32 BURTON, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 
This could not I think have been the case had there 
been anything like an organized parish before the suppression 
of the Abbey, still less if there had been one before its 
foundation. But surely it is impossible that so large a 
district as that embracing the townships of Burton, Branstone, 
Horninglow, and Stretton, to say nothing of Winshill across 
the river, should not have been constituted a parish before 
the year 1002, if there had been anything worth calling a 
population there. Ecclesiastical as well as topographical 
considerations help to convince me that when Wulfric Spott 
founded the Abbey of Burton he founded the town of 
Burton as well. 
And that is in fact all I have to say this evening about 
Ancient Burton. The history of the Abbey after its foun- 
dation has been told you by Mr. Robert Thornewill and 
Mr. Rye, and their valuable papers have been printed in 
our Transactions. For the not very eventful history of the 
town, since the suppression of the Abbey, Mr. Molyneux is 
an excellent authority. I may also refer to the documents 
of the 17th Century, found at the Parish Church, and 
examined by the late Mr. Knowles and Mr. Lyle in 1884, 
and described in a paper read to us in March of that year. 
I am exceedingly pleased that our late Secretary, Mr. Gibbs, 
found the rough notes of that paper, and that Mr. Lyle 
was good enough to prepare a short abstract for publication 
in the last issued volume of Transactions. Such documents 
are excellent materials for the scientific study of history, 
illustrating as they do the manners and customs of different 
periods. 
And now what am I to say about modern Burton? The 
Bishop of Ripon the other day described Bradford in York- 
shire as ‘‘a place whose streets speak little of the past, but 
are redolent of the industry and instinct with the bustle of, 
modern life; a city which relies less on the picturesque 
reputation of ancient glories than on the exuberant energy 
