A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.
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Doddington (St. Mary)
DODDINGTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of North Witchford, Isle of Ely, county of Cambridge, 4½ miles (S. by W.) from March, on the road to Chatteris; containing, with the chapelries of Benwick and March, and the hamlet of Wimblington, 8648 inhabitants. The manor was one of the ancient estates of the church of Ely, and was alienated by Bishop Heton to the crown in 1600; it soon afterwards became the property of the Peytons, who appear to have been settled here nearly a century before, as lessees of the bishop. John Peyton was created a baronet in 1660, and dying without issue, his next brother, Algernon, was advanced to the same dignity in 1666. The title again becoming extinct in 1771, on the death of Sir Thomas Peyton, who was the last male heir of the family, Henry Dashwood, Esq., whose father had married a daughter of Sir Sewster Peyton, succeeded to the estate, took the name of Peyton by act of parliament, and was created a baronet in 1776. The parish is the most extensive in the county, and one of the most extensive in the kingdom, containing 38,000 acres of rich land. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of Sir H. Peyton: the tithes have been commuted for £9956. There are chapels of ease at Benwick and March. In 1847 an act was passed for dividing the parish and rectory into three parishes and rectories. The sum of £500 given in 1719 by Lionel Walden, Esq., a native of the parish, for the erection and endowment of a free school, having for many years remained unappropriated, had accumulated in 1837 to £1817. 17. 8. three per cent. consols., producing a dividend of £54. 10. 8., in support of the school. In this parish is situated the union workhouse.
DODDINGTON, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish of Wybunbury, union and hundred of Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester, 5½ miles (S. E.) from Nantwich; containing 41 inhabitants. In a mutilated tower which formed part of Doddington Castle, erected by Sir John Delves in 1364, are preserved statues of Lord Audley and his four squires, who fought under the Black Prince at Poitiers: near it stood the old Hall, which was made a parliamentary garrison in the civil war, taken for the king by Lord Byron in Jan. 1644, and retaken shortly after. The district comprises 549a. 12p., of a clayey soil. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the family of DelvesBroughton: the church is in the early English style, with a campanile turret. The tithes have been commuted for £55, of which £36 are paid to an impropriator.
Doddington (St. John the Baptist)
DODDINGTON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Faversham, hundred of Teynham, Upper division of the lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 4¾ miles (S. by E.) from Sittingbourne; containing 473 inhabitants. It comprises 1918 acres, of which 452 are in wood. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4.; net income, £138; patron, the Archdeacon of Canterbury. The church, principally in the early English style, is 600 years old, and when it was in course of repair, a fulllength portrait of Henry III., in fresco, was discovered in good preservation; on the glass of the eastern window is an ancient painting representing the Flight into Egypt. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.
Doddington (St. Peter)
DODDINGTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Boothby-Graffo, parts of Kesteven, union and county of Lincoln, 7 miles (W. by S.) from Lincoln; containing 220 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 2000 acres, and the hamlet of Whisby, which is attached to it, about 1635. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 9. 6.; net income, £180; patron, Col. Jarvis, who has endowed a school. The glebe contains nearly 100 acres, and there is a glebe-house attached to the benefice.
DODDINGTON, a parish, in the union and E. division of Glendale ward, N. division of Northumberland; containing 941 inhabitants, of whom 441 are in the township of Doddington, 3 miles (N. by E.) from Wooler. This place was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Chatton, from which it was separated in 1725, and constituted a distinct parish. It includes the townships of Earl or Yeard-Hill, Ewart, Humbleton, and Nesbit, and comprises about 9110 acres of fertile land, chiefly of a light sandy soil; the surface is generally level, but diversified with hills at Humbleton and Earl, and to the east and north of Doddington and Nesbit. Coal is wrought, and excellent freestone obtained in abundance. The township of Doddington is the property of the Earl of Tankerville, and part of the haugh lands within it, and in the township of Ewart, are equal to any tillage land in England in point of fertility. The village is pleasantly situated between two branches of a small rivulet which falls into the Till about a mile south-south-west of the church, and near it is a considerable spring, which turns a corn-mill. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Duke of Northumberland, and has a net income of £180; impropriators, the landowners of the several townships. The church was enlarged by the rebuilding of the chancel in 1838, at a cost of £456; it is a neat structure with a campanile turret, and contains 210 sittings, of which 150 are free: there are some handsome monuments to the St. Paul family.
