of heavy rains, high tides, and sudden thaws at the same time, when "the sluices at Thorne was in great danger of being washed away;" and the damage done was estimated at above one million of money, we must allow that the objection was by no means unreasonable.

At last it being impossible that such vast waters should be contained in such short small bounds, it burst a huge gime close by Gore, near Thorne, where there had been a vast gime formerly, and so drowned all the whole Levels to an exceeding great depth, so that so many people were kept so long in the upper part of their houses that they were almost pined, while all their beasts were drowned about them. It was indeed a very sad thing to hear the oxen bellowing, and the sheep bleating, and the people crying out for help round about as they did, all over Bramwith, Sykehouse, Stanford, and Fishlake, and undoubtedly in other places, yet no one could get to save or help them, it being about midnight; and so many poor people in the highest rooms, without meat or fire, until they were almost starved. The sluice at Thorne was in great danger of being washed away; and if so, it was thought it would not have been replaced, as the whole country would have petitioned against it, and the Levels returned to their ancient state."

N.B. From this last sentence it is evident that De la Prymne considers the works of the Participants as one cause which greatly aggravated the mischief of these floods; and if he is correct, we cannot wonder that the inhabitants should withhold their consent from any others being erected of a similar nature.

THE MANOR OF

EPWORTH AND WESTWOOD.

THE whole Isle of Axholme was given at the Conquest to Geoffrey de Wirce, but it constituted only part of his immense possessions. Having reverted to the Crown, it was on the next grant divided. The Manor * of EPWORTH and WESTWOOD was bestowed on Nigel D'Albini; and the Manor of Crowle was given to the Abbot of Selby. I shall begin this historical and topographical survey with the Parishes in the Manor of Epworth and Westwood,Epworth, Belton, Harey, Omston, and Althorpe : and this will lead me to describe EPWORTH in the first place.

PWORTH Field must have been one of those places selected by the first cultivators of the soil for the purposes of agriculture, "a fine rich brown loam, than which there is none more fertile in England."

The view from the Church-yard is very extensive: it terminates only on the north with the Yorkshire Wolds, on the other side of the Humber; the high grounds near Alkborough, Burton Wood, Messingham, and the town of Kirton, in Lincolnshire are its boundaries on the east; on the west the setting sun gilds the spire of the

*The origin of Manors seems to be involved in some degree of obscurity. The name is either from the French manoir, or from the Latin maneo, as the usual residence of the owner of the land. Many of

the Church of Laughton-en le-Morthen, and Gringley-on-the-Hill closes the prospect on the south; so that we see at once the whole country covered by that ancient forest, which sheltered the aboriginal Britons from the fury of the Romans, and part of which was afterwards converted into a Royal Chace. How peaceful and calm the whole Level appears! Could we behold the different changes which it has undergone, and the events which have there taken place, like as in the moving pictures of a diorama, we should see some stirring scenes. The first picture would present us with a dense forest, having a few openings or glades inhabited by the ancient Britons, whose sole property was their cattle, who were clothed in their skins, and dwelt in huts. They have been attracted to the place not only by the shelter of the forest, and the mast and food which it afforded for their flocks and herds, but also by the rich pasturage of those fertile spots which now constitute Epworth Field, Haxey Field, the Belgraves, Belton, and Beltoft Fields, Owston Field, and Crowle Field. Look towards the extreme west, there is the smoke of an enemy's camp. The valiant Romans having concentrated their forces near Austerfield, have defeated the inhabitants in battle, driven them into the forest, and set fire to the trees. The flames driven by the force of a strong south-west* wind, spread with fury, and we can see nothing for the smoke. The scene changes, a long interval has elapsed since the conflagration, which has been covered by the impenetrable veil of oblivion; and now we look again, a few only of the trees survive, they are covered beneath their own ruins, and their decayed leaves and small branches have formed a thick and extensive bed of

of our best writers have considered them as of Norman introduction: but Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, assigns this division of property to the Saxon era. Be this as it may, every Manor was the similitude of the kingdom at large, during the feudal times. The Lord divided his Manor, as the state had divided the kingdom, into two parts; the one part he retained for his own support, and was called his dominium or demesne, the other part was parcelled out among his dependants, who returned him their services. Wainwright.

"Whereupon the Romans, that they might both destroy it and the enemy the easier, took the opportunity of a strong south-west wind and set great fires therein, which taking hold of the fir trees burnt like pitch."

of peat, the burial ground of these mighty monarchs of the forest. The rivers and the rivulets having been impeded in their course by this accumulation of vegetable matter, have caused in some places an impassable morass, in others large lakes of stagnant waters cover the ground. The Romans are gone. Look, however, as far as you can to the north-west, and you will see another race of people, who have set the battle in array on the heath near Hatfield, army against army: the savage Penda and the pious Oswald are about to contend for the sovereignty of Northumbria, and victory declares for the blood-thirsty invader. Again we change the scene. Look towards the north-east, the bosom of old father Trent is white with the sails of strangers; they are the plundering Danes. "The force of the storm," they sing, "is a help to the arms of our rowers: the hurricane is in our service, it carries us the way we would go." They are laying waste the country with fire and sword, and with the most horrible ferocity, snatching infants from their mothers' breasts, and catching them on the points of their spears. They soon depart; and after a considerable lapse of time, we have a more peaceful scene. The inhabitants having been converted to Christianity, the conquering Normans have erected the houses of God in the land. We see Gringley Church, the Towers of Thorne and Hatfield Churches, Haxey Church, Burton Church, Flixborough, Messingham, and Kirton. A considerable portion of the ancient forest has become a Royal Chace ;—

"How sweet in the woodlands,

With fleet hound and horn,

To awaken shrill echo,

:

And taste the fresh morn.”

Who

* Mr. Bigland gives the dimensions of a tree which he measured, as follows :-" In the beginning of the year 1819, James Brailsford, or Belford, a person whom you well know, dug up, about two hundred yards from the west bank of the Torne, and nearly opposite to the bridge between Akum and Gale-wood, an oak tree, of which the trunk measured 40 yards in length, and was 12 feet in circumference in the middle. Making a reasonable allowance for the top, this giant of the forest can scarcely have been less than 70 yards in height. Had it been now sound and standing, it would have contained, by the usual although somewhat erroneous mode of measuring, about 1080 feet; and at the present price of good oak timber, would have been worth £162, besides the branches which might have been worth £15 or £20 more, making the whole £177 at the least." Wainwright's Topography of the Wapentake of Strafford and Tickhill.