Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/878

WOOLSTONE. 866 WOOLWICH, car. united with Baulking. The Earl of Craven is lord of the manor. WOOLSTONE, a hmlt. in the par. of West Alving- ton, co. Devon, 2 miles S.W. of Kingsbridge, near Salcombe creek. WOOLSTONE, GREAT, a par. in the hund. of Newport, co. Bucks, 3 miles S. of Newport Pagnoll, and 47 from London. The village is situated on the Grand Junction canal and the river Ouzel. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Oxford, val. 157, in the gift of the Queen, to whom it was bequeathed by J. Camdon Nield, Esq., with other property computed at half a million sterling. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was rebuilt in 1832. S. W. Bailey, Esq., of Shenley House, is lord of the manor. WOOLSTONE, LITTLE, a par. in the hund. of Newport, co. Bucks, 3 miles S. of Newport Pan-noil, and 28 from London. The village adjoins Great Woolstone. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Oxford, val. 140. Henry Snaith Trower, Esq., is lord of the manor. WOOLSTROP, a hmlt. in the par. of Quedgley, hund. of Dudstone, co. Gloucester, 5 miles S.W. of Gloucester. WOOLTON, LITTLE, a tnshp. in the par. of Child- wall, hund. of West Derby, co. Lancaster, 4 miles S.W. of Prescot. It contains the liamlet of Thing- well. WOOLTON, MUCH. See MCCH-WOOLTON, co. Lancaster. WOOLVERCOTT, a par. in the hund. of Wootton, co. Oxford, 3 miles N.W. of Oxford. It is situated on the banks of the Isis, between the rivers Cherwell and Thames, and contains the limits, of Cutslow, King's Weir, and Godstow, at which latter place was a Bene- dictine abbey, founded in 1138 by a lady named Editha, and within its walls Fair Rosamond was interred. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioo. of Oxford, val. 80, in the patron, of Merton College, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, has a sepulchral chapel on the N. side, containing a monument to the family of Walter. There is an endowed parochial school for boys and girls. The charities produce about 30 per annum. WOOLYERLEY, a tnshp. in the par. of Wem, co. Salop, 3 miles N.W. of Wem, on the river Roden. WOOLVERSTONE, a par. in the hund. of Samford, co. Suffolk, 4^ miles S.E. of Ipswich. The village is situated on the western bank of the navigable river Orwell, about 7 miles from its mouth. The principal residence is Woolverstone Park, the seat of John Berucrs, Esq., who is lord of the manor and owner of the whole of the soil. The mansion contains a collection of paintings, and in the grounds, which slope down to the river, is a square obelisk 96 feet high, of freestone, to the memory of the late William Berners. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Norwich, consolidated with the rect. of Erwarton. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, has been recently restored. The register commences in 1528. There is n parochial school, built in 1832. WOOLYERTON, a par. in the hund. of Fromc, co. Somerset, 4 miles N.E. of Frome, and 9 from Bath, near the western bank of the river Frome, and on the road from Bath to Warminstor. The soil is light and thin, upon a subsoil of clay. The par. includes the tytbg. of Chatley. The living is a rect.* annexed to that of Road, on the opposite side of the river, in the dioc. of Bath and Wells. The church is dedicated to St. Law- rence. The register commences in 1570. There are National and Sunday schools. WOOLWICH, a par., market town, Royal naval yard, and principal military arsenal in the kingdom, in the hund. of Blackbeath, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, co. Kent, 2 miles E. of Greenwich, within which borough it is included, and S milea S.E. of St. Paul's, London, by land, or 9J by water, owing to the windings of tho river Thames, which is here crossed by a steam ferry to North Woolwich. There arc two lines of railway : the North Kent on the Kentish side of the river, and a branch of the Great Eastern on the Essex side, to North Woolwich, besides which tho steam packet oompanie_, called the Waterman and tho Woolwich, ply constantly between London, Gravesend, Southend, Sheorness, and Harwich. The parish of Woolwich lies chiefly on the S. bank of the Thames, but extends across the river to the Essex side, where it comprehends the suburb of North Woolwich, and certain lands running along tho N. bank of tho river, but included in the county of Kent. The town, which has rapidly increased of late years, extends over a mile in length, and in 1861 had a population of 41,fi93. The upporportion contains many good houses, rising gradually up the gravel ridge known as Shooter's Hill, extending from Erith to Greenwich, while the lower and more densely-popu- lated portion occupies the district between the ridge and the river, and extends to tho adjoining parish of Plumstead. The principal street runs nearly parallel to the river, and is crossed by numerous others, which are all paved and lighted. The most interesting objects in Woolwich are the arsenal, tho dockyard, and other government establishments unequalled for their importance. The Royal arsenal, which lies to the E. of the town, includes the gun fac- tories, carriage department, royal laboratory, and mili- tary stores department, said to be the largest depot for army stores in the world; within the arsenal is tho ordnance yard, where 28,000 pieces of ordnance, and upwards of 4,000,000 of shot and shells are kept in con- stant readiness, with fittings and harness for 10,000 artillery horses. Admission to see these establishments is obtained by an order from one of the heads of de- partments ; for foreigners by an order signed by tho Secretary at War, obtained through the intervention of their own ambassador; to some other portions of tho works the public are readily admitted, especially to the Rotunda, which contains models of all her Majesty's dockyards, the principal fortifications in the world, and the various kinds of arms, both ancient and modern ; also to the pontoon ground on the W. side of the Artillery barracks, where experiments are occa- sionally made with boats on certain large sheets of water, which serve for exercise in pontooning, and in transporting heavy ordnance over rivers. On the E. side of tho barracks, facing the Military Train barracks, ia the Royal Artillery Institution, with museum, theatre, laboratory, and reading-rooms for the use of the officers of the Royal Artillery, and a small observatory adjoin- ing ; S.E. of the Repository grounds is the Royal Mili- tary Academy, founded in 1719, for the education of cadets intended for the Artillery and Engineers, and between the arsenal and the dockyard are the Royal Marine Barracks, with the Naval and Marine Hospital, the latter erected in 1859. The dockyard, which is supposed to be the most ancient royal dockyard in the kingdom, occupies the narrow strip of land extending along the S. bank of the river, about a furlong in breadth, and rather more than half a mile in length. The outer and inner basins are both of tho largest dimensions, and have been recently much enlarged and improved by the construction of granite docks, capable of containing the largest ships in the royal navy. The dockyard is under the charge of a Commodore-Superin- tendent, and is one of those which are to be surrounded with lines of circumvallation, under the Fortifications Act. A practice-range of nearly three miles in extent has been formed towards Erith, and the Plumstead marshes also serve as an artillery practising ground, where all the government ordnance are first proved. At the south-western corner of the common, adjoining the Shooter's Hill road, are ranges of new buildings called the Camp, for the service of the military train, and an extensive hospital. The town is governed by a local board of health, and is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who meet here OIL Monday and Friday, and hold petty sessions for the division on the first Thursday in every month, at Blackheath. It is included in tho Woolwich branch of the Green- wich county-court district, and, under the Reform Act, joins with Deptford and Greenwich in returning two