A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.
CHORLTON, a township, in the parish of Backford, union of Great Boughton, Higher division of the hundred of Wirrall, S. division of the county of Chester, 3 miles (N.) from Chester; containing 85 inhabitants. It comprises 506 acres of land, chiefly pasture, and of which the soil is sand, gravel, and clay; the surface is undulated, and the scenery embraces extensive views. The Ellesmere canal passes through the township. The tithes have been commuted for £100. Chorlton Hall, rebuilt in the year 1845, may be mentioned as the place where George Ormerod, Esq., wrote his History of Cheshire.
CHORLTON, a township, in the parish of Malpas, union of Wrexham, Higher division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester, 2¼ miles (W. by N.) from Malpas; containing 150 inhabitants. The manor was held by the Birds, and afterwards by the Claytons, under the St. Pierres and their successors. The township comprises 447 acres, of a sandy and gravelly soil, with some clay. The tithes have been commuted for £60. Roman coins of the reigns of Valerian and Posthumus were dug up in a field here, in March, 1818.
CHORLTON, a township, in the parish of Wybunbury, union and hundred of Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester, 5¾ miles (E. by S.) from Nantwich; containing 141 inhabitants. The manor was part of the ancient inheritance of the Delves family, and came by maternal descent to the Broughtons, of whom the present representative is the Rev. Delves Broughton, Bart. The township comprises 811a. 32p. of land; it is intersected by the Liverpool and Birmingham railway, and the road from Nantwich to Newcastle passes close by. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £74, and the vicarial for £14.
CHORLTON, a chapelry, in the parish of Manchester, union of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 3½ miles (S. S. W.) from Manchester; containing, with Hardy, 632 inhabitants. The township lies on the north side of the Mersey, and east of the road from Manchester to Chester, which passes through the village of Stretford, about a mile from Chorlton. The Duke of Bridgewater's canal, and the Manchester and Altrincham railway, also pass a short distance westward of the township. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £103; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Canons of the Collegiate Church of Manchester. In 1741, Margaret Usherwood bequeathed £160 for teaching children.
CHORLTON, a chapelry, in the parish of Eccleshall, union of Newcastle-under-Lyme, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford; comprising the townships of Chapel-Chorlton and Hill-Chorlton; and containing 365 inhabitants, of whom 243 are in Chapel-Chorlton, 6 miles (S. S. W.) from Newcastle. The chapelry consists of 1921a. 1r. 36p. of land, and lies west of the Sow, from which the village of Chapel-Chorlton is distant about half a mile. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway passes through. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £71; patron, the Bishop of Lichfield: the tithes have been commuted for £244. The chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was rebuilt in 1827, at a cost of £800, raised by subscription and a grant from a Church Society. Near HillChorlton is a place of worship for Primitive Methodists.
CHORLTON-UPON-MEDLOCK, a township, and the head of a union, in the parish of Manchester, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster; containing 28,336 inhabitants. The name of this place, formerly Chorlton-Row, was changed, on an act of parliament being obtained for the township, to Chorlton-upon-Medlock, as a better than its ancient designation, the river Medlock (which separates it from the township of Manchester) forming its entire boundary on the north. The old name, too, conveyed the idea of a very circumscribed population, which, in fact, it had about sixty years ago. The township was then chiefly occupied as an agricultural estate connected with the ancient Chorlton Hall, which is still standing near St. Luke's chapel, and which was the residence of the Minshull family, to whom nearly all the township originally belonged. The estates of Chorlton Hall, Garrat Hall, Ancoats Hall, and Ardwick Manor-House, on opposite sides of the river, once formed landscape scenery of the finest description.
