Camden's Britannia newly translated into English, with large additions and improvements ; publish'd by Edmund Gibson ...

ADDITIONS to WARWICKSHIRE.

THIS County at first sight should promise a considerable stock of Antiquities, being almost encompass'd with old Roman ways, which generally afford us the largest trea∣sure. Watlingstreet runs along the East-part, Ykenild∣street upon the West, and both are cut by the Foss, crossing it from South-west to North-east. And had but Sir William Dugdale took the liberty of making larger digressions of that kind, either in the body of his work, as such places lay in his way, or in the method which Dr. Plott has since us'd, making such Antiquities an Appendix to his elaborate work; we should probably have found the discoveries an∣swerable to the appearance, and that those ways would have contributed the same assistance to that search, as they do in other Counties. I dare not call it an omissi∣on, because it did not so directly fall under his de∣sign; but if it were, those many excellent digressions he has given us concerning the nature and difference of Monastick orders, consecrations of Churches, and such like, would make ample satisfaction. However, since we cannot compass the whole, let us be content with what we have; and accompany Mr. Camden to the several parts of this County.

[a] Only, we must premise something of the con∣dition of its two general branches, Feldon, and Wood land. That the first was once exceeding populous, may certainly be inferr'd from the numbers of villa∣ges enter'd in Domesday, the situation whereof are now known only by their ruins, or at most by a cot∣tage or two of a Shepherd's, who ranges over and manages as much ground as would have employ'd a dozen Teems, and maintain'd forty or fifty families. The reason of converting so much Tillage into Pa∣sture in this part, seems to be the great progress the Woodlanders have made in Agriculture, by which means the County began to want Pasture. For the Iron-works in the Counties round, destroy'd such prodigious quantities of wood, that they quickly lay the Country a little open, and by degrees made room for the plough. Whereupon the Inhabitants, partly by their own industry, and partly by the assistance of Marle, and of other useful contrivances, have turn'd so much of Wood and Heath-land into Tillage and Pasture, that they produce corn, cattel, cheese, and butter enough, not only for their own use, but also to furnish other Counties; whereas, within the memory of man, they were supply'd with Corn, &c. from the Feldon.

[b] Feldon is recommended for the delicate pro∣spect it affords from Edge-hill;* 1.1 but Edge-hill it self is since become much more considerable for that signal battel fought there between the King and Parliament, Sept. 9. 1642. The generality of our Historians com∣pute the number of the slain to have been five or six thousand, but by the survey taken by Mr. Fisher, Vi∣car of Kineton (who was appointed by the Earl of Essex for that purpose) the list of the slain amounted only to thirteen hundred and odd.

On the Noth-east corner of Edge-hill stands Ratley,* 1.2 call'd falsly by our Author Rodley, it never appearing under that name: only in Domesday-book it is in∣deed call'd Rotelei. The fortification he mentions, is not round, but quadrangular, and contains about 12 acres. Near which within our memory, were found a sword of brass, and a battle-ax: something of this kind our Author observes to have been discover'd at the foot of St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall.

The shape of the horse mention'd by our Author is on the side of Edge-hill; and the trenches that form it are cleans'd and kept open by a neighbour∣ing Freeholder, who holds lands by that service.

[c] Kineton* 1.3 cannot be (as Mr. Camden would have it) deriv'd from its market of kine, because Henry 1. gave this Church under the name of Chinton to the Canons of Kenilworth,* 1.4 whereas the market was not granted till 4 Henr. 3. But 'tis probable it had that name from being the possession of the Kings, parti∣cularly, of Edward the Confessor or William the Conquerour. And to the North-west of the town, at the point of a hill, still call'd Castle-hill, there has been a Castle (as appears by a little mount cast up, and a broad and deep ditch round it,) where tradition says King John kept his Court: a Spring also at the foot of the hill goes at this day by the name of King John's well.