Doddington, Dry (St. James)
DODDINGTON, DRY (St. James), formerly a parish, now a township in the parish of Westborough, in the union of Newark, wapentake of Loveden, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 8 miles (N. N. W.) from Grantham; containing 215 inhabitants. The living was a vicarage, which has long been united to the first mediety of the rectory of Westborough: the tithes were commuted for land in 1770.
Doddington, Great (St. Luke)
DODDINGTON, GREAT (St. Luke), a parish, in the union of Wellingborough, hundred of Hamfordshoe, N. division of the county of Northampton, 2 miles (S. by W.) from Wellingborough; containing 474 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Nene, and comprises 1515a. 3r. 16p., of a highly productive soil: there are quarries of stone, which is used for building and for the roads. The Blisworth and Peterborough railway traverses the meadows below the village. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £155, arising from 102 acres of land assigned in lieu of tithes in 1766: there is a small glebe-house, but in a ruinous state. The church is a spacious edifice, with a tower. There is a place of worship for Independents; and a national school has been erected. £5 per annum, arising from a piece of meadow-land, are appropriated to the poor.
Doddiscombsleigh (St. Michael)
DODDISCOMBSLEIGH (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of St. Thomas, hundred of Exminster, Teignbridge and S. divisions of Devon, 6 miles (S. W.) from Exeter; containing 378 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the west by the river Teign, and comprises by admeasurement 2500 acres; it is rich in mineral wealth, and three mines of manganese have been opened, and are in full operation, affording employment to 150 persons. It is also celebrated for its cider, which is esteemed the finest in the county. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 6. 5½., and in the gift of the Rev. J. Buckingham: the tithes have been commuted for £300, and the glebe comprises 112 acres, with a glebe-house. Some of the windows of the church are embellished with very handsome stained glass, representing scriptural subjects.
Doddleston (St. Mary)
DODDLESTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Great Boughton, partly in the county of Flint (North Wales), but chiefly in the Lower division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester; the English part containing, with the township of Lower Kinnerton and the hamlet of Gorstella, 371 inhabitants, of whom 298 are in the township of Doddleston, 5 miles (S. W.) from Chester. At Balderton bridge, in the parish, Hugh Cyvelioc, Earl of Chester, defeated the Welsh with great slaughter, and raised a rampart of the heads of the slain. During the siege of Chester, in 1645, the old mansion-house was fortified and garrisoned by the parliamentary general, Sir William Brereton, who here fixed his head-quarters. The parish comprises about 4000 acres, of which 1677 are in the township of Doddleston; of the whole area onethird is arable, and the rest pasture: the soil is chiefly marl or stiff clay; and the surface is varied. The Shrewsbury and Chester railway passes through. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 0. 2½., and in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Chester: the tithes have been commuted for £625, and the glebe contains 36¾ acres, with a glebe-house. The church contains the remains of Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere, Viscount Brackley, lord keeper of the great seal to James I., who occasionally resided here; he died in London in 1617. A school was erected at the expense of the late Marquess of Westminster.
Dodford (St. Mary)
DODFORD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Daventry, hundred of Fawsley, S. division of the county of Northampton, 1½ mile (W. by N.) from Weedon; containing 228 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the London and Birmingham road, and comprises by admeasurement 1350 acres of a highly productive soil; the village lies in a narrow and wellwatered valley. About 30 females are employed in making pillow-lace. The Grand Junction canal passes along the east side of the parish, and the London and Birmingham railway runs through it. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10; net income, £233; patron and impropriator, T. R. Thornton, Esq.: the glebe contains 143 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is in the early English style, and has a circular carved font, of very ancient construction; among some interesting monuments of marble and brass, is one of a Knight Templar. A school was established here in 1804, and endowed in 1809 with £500 by Mr. Joseph Cooke.
Dodington (St. Mary)
DODINGTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Chipping-Sodbury, Lower division of the hundred of Grumbald's-Ash, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 2½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Chipping-Sodbury; containing 143 inhabitants, and consisting of 1450 acres. Stone of good quality for building and for the roads is quarried. The river Frome has its source in the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 6. 5½., and lately in the gift of Sir C. B. Codrington: the tithes have been commuted for £240, and the glebe comprises 26 acres. The church is a small edifice in the Grecian style, with a tower. Urns, bones, and Roman coins have been discovered in Dodington Field.
