by intense application; his defence is perhaps as mafterly a performance as has been often seen on fuch an occafion, and would have done honour to a better cause. About two miles from Knaresborough is Plumpton, an old feat of an old family of that name, which flourished from the Conqueft till the middle of the present century, when this place, with an eftate of feven hundred pounds a year, was bought by Mr. Daniel Lafcelles. He defigned to have built a houfe, which he began, made his kitchen. garden, and formed a pleasure ground in a romantic fpot, but then defifted, and went to live at Goldfworth, another purchase of his, two miles off. The company at Harrogate, which is at a fmall diftance, have the advantage of what has been done, a visit to these gardens being one of their excurfions. Mr. Lafcelles found in a bottom near the house, a small piece of water, with a num ber of rocks ftanding up in detached pieces of various forms; he enlarged the water confiderably, forming various bays between the rocks, and covering the tops of them with greenfward, fhrubs, and flowers, often leaving the fides quite bare. The walks are carried fometimes between, fometimes by the fide, fometimes on the top of these rocks, which prefent themfelves in a variety of fhapes. The autumnal crocus grows wild in the pastures here in great plenty. Not far from hence is Copgrave, where is a memorable epitaph, fimilar to that of Mr. Heyrick, mentioned at Leicester. It is for John Wincupp, who was rector thereof 54 years; pious, charitable, and peaceable; never fued any, nor was fued; lived 52 years with his wife, had fix children, and a numerous family (boarding and teaching many of the gentry) out of which not one died in all that time; himself was the first, July 8, 1637, in his 86th year*. The foreft of Knaresborough is now inclosed; the land, lately of little ufe, is now converted into arable and good pafture. The family of the Slingfbys, ftill flourishing here, were made rangers of this foreft in the time of Edward I. Their feat is at Screven-hall, a handfome house, with very pleasant walks, and fine views. Go from hence to the little town of Ripley, and lodge there. Here is a feat of fir John Ingleby, whose family has refided in this place for ages. It is famous for the birth of fir George Ripley, the celebrated chymift, who lived in the 15th century, and is faid to have discovered the philofopher's ftone. Near this place were found, in 1734, two pigs of lead, infcribed, Imp. Caes. Domitiano Avg. cos. VII., one of which is now in the hands of fir John Inglebyt. The next day pass by a new house, building by Mr. Meffenger, late owner of Foun tain's abbey, and fo to Ripon. At Ripon was a monaftery, built by Wilfrid, archbishop of York, a prelate, who prefuming on his great wealth and power, behaved with fuch infolence to Egfrid, King of Northumberland, that he deprived him of his fee; and defpifing the authority of the Pope, to whom Wilfrid had appealed, put him into prifon, for daring to appeal to a foreign power against him. On the death of Egfrid, he made his peace with Alfred, who fucceeded to the crown, and obtained a reftitution of his fee of York; but the fame infolence produced a fecond banishment: he now found favour with Ethelred, King of the Mercians, who made him bishop of Leicefter; but his behaviour here was fuch, that he was not long after degraded. Such, however, was the merit of his appeal to Rome, that it made a faint of himt. Camd. v. ii. p. 95. + Phil. Trans. N°. 459, p. 560; and Gough's Top. v. ii. p. 464. Before Before Wilfrid's foundation, there had been a monaftery of Scots here, of whom Eata, abbot of Melros, was chief. It flood in a bottom, a fmall distance from the minfter. An abbot of Fountaynes got a grant of the chapel, part of which he pulled down, and rebuilt it, intending to have made it a cell to his abbey; when Leland visited this place, a chauntry priest was maintained there, and he obferves, that there were three croffes ftanding in a row at the east end of the chapel garth, of very ancient workmanship, and monuments of fome notable men buried there*. He obferves, that woollen cloth used to be made in the town, but idlenefs was then fore encreased, and clothmaking almost decayed. Wilfrid's building was entirely demolished by the Danes, but was re-edified by Odo, archbishop of Canterburyt. This place was in fuch favour with Athelstan, that he granted a charter, by which, amongst other privileges, all St. Wilfrid's men were to be believed in all courts by their Yae and Naet. At the diffolution, the whole of the revenues