North-east from Kineton is Chadshunt,* 1.5 one of the 24 towns given by Leofrick Earl of Mercia to the Monastery of Coventry; in his Charter call'd Chad∣desleyhunt, and in Domesday Cedesleshunte. 'Tis pro∣bable it had that name from S. Chadde, call'd also Cedde, and Ceadde. For in the Chapel yard was an ancient Oratory, and in it (as the Inhabitants report) the Image of St. Chadde; by reason of the resort of Pilgrims worth 16 l. per An. to the Priest.* 1.6 Here is also a Well or Spring, that still retains the name of Chad's-well.

Not far from hence is Nether Ealendon,* 1.7 which ma∣nour was held of Henry de Ferrers at the time of the Conquest, and continues at this day in the hands of his posterity of the male-line; such an uninterrupted succession of owners for so many ages, as we seldom meet with. Till Henry the third's time it was their principal seat: then removing into Derbyshire, they took the name of Shirley, and the present Lord of this place is Sir Robert Shirley, Baronet.

[d] More Eastward stands Wormleighton,* 1.8 of which place Mr. Camden tells us Robert Spenser was created Ba∣ron by K. James 1.* 1.9 Dugdale also says that Sir Robert Spenser, son to Sir John, (and not Sir John, as it is in some Editions of our Author) was he upon whom K. James 1. on the 21th of July, and first year of his reign, con∣ferr'd the dignity of a Baron under the title of Lord Spenser of Wormleighton: whose grandson Henry Lord Spenser being advanc'd by K. Charles the first to the title of Earl of Sunderland, and in arms for that Prince in the late civil wars, lost his life in the first battel of Newbury.

[e] Next we go forward to Long-Ichingdon,* 1.10 so call'd from the river Ichene on which it stands;† 1.11 and me∣morable for the birth of S. Wolstan the famous Bishop of Worcester; who being educated in the Abbey of Peterburrow, was shorn a Monk in the Monastery at Worcester, and afterwards became Bishop of the place An. 1060. upon the removal of Aldred to the See of York. This town was anciently one of the chief of this County, as appears by the large number of hides it contain'd in the Conquerour's Survey, and by its being rank'd in the number of those few, which in 15 Hen. 2. were put under the title De auxilio villa∣rum & burgorum ad maritandam filiam Regis, whereun∣to the inhabitants hereof paid C. shillings.

[f] From hence to the South-west lyes Chesterton,* 1.12 which shows a threefold evidence of its antiquity; the first it carries in the name; for the Saxon Ceaster, and so our Chester, comes plainly from the Roman Castrum, and is not originally a German word, but us'd by them here in England after the Romans had left it. And this is plain from Mr. Burton's observa∣tion, That he never found the termination added to any places, but such only where the Romans had built their Castra. The second mark, is its nearness to the Roman Foss, upon which 'tis evident that at con∣venient distances, places of entertainment were built for the reception of the Armies in their march. The third token is, that in the compass within which the Roman building is suppos'd to have stood, several old coins have been digg'd up. And these three argu∣ments amount to little less than a demonstration of its Roman antiquity.

[g] Let us now return to the East-part, and follow the course of the river Avon; upon which we first meet with Rugby,* 1.13 in Domesday-book written Roche∣bery, which name‖ 1.14 Sir William Dugdale derives from a Roche, a rock or quarrey of stone, For such (says he) there is westward from this town about half a mile;

and 'tis very like that the ground whereon the town stands being high, is of the same condition. There was former∣ly at it a little castle, which stood about a furlong from the Church northwards, as is to be seen by the banks of earth, and part of the moat yet remaining. The fore-cited Author is of opinion that it was built in the time of King Stephen, who fearing an inva∣sion from the Empress, granted leave to the Nobili∣ty to build every man his castle within his own grounds.