In 1793 the Minshull estate was purchased, chiefly as a speculation for building, by Messrs. Cooper, Marsland, and Duckworth, by whom it was laid out in the main streets, Oxford-road, Grosvenor-street, Sidney-street, York-street, Ormond-street, &c.; and Grosvenor-square, now occupied by All Saints' church and churchyard, was at that time planted in the most ornamental style, and laid out as a pleasure-ground. But the anticipation of raising a new and beautiful town, with buildings corresponding with those erected by Peter Marsland, Esq., Roger Holland, Esq., Ottiwell Wood, Esq., and others, having failed, the proprietors sold the land for cottonmills and cottages, which quite altered the character of the district, and became the main cause of the vast increase of population in all those parts which lie contiguous to the river. The place affords an instance of the extraordinary rise in the value of property throughout the county. The Chorlton Hall estate was sold by Edmond Trafford, in 1590, to Ralph Sorocold, for £320, and in 1644 was again sold to Thomas Minshull, apothecary, for £300; while in 1793, or twenty years after the introduction of the cotton manufacture, the estate, as before mentioned, was purchased by Messrs. Cooper, Marsland, and Duckworth, for £42,914. The annual value of the township at the period of the land-tax (about 1690) was £256. 4. 2.: in 1815 its value had increased to £19,484; in 1829, to £66,645; and in 1841, to £137,651, the last being an increase on the first of 53,000 per cent. Guided by the county assessment, and computing the property to be worth 25 years' purchase, its value in two centuries has increased from £300 to upwards of £3,000,000 sterling.
The town now consists of several good streets, well lighted with gas, paved, and amply supplied with water; and is inhabited by many of the merchants and manufacturers of Manchester, in the trade of which it largely participates. An act to regulate and improve the district was passed in 1822-3, and amended in 1832; under this, police commissioners and constables are appointed. The town-hall, a constable's dwelling-house, and a dispensary, are connected in one building, erected at a cost of £4500. A Lyceum for educational purposes was formed in 1838; and an Institute for popular instruction in 1840. The township comprises 632 acres, and is divided into two ecclesiastical districts, All Saints' (including St. Luke's as a licensed chapel) and St. Saviour's. The first church or chapel erected was St. Luke's, which was built in 1804 by the Rev. Edward Smyth, and is a plain building, with a cemetery of considerable extent adjoining. The elegant and commodious church of All Saints' was erected by the Rev. Dr. Burton, the present minister and patron, at an expense of £13,000; it is of the Doric order, and is built of stone, with an oak roof, and window frames of copper. The pulpit cost £450, and the organ £800: over the communion-table is a beautiful painting on glass of the Saviour's Passion in the Garden, executed by Eginton, of Birmingham. The steeple, terminating with a dome and copper-gilded cross, 145 feet in height, is much admired. This church was consecrated in April, 1820, and contains 1800 sittings, of which 400 are free. The square, purchased for £2000, and consecrated as a cemetery, has an area of 12,000 square yards, whereof a fourth part is appropriated by the patron to the burial of the poor. The catacombs beneath the church are convenient and elegant; the main aisle is a broad passage between two walls of marble monuments and inscriptions, and the side aisles are remarkably wide and lofty: many respectable families have places of sepulture here. St. Saviour's church was consecrated in November, 1836. There are meeting-houses for Evangelical Friends, Presbyterians, General Baptists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Unitarians, and Wesleyans. A general cemetery for the interment of persons of all religious denominations, comprising four acres surrounded by a wall, was opened in 1821, at an expense of £6000; the buildings are of the Grecian-Ionic order, and the entrance is from Rusholme-road, through a handsome iron-gate, on the left of which is a chapel. There are numerous daily, Sunday, and infants' schools. The poor law union comprises 16 townships, and contains a population of 93,736.
CHOULESBURY (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Aylesbury, hundred of Cottesloe, county of Buckingham, 4 miles (N. W. by N.) from Chesham; containing 124 inhabitants. It comprises 176a. 1r. 31p., of which about 92 acres are arable, and 46 uninclosed common. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with the rectorial tithes, and in the patronage of Trustees: the tithes have been commuted for £30. 5. 6., and the glebe comprises eight acres, with a house. Here is one of the finest Danish encampments in the kingdom: it incloses the church and a portion of the glebe land, and is exactly one mile in circumference; the trench in some places is 30 feet deep, but in others much filled up with rubbish; the mounds are known by the name of "Bury Banks." It formed one of the chain of Danish encampments running along the Chiltern hills from north to south.
