries and withall an Hospital for the poor Oundale there is a fair Church and a Free-School for the instruction of children and an Almes-house for poor people Fothering-hay Castle environed on every side with most pleasing medows Here Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded Upton so called because it is highly situate Peterborow because the Monastery was dedicated to Saint Peter See Monasticon Anglicanum p. 63. Baibroke Castle Rockingham Castle Welledon Maxey Castle There belong unto this Shire three hundred twenty six Parishes Nottinghamshire IT is limited Northward with Yorkshire Westward with Darbyshire and in some parts with Yorkshire and on the South-side with Leicestershire The South and East parts thereof are made more fruitfull by the noble and famous River Trent with other Riverets resorting unto it The Forest of Shirewood in the West part stretcheth out a great way It yeeldeth store of wood to maintain fire It hath a greaâ— number of Fallow-Deer yea and Stags with their stately branching heads feeding within it Mansfield there is a great Mercat passing well served and as well frequented The first Earl of Mansfield in Germany was one of King Arthurs Knights of the Round-Table born and bred at this Mansfield Nottingham the principal Town which hath given name unto the Shire is seated on the side of an Hill The Town for the natural site thereof is right pleasant as where on the one hand lie fair and large Medows by the Rivers-side on the other rise Hils with a gentle and easie ascent and is plentifully provided of all things beside necessary for mans life It is both a large Town and well builded for Timber and Plaister and standeth stately on a climbing Hill It hath a fair Market place and street The Castle standeth on a rocky Hill on the West-side of the Town and Line Riveret goeth by the roots of it Lelands Itinerary For largenesse for building for three fair Churches a passing spacious and beautifull Mercat place and most strong Castle it maketh a goodly shew Newark as one would say the new work of the new Castle Here King John finished the most wearisom course of his troublesom life Little-borough a little Town indeed and truly answering to the name Workensop a Town well known for the Liquorice that there groweth and prospereth passing well Blithe a famous Mercat Town Wollerton a fair House built by Sir Francis Willoughby There are in this County an hundred sixty eight Parishes Northumberland THe Ground it self for the most part is rough and hard to be manured seemeth to have hardened the Inhabitants whom the Scots their neighbours also made more fierce and hardy while sometimes they keep them exercised in warres and other whiles in time of peace intermingle their manners among them so that by these means they are a most warlike Nation and excellent good Light-horse men And whereas they addicted themselves wholly to Arms there is not a man amongst the better sort that hath not his little Tower or Pile and so it was divided into a number of Baronies the Lords whereof in times past before King Edward the First his dayes went commonly under the name of Barons although some of them were of no great living But a wise and politick devise this was of our Ancestours to cherish and maintain Martial Prowesse among them in the marches of the Kingdome if it were nothing else but with an honourable bare Title Toward the Sea and Tine by diligence and good Husbandry it becometh very fruitfull but else where it is more barren rough and as it were unmanurable And in many places Sea-coles are digged up in great plenty to the great gain of the Inhabitants and commodity of others Thrilwale Castle not great but strongly built Otterburn where there was a field most valiantly fought between the Scots and English in which the Victory waved alternatively too and fro three or four times and fell in the end to the Scottish * Hexham New-Castle * upon Tine the very eye of all the Towns in these parts ennobled by a notable Haven which Tine maketh being of that depth that it beareth very tall Ships and so defendeth them that they can neither easily be tossed with tempests nor driven upon shallows and shelves It is situate on the rising of an Hill It is adorned with four Churches and fortified with most strong walls which have seven Gates in them with many Towers It is wealthy partly by entercourse of traffick with the Germans and partly by carrying out Sea-coles wherewith this Countrey aboundeth both into foraign Countreys and also into other parts of England Portus Castrum Carbo Salmo Salina Molaris Murus Pons Templum Schola sunt novi gloria Castri Hurst A Sylva nomen accepit nec aliunde sejactat quam a minaci Castello Lel. Comment in Cygn. Cant. Tinmouth-Castle a stately and strong Castle Morpeth a famous little Town Morpith-Castle so called from the death of the Picts in that place Withrington an ancient Castle which gave the name unto the Withringtons Gentlemen of good Birth and Knights whose valour in the war hath