T A U 



102 



T A U 



well paved, and lighted with gas : and the houses of brick, ' 

 of respectable appearance. Apart from tin- main tho- 

 roughfares are wmic \ci_v p..,,r st,,.,-ts. which, before the 

 enlargement of tlu> bdftmgh, were inhabited by persons 

 desirous of ]ir.ititinir hy tin- parliamentary taactttM. The 

 woollen manufacture was established at Taunton in the 

 fourteenth century, hut has long since decayed : and at 

 present the silk manufacture is carried on, though not to 

 any great extent. The river Tone flows on the north- 

 western side oi the town, and is crossed by a stone bridge 

 of two arches; but the river is only partially navigable, and 

 in 1SH a canal was projected between Taunton and Bridge- 

 water, a distance of 12J miles. Tin's canal is of great impor- 

 taticetothe prosperity of the town and district, bv enabling 

 rultural and other produce to Bristol and 

 other places, from wliich it receives groceries, coal, and 

 other commodities in return : there is a branch from this 

 canal to Chard. In July, 1842, the railway from Bristol to 

 r was opened as far as Taunton, so that there is now 

 a railway communication with the metropolis. The 

 markets, held twice a week, are very abundantly supplied 

 with lish. fruit, and every kind of provisions. The market- 

 house stand* in a spacious open area called the Parade, and 

 is a brick building of considerable size : the upper part 

 comprises the iruildhall and an assembly-room, and the 

 low er part consists of an arcade on each side, in one of 

 which the corn-market is held. On market-days the Pa- 

 rade, which is enclosed by iron posts and chains, is occu- 

 pied by butchers' stalls. On the west side of the Parade 

 there is a handsome building of the Ionic order, erected in 

 Is-Jl. the upper part of which is appropriated as a library, 

 museum, and reading-room ; and underneath, and in the 

 rear, are the markets for fish, poultry, dairy produce, &c. 

 The Taunton and Somerset Institution, established in lsJ3. 

 contains a pood though not extensive library, and a large 

 public reading and news room. The theatre is a small neat 

 building. Two weekly newspapers are published at Taun- 

 ton. There are three churches. The church of St. Mary 

 Magdalen is a spacious and very handsome edifice in the 

 florid Gothic style. The quadrangular tower at the west 

 end, 153 feet high, is much enriched, and is a work of 

 great beauty. The value of the living, which is a vicarage, 

 is not given in the Reports of the Ecclesiastical Commis- 

 sioners. St. James's church is a plain edifice, with an an- 

 tient square tower formerly belonging to the conventual 

 church of the priory. The living is a perpetual cunicy, of 

 the annual value of 255/. Trinity church was consecrated 

 18th June, 1842. It is in the Gothic style, built of whit* 

 lias stone, with dressings of Bath stone, and contains sit tings 

 for aboTe one thousand persons. It stands on elevated 

 ground, about half a mile from the parish church, in a poo: 

 and populous part of the town. There are two chapels be- 

 longing to the Wesleyan Methodists, one erected in 1778 

 under the direction of Wesley. The Roman Catholics, 

 Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians have 

 chapels. The free grammar-school was founded by Fox, 

 bishop of Winchester, in 1522. The premises are situated 

 within the castle-gate, and consist ot a large and antient 

 school-room, and under the same roof is the dwelling- 

 house of the master. The endowment is worth about 3G/. 

 a year. The number of infant, Sunday, and daily schools 

 at Taunton was stated in 1833 to be very inadequate, and 

 a large number of poor children were at that time receiving 

 no education. There are various almshouses and other 

 c-harities, all of which are noticed in the Report of the 

 Charity Commissioners 'vol. v., p. 4H4-542X The Taunton 

 and Somerset hospital was opened in 1812; and there are 

 other medical charii 



Charles I. granted the burgesses a charter of incor- 

 poration. In the reign of Charles II. they were de- 

 prived of this charter, in consequence of the town having 

 displayed so much zeal for the parliament, but it was re- 

 stored, and in 1"!)2 became forfeited by the corporate 

 body having neglected to fill up vacancies. The town 

 then came under the jurisdiction of the county magistral es. 

 and is still without a municipal government. The bailiffs 

 and constables, as the principal officers of the town, take a 

 prominent part in all public proceedings. Taunton has 

 ied members to parliament since 1295 (23 Homv I . 

 Before the Reform Act the right of election was in the 

 potwallers who had been six months resident and were 

 not in the if.-eipt of charitable relief. The town having 

 outgrown the antient limits of the borough, which was 



wholly within the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, a new 

 boundary was adopted, so its to comprise parts of the fol- 

 lowing parishes: St. Mary M 



James's on the north. Bishop's Hull on the west, and 

 Wilton on the south. By this extension the population of 

 the borough was iucn-a.scd I'roiM ;ViHO to 1'J. ding 



tothe census of ls;)l. In 1826 the number of electors polled 



( I; in 1K-M) the number on the register amounted to 

 Kill), including 21G of the old potwallers. Two members 

 are returned to parliament. The I - and the 



Michaelmas quarter-sessions are held at Taunton. There 

 is a court for debts under forty shillings, the jurisdiction of 

 which extends over the hundred. There is no prisov 

 cept a lock-up or place of temporary confinement. The 

 county courts and offices are within an irregular quadnr 

 consisting of the remains of the castle. 