Not far from Rugby is Brounsover,* 1.15 upon the East-bank of the river Swift; in the original whereof (as also of many other names of the same termination) I must crave leave to dissent from Sir William Dugdale, who tells us that over us'd upon those occasions, sig∣nifies always supra, above, over, or higher. And where it has nether answering it in the name of a place at some little distance, the case is plain; but whenever such a place stands upon a river, I think it is more natural to fetch it from the Saxon ofre, ripa, a bank, which as it is suited to the condition of the place, so does it prevent the absurdity of laying down a relative name without a correlative to answer it. This conjecture will, I am confident, approve it self by instances in most Counties in England, as it does particularly in Warwickshire.

More towards the West we find Stretton,* 1.16 so nam'd from its situation upon that Stratum or Street of the Romans call'd the Foss. There is another place of this name not far from Stow in Lincolnshire, which like∣wise stands upon a Roman Causey; and that name, wheresoever it occurs throughout this kingdom, seems to have the same original: which observation may perhaps now and then be of use to persons of curio∣sity, whose inclinations lead them to the tracing out of such ways.

Going along with the Foss towards Leicestershire, at a little distance from it,* 1.17 is Monks-kirkby, where are certain tokens of a Roman station. For by digging the ground near the Church, there have been discover'd the foundations of old walls and Roman bricks. There are also three or four heaps of earth in an adjoyning pasture, apparently the monu∣ments or Sepulture of some military persons in those days: which badges are sufficient to prove, that it hath been a place of note many hundreds of years since. But what my Author adds; And it may very well be, that those materials for building, by reason of the ruins before mention'd, so ready at hand, became a spe∣cial motive to that renown'd Lady Aethelfleda (so much taken notice of by our old Historians, and stil'd Mercio∣rum Domina) to begin the structure of this place. This (I say) I cannot agree to for two reasons; the first, because that place is call'd in Saxon Cyricbyrig, and I have never observ'd that their byrig passes into our modern by or bie; nor is this termination the same with byrig (as Sir William Dugdale intimates) which comes from beorg, collis, and includes in its significa∣tion a rising ground, such as their forts were generally built upon; whereas the other implies no more than a bare dwelling place, without any respect to the si∣tuation, and is (if I mistake not) of Danish original, by meaning the very same thing in the old Islandick. My second reason is, that another place offers it self with a greater colour of probability. It is Chirbury on the West-part of Shropshire, which as it retains the old name, so lying upon the frontiers of the king∣dom of Mercia, and not far from the Severn, it seems to me a much more proper place than the other.

Next is Warwick,* 1.18 in the description whereof our Author has been very particular, as to matters of Antiquity; but has left us little concerning its situa∣tion, tho' that be pretty singular. It stands on a hill, which is one entire rock of free-stone; out of whose bowels were wrought all the publick buildings that adorn it. Each of the four ways to it (answering the four points) lead you by a Religious house, through a rock, and through streets which all meet in the cen∣tre of the town. The wells and cellars are made in the rock; and the descent every way keeps it clean. Under it, on the South, is a fruitful Champain Country; on the North are groves, woods, and parks.

[i] The Castle is now made a most noble and de∣lightful seat: the height of the solid rock from the river on which it stands, is 40 foot, but on the North side it stands even with the town, which particularly is adorn'd with two publick buildings, a County-hall and a Market-house; and is now supply'd with water brought in pipes from Springs at half a miles di∣stance.

[k] Besides the monuments of the Beauchamps, the Church of St. Mary is honour'd with those of Robert and Ambrose Dudley Earls of Leicester. On the north side also of the Quire, in an octangular room (for∣merly the Chapter-house) is a stately monument (black and white marble) of Fulk Lord Brook, ere∣cted by himself in his life-time, and circumscrib'd with this Epitaph: Fulk-Grevil, servant to Queen Eli∣zabeth, Counsellor to King James, and friend to Sir Phi∣lip Sidney. Trophaeum Peccati. In the Church it self lies John Rous, a native of this place, and Chantry-priest of Guy's Cliff. Sir William Dugdale calls him a famous Antiquary; and Leland and Bale give him a character as ample, when they tell us, he had devo∣ted himself wholly to the study and search of Anti∣quities, particularly of this his native place; and to that end had view'd and examin'd most Libraries in England. Here lies also John Cartwright (first Ma∣ster of the Earl of Leicester's Hospital) whom Mr. Camden in his Elizabeth stiles Inter Puritanos An∣tesignanus.