been from time to time remarkable Warkworth a proper fair Castle There is a Chappel wonderfully built out of a Rock hewen hollow and wrought without beams rafters or any pieces of Timber Alnwick or Anwick a Town ennobled by the victory of the Englishmen over the Scots and fortified with a goodly Castle The Earls of Northumberland kept their Court at that Castle Emildon Here was born John Duns called Scotus because he was descended of Scotish bloud who being brought up in Merton-Colledge at Oxford became wonderfull well learned in Logick and in that crabbed and intricate Divinity of those dayes yet as one still doubtfull and unresolved he did overcast the truth of Religion with mists of obscurity And with so profound and admirable subtilty in a dark and rude stile he wrote many Works that he deserved the title of the Subtile Doctor and after his own name erected a new Sect of the Scotists But he died pitifully being taken with an Apoplexy and over-hastily buried for dead whiles upon return of life nature though too late was about to discusse the violence of the disease and he making means in vain by a lamentable noise for help after he had a long time knocked his head against the Grave-stone dashed out his own brains and at last yeelded up his vital breath Norrham or Northam There is a Castle upon the top of an high steep Rock and fortified with a trench Berwick the utmost Town in England
in a manner scalding hot and do work and being thus troubled cast up from the bottom certain filth during which time they are shut neither may any body go into them untill by their fluces they cleanse themselves and rid away that filthinesse Of these three the Crosse-Bath so called of a Crosse standing upright in old time in the midst of it is of a very mild and temperate warmth and hath twelve seats of stone about the brink or border thereof and is enclosed within a wall The second distant from this not fully two hundred foot is much hotter whence it is termed hot Bath These two are in the midst of a street on the West-side of the City The third which is the greatest and after a sort in the very bosom and heart of the City is called the Kings Bath neer unto the Cathedral Church walled also round about and fitted with two and thirty seats of arched work wherein men and women may sit apart who when they enter in put upon their bodies linnen garments and have their guides This City hath flourished as well by cloathing as by reason of usual concourse thither for health twice every yeer Bristow This City standing partly in Somerset and partly in Glocestershires is not to be reputed belonging to this or that having Magistrates of its own and being of it self entire and a County incorporate It is situate somewhat high between Avon and the little River Frome sufficiently defended with Rivers and Forfications together So fair to behold by reason of buildings as well publick as private that it is fully correspondent to the name of Brightstow With common Sews or Sinks they call them Goutes so made to runne under the ground for the conveyance and washing away of all filth that for cleanlinesse and wholsomnesse a man would not desire more whereupon there is no use here of carts so well furnished with all things necessary for mans life so populous and well inhabited withall that next after London and York it may of all Cities in England justly challenge the chief place For the mutual intercourse of traffick and the commodious Haven which admitteth in Ships under sail into the very bosom of the City hath drawn people of many countreys thither The Citizens themselves are rich Merchants and traffick all over Europe yea and make Voyages at Sea so farre as into the most remote parts of America The most beautifull Church there is S. Maries of Radcliff without the Wals into which there is a stately ascent upon many stairs so large withall so finely and curiously wrought with an arched roof over head of stone artificially embowed a steeple also of an exceeding height that it surpasseth in many degrees all the Parish-churches in England There is hard by another Church also which they call the Temple the Tower whereof when the Bell rings shaketh to and fro so as it hath cloven and divided it self from the rest of the building and made such a chink from the bottom to the top as that it gapeth the breadth of three fingers and both shutteth and openeth whensoever the Bell is rung S. Vincents Rock so full of Diamonds that a man may fill whole strikes or bushels of them They are not so much set by because they are plenteous in bright and transparent colour they match the Indian-Diamonds if they passe them not in hardnesse only they are inferiour to them In this County are numbered three hundred eighty five Parishes Staffordshire IT hath on the East Warwickshire and Darbyshire on the South-side Worcestershire and Westward Shropshire bordering upon it reacheth from South to North in form of a Lozeng broader in the middest and growing narrower at ends The North