St. Giles's is a neat edifice, situated on elevated ground in the Market Place, and forms a conspicuous feature in the view of the town. The Collegiate Chapel, within the precincts of the castle, and the Free Chapel of St. Thomas, erected on the spot where the Earl of Lancaster was beheaded, have long since disappeared. There are also places of worship for dissenters. Various monastic institutions once existed here, but no trace of them can now be found. A Free Grammar School was re-founded in the 32nd of George III., and there are likewise hospitals and almshouses, for the support of aged men and women, and numerous charitable bequests for distribution among the poor. Pontefract was first incorporated by Richard III., and a new charter granted by James II.; but by the Municipal Act, the government is now vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. The municipal borough is co-extensive with the township. A. D. 1831 Parliamen chise. The town exercised the parliamentary franchise in the 23rd and tary Fran26th of Edward I., from which period it was discontinued, till revived by James I. in 1621, since which time it has regularly returned two members to parliament. It is not within our province to speak of the corruptibility of electors, or of the temptation offered out by candidates, in the shape of "head money;" but whatever may be the fact, Pontefract has long enjoyed the unenviable reputation of being one of the "most corrupt holes in the kingdom." The borough is a solitary instance of the ancient right of voting for representatives being recovered by the "resident inhabitant householders." By the decision of the Committee of the House of Commons, all others have been limited to corporations, burgage holders, freeholders, freemen obtaining the privilege by birth or apprenticeship, or by paying to church and poor. From the passing of the Reform Act, the order of representation has been as follows: 1832 H. V. Jerningham; 1837 Richard Monckton Milnes; 1847 Samuel Martin; John Gully. Viscount Pollington. William Massey Stanley. 1850 Hon. Beilby Richard Lawley. Richard M. Milnes. Election. At the election of 1837, Sir C. E. Smith (now Sir C. E. Eardley) 1837 contested the representation of the borough as a Whig, having, in 1830, solicited the suffrages of the electors as a Conservative, when he was returned at the head of the poll. On the latter occasion, either his tergiversation, or refusal to open his purse, placed him in a minority of 384 below Mr. Milnes, and of two hundred and eighty below Mr. Stanley. The election of 1850 was caused by the elevation of Mr. Martin to be one of the Barons of her Majesty's Court of Exchequer. This gentleman was leader of the Northern A. D. 1852 Population. Ackworth. Methley His Dr. Circuit, and son-in-law of Sir F. Pollock, Lord Chief Baron. successor was the son of Lord Wenlock, of Escrick-park, Yorkshire. Pontefract has not produced many men of distinction. Bramhall, who, after the Restoration, became Primate of Ireland, was a native of the town; and the indefatigable antiquarian, Dr. Nathaniel Johnson, who made large collections for the history of Yorkshire, resided here. The population of the parish, as shown by the census of 1851, was 29,938, comprising 14,924 males, and 15,014 females. This shows an increase of rather more than 1,000 since 1841. The number of houses, according to the last return, was 6,853, being more by 612 than in 1841. At ACKWORTH, about three miles from Pontefract, is a school belonging to the Society of Friends. The building consists of a centre and two wings, and comprises arrangements for the reception of 180 boys and 120 girls, who are instructed in the general rudiments of an English education, and of the boys, twenty of the more advanced are taught Latin. When of proper age, the former are placed out as apprentices, and the latter as servants in respectable families. The school is under the superintendence of a committee of twenty-eight friends resident in Ackworth and its vicinity, and of a committee of twenty-one resident in London. The premises, to which various additions have been made, together with the land which has been extended to 274 acres, are estimated at £30,000; and a fund of £500, vested in the three per cents, is appropriated to the apprenticing of the boys, and to the distribution of premiums to the girls, as an encouragement to remain for three years at least in one family. METHLEY PARK, the stately residence of the Earl of Mexborough, is situated in the honour of Pontefract. The church of Methley was in existence at the the time of the Domesday Survey, and the chantry contains many monuments of exquisite workmanship to the memory of the Saviles, and other families of distinction. The tomb of Lionel, Lord Welles, who fell in the battle of Towton Field, is found here; but the greatest antiquity connected with the sacred edifice, is a statue of king Oswald, the patron saint, far more ancient than any part of the present structure, and probably contemporary with the foundation of the church and parish. RICHMOND. This town, situated in the North-riding of Yorkshire, seems to have been founded in the reign of William the Conqueror, by his nephew, Alan Rufus, upon whom he bestowed the whole district called Richmondshire, with the title of Earl of Richmond, who built the castle, and gave the place the name of Rich Mount, indicating, it is presumed, the value he attached to it. The ruins and relics of antiquity possess extreme interest, and are noticed in the first volume of the Annals. A. D. 1852 Richmond is a neat well-built town, chiefly of stone, and is inhabited principally by persons of fortune; its romantic situation, and the great beauty of the surrounding scenery, rendering it a most desirable place of residence. The streets are lighted with gas; and an ample supply of water is derived from the spring at High Coals Garth, two miles distant, which is conveyed by iron pipes into a reservoir capable of containing 120,000 gallons. The business transacted is now chiefly in corn and lead, the latter being brought from the mines about fourteen miles westward; there are also quarries of good stone. A large trade in knitted yarn stockings, and woollen caps for sailors, was formerly carried on here, and exported to Holland and the Netherlands, but it has nearly ceased. The market is on Saturday, and great quantities of corn are sold to the factors and millers of the adjacent manufacturing and mining districts. The General Quarter Sessions for the borough take