Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/897

WYCOMBE. 885 WYERSDALE, OVEK. TTnion containing 24 parishes in Buckinghamshire and 4 in Oxfordshire. It is also the seat of a new County Court and superintendent registry. The Royal Military College had a branch here till removed to Great Marlow in 1802. In the immediate vicinity of the town are Wycombe Abbey, the seat of Lord Carington, and West Wycombe Park, the seat of Sir George Daahwood, con- taining a good collection of paintings. Wycombe gives name to a deanery in the archdeac. of Bucks and dioc. of London. The living, now in the patronage of Lord Car- ington, is a vie.* in the dioc. of Oxford, val. 400, with residence. The Marquis of Lansdowne takes from Wy- combe the titles of earl and baron. The church, dedi- cated to All Saints, a Norman structure built in 1273, was improved and adorned by the Earl of Shelburne in 1753, and repaired in 1827, when a Gothic window was re-opened over the great 8. door. The length of the church, including the chancel, is 180 feet ; the height of the nave 48 feet. In the interior are several monuments to the ancestors of Lord Lansdowne, including one to Lord Shelburne, the premier. There are besides a new church at Hazlemere, erected in 1845, and another at Tyler's Green, which is formed into a new district ; another at Loudwater, and a fifth at Wycombe Marsh. The Independents, Wesleyans, Reformed Wesloyans, Primitive Methodists, General and Parti- cular Baptists, and Society of Friends have chapels. There is a free grammar school, endowed for 30 boys, which was granted to the corporation by Queen Eliza- beth ; and National, British, infant, and denominational Sunday schools. Market day is Friday. Fairs are held on the Monday prior to Michaelmas Day for pleasure and hiring servants, and on 28th October for cattle and horses the wool fair being discontinued. WYCOMBE, WEST, a par. in the hund. of Des- borough, co. Bucks, 2J miles N.W. of High Wycombe. It is situated under a woody hill on the London and Oxford road. Many of the inhabitants are employed in tho making of lace and of chairs from the beech- wood, with which the district abounds. West Wy- combe Park, the seat of the Dashwood family, is 300 feet long, with a picture-gallery. The soil is chiclly chalk. In the neighbourhood is an ancient camp, doubly entrenched, called Desborough Castle, from which the hundred takes its name. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Oxford, val. 250. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is on the summit of a steep hill surrounded by trees, and was rebuilt in 1763 by Lord le Despencer. It contains some stained windows and Mosaic ornaments. Adjoining the church is the Grecian mausoleum to the memory of Sarah, Baroness le Despencer, with many memorials of the Dashwood family and others. Under the church hill runs a cave nearly half a mile in length. The Wesleyans and Independents have chapels. There are National and infant schools. The charities produce about 3 per annum. Sir G. H. Dashwood, Bart., M.P. for the borough of High Wycombe, is lord of the manor. WYDDIALL, a par. in the hund. of Edwinstree, co. Herts, 1J mile N.E. of Buntingford. The village is mentioned in Domesday survey as Widehale, and appears to have been given by the Conqueror to Hardouin d'Es- calers, ancestor of tho Scaleses. It subsequently returned through the Widvilles to the crown, and having been given by Henry VIII. to the Gyllds, passed to the Ellisesof Wyddiall Park, a demesne close to the village. The living ia a rect.* in the dioc. of Rochester, val. 300. The church, dedicated to St. Giles, contains several stained-glass windows, a brass of Margaret Nevil, bearing date 1595, and monuments to the Gylld, Groul- itone, and Ellis families. The register commences in 1G60. WYE, a hund. in the lathe of Scray, co. Kent, con- tains the pars, of Aluph Boughton, Crundale, Eastwell, Wye, and part of Brook, comprising 9,830 acres. WYE, a par. and town in the huud. of Wye, lathe of MM pway, co. Kent, 9 miles S.W. of Canterbury, and 4 N.K. of Ashford. It is a station on the Ashford and Canterbury branch of the London and South-Eastern railway. The village is situated in the vale of the Stour, near the bridge built in 1638, and under Wye Down. The manor, which was co-extensive with the lathe in the Saxon times, formed part of the royal de- mesne, and after the Conquest was given by William I. as " Wi " to Battle Abbey. In 1431 Cardinal Kempe founded a college here, and upon the Dissolution, the manor having reverted to the crown, Queen Elizabeth presented it to the Hunsdons, from whom it passed to the Finches in the reign of Charles I. The Royalists had a skirmish here with Rich's men in 1648. In the neighbourhood are Wye Court, Wilmington, the Hermitage, Ollantigh, once the seat of the Thorn- hills, Spring-Grove, the Bretts' old seat, and Withers- den, where is a mineral well. Hops are largely cultivated. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of Canterbury, val. 70. The Earl of Winchilsea is impropriator of the vicarial tithes, amounting to 641, the rectorial tithes, commuted at 655 10s. being part of the endowment of the see of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to SS. Gregory and Martin, formerly collegiate, was rebuilt by Cardinal Kempe in the reign of Henry VI., and contained his tomb, which was smashed by the fall of the steeple in 1686. The church was partly taken down in 1701, and is consequently smaller than formerly, being principally noticeable on account of its circular chancel, containing numerous monuments. The register commences in 1564. The ancient college, now used as the school-house, is a qua- drangular edifice, with a cloister and old hall ; both the grammar school founded in the reign of Charles I. and Lady Thornhill's charity school, founded in 1708 for the education of 50 boys and 60 girls, are held in this building. Races take place in May. Fairs are held on 29th May and llth October. WYE, the Welsh Gwy, a river of tho West of England, or rather South Wales, rises in the moun- tain of Plinlimmon, on the south-western border of Montgomeryshire, about a mile S. of the source of the Severn. The beautiful scenery begins about Rhayader, where the river Elan joins, and lower down the Wye receives a number of little tributaries called the Ython, Irvon, Edwy, Machwy or Bach-wy, and finally discharges itself into the Severn a little above the point where the latter merges into the Bristol Channel. It is navigable for small vessels to Hereford, and in winter, when there is sufficient depth of water, barges ascend within a short distance of Hay, but the vessels often have to be towed against the stream and over the shallows, generally by men. The spring tides rise to a great height at Chepstow Bridge, to which point large vessels come up, and steamers ply regularly for the conveyance of passengers between that port and Bristol. The length of the Wye is variously estimated at between 120 and 130 miles, flowing in a circuitous course between cos. Radnor and Brecon, across that of Hereford, and between those of Monmouth and Gloucester, generally in a south-eastern direction, except near Glasbury, where it turns nearly N. WYE, a stream of co. Derby, rises under Axe Edge, and running by Buxton and Bakewell, joins the Derwent near Chatsworth, after a course of 22 miles. WYER, or WYRE, a river of co. Lancaster, rises in moors under Wolf Fell Crag, and after being joined by the Calder falls into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. WYERSDALE, NETHER, a tnahp. in the par. of Garstang, hund. of Amounderness, co. Lancaster, 4 miles N.E. of Garstang, its post town, and 6 N.E. of Garstang Church Town. The tnshp. includes the hmlt. of Scorton, and is watered by the river Wyer. The soil is clay and loam. At Cross Hill is an endowed school for both sexes. The cotton manufactory of Dol- phinholme is in this township. Wyerside is the principal residence. Peter Ormod, Esq., is the lord of the manor and principal landowner. WYERSDALE, OVER, a chplry. in the par. of Lan- caster, hund. of Lonsdale South of the Sands, cq. Lan- caster, 6 miles N.E. of Garstang, and 9 S.E. of Lancaster. The district was once forest, but is now chiefly opon