part is full of Hils and so lesse fruitfull the middle being watered with the River Trent is most plentifull clad with woods and embrodered gallantly with Corn-fields and Medows as is the South port likewise which hath Coals also digged out of the earth and Mines of Iron There are these Rivers in Staffordshire Sow which runneth by Stafford Dove Peru a little River by Pencridge Charnet Blith Tame The River Trent ariseth in Collonel Boyers Park and Dove passeth thorow part of it Severn passeth thorow some part of the Shire Stourton Castle stands upon the River Stour in the very confines with Worcestershire Dudley-Castle did stand upon an Hill named so of one Dudo or Dodo ah English Saxon. It is now demolished Under this lieth Pensneth-Chace wherein are many Cole-pits Pateshall a seat of the Astleys descended from honourable Progenitors Wrotestley the habitation of Sir Walter Wrotesly whose Father was Sir Hugh Wrotesly In the Parlour window among divers of the Arms of the Ancestours of that Family there is one Sir Hugh Wrotesley mentioned who for his approved valour was made by King Edward the Third Knight of the Garter at the first Institution and so accounted one of the Founders of the said honourable Order Chellington a fair House and Mannor of the ancient Family of the Giffards Brewood a Mercat Town Weston Theoten-Hall by interpretation the habitation of Heathens or Pagans at this day Tetnal Ulfrunes-Hampton so called of Wulfruna a most devout woman who enriched the Town called before simply Hampton with a religious House it is now corruptly called Wulver Hampton For an In-land Town there is a famous Market for Cattel and Corn Weddsborow there is Sea-coal Walsal a little Mercat Town a mile by North from Weddesbury There are many Smiths Peuterers and Bit-makers There is a Park of that name half a mile from the Town There are many Lime-pits neer the Town Draiton-Basset the seat of the Bassets Tamworth a Town so placed in the confines of the two Shires that the one part which belonged sometime to the Mirmions is counted of Warwickshire the other which pertained to the Hastings of Staffordshire Here is a fair Castle At Falkesley-Bridg that Roman High-way Watlingstreet entereth into this Shire and cutting it through as it were by a strait line goeth Westward into Shropshire Wall so called of the reliques of an old Wall there remaining and taking up much about two acres of ground Penck-ridge so named of the River Penck famous for an Horse-Fair which the Lord of the place Hugh Blunt obtained of King Edward the Second New-Castle under Lyme Trentham Stone a Mercat Town which having the beginning in the Saxons time took the name of the Stones which our Ancestours after a solemn sort had cast on a heap to notifie the place where Wolpher the Heathenish King of the Mercians most cruelly slew his two Sonnes Wulfald and Rufin because they had taken upon them the profession of Christianity Sandon Cankwood or Forest Gerards-Bromley an House Chebsey Eccleshall Raunton a Monastery Stafford neer unto which there was a Castle upon an Hill now demolisht It is the head Town of the whole Shire Ticks-Hall the dwelling place of the Astons a Family which for Antiquity Kinred and
Such barren places the Northern Englishmen call Moors and West-moreland is a Western-moorish Countrey It is bounded on the West and North-side with Cumberland on the East with Yorkshire and the Bishoprick of Durrham The Barony of Kendale and Candale of the River Can which running thorow upon stones cutteth thorow it Kendale-Kirke by Kendale a Town of very great Trade and resort with two broad and long streets crossing the one over the other and a place for excellent cloathing and for industry so surpassing that in regard thereof it carrieth a great name For the Inhabitants have great traffique and vent of their wollen Cloaths throughout all parts of England In the River Can are two water-falls where the waters have a downfall with a mighty noise Kirkby-Lonsdale whither all the people round about repair to Church and Mercat Wharton-Hall the seat of the Barons Wharton Kirkby-Stephen a Mercat Town well known Musgrave there are two little Villages of that name which gave name unto that martial and warlick Family of the Musgraves Burgh under Stanemore a small poor Village fenced with a little Fortresse Apelby memorable for its antiquity and situation onely It standeth in a pleasant site encompassed for the most part with the River Eden for its antiquity it deserves to be counted the chief Town of the Shire The Castle is the common-Goal for malefactours Whellep-Castle Brougham In this Shire are contained six and twenty Parishes VViltshire IT is altogether a mediterranean or midland Countrey It is enclosed with Somersetshire on the West Berkshire and Hampshire on the East on the North with Glocestershire on the South with Dorsetshire and a part of Hampshire A region which as it breedeth a number of warlike and hardy men who in old time with Cornwall and Denshire together