CHOWLEY, a township, in the parish of Coddington, union of Great Boughton, Higher division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester, 9¼ miles (S. E. by S.) from Chester; containing 77 inhabitants. The township comprises 740 acres of land; the soil is chiefly clay. The manor was formerly divided into severalties, and an eighth part, which in the 13th century belonged to the Pulfords, passed to the Grosvenors of Hulme: among other families once connected with the place, have been, the Hattons, Vernons, and Duttons.
Chrishall (Holy Trinity)
CHRISHALL (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Saffron-Walden, hundred of Uttlesford, N. division of Essex, 7 miles (E.) from Royston; containing 521 inhabitants. It comprises 2767a. 10p., of which the surface is diversified, and the higher lands are pleasantly situated. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13; net income, £200; patron, the Bishop of London; appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1807. The church is a handsome structure, with a square embattled tower surmounted by a spire.
Christchurch (Holy Trinity)
CHRISTCHURCH (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Newport, division of Christchurch, hundred of Caldicot, county of Monmouth, 2¼ miles (E. N. E.) from Newport; containing, with the hamlet of Caerton ultra Pontem, 1310 inhabitants. This parish, in the year 1291, belonged to the neighbouring priory of Goldclift, which was annexed to the abbey of Tewkesbury in 1442, and in 1451, with its possessions, granted to Eton College. The parish is partly bounded by the river Usk, which separates it from Caerleon, the Isca Silurum of the Romans; and comprises 4941 acres, whereof 150 are common or waste. The surface is marked throughout by hills and undulations beautifully wooded, and the soil consists of several varieties of sand and clay; limestone is extensively quarried for manure and other purposes. The petty-sessions for the division are held here. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 4. 2., and in the patronage of Eton College: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £150, and the vicarial for £265; the glebe contains 90 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is a large and elegant edifice, occupying an elevated situation. At a farm called Bullmore, was a Roman burial-ground.
Christchurch (Holy Trinity)
CHRISTCHURCH (Holy Trinity), a borough, sea-port, market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Christchurch, Ringwood and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 21½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Southampton, and 100 (S. W. by W.) from London; containing 5994 inhabitants, and comprising the tythings of Bure, Burton, Street, Winkton, Hurn, Iford, Parley, and Tuckton, and the chapelry of Hinton-Admiral. This place is of great antiquity, and, from some relics discovered in the church, is supposed to have been of Roman origin; by the Saxons it was called TwynehamBourne, and Tweon-ea, from its situation between two rivers. The earliest historical notice of it occurs in the Saxon Chronicles, which record its occupation by Ethelwold, during his revolt against his kinsman, Edward the Elder. In Domesday book it is mentioned, under the appellation of Thuinam, as a burgh and royal manor, containing 31 messuages. The present name is derived from a priory, founded before the Conquest for a dean and twenty-four Secular canons, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and which was rebuilt in the reign of William Rufus, and dedicated to Our Saviour Christ, by Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, and originally dean of the priory. It was largely endowed by Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon, to whom Henry I. gave the manor. Earl Baldwin, son and successor to Earl Richard, placed Canons regular of the order of St. Augustine in the priory, which flourished till the Dissolution, when its revenue was £544. 6.: it was granted by Henry VIII. to the inhabitants for their parochial church. Some portions of the walls that inclosed the conventual buildings still remain; the ancient lodge is occupied as a dwelling-house, and the site of the refectory may be traced by the remnants of its wall. The town was fortified by Richard de Redvers, who either erected or rebuilt the castle, of which there are some remains to the north of the priory. These consist chiefly of the ruins of the keep on the summit of an artificial mount (the walls of which are more than ten feet in thickness), and part of the range that comprised the state apartments; the Norman style prevails, and the arches of some remaining windows are divided by pillars of that character.