DODINGTON, a township, in the parish and union of Whitchurch, Whitchurch division of the hundred of Bradford (North), N. division of Salop, ¼ of a mile (S.) from Whitchurch; containing 1010 inhabitants, and comprising 2866 acres, of which 626 are common or waste.
DODINGTON, a parish, in the union of Williton, hundred of Williton and Freemanners, W. division of Somerset, 9½ miles (W. N. W.) from Bridgwater; containing 114 inhabitants. This parish takes its name from the ancient family of Dodington, to whom it belonged for several centuries; it is situated on the road from Bridgwater to Minehead, at the foot of the Quantock hills, and comprises 555a. 1r. 32½p. Copper-ore is to be found, and there is a mine in the parish, but not in operation; limestone is quarried, chiefly for burning into lime, and the stone is replete with very beautiful red and white madrepore. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 6. 8., and in the gift of Sir P. P. F. P. Acland, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £90, and the glebe comprises 20 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is a handsome edifice in the later English style.
DODWORTH, a township, in the parish of Silkstone, wapentake of Staincross, W. riding of York, 2 miles (W. S. W.) from Barnsley; containing 1474 inhabitants. In the earlier part of the reign of Henry VIII., two brothers of this place, Richard and William, sons of Ulf de Doddewr-da, gave to the convent of Pontefract, "for the love of God, and the salvation of their own souls, all the men they had on the land, with their houses and chattels for ever." The township is on the road between Doncaster and Saltersbrook, and comprises 1909 acres, of which about 1100 are arable, 560 pasture, 216 wood, and 33 road; the soil is fertile, the substratum chiefly coal, and the surrounding scenery pleasingly varied. The weaving of linen by hand-looms affords employment to about 500 persons. A church of a modernised Norman style of architecture, with a fine tower at the west end 70 feet in height, was erected in the village in 1844, at a cost of £1400, raised by subscription, aided by grants from the Incorporated and Pastoral Aid Societies, and towards which Mr. Thornely contributed £250: the living is in the Vicar's gift. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A school is endowed with £11 per annum, and a house and garden for the master.
DOGDYKE, a township, in the parish of Billinghay, union of Boston, First division of the wapentake of Langoe, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 11 miles (E. N. E.) from Sleaford; containing 217 inhabitants, and comprising 1241a. 3r. 7p.
Dogmersfield (All Saints)
DOGMERSFIELD (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Hartley-Wintney, hundred of Odiham, Odiham and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 2 miles (E. by N.) from Odiham; containing 305 inhabitants. It comprises 1606a. 36p.: the soil varies from a loose sand to a stiff clay; the surface is pleasingly undulated, and ornamented by Dogmersfield Park, a handsome residence. The South-Western railway passes at the distance of about a mile and a half; and the Basingstoke canal runs through the parish, in which also is a lake covering 36 acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £9. 6. 8., and in the patronage of Lady St. John Mildmay: the tithes have been commuted for £329. 3., and the glebe comprises 6 acres, with a glebe-house. The church was erected about forty years since. Foundations, supposed to be the remains of a palace of the archbishops of Canterbury which stood here so early as the twelfth century, were discovered a few years ago.
Dogs, Isle of, or Stepney-Marsh
DOGS, ISLE of, or Stepney-Marsh, in the parish of Stepney, union of Poplar, Tower division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex, 5 miles (E. S. E.) from St. Paul's Cathedral, London. This isle, which is situated in the river Thames, between Limehouse and Blackwall, is supposed to have obtained its present appellation from its having been the place where the king's hounds were anciently kept. It comprises an area of about 836 acres, and at the southeastern point is a ferry over the Thames to Greenwich. A ship canal was constructed across the isle from Limehouse to Blackwall, with a view to shorten the passage of vessels, by avoiding the circuitous curve of the river between those places; but the project was not attended with success, and the canal now forms an appendage to the West India docks. There are mills for extracting oil from linseed, and for making oil-cake for fattening cattle; a manufactory for iron steam-boats and chain-cables, and another for the making of smelling salts. The site of an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Mary, is now occupied by a farmhouse, called the chapel-house. There is a place of worship for Independents. St. Edward's Roman Catholic chapel, at Millwall, was consecrated, with much pomp, in Sept. 1846; it accommodates 4000 persons.