challenged by reason of their manhood and martial prowesse the prerogative of the English Army of that Regiment which should second the main Battel so it is exceeding fertile and plentifull of all things yea and for the variety thereof passing pleasant and delightsome Wansdike a Dike of wonderfull work cast up for many miles together The Saxons made it as a limit to divide the two Kingdom of the Mercians and West-Saxons asunder For this was the very place of Battel between them while each strove one with another to enlarge his Dominions Greeklade so called of Greek Philosophers as some are ready to believe who as the History of Oxford reporteth began there an University which afterwards was translated to Oxford Camdens Britan. This though Leland dislikes other learned men approve See M. Seldens Illustrat of Draytons Polyolb High-worth highly seated and well known Wood-Town or Wotton-Basset It hath his primitive name from Wood the addition proves that it belonged to the noble House of the Bassets Malmesbury a very neat Town and hath a great name for cloathing See Monasticon Anglicanum p. 49. of the Monastery here Maidulphi Urbs that is Maidulphs City and afterwards short Malmesbury Aldelme the chief of Maidulphs Disciples being elected his Successour built there a very fair Monastery and was himself the first Abbot thereof He was canonized a Saint and on his Festival day there was here kept a great Fair at which usually there is a Band of armed men appointed to keep the peace among so many resorting thither He was the first of the English Nation who wrote in Latine and that taught Englishmen the way how to make a Latine Verse Primus ego in Patriam mecum modò vita supersit Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas This Monastery among other famous Clerks great Scholars brought forth William surnamed thereof Malmesburiensis unto whom for his learned industry the History of England both Civil and Ecclesiastical are deeply indebted Colne an old little Town situate upon a stony ground having in it a fair Church to commend it Chippenham of note at this day for the Market there kept There is now nothing worth the sight but the Church built by the Barons Hungerford as appeareth every where by their Coats of Armes set up thereon Cosham a little Village Castle-Comb an old Castle Leckham the possession of the noble Family of the Bainards Lacock a Monastery The Castle De Vies the Devizes built by Roger Bishop of Salisbury He built also the Castle of Malmesbury and Shireburn Trubridge that is a sure and trusty Bridge in great name and prosperity by reason of cloathing and sheweth the remains of a Castle Bradford so named of a broad Ford Long-Leat the dwelling place of the Thins a very fair neat and elegant house in a foul soil Maiden-Bradley A Maiden infected with the Leprosie founded an house here for Maidens that were Lepers Stourton the seat of the Lords Stourton so called of the River Stour Werminster exceeding much frequented for a round Corn-Market Sarisbury-Plains they are but rarely inhabited and had in late time a bad name for robberies there committed Heitesbury an ancient Mansion place of the Family of Hungerford Yanesbury-Castle a very large warlike Fence or Hold fortified with a deep and double Ditch Wardour a proper fine Castle Hindon a quick Market Wilton so called from the River Willey a place well watered and sometime the head Town of the whole Shire which thereof took the name It is now a small Village having a Maior for the head Magistrate and in it a fine House of the Earls of Pembroke Salisbury There is a stately and beautifull Minster which with an exceeding high spired Steeple and double crosse-Isles on both sides The Windows in the Church as they reckon them answer just in number to the dayes the Pillars great and small to the hours of a full yeer and the gates to the twelve Moneths Mira Canam Soles quot continet annus in unâ Tam numerosa ferunt aede fenestra micat Marmoreasque capit fusas tot ab arte columnas Comprensas horas quot vagus annus habet Totque patent portae quot mensibus annus abundat Res mira at verâres celebrata fide Daniel Rogers It hath a Cloister for largenesse and fine workmanship inferiour to none whereunto joyneth the Bishops Palace a very fair and goodly house and on the other side a high bell Tower and passing strong withall standing by it self apart from the Minster every street is watered It is the second City in all this Tract well inhabited and frequented plentifull of all things especially of Fish adorned with a very stately Market place wherein standeth their common Hall of Timber work a very beautifull Edifice It boasteth chiefly of John Jewel long since Bishop there a wonderfull great and deep Divine a most stout and earnest maintainer of our Reformed Religion against the Adversaries by his learned Books Clarindon a very large and goodly Park very fit for the keeping and feeding of wild beasts About six miles from Salisbury in the Plains before named is to be seen a