Christchurch is situated on the borders of the New Forest, and between the rivers Avon and Stour, which, uniting their streams at a short distance below, expand into a broad sheet of water and fall into Christchurch bay, in connexion with which they form a harbour. The current of the Avon, to the east of the town, is intercepted and divided into two parts by an island, from each side of which a bridge to the opposite bank of the river forms the continuation of the road to Lymington. The harbour is accessible only at high tides to vessels drawing not more than from five to six feet of water, the entrance being obstructed by a bar, or ledge of sand, extending from Henigsbury Head, on the Hampshire side (where Hengist, King of the Saxons, landed), to St. Catherine's Cliffe, in the Isle of Wight. The quay is about two miles from the mouth of the harbour. In this harbour, as in the neighbouring port of Poole, there is high water twice at every tide, a peculiarity arising from the situation of the coast with respect to the Isle of Wight, and from the projection of the point of land on which Hurst Castle is situated. The river Avon was made navigable to Salisbury in 1680, but the accumulation of sand has rendered the navigation useless. Some of the labouring class have for years past been employed in drawing their nets for salmon at the mouth of the haven; the rivers are royalties, the property of the Rt. Hon. Sir G. H. Rose.
The town is partly lighted, and amply supplied with water; it is much frequented during the summer months as a place of pleasant resort, and the lofty cliffs in the vicinity afford delightful views. Several of the female inhabitants were formerly employed in the knitting of stockings, but this branch of industry has declined. There are two breweries; also two manufactories for watch fusee chains, at each of which about 50 persons are employed, chiefly women and girls; and almost every cottager is engaged in preparing the work connected with this branch of manufacture. The market is on Monday; fairs are held on Trinity-Thursday and October 17th, for cattle and horses, and for pleasure. The government is vested in a mayor, recorder, and an indefinite number of free burgesses, assisted by a town-clerk and others; but the officers do not exercise magisterial authority, the town being wholly within the jurisdiction of the county justices. The borough was summoned in the 35th of Edward I. and the 2nd of Edward II., but made no subsequent return till the 13th of Elizabeth, from which time it regularly sent two members to parliament, until the 2nd of William IV., when, by the Reform act, it was destined thenceforward to send only one. The right of election was exercised by the mayor and free burgesses; but by the act above named, the non-resident electors, except within seven miles, were disfranchised, and the privilege was extended to the £10 householders of an enlarged district of 5332 acres, including the parish of Holdenhurst, which was for elective purposes incorporated with the former borough of Christchurch, which comprised only 123 acres. The mayor is returning officer. A court leet for the manor is held twice a year by the steward. The powers of the county-debt court of Christchurch, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Christchurch.
The parish comprises by computation 30,000 acres, of which the surface is in general flat, and the soil in the vicinity of the rivers particularly fertile. The living is a vicarage, with that of Holdenhurst annexed, valued in the king's books at £16; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Winchester; impropriator, the Earl of Malmesbury, whose mansion of Heron Court is within the parish. The great tithes of the two parishes have been commuted for £3200. The church is a magnificent cruciform structure, partly Norman, and partly in the early and later English styles, with a finely-proportioned and embattled tower at the west end, which was erected by the Montacutes, earls of Salisbury, in the fifteenth century. The piers and arches of the nave, which is of Norman character, are bold and simple; the clerestory is of later date; the northern entrance is a fine specimen of the early, and the chancel of the later, English style. The altar is decorated with a rude, but interesting, representation of the genealogy of Christ, carved in the style of the age in which the church was founded: to the north of it is a beautiful sepulchral chapel, built in the reign of Henry VII., by the celebrated Countess of Salisbury, who, in the 70th year of her age, was beheaded by Henry VIII.; and at the east is a spacious chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, erected in the fourteenth century by the ancestor of Lord Delawarr. There are some other chapels of fine execution, chiefly later English. The west front, principally in the early style, in which a large and handsome window has been lately inserted, is ornamented with a figure of Christ in a canopied niche. The length of the church is 311 feet, and its breadth at the western extremity 60 feet, and along the transepts 104 feet; the height of the vaulted roof is 57 feet. It was repaired in 1841. There are, an endowed chapel at Hinton, built about half a century ago; a chapel at Bransgore, a neat modern edifice; one erected in 1834, at High Cliffe; a fourth at Burton, erected in 1836; a chapel in the later English style, at Hightown, built at the expense of Lord Stuart de Rothesay and others; and a chapel at Bournemouth. The Independents and Wesleyans have places of worship, and at Burton is a Roman Catholic chapel. The union of Christchurch comprises 3 parishes, and contains a population of 7828.
