AMPTHILL, Anciently Ametulle, in the hundred of Redbourn stoke, and deanery of Flitt, is a small town, pleasantly situated near the centre of the county between two hills. The town has been much improved, of late years, by the removal of some old houses, which stood very incommodiously in the market-place, and by the erection of a handsome market-house. The principal streets are well built and regular, intersecting each other at right angles, and contain many good houses. Near the middle of the town, where the old houses above-mentioned were situated, is an obelisk of Portland stone, in which is a pump built for the use of the inhabitants, by the Earl of Upper Ossory, in 1785. There is no town-hall or other public building. The court of honour is held in an old room called the Moot House. The assizes are said to have been held at Ampthill, and in this apartment, in the year 1684, having been removed hither through the interest of the Earl of Aylesbury. According to the returns made under the population act in 1801, there were then 237 inhabited houses, within the parish of Ampthill, and 1234 inhabitants. The parish Church is a handsome Gothic struc ture. It contains a mural monument, in memory of Robert Nichols, of Ampthill, who was governor of Long Island after the expulsion of the Dutch. He was gentleman of the bed-chamber to the Duke of York, and was killed, while attending his Royal Highness, in the famous engagement between the flects of England and Holland, May 28, 1672. cannon ball, said to be that which occasioned his death, is inlaid in the marble of the monument. Within the pediment, and on the moulding, is this inscription: "Instrumentum A "Instrumentum mortis Immortalitatis." In the parish of Ampthill, about a mile from the town, there is an hospital or alms-house, for twelve poor men, and a reader, and four poor women, founded and endowed in 1690, by Mr. John Cross, sometime principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford. The reader has a salary of 151. besides his lodgings; the others have 101 each. The vice-chancellor of the university of Oxford, and the bishop of that diocese, are visitors. There is also a school for thirteen children. About two miles east from Ampthill is MAULDEN, a small village in the hundred of Redbornstoke, and deanery of Flitt. The Church contains some memorials of the ancient family of Taldo, who were settled here before the reign of Edward III. Adjoining the church is an octagonal mausoleum, erected in the year 1656, by Thomas Earl of Elgin, to the memory of Diana, his second wife, daughter of Lord Burleigh, and relict of John Earl of Oxford. His tomb of white marble is placed in the centre; on it is a sarcophagus, from which rises the figure of the countess in her shroud. The mausoleum is surrounded by niches, intended for the statues of her descendants. In one of them is the statue of her husband, who died in the year 1663. On the floor is a bust of his grandson, Edward Bruce, Esq. eldest son of Robert Lord Bruce. Underneath the mausoleum is a Columbarium, the burial-place of the Earl of Aylesbury's family. At ROKESAC or Ruxox, a hamlet in the parish of Flitwick, about three miles south from Ampthill, there was formerly a small monastery, which appears to have been a cell to Dunstable. The chapel of St. Nicholas de Rokesac, was founded by Philip de Sannerville, about the year 1170, and dedicated by Robert de Chesney, bishop of Lincoln. William Earl of Albermarle, and Hawin his wife, granted the site of Rokesac to the canons of Dunstable and the canons of Rokesac. There are at present no remains of the conventual buildings. The site is moated. About a mile and a half from Flitwick is WESTON ING, a small village in the hundred of Manshead, and deanery of Flitt. This was formerly a markettown: its market was held on Monday, granted in the year 1304, by Edward I. with an annual fair on the feast of the translation of St. Thomas the martyr. The market has been long disused. TODDINGTON, About seven miles from Ampthill, is a small market town, situated in the hundred of Manshead. The market was originally held on Thursdays, by charter from King Henry III. granted in the year 1218. In 1316 it was changed to Saturday, by grant of King Edward II. which was afterwards confirmed by King Richard II. in 1385. The market was formerly much more considerable than it is at present. In 1681 it is said there were 16 butchers under stalls in the market-place. It has gradually declined, and is at present nearly discontinued. In 1799 the market-house being very much out of repair was pulled down, and the materials sold. Toddington is not included by Leland, in his list of the market towns of this county. By the charters of 1218 and 1316 above mentioned, a fair on the festival of St. George was granted. The present fairs are five in number, viz. April 25th, the first Monday in June, September 4th, November 2d, and December 16th. According to the returns made under the population act in 1801, Toddington appears to have then contained 360 houses, and 1143 inhabitants. The The parish Church is a handsome Gothic structure; the frieze on the outside is decorated with various grotesque figures of animals. In the south transept are some ancient monuments of the Peyvres. One of them appears to have been a crusader. There are also monuments of Ann, wife of Sir Thomas Cheney, K. G. 1561; Henry Lord Cheney, 1587, and his widow, Jane Lady Cheney, 1614. On each side of these were effigies of the deceased, now much mutilated, and lying on the ground, mingled with the broken ornaments of the tombs and the dung of birds. The costly monument of Henrietta, Lady Wentworth, who died in 1686, upon which 20001. was expended, and another monument, which appears to have been equally magnificent, in memory of Lady Maria Wentworth, who died at the premature age of 18, in the year 1632, are also going rapidly to decay. On the monument of Lady Maria Wentworth is the following quaint but beautiful epitaph : "Maria Wentworth, illustris: Thomæ Comitis Cleveland, Filia Præmortua Prima Animam Virgineam Exhalavit Janver: Camo Dui, 1682. tat. sud. 13. "And here the pretious duste is layde, In height it soar'd to God above, H Good Good to the poore, to kindred deare, To servants kinde, to friendshippe cleare, Soe though a virgin yet a bride, A chaste poligamie, and dyed." In the chancel is the monument of Giles Bruce, eldest son of Sir John Bruce of Winham in Suffolk, who died at Toddington in 1595, being on a visit to his sister Alice, then attending on the Lady Cheney. Sir John Broughton founded an hospital at Toddington, in the year 1443, in honour of St. John the Baptist, for three poor men and a master, or chaplain, who were to pray for the souls of Thomas Peyvre, and Margaret his wife and their ancestors. There are no remains of the building; the materials were used in the construction of the market-house, which was lately pulled down, The manor of Toddington was given by William the Conqueror to Ernulfus de Hesdin, ancestor of the Earls of Perche. In the early part of the reign of Henry III. it was held by Paulinus Peyvre, steward of the household to the king. He was a man of low origin, and when he first arrived at court was not possessed of two caracutes of land, but by means, lawful and unlawful, according to Matthew Paris, acquired so much wealth that he soon became possessed of more than 500 caracutes; he built a most magnificent house at Toddington, with a chapel, chambers, and other buildings, covered with lead, to the great admiration of the beholders. His workmen were paid 100s. and more than six marks a week for their wages. The site of this noble mansion is not at present to be discovered. It is possible that it may have been on a mount, near the church called Conger Hill, which appears to have been the keep of a castellated |