Basingstoke

BASINGSTOKE, a market-town and municipal borough of Hampshire, England, 48 m. W.S.W. from London by the London & South-Western railway; served also by a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 9793. The church of St Michael and All Angels is a fine specimen of a late Perpendicular building (principally of the time of Henry VIII.). The chapel of the Holy Ghost is a picturesque ruin, standing in an ancient cemetery, built for the use of the local gild of the Holy Ghost which was founded in 1525, but flourished for less than a century. Close to the neighbouring village of Old Basing are remains of Basing House, remarkable as the scene of the stubborn opposition of John, fifth marquess of Winchester, to Cromwell, by whom it was taken after a protracted siege in 1645. A castle occupied its site from Norman times. Numerous prehistoric relics have been discovered in the district, and a large circular encampment is seen at Winklebury Hill. Basingstoke has considerable agricultural trade, and brewing, and the manufacture of agricultural implements, and of clothing, are carried on. The Basingstoke canal, which connects the town with the river Wey and so with the Thames, was opened about 1794, but lost its trade owing to railway competition. It was offered for sale by auction unsuccessfully in 1904, but was bought in 1905. The municipal borough is under a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors. Area, 4195 acres.

Basingstoke is a town of great antiquity, and excavations have brought to light undoubted traces of Roman occupation. The first recorded historical event relating to the town is a victory won here by Æthelred and Alfred over the Danes in 871. According to the Domesday survey it had always been a royal manor, and comprised three mills and a market. A charter from Henry III. in 1256 granted to the men of Basingstoke the manor and hundred of that name and certain other privileges, which were confirmed by Edward III., Henry V. and Henry VI. As compensation for loss sustained by a serious fire, Richard II. in 1392 granted to the men of Basingstoke the rights of a corporation and a common seal.

A charter from James I. dated 1622 instituted two bailiffs, fourteen capital burgesses, four justices of the peace, a high steward and under steward, two serjeants-at-mace and a court of record. Charles I. in 1641 changed the corporation to a mayor, seven aldermen and seven burgesses. Basingstoke returned two members to parliament in 1295, 1302 and 1306, but no writs are extant after this date. In 1202-1203 the market day was changed from Sunday to Monday, but in 1214 was transferred to Wednesday, and has not since been changed. Henry VI. granted a fair at Whitsun to be held near the chapel of the Holy Ghost. The charter from James I. confirmed another fair at the feast of St Michael the Archangel, and that of Charles I. granted two fairs on Basingstoke Down at Easter and on the 10th and 11th of September.

The wool trade flourished in Basingstoke at an early date, but later appears to have declined, and in 1631 the clothiers of Basingstoke were complaining of the loss of trade and consequent distress.

Barking

BARKING, a market-town in the Romford parliamentary division of Essex, England, on the river Roding near its junction with the Thames, 8 m. E. of Fenchurch Street station and Liverpool Street station, London, by the London, Tilbury & Southend and Great Eastern railways. Pop. of urban district of Barking town (1891) 14,301; (1901) 21,547. The church of St Margaret is Norman with perpendicular additions, and contains many monuments of interest. Barking was celebrated for its nunnery, one of the oldest and richest in England, founded about 670 by Erkenwald, bishop of London, and restored in 970 by King Edgar, about a hundred years after its destruction by the Danes. The abbess was a baroness ex officio, and the revenue at the dissolution of the monasteries was £1084. There remains a perpendicular turreted gateway. There is also an ancient market-house, used as a town-hall. Victoria Gardens form a public pleasure-ground, and there are recreation grounds. The Gaslight and Coke Company's works at Beckton are in the parish, and also extensive rubber works. At the mouth of the Roding (Barking Creek) are great sewage works, receiving the Northern Outfall sewer from London. There are also chemical works, and some shipping trade, principally in timber and fish. Barking is a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of St Albans.