DOGSTHORPE, a chapelry, in the parish of St. John the Baptist, soke and union of Peterborough, N. division of Northamptonshire, 1¾ mile (N.) from Peterborough; containing 514 inhabitants. The chapel is dedicated to St. Botolph.
Dolton (St. Edmund)
DOLTON (St. Edmund), a parish, in the union of Torrington, hundred of North Tawton, South Molton and N. divisions of Devon, 7 miles (N. N. E.) from Hatherleigh, and on the new road from Exeter to Bideford; containing 922 inhabitants. The parish is much frequented by various species of rare birds, among which are the heron, the bittern, and the quail; it contains by computation 2914 acres, of which 2023 are arable, 304 meadow, 225 coarse pasture, 74 orchard, and 256 woodland. Fairs were formerly held on the Wednesday before March 25th, and on October 1st. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20. 16. 8.; net income, £305; patrons, the family of Johnson.
DOMINICK, ST., a parish, in the union of Liskeard, Middle division of the hundred of East, E. division of Cornwall, 2¾ miles (E. S. E.) from Callington; containing 825 inhabitants. It is bounded on the east by the river Tamar, and comprises 2668 acres, of which 120 are common or waste; the surface is pleasingly diversified with hills. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £23. 11. 0½., and in the patronage of the Rev. F. L. Bazeley; net income, £318. On the glebe estate are vestiges of a Roman intrenchment called Berry, and at Baber the remains of a monastery. At Halton was born, in 1579, Francis Rous, a distinguished politician in the time of Cromwell, and provost of Eton College.
Doncaster (St. George)
DONCASTER (St. George), a parish, and the head of a union, in the N. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York; containing, with the townships of Langthwaite with Tilts, Balby with Hexthorpe, and Long Sandall with Wheatley, 11,245 inhabitants, of whom 10,455 are in the borough of Doncaster, 33 miles (S. by W.) from York, and 162 (N. N. W.) from London. This place was the Danum of Antoninus, a Roman station on the river Don, and was by the Saxons called Dona Ceastre, from which its present name is obviously derived. The great Roman road, the Erminstreet, which crossed the river here, may still be traced in several parts of the vicinity; and numerous coins, fragments of urns, and other relics of Roman antiquity, have been discovered on the south side of the town, among which was a votive altar, dug up in 1781. In the time of the Saxons, the place was a royal vill, and the occasional residence of the kings of Northumbria, of whom Edwin, on his conversion to Christianity by Paulinus, after founding a church at York, erected another at this town. In 633, Penda, the pagan king of Mercia, with Cadwaladr, King of Wales, having slain Edwin in a sanguinary battle at Hatfield, turned his victorious arms against Doncaster, which he so completely laid waste that the kings of Northumbria never attempted its restoration. In 750, according to Camden, the town was destroyed by lightning; and the castle, of which the founder and the period of its erection are equally unknown, is supposed to have shared the same fate. At the Conquest, the manor was granted by William, with numerous other lands, to his brother, the Earl of Morton, by whose son and successor they were forfeited in the reign of Henry I. After passing through various owners, the manor and soke were sold to Henry Percy, second earl of Northumberland, on the death of whose son, at the battle of Towton, they again became forfeited to the crown; but the estates were subsequently restored, with the exception of the lordship of Doncaster, which was bestowed by charter of Henry VII. upon the corporation of the borough, to be held at a fee-farm rent of £74. 13. 11½. During the insurrection in the reign of Henry VIII., called the "Pilgrimage of Grace," Aske, the leader, at the head of 30,000 men, marched to this place; but a party of the royal army, consisting of 5000 men, defended the bridge, and successfully opposed their entrance into the town. The insurgents encamped on Scawsby Lees, where they held a parley with the Duke of Norfolk, which terminated in a petition to the crown; and on the 6th of Dec. 1536, a conference was held here, when the king granted a general pardon, and the insurgents dispersed their forces and abandoned the enterprize. In 1642, Charles I. visited the town on his route to Nottingham, and attended divine service in the church; and after the battle of Marston-Moor, the Earl of Manchester established his head-quarters here, while besieging the royal garrison of Pontefract.