An intrenchment, 630 yards in length, extends across the isthmus that connects Hengistbury Head with the main land; and near its northern extremity is a large barrow, in which human bones and an urn have been found. On Catherine Hill, about a mile and a half to the north of the town, and a mile to the west of the Avon, are traces of an exploratory camp, 55 yards square, round which are six small tumuli; and near the base of the hill are ten large barrows, whereof one has been discovered to contain human bones. To the north of the camp is an elliptical earthwork, of which the greater diameter is 35, and the less 25, yards; and the remains of other intrenchments may be traced in the vicinity. Somerford Grange, about two miles to the east of the town, belonged to the priory: part of the ancient buildings remained until about 25 years since, including the chapel, a stone edifice with a handsome arched roof of carved oak. Hordwell Cliff, between Christchurch and Milford, is famous for the fossil remains of tropical shells, sharks' teeth, &c. &c. Tutter's Well, at Stanpit, is celebrated for the purity of its water, and for its efficacy in weakness of sight.
CHRIST-CHURCH, a parish, in the union of St. Saviour's, partly in the E. division of the hundred of Brixton, but chiefly within the borough of Southwark, E. division of Surrey; containing 14,606 inhabitants. This parish was anciently termed the liberty of Paris Garden, and formed a part of the parish of St. Saviour until 1706, when it was made distinct by act of parliament. It is situated on the south side of Blackfriars bridge, and has several ranges of good houses on both sides of Great Surrey-street, including Nelsonsquare on the east, and a portion of Stamford-street on the west. There are manufactories for hats, for glass, and for various articles of statuary in Roman cement; extensive saw-mills; a large cooperage; and works for refining antimony, and making albata. At the end of the bridge is a building originally called the Leverian Museum, and subsequently the Rotunda, which has been used for various purposes. Christ-Church constituted a portion of the borough of Southwark, under a charter of Edward VI., though the inhabitants did not for many years vote for its parliamentary members, having allowed the privilege to fall into disuse; they have, however, been re-invested with the franchise, by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45.
The living is a rectory not in charge, in the patronage of the Trustees of Marshall's charity: the church is a neat edifice of brick, with a tower surmounted by a cupola. Surrey chapel, built by the late Rev. Rowland Hill, is within the parish; and there are also places of worship for Baptists and Unitarians, the latter of which, in Stamford-street, has a fine portico of six fluted Doric columns supporting a triangular pediment. The parochial schools, on the national system, in Green Walk, were rebuilt in 1836, at an expense of nearly £2000. The British and Foreign school, situated in an alley opposite the workhouse, contains a spacious schoolroom for boys, and one of smaller dimensions for girls. The workhouse, since the incorporation of the parish with the union of St. Saviour's, has been enlarged at an expense of nearly £8000. Almshouses in Green Walk were founded and endowed by Mr. Charles Hopton, for 28 poor men, each of whom has a separate house of two rooms; and in Church-street are almshouses for 45 women, endowed by Mr. Edward Edwards in 1753, the buildings consisting of four separate ranges of neat houses, erected successively in 1753, 1777, 1786, and 1791. There are various charities for general purposes, all of minor account except Marshall's charity, founded by John Marshall in 1627, and producing nearly £900 per annum; Hammerton's, producing £230 per annum; and Boyse's, producing £160 per annum.
