SETTEER. 



bouring counlry abounds with iron-flone aud coal, 

 the two grand foundations of the manufaiftuit. 

 The foreign iron required is brought from Hull 

 by the River Don to a place about three miles be- 

 low the town ; and the bulky articles of the man- 

 ufafture are fent to market by the fame convey- 

 ance. Sheffield has alfo a filk-aiill, and fome lead- 

 works. 



Shepham, (Som. E.J a village employed in 

 raifing lapis calaminaris from the mines, chiefly 

 for the brafs-works in Briftol. 



Shepton Mallet, (Som. E.) a thriving cloth- 

 ing town, which makes about 150,000 yards of 

 broad cloth annually, and has alfo a manufafture 

 of knitted ilockings. 



Sherborn, {Dorf. E.) a large town, which 

 formerly had a great woolen manufadlure, now de- 

 cayed. There are fome mills for throwing filk. 



Shetland, a large clurter of idands, the mofl 

 northerly divifion of the Britifii dominions, the 

 chief of which is called the Mainland. Thefe 

 iflands pofTefs ?. mod valuable breed of flieep, bear- 

 ing wool of the very fineft quality, whidi the peo- 

 ple, not knowing the value of it, ufed to dellroy by 

 working it, along with the coarfeft wool, into 

 knitted ftockings, their only manufafture, which 

 were fold for lefs than the value of the fine wool 

 in them. (See above, V. iv, p. 206.^ Braffay 

 •.ound, on the eaft fide of the Mainland, has long 

 been famous for the refort of the herrings, and 

 'Jixt great Ji/liery carried on tht'r^ hy foreigners, v>'hich 

 might be an inexhauftible fource of wealth to 

 Great Britain, and tfpecially to thefe iflands, if 

 the oppreflions of the fait laws were removed. In 

 the more perm-.inent fillieiy for cod, ling, tuflv, 

 £.,:. about 2, .(.GO of the people are employed in 

 about 500 boats during the furamer : and the fifli, 

 the produce of their induftry, 2re delivered at ftip- 

 ulated prices to their landlords, by whom they 

 are cured, and (hipped, to the amount of about 

 800 tuns annually, moftly to Leith, and fome to 

 Hamburgh, Lifbon, and even up the Mediter- 

 ranean. Oil is made from the livers of the fifh ; 

 and in the year 179 1 they had 2,000 barrels of it, 

 which, however, was much more than ufual. Some 

 b'.itter, fait beef, and hidea, are alfo exported. 



There are a great rumiber of mod excellent na- 

 tural harbours in all parts of tliefe iflands, which 

 are ufelefs for want of commerce, and are fcarcely 

 ferviceable as flielter to veflels caught in ftorms, for 

 want of being known. 



Shiels, or Sheals, coniiptly written (^but 

 not pronounced ) Shields, CDiir. E). In the reign 

 of Henry HI there were apparently no buildings 

 at the mouth of the Tine, on either fide, except 

 fome lodges, huts, Jhiels, or Ihielings, for Ihelter 

 to the fiihermen, who had no craft larger than 

 batels, or fmall boats, and were obliged to carry 



their fifn to Newcaftle, where a prifc was taken 

 out of them for the king, and curtoms for the 

 town. But in or before the year 1279, as the 

 burgefll-s of Newcaftle reprcfented in a complaint 

 in parliament, the prior of Tmemouth erected 26 

 houfes clofe upon the brink of the water, and had 

 in them fiihermen who had large vcfTels, aud bak- 

 ers, and brewers, from whom he received above 

 36 marks a-year ; and from 100 to 200 boats 

 and other veflcls in a year fold their fifh, &c. and 

 bought bread, ale, and other neceffaries, at the 

 prior's town of Sheles ; by which pradlices and 

 ufurpations the king's and the town's revenues 

 were much impaired. Tiie prior of Durham was 

 accufed of having erefted a fimilar town, and made 

 fimilar encroachments upon the ri_;hts of the king 

 and the town of Newcaftle, on his fide of the 

 mouth of the river. But either his foundations 

 were on a fiualler fcale, or the burgeftes of New- 

 caftle thought themfelves lefs aggrieved by th:m 

 than by thofe on their own fide of the river ; for 

 the grievance of the new villacfe of SUl-Ics on the 

 north fide is much more infilled upon in their 

 pleading, and it was apparently the lar- jft of the 

 two.* \_Ryley Plac. pari. p. 25.] 



Thefe petty jealoufies have long ago been loft 

 fight of in the great co-operations of the coal trade : 

 and Shiels is now a large and profperous town, 

 400 fail being often at once in the harbour, v/!iich 

 is the port of Newcaftle, and the greateft fliipping 

 place in the world for coals, which are tlie found- 

 ation of all the trade and manufaftures of th; 

 place. The trade of making fait has decayed, as 

 appears by the duties, which ufed to amount to 

 ^£'80,000 a-year, being reduced to s^ 10,000, and 

 the number of pans falling from 200 to 6 or 8. 

 There are ten yards for building fliips, and three 

 dry docks for repairing ; and the carpenters have 

 the reputation of building ftrong and good veflels. 

 There are two glafs-houfes for window glafs, and 

 two for bottles ; and all the manufaftures and 

 branches of bufinefs, created by a vciy brilk Ihip- 

 ping port. 



Nop.TH Shiels, which is in Worlhiimherlatii! on 

 the oppofite fide of the river, had only five or fix 

 fifliirmen's huts in the reign of Edward I, \_Hutch- 

 infon's Hijl. of Durham, V. \\, p. 482] having been 

 probably reduced to its foiTner ftate in- confc- 

 qucnce of the complaints of Newcaftle. It is now 

 a populous town, and partakes of the trade and 

 profperity of its neighbour on the fouth lide of 

 the river, which, however, has long been confider* 

 ed as the principal. 



Shilelagh, (IVict. I.Jzl village, formerly fam- 

 ous for the excellence of tiie oak timber produc- 

 ed in the adjacent wood, whereof the roof of 

 Weftminfter hall fliows a good fpecimen. 



Shoreham, (Siijf. E.J an antient tjwn on the 



* 1 have gone a little into the origin of Shiels, becaufe it has been fuppofed, as Camden makes no mcntijn of it, thit 

 it did not exift in his tinie. But two villages called Shtulis and S. Sheales appear on the two Cdes of the Tiae in his^inap 

 of Durham, and S. Sheales in his niap of Northumberland. 



4 M 2 