The town is pleasantly situated, chiefly on the south bank of the river Don, and consists of several streets, of which the High-street, about a mile in length, is spacious and handsomely built; it is generally considered to be one of the finest streets on the whole line of the road from London to Edinburgh. The streets are well paved, and lighted with gas, at the expense of the corporation, under whose direction also the inhabitants are amply supplied with water from works near Friar'sbridge, High-street, the expense being defrayed by a rate. On an eminence called Hall-Cross Hill, is an elegant cross, which superseded a more ancient structure of the kind, removed in order to widen and improve the carriage-road into the town. A public library and a newsroom, for which an appropriate building was erected in 1821, are supported by subscription; in the former is an excellent portrait of the late Henry Bower, Esq., F.S.A., president of the institution. The theatre is a handsome building, erected at the expense of the corporation, in 1774, and is generally opened for six weeks, the season commencing at the time of the races. The races, which have long been celebrated for their superior attraction, and are attended by a large portion of the families of rank in the north of England, are held in September, and continue for five days. The course, which has been adapted to the purpose at a great outlay, is about a mile from the town; and a very elegant and commodious stand has been erected at the expense of the corporation, who for many years gave an annual plate of £50, and a subscription of £42 towards the stakes, subsequently increased to about £400, and in 1841 to £1000, per annum, apportioned to various stakes by the stewards: there is also Her Majesty's plate of £105. A bettingroom was erected in 1826; it is of the Ionic order, 90 feet in length, and 22 feet broad, lighted in the day-time by spacious domes, and at night with gas introduced into three brilliant chandeliers of richly cut glass. A new club-room connected with the races, an elegant building in the Italian style, was erected in 1841.
But little either of trade or manufacture is carried on here: there are two or three iron-foundries, a sacking and twist factory, but not on a very extensive scale, and a flax-spinning factory. The traffic arises chiefly from the situation of the town, in the midst of a fine rural plain, on the line of the great thoroughfare from London to Edinburgh; and though the Midland railway, which passes within five miles of the place, has much impaired the latter source of gain, Doncaster has compensating advantages, namely, the almost total absence of manufactures, and its position in a district abounding with pleasing and richly diversified scenery, which combine to render it the favourite residence of numerous opulent and highly respectable families. Over the Don are, Friar's-bridge, erected by the corporation in 1614, and since widened, and ornamented with handsome iron balustrades; and the Mill-bridge, which was rebuilt in 1782. From both of these a long causeway has been constructed, to obviate the inconvenience arising from the occasional overflow of the waters. The river is navigable to Sheffield, and affords facilities of conveyance for articles of commerce in vessels of from 50 to 60 tons' burthen, to Hull, London, and other towns, from which timber, grocery, and other supplies are received in return. A canal from Isabel-Wath to Docken-Hill, with an iron bridge in French-gate, was formed in 1843. The great railway from London to York will pass by the town. The market is on Saturday, and is abundantly supplied with corn and with provisions of all kinds; there is also a market for wool, which commences on the second Saturday in June, and is continued every succeeding Saturday till the 6th of August. Fairs are held on Feb. 2nd, April 5th, Aug. 5th, and Nov. 16th, for cattle, horses, sheep, and woollen-cloths. The market-place occupies a spacious area, nearly in the centre of the town; and the market for poultry, eggs, butter, and also for vegetables and fruit, is held in an octagonal building, erected also by the corporation: new market-buildings were commenced in 1846. A covered corn-market was built in 1843.
