342 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 



we are told that " Upon this road, two miles from Droitwich, is 

 Westwood Park, Sir J. Pakington, Bart., and Henlip House," — as if 

 the two mansions were in juxta position ; while " Henry Wallisman^ 

 Esq." is said to reside at ** Claims;'* and where, in reality, the road 

 crosses a petty brook, beyond Earl's Croome, called the Bow, at 

 Stratford Bridge, we are very coolly told to "cross the Avon, and enter 

 Gloucestershire." *' R. Brokeley, Esq." is said to reside at Cotheridge, 

 and the literal errors of the names of gentlemen are so numerous, that 

 no confidence whatever can be reposed in Cooke's Topography.* He 

 is equally erroneous in his Antiquarian labours, as in his "Itinerary" 

 efforts, and it will hardly be credited that an imitative ruin in Hagley 

 Park is placed among the " Antiquities" of the County, and dignified 

 with the title of " Hagley Castle." Elmley Castle is also honoured in 

 this respect, though a comparatively modern erection, and " Bewdley 

 Gate," of which we never heard. 



We must be excused following up seriatim the whole of Cooke's 

 errors of omission and commission, but the following specimen of his 

 style of writing we give as a curiosity. Describing " Manufactures,** 

 he thus observes — " The principal in Worcester city is that of gloves, 

 which has employed 4000 persons there and in the environs. Here are 

 also two more manufactures of porcelain or china ware. Messrs. Flight 

 and Barr's had the honour of his late Majesty's patronage upon his visit 

 to this city some years ago. Some good articles got up here in the cabinet 

 and furniture way, are sold to distant places, but the principal manufac- 

 ture of Stourbridge is that of glass, which has long flourished here and at 

 Dudley. Many sheepskins are also manufactured into leather." Such a 

 confused jumble as this was surely never before put together, and all 

 grammatical construction is put at utter defiance. Under " Learned 

 Men and Literature," Cardinal Reginald Pole is dragged in, but his 

 Bole claim appears from Cooke, to be, that he was " born at Slaverton 

 Castle, 1500," though no such place as "Slaverton Castle" ever existed 

 in the county. Speaking of Bewdley Bridge, and, as usual, thinking of 

 *' auld lang syne" having no suspicion of any modern bridge, our friend 

 Cooke observes, "The bridge over the Severn was, we believe, erected 

 by Edward IV. whose predecessor Henry VI. in the 38th year of his 

 reign, contributed all the stone requisite for its construction. Upon the 

 middle pier is situated a wooden gate-house, which serves as a dwelling- 

 house for the toll-gatherer, while the corporation use the other for a 

 prison, which is commonly called the Bridge-house. Of the tolls taken 

 at the gate here, that for a mill-stone, amounting to six and sixpence, is 

 most enormous." This is a serious accusation against our Bewdley 

 friends ; what antipathy they can have to millstones we cannot conceive, 

 and we must inquire if they still charge " six and sixpence" for a 

 millstone passing their bridge, for if they do, they certainly deserve to 

 have millstones hung about their necks for their exorbitant demand. 



Turning from the numerous blunders of Cooke, we hoped to find in 

 the " Family Topographer" of 1834, under the respectable auspices of 

 the publishers of the Gentleman's Magazine, a set-off for all other 

 ** errors of description." But alas, we regret to state, the same careless- 

 ness appears, and mistakes equally palpable, which render it but too 

 evident that the compiler, who, by the way, makes a display of " Works 

 consulted," has never, bona fide "consulted" the features of the county 

 itself. We shall not allude to other counties in the " Oxford Circuit," but 

 try his merits by our local knowledge of Worcester ; if he fail here, we 



* Our worthy author, Dr. Booker, is mentioned as Dr. Brookes, 