English Towns: Bromsgrove

BROMSGROVE, a market town in the Eastern parliamentary division of Worcestershire, England, 12 m. N.N.E. of Worcester, with a station 1 m. from the town on the Bristol-Birmingham line of the Midland railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 8418. It lies in a pleasant undulating district near the foot of the Lickey Hills, to surmount which the railway towards Birmingham here ascends for 2 m. one of the steepest gradients in England over such a distance. There remain several picturesque half-timbered houses, dating from 1572 and later. The church of St John is a fine building, Perpendicular and earlier in date, picturesquely placed on an elevation above the town, with a lofty tower and spire. There are a well-known grammar-school, founded by Edward VI., with university scholarships; a college school, a literary institute, and a school of art. Birmingham Sanatorium stands in the parish. Cloth was formerly a staple of trade, but manufactures of nails and buttons are now pre-eminent, while the river Salwarpe works a number of mills in the neighbourhood, and near the town are carriage works belonging to the Midland railway.

English Towns: Aylesbury

AYLESBURY, a market-town in the Aylesbury parliamentary division of Buckinghamshire, England, 38 m. N.W. by W. of London; served by the Great Central, Metropolitan and Great Western railways (which use a common station) and by a branch of the London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 9243. It has connexion by a branch with the Grand Junction canal. It lies on a slight eminence in a fertile tract called the Vale of Aylesbury, which extends northward from the foot of the Chiltern Hills. Its streets are mostly narrow and irregular, but picturesque. The church of St Mary, a large cruciform building, is primarily Early English, but has numerous additions of later dates. The font is transitional Norman, a good example; and a small pre-Norman crypt remains beneath part of the church. There are some Decorated canopied tombs, and the chancel stalls are of the 15th century. The central tower is surmounted by an ornate clock-turret dating from the second half of the 17th century. The county-hall and town-hall, overlooking a broad market-place, are the principal public buildings. The grammar school was founded in 1611. Aylesbury is the assize town for the county, though Buckingham is the county town. There is a large agricultural trade, the locality being especially noted for the rearing of ducks; straw-plaiting and the manufacture of condensed milk are carried on, and there are printing works. The Jacobean mansion of Hartwell in the neighbourhood of Aylesbury was the residence of the French king Louis XVIII. during his exile (1810-1814).

Aylesbury (Æylesburge, Eilesberia, Aillesbir) was famous in Saxon times as the supposed burial-place of St Osith. In A.D. 571 it was one of the towns captured by Cuthwulf, brother of Ceawlin, king of the Saxons. At the time of the Domesday survey the king owned the manor. In 1554, by a charter from Queen Mary, bestowed as a reward for fidelity during the rebellion of the duke of Northumberland, Aylesbury was constituted a free borough corporate, with a common council consisting of a bailiff, 10 aldermen and 12 chief burgesses. The borough returned two members to parliament from this date until the Redistribution Act of 1885, but the other privileges appear to have lapsed in the reign of Elizabeth. Aylesbury evidently had a considerable market from very early times, the tolls being assessed at the time of Edward the Confessor at £25 and at the time of the Domesday survey at £10. In 1239 Henry III. made a grant to John, son of Geoffrey FitzPeter of an annual fair at the feast of St Osith (June 3rd), which was confirmed by Henry VI. in 1440. Queen Mary's charter instituted a Wednesday market and fairs at the feasts of the Annunciation and the Invention of the Holy Cross. In 1579 John Pakington obtained a grant of two annual fairs to be held on the day before Palm Sunday and on the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, and a Monday market for the sale of horses and other animals, grain and merchandise.

Brixham

BRIXHAM, a seaport and market town in the Torquay parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, 33 m. S. of Exeter, on a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 8092. The town is irregularly built on the cliffs to the south of Torbay, and its harbour is sheltered by a breakwater. Early in the 19th century it was an important military post, with fortified barracks on Berry Head. It is the headquarters of the Devonshire sea-fisheries, having also a large coasting trade. Shipbuilding and the manufacture of ropes, paint and sails are industries. There is excellent bathing, and Brixham is in favour as a seaside resort. St Mary's, the ancient parish church, has an elaborate 14th-century font and some monuments of interest. At the British Seamen's Orphans' home boys are fed, clothed and trained as apprentices for the merchant service. A statue commemorates the landing, in 1688, of William of Orange.