were feized into the hands of the crown. In 1604 a petition was presented to Anne, Queen of James I. for fettling a college here, in the manner of an university, for the benefit of the borders of England and Scotland§. She approved the plan, but it was not carried into execution; however, James refounded the church, making it confift of a dean, fubdean, and fix prebendaries, allowing them 2471. per ann. out of the former prebendal lands. There is now a collegiate church with three fteeples, or towers, large, but very plain. The fpires have been long fince blown down. This church fuffered much in the civil war in 1643, but has been well repaired fince. Under the church is a narrow, winding paffage, called St. Wilfrid's Needle, heretofore supposed to have been a trial of female chaftity, fuch as had made a flip, not being able to go through. The manor was granted by Queen Mary to the fee of York, to which it now belongs. Here is a free grammar-fchool, founded by Queen Mary in the third year of her reign, and well endowed. There is alfo a blue-coat hofpital, founded about 1672 by Žacharias Jepson, an apothecary of York, for the maintenance and education of twentyorphan boys, or the fons of poor freemen of the town, who are taken care of from the age of feven to fifteen; and any two of them who may be deemed fit for the univerfity, are to have an exhibition of ol. a year each, for feven years, at Cambridge. Such as are apprenticed at Ripon, have 51. given with them. The eftates are vested in ten trustees. The market-place is very large, having in the centre an obelisk of free stone, 82 feet high, on the top of which is a bugle horn, the arms of the town. Having fuffered much by the weather, it was rebuilt by Mr. Aiflabie, in 1731. It was formerly the custom for the Vigillarius, or Wakeman (who feems to have been the chief magiftrate till James I. granted a charter to the town, making it a corporation, confifting of mayor, recorder, 12 aldermen, and 24 affiftants, to order that a horn should be blown every night at nine o'clock, and if any houfe or fhop was broken open or robbed, between that time and fun-rifing, the lofs was to be made good by the town, for which purpose each householder paid four-pence a-year, or, if he had a back door to another ftreet, eight-pence. The horn is ftill blown, though the tax, and the benefit arifing from it, are difcontinued. At this town, in 1695, were found many Saxon coins, namely, of their brass. fticca's, whereof there were eight to a penny. They were of the latter race of the Jeland, Itin. v. i. p 77. + Camd. v. ii. P. 94, 95 The plan is inferted iu Peck's Defid. Cur. v. ii. lib. 7. p. 56... Dugd. Mon. vol. i. p. 173. Gent's Hiftory of Ripon.. kings.. kings of Deira, or rather the Subreguli, after Egbert had reduced it to be part of his monarchy*. Two miles from Ripon is a fulphur well, called Oldfield Spaw. It lies between two hills, near an old abbey, in a very romantic fituation, resembling Matlock; it was difcovered about the end of the last century. The fpring is always of the fame height, not affected by rain or drought, but boils up with great noise against a change of weathert. About four miles east of Ripon, towards Boroughbridge, is Newby, the feat of Mr. Weddell, on the banks of the Eure. The fituation is low, but the grounds are laid out to the best advantage; and whatever is wanting without, is amply made up within the houfe, which is difpofed and furnished in Adams's beft manner. There are a few good pictures of the first masters, and such a collection of statues, bufts, bas-reliefs, urns, farcophagus's, and antique marbles, as few houses in England can fhew; amongst the statues, the Venus holds the first place. A little way from this town is Studley Park, the feat of the late Mr. Aiflabie. The gardens were begun about 60 years ago by his father (who married the heiress of the Mallorie's an ancient family) and have long been celebrated as the finest in the north of England. They are at a small distance from the house, in a valley, in which are several pieces of water, too much in the old, formal stile, supplied by a little stream, which comes from Fountain's abbey; the hills on each fide are covered with woods, in which are interspersed several temples and buildings, fo placed as to form excellent points of view from the different walks which are carried along the fides and tops of the declivities. The late owner was at last enabled to make the place compleat by the addition of this abbey, which it was many years before he could obtain. It ftands at the upper end of a vale, which commences