The borough was first incorporated by charter of Richard I., which was confirmed and enlarged by several subsequent monarchs, of whom Charles II., in the 16th of his reign, granted a charter vesting the government in a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four capital burgesses, assisted by a recorder, town-clerk, and other officers. By the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., the governing body now consists of a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors: the borough is divided into three wards; the number of magistrates is eight. The freedom is inherited by birth, with restriction to the eldest son; or obtained by seven years' apprenticeship within the borough. The total value of the corporate property was estimated, in 1730, at £26,823, and in 1830 at £312,428. The recorder, who is appointed by the crown, holds quarterly courts of session for the trial of all offences not capital, and a court of record for the recovery of debts to any amount. The sessions for the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill are held here at Christmas; and there is a court of petty-sessions for the borough every Monday by the borough magistrates, and every Saturday by the county magistrates for the lower division of the wapentake. The powers of the county debtcourt of Doncaster, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Doncaster. The mansion-house, erected in 1748 at an expense of £8000, enlarged in 1800 at an additional cost of £4000, and further improved afterwards, is an elegant structure of the composite order; the front is embellished with duplicated columns rising from a rustic basement, and supporting an entablature and cornice, above which is an attic surmounted by the municipal arms in the centre, and urns on each side. The principal room is decorated with a full-length portrait of George III. in his coronation robes, and with portraits of the third Earl Fitzwilliam and the Marquess of Rockingham, in their parliamentary robes, presented by the earl to the corporation; in the dining-room is a well-painted portrait of Edward Chorley, M.D., in his robes of office as mayor. The old town-hall, lately pulled down, occupied the site of the ancient church of St. Mary Magdalene, of which the nave and chancel were in 1575 converted into rooms for holding the courts. The first stone of a new town-hall was laid in February 1847; the edifice is of the Corinthian order, is built of stone, and is 63 feet wide in front, with a depth of 152 feet. The borough gaol built in 1778 has been also removed, and a new one erected on the radiating principle.
The parish comprises 8351 acres, whereof 328 are common or waste. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £32. 19. 9.; net income, £150, with a good glebe-house; patron, the Archbishop of York, whose tithes, as appropriator, have been commuted for £1805. 2., and who has a glebe of 40 acres. The church is a spacious cruciform structure, and, with the exception of the chancel, which is of great antiquity, is in the later English style, with a lofty embattled tower rising from the intersection of the nave and transepts to the height of 151 feet, crowned with pinnacles, and strengthened by buttresses enriched with canopies of elegant design. The whole of the exterior is highly enriched: the west window, of large dimensions, is filled with beautiful tracery; and the south porch is of peculiar elegance, and richly sculptured. The interior is less elaborately embellished: the nave is lighted by a range of nine clerestory windows, and the roof supported on octangular columns; the window of the chancel is ornamented with figures of the prophets and apostles in stained glass, inserted at a cost of £1000, by T. J. L. Baker, Esq. In the transepts were several chantries, and there are numerous altar-tombs and monuments in various parts of the church, several of which were mutilated during the time of Cromwell, when the ancient stained glass was broken, and many of the sculptures destroyed: in the area under the tower are the monuments of Robin of Doncaster, and Thomas Ellis, five times mayor of the borough, and founder of the hospital of St. Thomas. Christ-church was erected in 1829, at the expense of the late J. Jarratt, Esq., who gave £10,000 for its erection, and £3000 towards its endowment; it is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, surmounted by a slender and graceful spire, which, being injured by lightning in 1836, was partially taken down and rebuilt by subscription. The edifice contains 1000 sittings, of which 300 are free; and is situated in an area of about two acres. The living is a district perpetual curacy; net income, £198; patrons, the Trustees of Mr. Jarratt. At Balby is a third incumbency. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, and Unitarians, and a Roman Catholic chapel.
The free grammar school was founded soon after the dissolution of monasteries, and the endowment considerably augmented by Aldermen Ellis and Symkinson with property vested in the corporation, who pay the master a salary of £120: there is a scholarship of £10 per annum in Jesus College, Cambridge, belonging to the school, the master of which is appointed by trustees. St. Thomas's Hospital was erected in 1588, for the support of six poor housekeepers, by Thomas Ellis, who endowed it with an estate then yielding £10, but now £400, per annum. The savings' bank, built in 1843, is a chaste structure of rotunda form. The poor law union comprises 54 parishes or places, with a population of 32,400: a commodious workhouse, a plain brick building with pointed gables, was erected in 1840, near the site of the ancient hospital of St. James. Mr. Quintin Kay, of Ludgate-hill, London, in 1804 bequeathed £2000 three per cent., and £6000 four per cent., Bank annuities, producing £300 per annum, which are chiefly applied to the relief of reduced housekeepers above 50 years of age, and in apprenticing children. Among the religious establishments of this place were the hospitals of St. James and St. Nicholas, founded in the reign of Henry III. for lepers; a house of Grey friars, established in 1315, the foundations of which have been recently discovered in excavating for a canal; and a house of Black friars, of which the founder is unknown.
