757 



AXE. 



AXIUS. 



758 



perpendicular style, stands on an eminence on the east side of thi 

 market-place ; it consists of a nave, chancel, and north and south 

 transepts, a chapel on each side of the chancel, and a handsome 

 central tower. On the west side of the tower, in a niche, stands the 

 statue of a king with his sceptre, and on the east side a bishop in his 

 pontifical vest. The Wesleyan Methodists have a place of worship. 

 The market for corn, sheep, pigs, &c. is on Saturday ; and there are 

 two fairs in the year. The town-hall and market-house, erected by 

 the corporation in 1830, is a plain but commodious building. The 

 manor was once a demesne of the crown, and was given away by King 

 John. About half a mile beyond the bounds of the parish the river 

 Axe is crossed by an iron bridge, erected in 1829. Axbridge sent 

 members to Parliament in the reigns of Edward I., II., and III., and 

 was then excused at its own desire. 



(Collinson's Hlttory of Somersetshire ; Correspondent at Axbridge). 

 AXE, a small river rising close to a farm called Axnoller, near 

 Chediugton, in Dorsetshire, and flowing through Somersetshire and 

 Devonshire into the English Channel. Its course is at first westward 

 about 1 1 miles ; it then turns to the south-west and flows 5 or 6 miles 

 to Axminster, to which it gives name. From thence it flows, first to 

 the south-west and then more to the south about 9 miles, into the sea 

 near tht village of Axmouth. Its whole course is thus about 25 or 

 26 miles. It flows through a deep valley between high hills. Its 

 principal tributary is the Yart or Varty, which rising in Staple Hill 

 just within the border of Somersetshire, flows almost due south about 

 14 miles, and joins the Axe below Axminster. There is another river 

 Axe, which as it belongs wholly to SOMERSETSHIRE, will be noticed in 

 our description of that county. 



(Ordnance Survey of Great Britain; Skrine's Hirers of Great Britain). 

 AXHOLME, or AXHOLM, ISLE OF, a river-island in the county 

 of Lincoln. Its name is derived from Axel (now Haxey, a mere 

 village), and holme, a river-island. The isle is about 18 miles from 

 north to south, and about 5 miles average breadth from east to west. 

 It comprises the portion of Lincolnshire lying westward of the Trent, 

 and the village and township of West Stock with in Nottinghamshire. 

 It is bounded E. by the Trent, and N. and N.W. by the old river Don. 

 The old rivers Torne and Idle formed the western boundary ; and the 

 ancient Bykersdyke, or Vicardyke, which runs from the Idle to the 

 Trent, may be regarded as completing the circuit. 



In the middle ages, and indeed till within the last 200 years or 

 thereabouts, Axholme was covered in a great degree with marshes, 

 especially in the western and southern parts. At a remote period it 

 was a forest, part perhaps of the great forest of the Briganten who 

 inhabited Yorkshire, but no record exists of the time when this forest 

 became a march. Many attempts were made from Edward III. to 

 Charles I. to drain the marsh ; but it wai under Charles I. that the 

 work was entered upon in earnest. The isle had together with 

 Hatfield Chase come into the hands of the king as feudal superior ; 

 and in 1626 he concluded an agreement with Cornelius Vermuden 

 or Vermuyden, then of London, but by birth a Dutchman, who 

 undertook with the support of many of his countrymen to drain the 

 marshes at his own charge, on condition of receiving one-third of the 

 land so recovered, " to hold of the said king, his heirs and successors, 

 as of his manor of East Greenwiche, in free and common soccage." 

 The owners of all lands in the level were to receive compensation at 

 the award of four commissioners, two to be named by Vermuyden, 

 and two by the Lord Treasurer of England for the time being; 

 persons having the right of common pasturage were to receive a com- 

 pensation in land or money ; and a corporation was to be appointed 

 by Vermuyden, and lands assigned by him, for the preservation of 

 the works. 



The work was forthwith entered upon and completed within the 

 space of five years, at a cost of 55,825t : " the waters which usually 

 overflowed the whole level being conveyed to the Trent through the 

 Snow sewer" (in the southern part of the island) and " Althorpe 

 River" (which deems to include what are laid down in the maps as 

 the new rivers Don, Torn, and Idle, for these empty themselves into 

 the Trent near the village of Althorpe), " by a sluice which issued 

 out the drained water at every ebb, and kept back the tide upon all 

 comings in thereof." 



The work was no doubt an excellent one ; for the reclaimed ground 

 became very fertile. About 200 families, Dutch and French (of the 

 French Protestants who had taken refuge in Holland), settled in the 

 recovered lands in 1634; and a chapel was built at Sandtoft, in the 

 island. Here service was performed in the French and Dutch 

 languages. Disputes however arose with the original inhabitants, who 

 made considerable opposition to the whole work, and up till half a 

 century after the restoration of Charles II. a state of insubordination 

 prevailed in the entire district. 



The litigation between the 'commoners' of Epworth and the 

 settlers continued till 1719. In 1691 a new decree was obtained, 

 awarding to the commoner* (including those of Misterton) 10,532 acres, 

 and leaving only 2868 acres to the settlers. This decree, though con- 

 tented by the commoners for 27 years, was the final and determining 

 one. Vermuyden himHelf retired from the concern, after sustaining 

 I <-rable loss, before the year 1(535. At the present day there 

 remain few, if any, of the descendants, of the foreigners who settled in 

 the level 



Taking the island as a whole, the soil may be described as very 

 fertile. It comprises black sandy loam, rich warp land, brown sand, 

 and other varieties. Wheat, oats, rye, peas, beans, clover, flax, hemp, 

 rape, potatoes, and onions are extensively cultivated. There is 

 abundance of peat or turf for fuel, and there are valuable beds of 

 gypsum or plaster of Paris. The water in the low districts is almost 

 everywhere brackish. At Haxey it is so hard that it is unfit for use 

 in washing. If mixed with milk and boiled, it causes the milk to 

 curdle. 



