front. It was the property of Timothy Gyde, Esq. and was purchased by Lloyd Baker, Clerk, who resides in it. Bencombe, is a good house with a considerable estate. attached to it, the property of the same gentleman. Thirty-seven freeholders voted in 1776.

Population, 900—1310—1724. Houses inhabited, 312. The Berry is the scite of an oblong encampment, certainly Roman, inclosing a space of nearly forty acres, and fortified with double entrenchments round the edge of the hill. Some coins of Antoninus and Constantine have been found here.

The benefice is a rectory in Dursley deanery. Roger Lord Berkeley gave the advowson to the priory of Stanley St. Leonard's, and thirty acres in this parish now pay tythes to Stanley. The patronage is now in the King, and Thomas Esbury Partridge, A. B. is incumbent.

Sir Herbert Croftes, Bart. was promoted to the see of Worcester from this church, in 1677.

The church, dedicated to St. Giles, consists of a nave and south aisle, with a low embatteled tower on the north side. There is a sepulchral chapel belonging to the Basset's family on the N. side of the chancel.

In P. N. tax. the church of Iweleye, 7. 6s. 8d.
In King's books, 12l. 3s. 4d.

CCLXVII. WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE, olim UUTUNE,

Is four miles s. from Dursley, and nineteen from Gloucester in the same direction. The soil, extending over 3500 acres, is in general of stone-brash, and in tillage, except immediately in the vicinity of the town, where it is deeper, and affords excellent pasture and meadow. The situation of this place near the foot of a ridge of hills,

seems easily to lead to the etymology of the name, which, when resolved into its component parts, is Wood town under ridge.

It is a market town and borough, but sends no members to Parliament. In 1253 Maurice Lord Berkeley caused a leet, consisting of the resiants within the borough, to be taken out of the great hundred of Berkeley, and granted to the inhabitants of the borough the same usages, liberties, and customs which were enjoyed by Tetbury; and in the following year obtained a grant of a weekly market on Friday, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of the Exaltation of the Cross, which is now kept on the 25th of September. In 1272, the jury at the leet holden at Michaelmas, were authorised to chuse one person out of the burgesses, under the title of mayor, which they have continued to do till the present time. The right of imposing a fine on the mayor elect for refusing to take the office, was confirmed by a verdict at the Lent assizes in 1695. This town gave name to an usurped jurisdiction called the hundred of Wotton, set up by the descendants of Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, during the long dispute between that family and the Berkeleys, but no such independent jurisdiction was ever legally obtained. Thomas Talbot, Viscount Lisle, grandson of Richard de Beauchamp, by Elizabeth, the heiress of William Lord Berkeley, resided in this borough, and there are some remains of the house in arched door-ways, &c. still distinguishable at the lower part of the town (260).

Wotton was burnt down in the reign of John, and a place called the Brands, is supposed to mark its ancient scite. The modern town consists of several streets, and stands on sixty acres of ground. The buildings in general are good, and some belonging to particular families of

property are modern and elegant. The clothing manufacture furnishes employment for the poor. New Mill, belonging to Messrs. Austin, about a mile and a half from the town, is a complete establishment of the clothing mamufacture, and employs under its roof about 200 men, women, and children. Spanish wool alone is manufactured at this work, and prepared for the weaver of broadcloth and kerseymere. The process is as follows 65: the wool in its rough state is first picked or freed from its tags and other impurities, then oiled on a tin floor to soften it for working; after this it goes into the first scribbling machine, where the locks are loosened, detached and divided, from thence into a second similar machine, where the wool is reduced to a still finer consistence; it is then thrown into another machine of similar construction, and experiences the same process, except that passing under a fluted cylindrical roller, it is discharged from it in long and thin masses, as a preparation for spinning. These are carried by children to the Spinning Billy, by the curious and rapid operation of which they are lengthened, twisted into coarse threads, and wound up into cones; the Spinning Jennies then receive them, which first untwisting them, twist them again in a contrary direction into finer and tighter threads, and form them into cones as before. These are sent to the neighbouring weavers and manufac tured into cloth, which is rowed, or smoothed and cleansed from ends and knots, by being passed under a cylinder revolving with a rapid motion, and armed with teazle heads. After frequent repetitions it is carried to the fulling mill, and then completed by the dyer. The men and women work by the piece, and earn from one to two guineas per week, and children of six years old are enabled to earn each eighteen-pence at least (256).

This manor was a member of the lordship of Berkeley. Thomas Berkeley, the fourth of that name, married Margaret, daughter of Gerrard Warren, Lord Lisle, and on his death in 1418, left an only daughter, Elizabeth, married to Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and heir general to the whole estate of the Berkeley family.From this marriage arose the great dispute before referred to, and which was at last settled in favour of the Berkeley family, against the family of Talbot, Lord Lisle, whose claim was founded on the marriage of his father, John, the great Earl of Shrewsbury, with Margaret, the eldest daughter of the before-mentioned Earl of Warwick. The title on the side of the Berkeleys was derived by an estate taille limited to the heirs male, and James, Lord Berkeley, the brother of Thomas, the father of Elizabeth, Countess of Warwick, set up his claim under it, but Richard Beauchamp being in possession of the castle, had possession also of the papers and writings, which prevented the regular evidences being brought forward. The Earl of Berkeley is now lord of the manor of Wotton bo rough and Wotton foreign.

TYTHINGS and HAMLETS. 1. SINWELL and BRAD LEY make one tything. The parish church stands within the hamlet of Sinwell.

Bradley gave name to a family who were proprietors of it in the reign of Rich. I. Thomas Lord Berkeley gave many lands in this place to the abbey of Bristol, which, after the dissolution, were granted to the dean and chapter of Bristol, under whom they are now held by lease. Thomas Dawes, Esq. was lessee, from whom the house called Cannons House, with a good estate, descended to his great niece, Mrs. Smart. It is now the property of

Richard Nelmes, Esq. son of the late Thomas Nelmes, Esq. of the same place.

Other proprietors in these hamlets are, George Austin, Henry Austin, and Goodson Vines, Esqrs.

2. SYMONDSHALL and COMBE constitute another tything. Symondshall is said to be one of the most elevated spots in the county, extending over a large plain, on which is a house, which has been the residence of the Veels for many generations. This family derive their origin from Elias, a younger brother of Robert Fitzharding, the ancestor of the Berkeleys, to whom the manor and estate belong.

A church or chapel formerly stood here, as is evident from a writing belonging to St. Bartho. Hospital, Gloc. which mentions a fardel of land lying between the land of Adam de Tedepen and the church of Symondeshall on the south.

Combe lies E. of the church, in which a good estate belonged to the Rev. Mr. Somerville (121), lately dead, which came to him in right of his mother, who was daughter of Mr. Hicks, a former proprietor.

William Moore Adey, Esq. has a very good house and estate here.

The Rudge is sometimes called a manor in ancient records. It belonged to the abbey of Kingswood, and with those religious societies it was not unusual to give the name of a manor to all their property, and in most cases to gain manerial rights. At the dissolution it was granted to the Poyntz family, and from them probably passed to Nathaniel Ridler, Esq. and from him to the late Rev. Richard Brereton, Clerk, in right of his wife, youngest daughter of the said N. Ridler, Esq.(159) and is now the property of his son and heir, Thomas Westfaling, Esq.