at the termination of the old gardens, and is finely wooded on each fide; through this runs the stream, which at the turn of the hill is formed into a beautiful piece of water. Before this purchase was made, only an imperfect view of the abbey was catched from one of the feats, much interrupted by the trees, which ftood immediately before it; thefe are now cleared away, fo as to give a full fight of the magnificent ruins. This celebrated abbey was founded in 1132, by Thurstan, archbishop of York, for monks of the Ciftercian order, and was built with ftone taken from the rocks in the adjoining hill. Some yew trees remain in the wood, faid to have been planted by the firit monks. By degrees they obtained very large poffeffions, and had an amazing quantity of plate, cattle, &c. Just before the diffolution, their plate at 4s. 4d. per oz. was valued at above 700l. they had 2356 oxen, cows and calves; 1326 sheep; 86 horfes, and 79 fwine. Their revenues amounted, according to Burton, to more than 1100l. a year, at the diffolution. William Thurft, or Thirske, the last abbot but one, was afterwards hanged at Tyburn, together with the abbot of Jervaux, or Joreval, and four others, who had been concerned in the infurrection under Afke, in Yorkfhire, called the Pilgrimage of Grace, one object of which was a restoration of the abbiest. This abbey, with others, was granted to fir Richard Grefham, who fold it to fir Stephen Proctor, whofe daughter and heiress carried it into the family of Meffenger, of one of whofe defcendants it was lately bought by Mr. Aiflabie. The ruins are very confiderable; the walls of the church, a large and lofty tower, part of the cloisters • Camd. vii. p. 94, 95. Short, p. 297. Willis's Mitred Abbics, v. ii. p. 271. entire, entire, and of the dormitory over them, and of the kitchen and refectory, &c. ftill remain. The stream runs under one end of the cloisters, and is there arched over. The church and town of Ripon make a fine termination of a view from the park. About five miles from Studley, Mr. Aiflabie made fome walks, and erected fome buildings in a fequeftered and moft romantic place, called Hackfall. A little rivulet, which rifes on Greville-thorpe-moor, runs into a deep, woody glen, and forms at the entrance three or four small pools, and in iffuing out of them, makes fo many little cafcades, judiciously varied in their forms. It then haftens with precipitance to the river Eure, at the bottom of the dale, rushing over heaps of tones and pebbles which obftruct its paffage, and make a multitude of falls, continually differing in fhape and fize. On the right rifes a very fteep hill, covered with underwood to the top, through which is a waterfall of confiderable height; on the left, the walk is formed under a fhade of lofty trees, growing on a steep bank. At the bottom of this walk is a fmall, plain building, called Fisher's Hall (from the name of the gardener) from whence is a view of the river Eure*, whofe noife had been before heard, roaring over great heaps of ftones, torn from the adjoining rocks in its fury, when fwelled with rains. It runs here in a bend, round a point of high land on the oppofite fide, clothed with a hanging wood from the brink to the water's edge, but is foon loft between the woody hills. Returning back a little way, a path to the right leads through a fine wood of lofty trees, which reach from the top of the high, abrupt hill, then being on the left, to the river fide. In fome parts the wood has been cleared, to vary the ground with spots of greenfward, leaving a few scattered trees. In one of thefe fpots a ruftic building is placed, looking on a confiderable water-fall, the top of which is hid by the over-hanging boughs; this runs into a bason, in which a high fountain plays out of a rock placed in the middle. Keeping near the fide of the river, it fhews itself in various views; the oppofite bank generally covered with wood, but in one place presenting a lofty perpendicular face of bare rock. The fame fort of rocks appear in the hill on the left, the trees being thinned to fhew them. Near the end of this walk, a flender rill drops from an impending bank, through the stem of a tree, into the river. Turning now to the left, afcend the hill which overhangs the path you have followed, and from various stations have various views of the river and country. The spire of Mafham church is a beautiful object from feveral places. The views of the country become more extenfive as the ground rifes, till coming to a building on the brink of a precipice, and on the highest part of the hill, a noble