Brixham Cave, called also Windmill Hill Cavern, is a well-known ossiferous cave situated near Brixham, on the brow of a hill composed of Devonian limestone. It was discovered by chance in 1858, having been until then hermetically sealed by a mass of limestone breccia. Dr Hugh Falconer with the assistance of a committee of geologists excavated it.

Abergavenny

ABERGAVENNY, a market town and municipal borough in the northern parliamentary division of Monmouthshire, England, 14 m. W. of Monmouth on the Great Western and the London and North-Western railways. Pop. (1901) 7795. It is situated at the junction of a small stream cailed the Gavenny with the river Usk; and the site, almost surrounded by lofty hills, is very beautiful.

The town was formerly walled, and has the remains of a castle built soon after the conquest, frequently the scene of border strife. The church of St Mary belonged originally to a Benedictine monastery founded early in the 12th century. The existing building, however, is Decorated and Perpendicular, and contains a fine series of memorials of dates from the 13th to the 17th century. There is a free grammar school, which till 1857 had a fellowship at Jesus College, Oxford. Breweries, ironworks, quarries, brick fields and collieries in the neighborhood are among the principal industrial establishments. Abergavenny was incorporated in 1899, and is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 825 acres.

This was the Roman Gobannium, a small fort guarding the road along the valley of the Usk and ensuring quiet among the hill tribes. There is practically no trace of this fort. Abergavenny (Bergavenny) grew up under the protection of the lords of Abergavenny, whose title dated from William I. Owing to its situation, the town was frequently embroiled in the border warfare of the 12th and 13th centuries, and Giraldus Cambrensis relates how in 1173 the castle was seized by the Welsh. Hamelyn de Baalun, first lord of Abergavenny, founded the Benedictine priory, which was subsequently endowed by William de Braose with a tenth of the profits of the castle and town. At the dissolution of the priory part of this endowment went towards the foundation of a free grammar school, the site itself passing to the Gunter family. During the Civil War prior to the siege of Ragban Castle in 1645, Charles I. visited Abergavenny, and presided in person over the trial of Sir Trevor Williams and other parliamentarians.

In 1639 Abergavenny received a charter of incorporation under the title of bailiff and burgesses. A charter with extended privileges was drafted in 1657, but appears never to have been enrolled or to have come into effect.

Owing to the refusal of the chief officers of the corporation to take the oath of allegiance to William III. in 1688, the charter was annulling, and the town subsequently declined in prosperity. The act of 27 Henry VIII., which provided that Monmouth, as county town, should return one burgess to parliament, further stated that other ancient Monmouthshire boroughs were to contribute towards the payment of the member. In consequence of this clause Abergavenny on various occasions shared in the election, the last instance being in 1685. Reference to a market at Abergavenny is found in a charter granted to the prior by William de Braose (d. 1211). The right to hold two weekly markets and three yearly fairs, as hitherto held, was confirmed in 1657.

Abergavenny was celebrated for the production of Welsh flannel, and also for the manufacture, whilst the fashion prevailed, of periwigs of goats, hair.

Barton-Upon-Humber

BARTON-UPON-HUMBER, a market town in the N. Lindsey or Brigg parliamentary division of Lincolnshire, England, the terminus of a branch of the Great Central railway, 44 m. N. by E. of Lincoln. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5671. It lies beneath low hills, on flat ground bordering the Humber, but the centre of the town is a mile from the river. The church of St Peter has a remarkable west tower of pre-Conquest workmanship, excepting the early Norman top storey. Against the western face is a low building of the date of the lower tower-storeys, measuring 15 ft. by 12, with rude, deeply-splayed windows. The tower itself is arcaded in the two lower storeys, having round arches in the lower and triangular in the upper, and there is a round-headed S. doorway and a triangular-headed N. doorway. The rest of the church is Decorated and Perpendicular. The church of St Mary is fine Early English with Perpendicular clerestory. Industries include brick-making, malting, and rope-making. Barton appears in Domesday, when the ferry over the Humber existed. As a port, moreover, it subsequently rose into some importance, for it was able to supply eight ships and men to the expedition of Edward III. to Brittany.