[l] The story of the famous Guy of this place is so much obscur'd by fables and Romances, that 'tis diffi∣cult to determine how far it ought to be credited. 'Tis certain however, that some Centuries since, the greatest of the Earls of Warwick have paid a mighty veneration to his memory. William Beauchamp call'd his eldest son after him, Guy; Thomas, by his last will, bequeath'd the Sword and Coat of Mail of this Guy, to his son; another Christen'd a younger son by the name of his successor, and dedicated to him a no∣ble Tower, the walls whereof are 10 foot thick; the circumference 126, the height from the bottom of the ditch upward, 113 foot. Another left a Suit of Arras, wherein were wrought the heroick Acts of Guy, as an heirloom to his family. Lastly, his sword and other Accoutrements, now to be seen in the Castle, were by Patent 1 Hen. 8. granted to William Hoggeson Yeoman of the Buttery, with the see of two pence per diem for that service. Whether it was the example of this Heroe that put a spirit in his succes∣sors, I know not; but we find by our Histories, that from the Conquest to the death of Ambrose Dudley, there was scarce any one considerable scene of action, wherein the Earls of Warwick made not a great figure.

Two miles below Warwick is Barford,* 1.19 where there is still living one Samuel Fairfax, born in the year 1647. who when he was 12 years of age, dwelt under the same roof and eat at the same table with his father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, great grandfather and great grandmother; who all liv'd very happily together: and none of the three gene∣rations of either sex had been twice marry'd.

[m] Then the Avon runs to Stratford, given by Ethelardus a Viceroy of Worcestershire, to the Bishop∣rick of Worcester, 300 years before the Conquest. The Church was Collegiate, and the College is still standing: in the Chancel lies William Shakespear, a native of this place, who has given proof of his genius and great abilities, in the 48 Plays he has left behind him. The stone that covers him has this Inscription:

Good friend, for Jesus sake, forbear To dig the dust inclosed here. Blest be the man who spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.

[n] From hence we are carry'd by the same river to the Arrow,* 1.20 which runs into this a little below Bit∣ford. I was once of opinion that it was this river the Danes sail'd up when they had a design upon the kingdom of Mercia; being induc'd to it by the com∣mon conjecture, and the similitude of Arƿan the an∣cient

name and Arrow the present. What made it yet more plausible, was, the reading of Florence of Worcester and Hovden, wherein I find the same ri∣ver call'd Arewe. But upon weighing the circum∣stances of that action, I found a necessity of quitting my opinion, tho' without the good fortune of meet∣ing with any other place where I could safely settle it. For first, Arrow rises in Worcestershire, and does not run long before it joyns it self to the Avon, being no way so considerable as to be capable of carrying ves∣sels, tho' very small. Then the history tells us, they went out of the Thames, and after they had compass'd their design, brought the spoil into the river Medway in Kent; which makes it very probable, that this place was not at so great a distance as Warwickshire. What if we should say that Orwel, a good large river which parts Essex and Suffolk, was the place. 'Tis more than probable, that this initial Or was for∣merly Ar, because that change has been very usual, and at the side of this river is a place call'd Arwerton; and why may not Harwich have been formerly call'd Arƿic, and not Hereƿpic, as Camden imagines, who very often sets down Saxon names without the autho∣rity of Records, unless he had some which I could never yet see. If this conjecture seem a little too much strain'd, why may not the reading of the Sa∣xon Annals, into Arƿan, be false for to Arƿan, and so that name rather denote the place whither they went, than the river? Nothing is more common in ancient Copies than such errors; and if Arƿan may be changed into Waran, the river may be Lee, and and the place Ware. But these are bare conjectures, to which I cannot reasonably challenge any man's po∣sitive assent.