Christian-Malford (All Saints)
CHRISTIAN-MALFORD (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Chippenham, partly in the hundred of Chippenham, but chiefly in the N. division of the hundred of Damerham, Chippenham and Calne, and N. divisions of Wilts, 5 miles (N. E. by N.) from Chippenham; containing, with the tything of Avon, 1198 inhabitants. This place is situated on the river Avon, commencing at a bridge over an ancient ford across that stream, from the badness of which it is supposed to have derived its name; its prefix most probably originated from the fact of Christianity having been promulgated here at a very early period. The parish comprises by computation 2762 acres; between 300 and 400 are arable, 140 wood, and the rest pasture. The village, in the centre of which is an ancient cross, is situated on the river, which here turns two cloth-mills; and the parish is intersected by the road from Oxford to Bath, and by the Great Western railway. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Bath and Wells: the tithes have been commuted for £700, and the glebe comprises about 100 acres, with a glebe-house. Attached to the benefice are a copyhold of 60 acres held on lives, and a manor of which the rector is lord. The church has been repaired and repewed. There is a place of worship for Independents, said to be the oldest in the county.
Christleton (St. James)
CHRISTLETON (St. James), a parish, in the union of Great Boughton, Lower division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester, comprising the townships of Christleton, Abbots-Cotton, Edmunds-Cotton, Littleton, and Rowton; and containing 875 inhabitants, of whom 625 are in the township of Christleton, 2 miles (E. by S.) from Chester. This place, at the time of the Norman survey, is said to have been very populous; it continued to be of some importance, and was fortified for the parliament, and made the headquarters of Sir William Brereton. At Rowton Moor a battle was fought between the royalist and parliamentary forces, in which the former were defeated; and on the siege of Chester being raised, in February, 1645, Christleton was, in a sally of the citizens, very nearly destroyed by fire. The parish is situated on the road from London to Shrewsbury, via Whitchurch, and comprises by admeasurement 3000 acres, whereof 1392 are in the township; the soil is sand, loam, and clay. The Chester and Ellesmere canal passes close to the village, and, at little more than a quarter of a mile from the bridge, is crossed by a viaduct of the Chester and Crewe railway. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £39. 5.; net income, £827; patron, the Hon. E. M. L. Mostyn: the glebe consists of about 40 acres, with a glebe-house. The church, which is picturesquely covered with ivy, existed prior to the Conquest: the body was rebuilt of brick in 1738, but the stone tower bears the date 1530; it has a peal of eight bells. There is a place of worship for Independents. In 1779, John Seller, of Littleton, left about £10 per annum for teaching children; and a school-house was built in 1800, by subscription.
CHRISTON, a parish, in the union of Axbridge, hundred of Winterstoke, E. division of Somerset, 4 miles (N. W. by W.) from Cross; containing 92 inhabitants, and comprising 572 acres, of which 84 are common or waste. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 1. 8., and in the gift of Sir John Smyth, Bart., and the family of Gore: the tithes have been commuted for £95, and the glebe consists of 14 acres. The church is principally in the early English style.