fcenery opens. In the bottom feveral reaches of the river are seen at once; the hanging wood on its farther bank, a particular green meadow on its fummit, farm-houses, gentlemen's feats, cultivated land, the church of Tanfield, with its bridge over the water, the churches of Topcliffe and Thirfk, York Minster, the whole bounded by Black Hambledon, and other hills in the horizon, on one of which the White Mare of Wefton Clifft, or White Stone Cliff, is vifible in a clear day, compofe this beautiful landscape. The building which affords this profpect, appears from different parts of the walk to be a ruin, but has two neat rooms in it, where, or in This river runs to Hull, but lofes its name a little below Boroughbridge, at Oufebourn, where the little brook called Oufe, runs into it, and gives name to its further course. It receives in its track the Swale, the Nid, the Darwent, &c. † A mark in a hill, like the White Horse in Berkshire, Whiteleaf-cross, in Bucks, &c, VOL. II. 3 I Fisher's Fifher's Hall, Mr. Aiflabie fometimes dined, or indulged his friends with the liberty of fo doing, and for this purpose kitchens are built near. Proceeding onward, a new view opens of the principal waterfall mentioned in the first walk, but it here appears to come from a much greater height, than it did when feen before, the upper part not being vifible there. From hence you come to the place at which you first entered. From Hackfall it is three miles to a little town, called Mafham, the market-place of which is uncommonly spacious, built on three fides, but the houfes fo low and mean, that it has the appearance of a deferted place. The church is at the end of the south fide, remarkably neat. In it is a very handfome monument for fir Marmaduke Wyvill, who died in 1617, and his lady; he was defcended from a co-heirefs of the lords Scroope, of Mafham, one of whom was beheaded for a confpiracy against Henry V. There is another good monument for Mr. Danby, to whofe family the manor belongs, and whofe feat is at Swinton, in the road to Mafham. The great tythes are the property of Trinity college, Cambridge. The manor of the rectory of this place was the endowment of a prebend in the cathedral of York, and perhaps the richest in the kingdom. In 1534 it was valued at 1361. a year. In 1546 it was refigned by Robert Peterfon, then prebendary, who conveyed it to Chancellor Wriottefly, and his heirs, and it has been ever since a lay fee". Mr. Danby's improvement of the moors, which lie behind his house in immense tracts, is so observable, and fo worthy of imitation, that too much cannot be faid of it. He has a colliery, which employs many hands, and the cottages of the workmen are scattered about on the moors. Some years ago he gave leave to the cottagers to inclofe a field contiguous to their gardens, that they might, if induftrious, raife their own corn. A few examples had great effects, and now there is not a collier without a little farm, from four to twenty acres, on which he keeps a cow or two, and raises corn. The hours of work in the colliery are few, and leave fufficient time for the cultivation of this land. This fcheme has introduced a fpirit of industry, in lieu of the idlenefs which used to prevail after the work in the coal-pits was finished for the day, and fixes the men, who before this, on the least disgust, used to run from one colliery to anothert. Mr. Arthur Young mentions a moft extraordinary inftance of industry in one of thefe colliers, named James Crofts, who has reclaimed nine acres of moor, much incumbered with ftone, the whole of which, in the inclofure and cultivation, has been performed by his own hands, with the help of one Galloway; for years he spent 20 hours of the 24 in unremitted labour. Mr. Youug was fo ftruck with the fpirit of this poor man, (who feems to have been unaccountably neglected by Mr. Danby, notwithstanding his own turn for improvements) that he most humanely propofed a fubfcription to raise a fum for enabling him to proceed in the improvement of a larger tract. What a loss to the public, that fuch a genius for agriculture fhould be cramped, and for want of a fum, lefs than is often spent in the capital on a single dinner! By the fide of the road, three miles before coming to Middleham, are fome remains of Joreval abbey. It was originally begun in 1144 by Peter de Quinciano, a monk of Savigny, of the Ciftercian order, in a different place, and was then called the abbey of Fors, Wenfley-dale, and Charity, and fometimes Joreval; but 11 years * Willis's Cath. vol. i. p. 152. Young's North Tour, v. ii. p. 289. 7 after. |