[o] Leaving the Avon, and following the river Arrow, we first meet with Alcester;* 1.21* 1.22 the termination whereof tempts us to expect something of Antiquity. It's situation likewise upon the Roman way Ykenild street, raises our expectation yet higher; and upon the authority of Sir William Dugdale (who tells us that old foundations of buildings, Roman bricks, and coins both of gold, silver, and brass, have been fre∣quently found there) we need not scruple to affirm that this was formerly a Roman Station. About fifty years ago, in an old foundation where they were digging a Cellar, there was an urn taken up, with 600 and odd pieces of Roman coin in it; eight of them gold, and the rest silver. Most of them are of Roman Emperours, and the Reverses generally diffe∣rent. They fell to the right honourable the Lord Brooke, as Lord of the manour; and are now in the hands of his Lady.

[p] To follow Mr. Camden, let us next go to Kenelworth,* 1.23 or Killingworth, which pass'd from Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester to Sir Robert Dudley his na∣tural son, who sold it to Prince Henry; and he dying without issue, it came into the hands of Prince Charles, who committed the custody of it to Robert Earl of Monmouth, Henry Lord Carey his eldest son, and Tho. Carey Esquire; the inheritance whereof is granted to Lawrence Viscount Hide of this place, and Earl of Rochester. King Edw. 2. was for some time detain'd Prisoner here. They still find balls of stones 16 inches diameter, suppos'd to have been thrown in slings in the times of the Barons wars. Robert Earl of Leicester is said to have laid out 60000 pound in repairing, building, and adorning it. He entertain'd Queen Elizabeth and the Court 17 days, with all the varieties and magnificence both of feast∣ing and shews. In which time he spent 320 hogsheads of ordinary beer, as appears by the accounts of his Steward. The Castle, in the late Civil wars, was demolish'd by those that had purchas'd it of the Par∣liament with design to make money of the materials.

[q] In the utmost Northern bound is Sutton-Cole∣field,* 1.24 where the Earls of Warwick had a Chase of great extent. The market is now almost wholly disused; and the Bishop of Exeter mention'd by our Author, liv'd and dy'd here in the 103. year of his age.

[r] Next is Coleshill,* 1.25 where in an old foundation, was lately, dug up a Roman copper Coin of Trajan's: and not far from it, Blith,* 1.26 memorable for nothing but that it was purchas'd by Sir William Dugdale, and was his place of residence when he compil'd that accu∣rate and elaborate work, his Antiquities of this Coun∣ty.

[s] We come next to Coventry,* 1.27 the walls and towers whereof were demolish'd at the Restoration, by command of King Charles 2. the gates only left standing; by which one may guess at the strength and beauty of the former. Edward 4. for their dis∣loyalty took the Sword from the Mayor, and seiz'd their Liberties and Franchises; which they redeem'd for 500 marks. In memory of Leofric (who dy'd 13 of Edward the Confessor) and Godiva his Coun∣tess, their pictures were set up in the windows Trinity Church, with this Inscription;

I Lurick for the love of thee Do set Coventry toll-free.

And a Procession or Cavilcade is still yearly made in memory of Godiva, with a naked figure, representing her riding on horse-back through the City. They have a stately Cross built (33 Hen. 8.) by Sir William Hollies, sometime Lord Mayor of London, for work∣manship and beauty inferiour to few in England. The City, among other things, is famous for the two Parliaments held in it; the former in the 6 Hen. 4. call'd from the exclusion of the Lawyers Parliamentum indoctorum; the latter in the 38 Hen. 6. from the At∣tainder of Richard Duke of York, the Earls of Salis∣bury, Warwick, and March, call'd by some Parlia∣mentum Diabolicum. Since our Author's time, it hath afforded the title of Earl to George Villiers, created Earl of Coventry and Duke of Buckingham, 18. May 21 Jac. 1. in which honours he was succeeded by his son of the same name.

