In P. N. tax. Abbas de Kyngeswod habet apud Grang. quæ vocat. Egge, tres caruc. terr. et valet caruc. decem solid.

WORTLEY is another tything, and very populous, where was formerly a chapel dedicated to St. John, and founded by Thomas Lord Berkeley. This was part of the manor of Wotton, and was sold by George Lord Berkeley and his mother, 1632, to Richard Poole, Gent. and was enrolled in chancery by the name of a manor. It afterwards passed into the family of the Hales, of Alderley, and has descended to John Blagdon Hale, Esq. of Alderley (273):

HUNTINGFORD tything formerly belonged to the same proprietors as Symondshall, and passed into the family of Wogan by marriage with an heiress. At this time the manor was held of the King as of the hundred of Grumbaldsash. The Earl of Berkeley is now lord paramount, but William Moore Adey, Esq. of Combe, has a good estate. here, and exercises manerial rights.

In Church-lane is an alms-house for the support of 30 aged women, at 3s. each per week. The following inscription is over the door:

GLORIA DEO, GRATIA FUNDATORI.

Which Founder was Hugh Perrie, Esq. and Alderman of the city of London, who was borne in this town, and besides this guift gave many other good guifts for the good of this towne.

Anno Domini, 1638. H. P.

Fifty-seven freeholders voted in 1776.

Population, 3500-4000-3393. Houses inhabited, 638. The benefice is styled a vicarage in Dursley deanery, but is endowed with no tythes, only with a stipend of 431. 6s. 8d. from the impropriation. . It has been augmented by a donation from the late Ed. Colston, Esq. by another from the feoffees of the market, and Queen Anne's bounty.

The advowson anciently belonged to the nunnery of Berkeley, and was treacherously obtained from them by Earl Godwin. It was afterwards in the crown, then in the Berkeley family, and next in the abbey of Bristol. It was again restored to the Berkeleys, and by them given to the abbey of Tewkesbury in the reign of Hen, VII, After the dissolut on the rectory and advowson were granted to Christ Church Coll. Ox. the dean and chapter of which cathedral are now patrons, and William Des chair Tattersal, A. M. is incumbent.

The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a large and handsome structure, consisting of a nave and two aisles, with a lofty embatteled and pinnacled tower at the west end. The arms of Berkeley are in many windows of the church. There were several chantries in it, and a house founded for Friars of the Holy Cross in the town.

In P. N. tax. the church of Wotton, 357. 65. 8d.
The vicar's portion, 5l. 13s. 4d,

In the King's books, 13/. 10s.

Lower Part.

CCLXVIII. ALMONDSBURY, anciently ALMODESBURY, Is seven miles N. from Bristol, and about twenty-seven s. from Gloucester. The parish, containing 6000 acres, affords a great variety of soil. On the higher lands it covers a bed of limestone, and is light and chiefly in tillage. In the lower parts, it is a deep loam, and principally in pasture, meadow, and orcharding. Those lands which lie near to the Severn are liable to inundations, and though every possible precaution is taken by the Com

missioners of Sewers, yet great damage is often done; particularly in 1786, very considerable mischief happened on both sides of the river. From a return made by the proprietors of lands, it appeared, that 1342 acres in this parish were liable to be overflowed.

'The name was probably derived from Alemond, a West Saxon Prince, father of Egbert, who was supposed to have been buried here, and previous to his death to bave had a burgh or bury, that is, an encampment or fortifica tion here, the remains of which, or some other, are visi ble, both on the top of the hill, near to the windmill, and also at Knole, where is a rampire and double ditch. Whether this was the work of the Saxons or the British, must remain a doubt; but if credit is to be given to 'Wantner's Papers, now preserved in the Bodleian, (which, however is not allowed by some,) the skeletons of two men were found in 1650, with two coins of doubtful authority, no inscription being legible, but one of them bore the im pression of a falcon, and the other was a head, with the appearance of Claudius Cæsar. If the head be allowed to be Roman, the eagle might easily be mistaken for a fal con, and the person buried will then be a Roman, which certainly is not improbable; but the same author adds, that the skeleton exceeded the usual heighth of a man by three feet, and was buried sitting, which, according to Drexelius, was the customary manner of burying kings and princes. One circumstance militates against the sup position of their being Roman, which is that of being covered with a tumulus, which was not the practice of that people, but more common with the British.

This manor belonged to Robert Fitzharding, who gave it, among other manors, to the abbey of Bristol. At the

dissolution 1545, it was granted to Miles Partridge. Henry D'Arcy, who had livery of it in 1558, sold it to Thomas Chester. William Chester his father, was a younger branch of the Chesters, co. Huntingdon. Thomas, the purchaser of this manor, was high sheriff of the county 1577, and mayor of Bristol in 1569. William, his son, was succeeded by Thomas, high sheriff in 1617, whose son, Thomas, died 1686, leaving Thomas, high sheriff 1699, and lord of the manor at the beginning of last century. Thomas, his son, died without issue in 1763, and bequeathed his property to Elizabeth Lucy Chester, the daughter and only child of his brother, Richard Howe Chester. She was married to William Bromley, of Warwickshire, (who assumed the name and arms of Chester.) He was elected Member in Parliament for this county in 1776, but dying soon after, left his widow in possession of this and other estates, and on her death about 1800, the family property descended to Thomas Masters, Esq. of Cirencester.

Knole-house, the family mansion of the Chesters, is situated on a high point, and commands a view of the Bristol channel, with the distant hills of South Wales. Of the old manor house, which was in a bottom, only a barn remains.

TYTHINGS. 1. HEMPTON and PATCHWAY, alias Pittishaw, is in the lower division of the hundred of Langley and Swineshead, a mile from the church. The manor belonged to the Rev. John Sedgewick Whalley, in right of his wife, the daughter and heiress of Edward Jones, of Langford-court, co. Somerset, who sold it to Edmund Probyn, Esq. of Winterbourn, from whom it again passed by purchase to Edmund Brice, the younger, Esq. and Jos. Mason Cox, M. D. (305).

The principal estates in Hampton are the property of Ed. Sacheverell Sitwell, Esq. (298) Those in Patchway.

of Thomas Masters, Esq. (99)

WOODLAND is a hamlet, in which Sydenham Teast, Esq. was principal proprietor; but now, by purchase, Ady, Esq. The other estates are vested in the families of Marsh and Cox.

2. OVER, in the same hundred, has had a variety of proprietors since the general survey. Maurice de Gaunt held it 1230. From him it passed to the Gourneys, and by marriage to the Ap Adams, from whom it came, by. purchase, to Thomas Lord Berkeley. On the attainder of Sir William Berkeley, the manor was granted to Thos. Brian, 1485, who sold it to John Poyntz; and by marriage of his daughter Alice with Sir Edward Berkeley, it reverted to that family, and continued there till John Berkeley, about 1570, sold it to John Dowell, of Bristol, from whom it passed in l.neal descent to John Bridges Baker Dowell, Esq. who dying unmarried, 1743, bequeathed all his property to his tutor and friend, the Rev. Mr. Degge, on whose death, in 1776, this manor, with several other large estates, devolved to his sister, Mrs. Wilmot. By marriage with her daughter, they came into the family of Sitwell (298).

The manor house is delightfully situated within a park of considerable extent, and commands all the advantages of prospect which nature has allowed to this picturesque district of the county.

EASTER COMPTON, that is Eastward, three miles from the church, is a hamlet in this tything, and principally belongs to Thomas Masters, Esq. by heirship from the Chesters.