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Fenton, and Gay's Polly Peacham, when the Beggar's Opera was first performed). The dutchess died here in

1760.

CHARLTON is a village situated to the north of Blackheath, and near the six mile stone. The manor, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, was divided into two moities, and held by two brothers. William I. gave the whole to the bishop of Baieux. It afterwards was possessed by Robert Bloet, bishop of Lincoln, 1092; he bestowed it on the prior and monks of Bermondsey. At the suppression it came to the crown. James I. in 1604, granted it in fee to John earl of Mar, who, in 1606, sold it to Sir James Erskine for 2000l.; it was resold next to Sir Adam Newton, who died in 1629; he empowered his executors to enlarge and beautify Charlton church, leaving a sum of money on purpose; and, by a faithful performance of his will, they made it one of the neatest parish churches in the county. This gentleman was one of the preceptors and secretary to Henry, the eldest son of king James; and, after the death of that promising youth, was made treasurer to Charles prince of Wales, and his secretary for that district. He was installed dean of Durham, on September 17, 1606, and held that dignity till the year 1620, when he resigned it. King James, when he created Sir Adam Newton a baronet, granted to him also the manor of Charlton. The stately mansion, which is visible from the road, was built by him. It is a noble structure, with four turrets on the top. In the dining room, according to Dr. Plot, was formerly a marble chimney-piece, so exquisitely polished, that lord Downe could see in it a robbery committed on Shooter's Hill, and, upon this discovery, the servants were sent out, who apprehended the robber. Before the court yard of this house is a row of cypress tress, which seem to be of great age, and are perhaps the oldest in England; beyond these is a small park, which joins to Woolwich Common. This house was some years ago the seat of Sir William Langhorn, bart. and afterwards of that truly worthy nobleman, the late earl of Egmont.

This

estate,

estate, in right of his wife, was vested in Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, of East Bourne, Sussex, bart. who died in 1798; his widow consequently is the present possessor. It was for some time the residence of the princess of Wales. One of the priors of Bermondsey obtained from king Henry III. a grant for a weekly market, with a fair yearly, upon the eve of Trinity Sunday, and two days after, for vessels and instruments of horn. The former has been disused for upwards of a century, and the latter transferred to St. Luke's day. It was formerly the scene of dissipation and riot by London apprentices and servants; but Horn Fair was partially suppressed in 1768, and does not at present exhibit any of its former absurdities. A sermon is preached in the church on that day; that fabric being dedicated to St. Luke. Within the church are several memorials for Sir Adam Newton, and other lords of the manor; brigadier-general Richards; viscountess Armagh; Sir William Langhorn, bart. her husband; besides painted shields in the windows. Tradition indeed ascribes the origin of this fair to king John, who being hunting near Charlton, and separated from his attendants, entered a cottage, the mistress of which was very handsome, whom he debauched. Being detected by the husband, he was obliged to make him compensation by a grant of land from this place to Cuckold's Point, and he at the same time established a fair.

Eastward of Charlton church is an elegant villa, erected about the year 17:0, by the earl of Cholmondeley. Its situation is picturesque, and the views from it are extensive and beautiful.

HANGING WOOD joins this estate, through which there is a pleasant walk to Woolwich; near the end of the wood is a large and deep sand pit." In this pit," says Mr. Lysons, "the first stratum is gravel, which varies according to the surface of the ground, from five, or six, to about fifteen feet in depth: beneath are various strata of clay, gravel, loam, and marl, running parallel; being altogether between thirty and forty feet, which cover a bed of sand of forty-three feet in depth. In the stratum of marl are found prodigious

prodigious numbers of extraneous fossils. This vein is about six or eight feet thick; and the shells in it are so numerous, and lie so close, that, as Woodward jusly observes, the mass is almost wholly composed of them, there being only a very little marl interposed *. These shells con, sist of a great variety of univalves and bivalves, as concha, ostreæ, buccinæ, &c. They are very brittle, and for the most part resemble those found at Tours, in France, and at Hordwell Cliff, in Hampshire: some of them are impregnated with mundic. Below the church is a chalk pit, in which echini and other extraneous fossils are found," +

Adjoining to Charlton is the extraparochial hamlet, formerly the parish, of Kidbrook; this was part of the possessions of the priory of St. Mary Overie, in Southwark; at the dissolution of which, this parish came to the crown. It gave the title of baron to Sir William Hervey, one of the distinguished commanders of the English fleet in 1588; he was created in 1628, baron Hervey of Kidbrook. The manor is at present the property of lord Eliot, and the manor house is a farm. The antient church has been demolished upwards of two hundred years.

WOOLWICH.

The learned Camden calls this "the Mother Dock of England," and it is supposed to be the most antient naval arsenal in this kingdom. In the third year of the reign of Henry VIII. the great ship called "The Harry Grace de Dieu," was built here; and during the reign of queen Elizabeth, that monarch honoured Woolwich with her presence at the launching of the ship of war which went by her name.

Antiently Woolwich was but a small fishing town, liable, on account of its situation, to the inundations of the Thames, before an embankment took place. By the Saxons it was denominated Hulviz, signifying the habitation, or street on the creek.

* Woodward on Fossils, vol. i. p. 42, of the Catalogue.

† Environs of London, IV. p. 324. Note.

VOL. V. No. 107.

It

It appears by the confirmation by Edward the Confessor, of the gift of Elthruda of the manor of Lewisham to the abbey of Ghent, that Woolwich was considered as one of the appendages to that manor; but in the roll of military fees taken in the seventh year of Edward I. this town is not mentioned as part of that domain, but as forming part of the manor of Eltham, held by that king.

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By referring to Domesday Book we obferve, that "Among the possesions of Hamo, the sheriff, he held in the half of the lath of Sudtone in Greaviz hundred, sixtythree acres of arable land, which belonged to him in Wulviz, which William Accipitrarius (or the falconer) held of Edward the Confessor. There were on the estate eleven bordarii, who paid a rent of forty-one pence; and the whole was worth three pounds.".

This was an estate denominated the manor of Southall, alias Woolwich, and not the principal manor of Wool wich, which is coextensive with the parish, and is held of the crown by Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. in right of his ancestors as lessees under the crown of the manors of Eltham and W wich; to the manor of Woolwich belong a court leet and court baron, separate from Eltham, at which the jury appoint the two constables and all tasters for the town and parish; and in the court baron the tenants are all free tenants.

The manor of Southall was held about the beginning of the reign of Edward I. by Gilbert de Marico, who assumed that name from his possessions in the marshes. He held it of Warren de Munchensi, baron of Swanscampe; it was afterwards held, in the same manner, by Sabina de Windlesore, till about the seventeenth of Edward II. when it was again held of the crown, which had then the possession of the barony of Munchensi. It came in succession to Sir John de Poultney, (ancestor of Pultney, the great earl of Bath, in the reign of George II.) four times lord mayor of London, who was much in favour with Edward III. in whose family it remained, till it came to William Chichele, sheriff in 1404, afterwards alderman of London, and youngest

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