Christow (St. James)
CHRISTOW (St. James), a parish, in the union of St. Thomas, hundred of Wonford, Wonford and S. divisions of Devon, 7½ miles (S. W.) from Exeter; containing 624 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the river Teign, and comprises by measurement 3200 acres, of which 700 are common or waste: there are many excellent cherry-orchards. Mines of manganese are worked, and a lead-mine has been discovered, which affords some beautiful specimens of mundic, &c. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 6. 8.; patron and impropriator, Viscount Exmouth. The great tithes have been commuted for £99. 10., and the vicarial for £169. 19.: an excellent glebe-house has been erected, at the expense of the incumbent; and attached to the vicarage, is a glebe of 22 acres, in the parish of Bovey-Tracey. The church, the arches of which are in the pointed style, has a Norman font, and some fine screen-work across the nave and aisles. It is said to have been mainly erected by Lord Russell, in the reign of Henry VIII., of which monarch he purchased the parish for £200: the tower, 80 feet high, and much admired, is supposed to be of later erection. There is a place of worship for Baptists. The poor receive bread every Sunday from the rents of an estate called Smithhayes, producing about £40 per annum, left by a clergyman named Stocke, in the latter part of the 17th century; the residue, after affording small payments to two adjoining parishes, belongs to the vicar. Lord Exmouth takes the title of Baron Exmouth, of Canonteign, from his seat in the parish: the ancient mansion was besieged by Cromwell's army, and the loop-holes are still to be seen, through which the muskets were fired by the besieged. Pope House is said to have been a cell to the priory of Cowick, near Exeter.
Chudleigh (St. Martin)
CHUDLEIGH (St. Martin), a market-town and parish, in the union of Newton-Abbott, hundred of Exminster, Teignbridge and S. divisions of Devon, 9 miles (S. S. W.) from Exeter, and 182 (W. S. W.) from London; containing 2415 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Chidleighe, was the residence of the bishops of Exeter, who had a sumptuous palace, of which there are some small remains. In the year 1309, Bishop Stapleton procured the grant of a weekly market and an annual fair. During the parliamentary war, the army under General Fairfax was quartered in the town. In 1807, nearly half of it was destroyed by fire, the loss of property being estimated at £60,000 value. It is pleasantly situated on an eminence near the eastern bank of the river Teign, and consists principally of one long street; the houses are in general modern and neatly built: the inhabitants are indifferently supplied with water. The environs are pleasant, and abound with woodland scenery; antimony and cobalt are among the mineral productions, and there are quarries of argillaceous slate, in which many organic remains have been discovered.
The trade, which consisted mainly in the manufacture of woollen-cloth, has lately declined: extensive quarries of good marble and limestone, which abound in the vicinity, afford employment to many of the inhabitants; and the neighbourhood is famed for cider of superior quality. The market is on Saturday: the fairs, chiefly for cattle and sheep, are on Easter-Tuesday, the third Tuesday and Wednesday in June, and October 2nd, unless it falls on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, in which case the fair is postponed till the Tuesday following. The parish comprises 5188 acres, whereof 1660 are common or waste. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £21, and in the patronage of Trustees for the inhabitants; the impropriate tithes, belonging to Lord Clifford, have been commuted for £250, and the vicarial for £550; the glebe comprises one acre, with a glebe-house. There is a place of worship for Independents; also a Roman Catholic chapel at Ugbrooke, in the parish. The free grammar school was founded in 1668, by John Pynsent, of Combe, in the county of Surrey, who endowed it with a rent-charge of £30 per annum, founding also three exhibitions for its benefit at Cambridge, of £5 each, tenable for four years. Half a mile from the town is Chudleigh Rock, a stupendous mass of limestone, in which is a cavern of considerable extent; and near it are very perfect remains of an elliptical encampment, supposed from its form to be of Danish origin, but, from its proximity to a Roman road, to have been previously occupied by that people. Chudleigh confers the title of Baron on the family of Clifford.