(Toulmin's ///'*/. nf Tatinlun, 17'J1 ; a new edition by 

 . IS-M. i 



TAUNUS. [GERMANY.] 



TAURELLIUS. L. [TORKU.I.] 



TAU'RICA CHKRSONK'SIS was the antient name of 

 the peninsula which juts out southwards from European 

 Sarniatia, between the Pontus Kiixinns lilac); Sea and 

 the Palus Macotis Sea of Azof): it is now called the 

 Crimea. It is called Chersonesus Trachea by Herodotus. 

 who compares it to the promontory of Sunium (iv. llsl). 

 Its form, size, and physical features are described 

 under CRIMEA. The istiunns which connects it with 

 the mainland was called Taphros or Taphrae dY.ppoc, 

 Ta^pai), and there appears to have been a town of the 

 same name upon the isthmus.* (Strabo. \ii., p. :IS; 

 Pliny, iv. 26; Mela, ii. 1.) On the wot of this isthmus 

 was the Sinus Carcinites (K<i\irof o Kapnvirqc), now the 

 Gulf of Perekop ; and on the east the shallow waters then, 

 as now, called the Putrid Sea or Lake (,', i'dTpii Ai/n-i;. 

 Pains Putris). The south-western point of the peninsula 

 was the promontory Parthenion (ri Ilap&ivwv), which is 

 either the modem Cape ( 'hcrsoucse. or another promontory 

 farther south, in the neighbourhood of the tow n of S 

 Gheorghi. The southern promontory was called Criu- 

 Metopon (KpioS fiiriaieov), and either the south-eastern or 

 the eastern point of the island was called Cora\ (ro K 

 affiov). On the east the peninsula is divided from the 

 coast of Asia by the Cimmerian Bosporus (,'> Ki/i^fninf 

 , now the Strait of Kertch or \cnikale. On the 



south-western side of the peninsula is a small pcih 

 terminated by Cape Khcrsonese, and enclosed on the 

 north by the Gulf of Achtiar, the antient Portus Kteinis 

 (Krfi'oi'c), and on the south by the Gulf of Balaklava. the 

 antient Port us Symboloruiu (ie/i.ViXmr X</jij>'). On this 

 peninsula, at the distance of 100 stadia from the promon- 

 tory Parthenion (Strabo), stood the city of Chers. 

 XffipoVijo-oc) or Cherrone (Mela), the full name of which 

 v. as ( 'hersonesus Heracleotica. It was a colony of ! 

 clea in Pontus. The peninsula itself was called the Small 

 Chersonesus, and the Chersonesiis Tamica wa< sometimes 

 called the Great Chersonesus, to distinguish it from this 

 part of itself. The other important towns were, on the 

 isthmus, Taphros (>'; Ta^poc), now Perekop; on the west. 

 coast Kupatoria (Eitrraro t iia), now Kupatoria or Kazlov, 

 built by Mithridates Kupator; on the cast , 

 dosia (; Oialooia, or <i <IH'(*IP<TI'H\ now Kefa or Keodosia, 

 a colony of the Milesians : at the eastern end of the island, 

 on the Bosporus. Panticapaciim or Bosporus ' ITaiTicnT. 

 now Kcrtch. There were several towns in the interi. 

 which the only one worth mentioning is Cimmerion, now 

 Kski-Kiim. that is. Old Krim. 



The earliest inhabitants of the peninsula appear to have 

 been the Cimmerians, some of whom remained in it after 

 the great body of the nation had been driven from their 

 ieats round the Palus Macotis by the Scythians. (Herod., 

 iv. 1,11, 12.~i Clear traces of this people remain in the 

 names of Cimmerion, the Ciiniiu rian Bosporus, the <'im- 

 meiian Chersonesus (as the peninsula was sometimes 

 called!, and in its modern names of Ciimca and Crini- 

 y. In the earliest notices of the < -. by 



Greek writers, we find the mountainous i the 



south and south-east inhabited 1< I people, called 



ThU nam* wat probably ilcrivl from K <litrh which in u-ry nntii-nt time* 

 ran criHU Illr i>lht:ni>. anil 

 ThUdilch mu n i ' 

 which nppru* In havp bam in the prniMuU itopU. and at thp ruten ] 



! iuhr i I'rrmudltt Mrj/to, i , ),. 1 57 , Hahr'i note on llip puMfc IB 

 Heradottu, IT. S.) 