[t] From Coventry let us pass to Brinklow,* 1.28 famous for an ancient castle.† 1.29 It is, in all probability, old∣er than the Norman Conquest, otherwise our pub∣lick Records, or some other Authorities, would cer∣tainly have taken notice of it. If we should carry it back to the times of the Romans, there are several circumstances which seem to justifie such a conje∣cture. As, the Saxons very often applying their Hleaƿ (from whence our low comes) to such places as were remarkable for the Roman Tumuli; that there is an eminent tumulus, upon which the Keep or Watch-tower of the castle did stand; that it lies upon the Roman Fosse; and is at a convenient di∣stance from the Bennones.

[u] Passing hence northward to the river Anker, on the western bank thereof we find Manceter,* 1.30 con∣firm'd to be the ancient Manduessedum, by divers coyns of silver and brass, which have been by digging and plowing frequently brought to light.

[w] In the same Parish is Oldbury,* 1.31 a place of great antiquity, as appears by a Quadrangular Fort con∣taining seven acres of ground. In the North-part of it, there have been found several flint-stones about four inches in length, curiously wrought by grind∣ing or some such way. The one end is shap'd like the edge of a Pole-ax; and by Sir William Dugdale they are thought to have been weapons us'd by the Britains, before the art of making arms of brass and iron. They must have been brought hither for some extraordinary use, because there are no flints to be found within 40 miles of the place. One of them is now to be seen in Ashmole's Musaeum at Oxford.

[x] On the other side of the river, northward,* 1.32 lies Pollesworth, where Sir Francis Nethersole, a Kentish Gentleman, and sometime publick Orator to the University of Cambridge, at the instance of his La∣dy, built a Free-school; on the front whereof is this Inscription:

Soli Deo Gloria. Schola pauperum Puerorum. Puellarum.

He enseoft six Gentlemen and seven Divines in as much as amounted to 140 l. per annum at the least, for a liberal maintenance of a School-master and School-mistress to teach the children of the Parish. And what remain'd, was to be employ'd in chari∣table

uses, such as he in his life time should think fit, and in default of his own actually disposing of it, left it to the discretion of his Trustees. He likewise he built a fair house for the Vicar of Pollesworth.

[y] Farther North is Seckinton,* 1.33 which as it is me∣morable for the battel between Aethelbald and Beorn∣red, so I may further add that it took its name from that engagement; secce in Saxon signifying battel, and dun (which afterwards was chang'd into ton) a hill. Scarce a furl••ng north of the Church, is a no∣table fort, and near it an artificial hill of 43 foot high.

Notes

• * 1.1

  ••c. ••hill.
• * 1.2

  ••y.
• * 1.3

  ••on.
• * 1.4

  ••••de ••••orth
• * 1.5

  Chadshunt.
• * 1.6

  Inquis. capt. 4. Eliz.
• * 1.7

  Nether Ea∣lendon.
• * 1.8

  Worm∣leighton.
• * 1.9

  Baronage, Tom. 2. p. 418.
• * 1.10

  Long-Ichingdon.
• † 1.11

  Dugda••. p. 230.
• * 1.12

  Chesterton.
• * 1.13

  Rugby.
• ‖ 1.14

  Warwick∣shire, p. 26.
• * 1.15

  Brounsover.
• * 1.16

  Stretton.
• * 1.17

  Dugd. War. p. 50.
• * 1.18

  Warwick.
• * 1.19

  Barf••r••
• * 1.20

  Arrow.
• * 1.21

  ••••celster.
• * 1.22

  D••gd. ••at. p. 568.
• * 1.23

  〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.24

  〈◊〉〈◊〉-••olefield.
• * 1.25

  ••ol••shill.
• * 1.26

  ••••••h.
• * 1.27

  Coventry.
• * 1.28

  Brinklow.
• † 1.29

  Dugd. War. p. 147
• * 1.30

  Manceter.
• * 1.31

  Oldbury.
• * 1.32

  Pollesworth
• * 1.33

  Seckinton.