Donhead (St. Andrew)
DONHEAD (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Tisbury, hundred of Dunworth, Hindon and S. divisions of Wilts, 4 miles (E. N. E.) from Shaftesbury; containing 900 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the river Don, from which it takes its name; and comprises 3540a. 3r. 13p., whereof about 1400 acres are arable, 1000 meadow, 300 woodland, and the remainder down and common. There are quarries of grey sandstone, of good quality for building, and from which was raised the stone for the erection of the church. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. William Dansey. The tithes have been commuted for £725, of which the rector of Donhead St. Mary receives £33; the rector of this parish receives also £52 for land in the parish of St. Mary. The glebe comprises 167 acres. The church, a handsome structure in the decorated English style, has been partly rebuilt. There is a school in union with the National Society, endowed with £11 per annum by the Rev. William Bowles, a former rector. On the western side of the village, on the summit of Tittle-path hill, is an old earthwork called Castle Ring, inclosing an area of 15½ acres.
Donhead (St. Mary)
DONHEAD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Tisbury, hundred of Dunworth, Hindon and S. divisions of Wilts, 3½ miles (E. N. E.) from Shaftesbury; containing 1596 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Don, and on the road from London to Exeter; and comprises 5538a. 3r. 3p., whereof 101 acres are common or waste: there are quarries of sandstone, of which most of the houses in the parish are built. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £30. 14. 4½., and in the gift of New College, Oxford, with the exception of the next presentation, retained for his son by the incumbent, the Rev. Richard Blackmore, to whom the whole patronage previously belonged: the tithes have been commuted for £1050, and the glebe is 70 acres. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style. A chapel of ease, dedicated to St. John, has been built by subscription, aided by grants from the Incorporated Society, to replace a chapel supposed to have been built during the heptarchy. There are places of worship for Presbyterians and Primitive Methodists. Donhead Hall was the residence of Sir Godfrey Kneller, the celebrated portrait-painter, who was born and buried here; and also of Judge Jeffries.
Donington (St. Mary and the Holy Rood)
DONINGTON (St. Mary and the Holy Rood), a market-town and parish, in the union of Spalding, wapentake of Kirton, parts of Holland, county of Lincoln, 32 miles (S. E. by S.) from Lincoln, and 108 (N.) from London; containing, with the hamlet of Northorpe, 2026 inhabitants. This was the scene of a memorable battle between the royalists commanded by Col. Cavendish, and the parliamentarians, in 1643, when the former obtained a signal victory. Donington is situated in the Fen district, through which passes a road from Bridge-End, in the parish of Horbling, to this town, between which places the low lands were usually inundated; it was originally raised by the Romans, and is now the turnpike-road to Bourn and Grantham. The town has a clean and cheerful appearance, and consists principally of three streets, meeting in a spacious market-place. Two canals, navigable for barges, and called respectively Blacksluice and Hammond-Beck, intersect the parish, and in their course drain more than 63,000 acres of land. The market is on Saturday: fairs are held on the 26th of May and 17th of October, for horses, horned-cattle, pigs, and toys; and there is another fair, for cattle only, on the 4th of September. The parish comprises 5469a. 1r. 22p.; the soil is in some parts a very rich loam, in others inclining to clay, and the surface is generally level.
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 17. 3½.; net income, £126; patron, the Rev. J. Wilson: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1785. The church is in the later English style, with a highly enriched tower, crowned with embattled pinnacles, and surmounted by a lofty and elegant octagonal spire; the whole forming an interesting and conspicuous object. There are places of worship for Particular Baptists and Wesleyans. In 1721, Mr. Thomas Cowley bequeathed 734 acres of land and the manor of Wyke, now producing more than £1300 per annum, for the endowment of a school, to be under the management of eleven trustees, and for other charitable uses. There are at present schools for children of five years of age, and others for boys and girls of more advanced age; they are open to all the children of the parish, 60 of the boys and girls are clothed, and on leaving school some boys are placed out as apprentices: the schoolrooms are handsome buildings. On the same foundation are seventeen old pensioners, who receive each a weekly allowance of six shillings, and a suit of clothes and a chaldron of coal annually; and 52 threepenny loaves are distributed every Sunday after divine service to the poor. There are some smaller charitable bequests.