it to John Maddocks, Esq. bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and the Middle Temple, and king's counsel, whose family still enjoy it. During the time that this estate was untenanted by the family, it was rented by Sir William Billers, Sir William Calvert, and Sir Robert Ladbroke, aldermen and lord mayors of London. VALE MASCAL, another small seat, was built by Thomas Tash, Esq. son of Sir John Tash, sheriff of London in 1720.

BEXLEY was a manor given by Cenulph, king of Mercia, to Canterbury; it is described in Domesday Book as having a church and three mills. Edward II. at the solicitation of archbishop Reynolds, granted a weekly market to be held here, long since discontinued. The manor was alienated by archbishop Cranmer to Henry VIII. and it continued in the crown till granted by James I. to Sir John Spelman; he shortly afterwards sold it to the eminent antiquary, WILLIAM CAMDEN, who generously bestowed it on the university of Oxford, to support an historical professorship which he had founded; and the professor is still denominated the Camden Professor of History.

Bexley was the residence of the learned artiquary, THOMAS THORPE, Esq. F. S. A. author of the Custumale Roffense.

The church, a peculiar of the archbishop of Canterbury, is dedicated to St. Mary, has a shingled tower, with six bells, and a small octangular spire, not unlike an extinguisher. On the south side of the chancel, is an antient confessionary, of three pointed arches, with a recess for holy water; antient stalls of oak, with carved heads, and other figures, are on the north. The principal monuments and gravestones are a small brass figure for THOMAS SPARROW, owner of Lamienby, who died in 1513; an alabaster monument for Sir JOHN CHAMPNEIS, knt. lord mayor of London, 1534, who died in October, 1556, and whose figure, with that of his lady, are represented kneeling at a desk. A monument for Sir RICHARD AUSTEN, bart. of Hall Place. Memorials for JOHN STYLEMAN, Esq. an eminent East India merchant, and a director of the East India Company,

Company, who died in 1734, and his four wives; for Sir EDWARD BRETT, knt. a distinguished soldier and royalist in the time of the Civil Wars, who died in February, 1683; and for Sir RICHARD FORD, lord mayor of London in 1671.

Among the seats in this parish, the principal is DANSON HILL, lately the seat of Sir John Boyd, bart. It was originally the property of archbishop Parker, and, after various owners, came into the possession of John Boyd, Esq. merchant of London, who erected the present mansion, from designs of the late Sir Robert Taylor, though departed from in the course of building. The principal floor contains large and elegant apartments; and the grounds are laid out in a masterly manner by Capability BROWN, who also formed a fine sheet of water at a small distance from the house, which is at once striking and beautiful. Mr. Boyd was created a baronet in 1775, and his grandson, the present baronet, has recently disposed of the estate and mansion to John Johnston, Esq. for the sum of 50,000l.

CRAYFORD, the Crecanford, of the Saxons, is a small town, and was so denominated from its being the principal place of passage through the Cray, a river which gives its name also to four other parishes. It rises at Newel, in Orpington, from whence it takes its course by St. Mary Cray, St. Paul's Cray, Foot's Cray, North Cray, Bexley, and Crayford; and a little below this town it meets the river Darent. Lambard remarks, that " upon the Cray was lately built a mill for the making of plates whereof armour is fashioned:" this was probably the same with the mill now used for slitting and flatting iron to make hoops, &c. In the river there is a great abundance of fine trout of an excellent quality. The Cray runs into Dartford Creek, which empties itself into the Thames. The Middle River is supplied with water from the Cray by means of holes bored through large oak planks, which are placed at different parts for that purpose. This water, after a passage through the marshes, discharges itself into VOL. V. No. 108.

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the creek before-mentioned; another small river runs through the town, has its source in the parish of Bexley, and empties itself into Dartford Creek.

The church, dedicated to St. Paulinus, contains many monuments for respectable families; among others is an obelisk of black marble, under a white marble canopy, in commemoration of DAME ELIZABETH SHOVEL, relict of Sir Cloudesly Shovel, the severity of whose loss, in the shipwreck of her husband, and two only sons, (whom she had borne to admiral Sir John Narborough,) is detailed in a long inscription; and on a second tablet, at the base of the monument, are recorded the alliances of her children. She died April 1732. Near the above is another handsome mural monument, in commemoration of the honourable ROBERT MANSEL, eldest son and heir of Thomas, lord Mansel, of the antient and noble family of the Mansels, of Normandy, removed into England in the time of William the Conqueror, (and) established in Wales in the reign of Henry the First, where they have flourished ever since, in great splendour and dignity; first, at Oxwich Castle; then at Margam, in the county of Glamorgan. He married Anne, one of the daughters and co-heirs of Sir Cloudesly Shovel; and died in May, 1723. Sir Cloudesly gave the altar-piece.

The burial ground and parsonage house are pleasantly situated on an eminence. The living is supposed to be worth 500l. per annum.

Several antiquaries have imagined the Roman station called NOVIOMAGUS, to have been situated very near the town of Crayford. This place is also famous for a great battle fought here, in 457, between Hengist the Saxon, and Vortimer the British king, in which the latter lost four thousand men, and four of their chief commanders. The route was so general and decisive, that they left Hengist from that time in quiet possession of his Kentish kingdom. In the open heath, near Crayford, as also in the woods and enclosures in most of the adjoining parishes, are divers ar

tificial