liam Jones, Esq. of Nass, co. Glou. by Cholmley, daughter of Sir John D'Oyley, Bart. of Chessel Hampton, co. Oxon. His residence is at Hay-hill House, which he has built within a few years past.

Stairs or Staure, the seat and estate of William Marwent, Esq. at the beginning of the last century, was devised to the family of Baron, from whom it passed by purchase to Thomas Morris, Gent. the present proprietor.

Cockshoot, formerly belonging to Mr. Rolls, is now the property of Joseph Pyrke, Esq. of Littledeane. This, and Stairs are part of Rodley manor(209), and in the Dutchy of Lancaster.

Bleythe's Court, or Blaze Bailey, was the property of Mr. Pyrke, now of Thomas Beale, Esq.

The Hill-house, formerly the property of Mr. Trigg, afterwards of Mr. Pyrke, is now held by his widow, under settlement.

Twenty-nine freeholders voted in 1776.

Population, 400-400-821. Houses inhabited, 144, The benefice is a curacy under the Corporation of Gloucester, as trustees of St. Bartholomew's hospital, who lease the impropriate tythes to the curate at a small rent. William de Bohun gave the impropriation and advowson to the prior and brethren of the hospital, 1344. James Parsons, M. A. is incumbent.

The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, stands on a knole near the river, and is a prominent feature in the landscape of the surrounding country. It has a small aisle on the south side, belonging to the Marwent family, and a low wooden spire at the west end. The arch leading to the chancel shews considerable antiquity, being in the early Norman style, pointed and ornamented with zig-zag mouldings. The more ancient building, which was a

chapel to Westbury (209), stood, according to tradition, at Nabb's-end, but being undermined by the water, was taken down; and it is not improbable that the present building, from the continual wasting of a marly soil, will have a similar termination.

In P. N. tax. the abbot of Gloucester hath in the manor of Rodele three carucates of land.

CCVIII. TIDENHAM, TUDEHAM, anciently TEDENHAM,

Is a parish of large extent, containing 5000 acres, extending to the Wye on the west, and the Severn on the east, and distant twenty-five miles from Gloucester. The soil is light, and of a colour inclining to red, covering at a small depth a rock of limestone. The pasture exceeds the arable in quantity, and on the banks of the Severn are some fine meadows or salt marshes. Very good cyder is made in this parish.

Atkyns deduced its name from the circumstance of the tides running up the rivers on each side of it; but this conjecture can with difficulty be admitted, because the name in Domesday is Tedenham, and it does not appear, that either Britons, Romans, or Saxons, gave the appellation of Tide or Teden to this natural phenomenon. More likely, the place or town might belong to a very early proprietor of that name.

The bridge over the Wye, forming the junction with Monmouthshire, commences here. The half on the Gloucestershire side is repaired at the expence of this county. The flooring of this part is formed of thick planks, which are kept firm in their places by wedges of wood. The general account is, that the flooring is left loose, for the purpose of rising with the tide ; but the truth seems to be,

that no such rise has ever been known to take place; and though it is said, that the water is accumulated to the height of seventy feet here, yet it has been proved, that fifty-six feet is the highest point it has risen to in the memory of man. The cause why the swell of tide is greater in the Wye than in the Severn, is supposed to arise from the projection of the rocks at Beachley and Aust, which forces the current with increased rapidity up the former river.

The turnpike road leads through this parish into Wales, and for a considerable way commands a very extensive prospect over the wide estuary of the Severn to the east, and as far as the Holmes down the Channel.

Near the confluence of the two rivers, are some ruins, visible only at low water, said to be the remains of a very ancient chapel dedicated to St. Terendake, or Tecla, who was martyred in 47.

The famous dyke made in 760 by Offa, King of the Mercians, (who had made himself master of the greater part of England,) to prevent his dominions from the incursions of the Welch, began here, and now forms a separation between Beachley and Sudbury. This serves to shew the bounds of Wales about the middle of the eighth century. Claudh Offa, which is the British name, passes through Colford (218), is seen on Brachy-hill, and near Ryhd ar Helig, and Lanterden, in Herefordshire; and is continued northwards from Knighton, over a part of Shropshire into Montgomeryshire; and may be traced over the long mountain called in Welch Kevn Digolh, to Harden Castle, cross the Severn and Lhan Dunio Conimon. Whence it passes the Vyrnwy again into Shropshire, not far from Oswaldstry, where there is also a small village called Tre

vyrclawdh. In Denbighshire it is visible along the road between Rhywabon and Wrexham; from whence being continued through Flintshire, it ends a little below Holywell, where that water falls into the Dee, at a place formerly the site of the castle of Basingwerk.

Harold established a law, that if any Welshman should be found armed on this side Offa's Dike, his right hand should be cut off by the King's officers.

At the time of the survey there were several proprietors in Tedenham, but the abbey of Bath held the largest, containing thirty hides. The Welch took this with Wollaston, but Walter and Roger, younger brothers of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, retook them in 1160. Richard Strongbow, son and heir of Gilbert, became Earl of Pembroke and Strigule, (Chepstow). William Mareschal married Isabel, his only daughter, and in consequence succeeded to his title and property. William Earl of Pembroke died 1219, leaving five sons, who were successively Earls of Pembroke, but all dying without issue, their four sisters were coheiresses. Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, married Maud the eldest, and in her right became proprietor of the manor of Tidenham. Roger, his great grandson, dying without issue, the manor came to the crown, and was given by Edward II. to his younger brother Thomas, fifth son of Edward I. with the title of Earl of Norfolk. Margaret, one of his daughters, afterwards created Dutchess of Norfolk by Rich. II. carried the estate by marriage into the family of De Segrave. Elizabeth, the sole issue of this union, was wife of John de Mowbray, who was created Earl of Norfolk, and Earl Mareschal. In this family the manor and estates continued, but not in the direct line, till they passed to the male heir of a col

lateral branch, on failure of issue from Anne, daughter of John, Duke of Norfolk, who was married to Richard, Duke of York, second son of Edward IV.

Isabel, daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, who was created Duke of Norfolk by Richard II. had been married a second time, to James, fifth Earl of Berkeley; and Margaret, the other daughter, to Sir Robert Howard. These great estates were partitioned among their heirs in 1499, as descendants in the female line.

The manor of Tidenham came soon afterwards to the Earl of Worcester, and from Henry Earl of Worcester, who died 1550, it has regularly descended through the noble family of Beaufort to the present Duke, with the property of the greatest part of the parish.

HAMLETS, or PLACES of distinct names.

1. CHURCH-END.-Near the church Thomas Williams, Esq. has a good house, beautifully situated for an extensive view over the channel, with a considerable estate, late the property of Mr. William Jones.

2. BISHTON, formerly written BISTEN, is almost exclusively the property of the Duke of Beaufort.

3. SUDBURY, or a station two miles south of the military works, called the Bulwarks, is also the property of the Duke, in the proportion of nearly half.

Mr. William Lewis is a considerable proprietor.

4. BEACHLEY, BETTESLEY or BETESLEGH. This manor had been in the Lewis family for at least two centuries, till it lately became the property of Samuel Jenkins, sen. Esq.

Some military works are seen here, by the name of Bulwarks.

The almost insular situation of Beachley must have made it in all ages a place of importance, and therefore