Chulmleigh (St. Mary Magdalene)
CHULMLEIGH (St. Mary Magdalene), a markettown and parish, in the union of South Molton, hundred of Witheridge, South Molton and N. divisions of Devon, 21½ miles (N. W.) from Exeter, and 194 (W. by S.) from London; containing 1647 inhabitants. This place was anciently called Chimleighe; in the reign of Henry III., John de Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, obtained for it the grant of a weekly market. During the parliamentary war, a skirmish took place here in 1645. The town, a considerable portion of which was destroyed by fire in 1803, is situated on an eminence rising gently from the eastern bank of the river Taw; the houses, with the exception of a few that are modern and well built, are low and covered with thatch. The market is on Friday; and fairs are held on the third Friday in March, the Wednesday in Easter-week, and the last Wednesday in July. A portreeve, whose office is merely nominal, and other officers, are appointed annually at the court leet and baron of the lord of the manor. The parish comprises 6835 acres, of which 1244 are common or waste. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20. 18. 1½.; net income, £415; patron and incumbent, the Rev. George Hole. In the church are five prebends, endowed with glebe and a portion of the tithes, viz., Brookland, valued at £4. 8. 4.; Denes, at £4. 6. 8.; Higher Heyne, at £5. 13. 4.; Lower Heyne, at £5; and Penels, at £5. These prebends were permanently annexed to the rectory by the act 3rd and 4th Vict., cap. 113. The church, which was damaged by lightning in 1797, is an ancient and spacious structure in the decorated English style, with a square embattled tower; the interior is fine, and contains a screen of oak richly carved. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans.
CHURCH, a township, in the parish of Whalley, union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Blackburn, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 4¾ miles (E.) from Blackburn; containing 1545 persons. This township, and the townships of Huncoat and Oswaldtwistle, form the parochial chapelry of ChurchKirk, comprising 8667 inhabitants. The district is subject to the honor of Clitheroe, and yields suit and service to the court of Accrington. The printing of calicoes, and power-loom and hand-loom weaving, are the principal manufactures. The Leeds and Liverpool canal, which extends along the northern margin of Church and Oswaldtwistle, opens a communication to the eastern and western seas. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £218; patrons, the Trustees of William Hulme: the chapel is dedicated to St. James, and is a plain structure with an antique castellated tower; the body was rebuilt in 1804. Emmanuel church was built at Oswaldtwistle in 1837; the patronage is vested in five Trustees. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. At Church, Oswaldtwistle, Cabin-End, and Daisy-Green, are national schools; and at Fox-Hill Bank is an infants' school.
Churcham (St. Andrew)
CHURCHAM (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Westbury, partly in the Lower division of the hundred of Dudstone and King's-Barton, E. division, but chiefly in the hundred of Westbury, W. division, of the county of Gloucester, 4½ miles (W. by N.) from Gloucester; containing, with the hamlets of Highnam, Linton, and Over, 870 inhabitants. It is pleasantly situated on the river Severn, across which, at Over, about one mile from Gloucester, is a handsome stone bridge of one arch, 150 feet in the span, completed under the superintendence of Telford, at an expense of nearly £50,000, defrayed by the county. The living is a vicarage, with that of Bulley annexed, valued in the king's books at £20. 5.; net income, £386; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. The tithes were commuted for land in 1802. The church is small, and has some remains of Norman architecture.
CHURCHDOWN (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the Upper division of the hundred of Dudstone and King's-Barton, union and E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3 miles (E. by N.) from Gloucester; containing, with Hucklecote hamlet, 999 inhabitants. This parish, commonly called Choren, comprises 2575a. 3r. 17p., and is situated in an extensive vale, from which an elliptical eminence, about four miles in circuit at the base, rises to the height of 2500 feet: stone is quarried for the roads. The Birmingham and Gloucester railway, and the road from Gloucester to London, pass through the parish. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £88; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, whose tithes have been commuted for £1214. The church, a very ancient plain edifice, is on the summit of the hill above noticed, commanding most extensive views; the mounds by which it is surrounded, in connexion with the abrupt ascent of the hill, have led to the opinion that it was originally the site of a Roman or British fortification. There are two schools, supported partly by an endowment of £25 a year, bequeathed in 1734, by the Rev. H. Wyndowe, who was minister of the parish; also four almshouses for poor widows, endowed with £4 per annum each. John Harmer, professor of Greek in the University of Oxford, author of a life of Cicero, a Greek Etymological Dictionary, and other learned works, was a native of the place; he died in 1670.