The Isle of Axholm is in the west division of Manley wapentake, 

 and includes the seven parishes of Althorpe, Belton, Crowle, Epworth, 

 Haxey, Luddington, and Owston. These parishes are in the Poor- 

 Law Union of Gbole, except Haxey and Owston, which are in the 

 union of Gainsborough, and in the archdeaconry of Stow, diocese of 

 Lincoln. The area and population (in 1851) were as follows : 



Althorpe 

 Belton 

 Crowle . 

 Epworth 

 Haxey . 

 Luddington 

 Owston . 



Total 



Acres. 

 5460 

 8530 

 7350 

 8140 

 8470 

 3680 

 5350 



. .46,980 



Inhabitants. 



. 1347 



. 1738 



. 3008 



. 1944 



. 2129 



. 1000 



. 2613 



. .13,869 



There are two market-towns, Crowle and Epworth. [LINCOLNSHIRE.] 



Haxey, once the principal place iu the island, is now a mere 

 village. 



At Milnwood, or Milwood Park, near Epworth, stood a monastery 

 of the Carthusians, converted at the dissolution- into a manor-house. 

 There was also a small cell or priory at Hyrst, in this island, founded 

 by Nigel de Albini in the time of Henry I. The Moubrays had a 

 castle at Haxey. 



(Dugdale's History of Embanking and Draining ; Dugdale's Monas- 

 ticon Anylicanum ; Hunter's Soutlt Yorkshire; Leland's Itinerary; 

 Young's Agric. Sum. of Line. ; Stonehouse's Hist, and Topog. of 

 the Isle of Axholme ; Population Returns.) 



AXIUS, a river of Macedonia, rises in the mountain range that 

 connects mounts Scardus and Orbelus, about 100 miles in the interior, 

 and runs in a general south-east direction into the Thermaic Gulf or 

 Gulf of Saloniki. In the middle ages,it was called Bardarion, of which 

 the modern name Vardhari is merely an abbreviation. The Vardhari 

 rises close to the Kachianik Pass over the Tchar-Dagh in the most 

 western part of the Balkan. A few miles from its source the river 

 takes a decided south-east course through the sanjak of Uskub and 

 past the town of Uskub, the ancient Scopi, above and below which it 

 receives a small mountain stream on either bank. From Uskub the 

 Vardhari runs south past Koprili in the sanjak of Ghiustendil in 

 which it receives the Kutchuk-Kara-Su, the ancient Erigonus, on the 

 right bank, and the Vravnitza (Astycus) on the left bank. After its 

 junction with these streams the course of the river is more easterly to 

 a point near Gradiska where the mountains on each side approach 

 close upon the river. On emerging from the pass the Vardhari enters 

 ;he sanjak of Saloniki and flows through a wide fertile plain, in which 

 t receives the Rara-Ismak (Lydias) on the right bank a short distance 

 above its mouth. 



In the upper part of its course the Vardhari flows in narrow valleys 

 jetween high mountains. Its basin is bounded on the north by the 

 western Balkan, between Mount Scardus (now the Tchar-Dasfh) and 

 Drbelus >ow Egrisou), the culminating point of the Balkan (9000 feet). 

 To the north of the ranges that connect these mountains rise the 

 bar and the Morava, affluents of the Danube. The eastern boundary 

 of the basin is formed by the Kerkine Mountains, an offset of the 

 Balkan which springs from Mount Orbelus and forms the watershed 

 >etween the ^trymon and the Axius. The Kerkine Mountains, 

 after numerous bends, each of which is locally distinguished by a 

 separate name, terminates southward in the three peninsular promou- 

 ories that lie between the gulfs of Saloniki and Contessa. On the 

 west the basin of the Vardhari is bounded by the Bernos range, 

 which springs from the western extremity of the Balkan and forms 

 >art of the watershed between the Ionian sea and the Archipelago. 

 )flsets from the Bernos range to the south of Monastir bound the basin 

 of the Vardhari on the south, separating it from the basin of the Inji- 

 Cara-Su, or Haliacmon, which enters the Gulf of Saloniki a few miles 

 icuth-west from the mouth of the Axius. 



The alluvial deposits of the Axius have encroached greatly on the 

 gulf, leaving a low and swampy land, intersected with numerous small 

 ranches forming islets of high reeds, and rendering the principal 

 iranch difficult to discover. The entrance is very intricate, being 

 much obstructed by shoals nnd sand-banks, but the river is navigable 

 >y large boats (from 25 to 30 tons) for several miles. About eight 

 miles above its mouth it is joined from the eastward by a small 

 itream not navigable for boats (possibly the ancient Echeidorus). 

 "our miles above the junction there is a ferry on the road from 

 Saloniki to Thessaly, and about four miles higher up the river is 

 roosed by a solid wooden bridge on the road to Pella. Tin; d"pt.h of 

 ,he river depends on the season of the year : during the summer there 

 is not more than four feet under the bridge, and there ore several 