place in the Town Hall, a handsome building, erected by the corporation. There is also a Court of Record and a Borough Gaol. The church is supposed to have been erected about the time of Henry III, but little trace of the original architecture remains. The chapel of the Holy Trinity was suffered to become so ruinous that no service was performed in it from 1712 to 1740, at which period it was repaired by the corporation. There are places of worship for dissenters. The Free Grammar School is in considerable repute, and was founded and endowed by the burgesses in the reign of Elizabeth, who granted letters patent, authorising its institution. The produce of the endowment, arising from land, amounts to £300 per annum, and further sources of income give it the privilege of sending scholars to Cambridge. There are other schools, partly supported by subscription, and provision is made for poor widows by hospitals, sustained by bequests. The corporation consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors: and the limits of the municipal borough are co-extensive with those of the parish. The following gentlemen have filled the office of chief Chief magistrate since the passing of the Municipal Act: 1836 George Croft 1842 Christopher Croft 1843 Henry Cooke 1844 Peter Constable Maxwell 1845 Christopher Croft 1847 James C. Thornhill 1852 Christopher Croft The town first sent members to parliament in the 27th of Elizabeth; the right of election is vested in the £10 householders Magistrates A. D. 1832 Population. Ellerton. uponSwale. of the parishes of Richmond and Easby, and the mayor is returning officer. The order of representation under the new law has been as subjoined : The Poor Law Union of Richmond comprises forty-six parishes or places, and in 1851, contained a population of 13,843, composed of 6,797 males, and 7,046 females. The number of houses at the same period was 3,094. Richmond gives the title of duke to the family of Lennox. ELLERTON-UPON-SWALE, five miles from Richmond, is remarkable for having been the birth-place of Henry Jenkins, who lived to the amazing age of 169 years, being sixteen years older than the famous Old Parr. He died at this place on the 8th of December, 1670, and a monument was erected to his memory in the church of Bolton-upon-Swale, in 1743, exhibiting an appropriate epitaph, composed by Dr. Thomas Clapham. Some interesting particulars respecting this extraordinary man are recorded in the first volume of the Annals. In the liberty of Richmondshire, about two miles from Bowes, is a remarkable curiosity, called God-bridge, a natural bridge of limestone rock, where, through a rude arch, sixteen feet in the span, the river Greta precipitates its waters, and after passing the bridge, at a little distance, it enters a subterraneous passage for half a mile, in a lineal direction, and breaks out again through the cavities of the rocks. The delightful vale of Wensley, comprehending one of the most magnificent landscapes in the north of England, is also in the same liberty. RIPON. This place, which is of considerable antiquity, is supposed to derive its name from the Latin Ripa, on account of its situation on the bank of a river. The earliest record of it is about the middle of the seventh century, at which time the town consisted of only thirty houses. In the ninth century, it was plundered and burnt by the Danes, but it regained its importance with such celerity as to be incorporated a Royal borough by Alfred the Great, in 886. It again suffered from the unrelenting vengeance of William the A. D. 1212 Conqueror, who, after defeating the Northumbrian rebels, laid waste the country, and so effectually demolished the town, that it remained for some time in ruins; and at the period of the Norman Survey, was still desolate. Ripon had again begun to revive when it was once more exposed to the ravages of war by the Scots, under Robert Bruce, in the reign of Edward II., who destroyed the town Destroyed by fire. A third time, it so rapidly recovered as to be selected by by Fire. Henry IV. for the residence of himself and his court, when driven from London by the plague. In 1617, James I. passed a night here on his route from Scotland to London, and was presented by the mayor with a gilt bowl and a pair of Ripon spurs; and it was also visited by his unfortunate successor, Charles I. in 1633. In the great Civil war, it was taken possession of and held for the parliament, by the troops under the command of Sir Thomas Mauleverer, who defaced and injured many of the monuments and ornamental parts of the Church; but they were at length defeated and driven from the town by a detachment of the King's cavalry, under Sir John Mallory, of Studley. Ripon is situated between the rivers Ure and Skell; over the former of which is a handsome stone bridge of seventeen arches, forming a commodious approach from the north. The streets are narrow and irregular, but the houses, which are chiefly of brick, are, with few exceptions, well built. It is well paved and lighted with gas; and the inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water. The river Ure was made navigable as far as Ripon in 1767; and barges of from twenty-five to thirty tons burthen are employed in bringing coal and merchandise of various kinds from Hull, York, and other places, to the town. The Leeds and Thirsk railway company have now a station within about a mile of the place, which must be conducive to its prosperity. 1617 Situation. Ripon was formerly celebrated for its manufacture of spurs, Manufacwhich were in such repute that "As true steel as a Ripon rowel," ture. became a proverbial expression. The woollen manufacture is also said to have flourished there in former times, but it has long since quitted the banks of the Ure: linen is manufactured to an inconsiderable extent; and, during the season, there is a weekly market for wool; besides a weekly market for corn. In the Market Place, a spacious and well built square, is an obelisk, ninety feet in height, erected in 1781, by William Aislabie, Esquire, on the top of which are a bugle horn and a spur rowel, the arms of Ripon. The Public Rooms, at Low Skellgate, erected at an expense of £3,000, by a proprietory of two hundred shareholders, contain a spacious and elegant assembly room, a library and news-room, a mechanics' institute, a dispensary, and various other accommodations, the whole forming a handsome pile, with extensive gardens. The theatre, built in 1792, has been converted into a riding-school. 1834 |