HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 203 



terminated by various peaks, pikes, or summits, the loftiest of 

 which, called Turner's-hill, is the highest ground in the south of 

 Staffordshire : the other points of Rowley are Oakham and Corney- 

 hills. This mountain has for its basis a singular species of quart- 

 zose stone of the basaltic or granite kind : it is called Rowley 

 rag-stone, devoid of grit, and not at all calcareous. 



The church is a rude fabric of stone, and contains nothing re- 

 markable : it is a chapelry annexed to Clent. 



In 1794 was found at Rowley, in pulling down a stone wall, 

 an earthen pot of a globular form, which contained about 1200 

 Roman silver coins of 40 different sorts, many of them fine im- 

 pressions of the Roman Emperors, and some of Galba and Otho. 



CLENT is composed of a group of lofty hills, bounded north and 

 south by Worcestershire, east by Hales-Owen, Shropshire, and west 

 by Brome, in this county : some particulars of Clent-hills, and 

 the Rowley-stone, are given in the " General View of the County." 



The parish contains two manors, Upper or Church Clent and 

 Nether Clent. Tradition asserts that the Romans and Britons 

 had an engagement on Clent-heath, where are tumuli or lows. 



Clent is noticed by ancient writers as the place where Kenelm, 

 King of Mercia about the year 820, was murdered by the orders 

 of his elder sister Quendreda, but who failed in the object of her 

 ambition, the Mercians having placed Cenulph, her uncle, on the 

 throne. Shenstone pathetically recounts the fate of the " princely 

 boy/' in his 23d Elegy. 



On the east side of Clent-hill is St. Kenelm's chapel, an ancient 

 fabric, erected in memory of the royal youth of that name, who re- 

 ceived the honour of canonization : the interior is plain, and con- 

 sists of only one aisle. The tower is a very elegant piece of Go- 

 thic architecture, richly adorned with niches and pinnacles : it is 

 a donative of Hagley, and generally given to the rector of that 

 place. At the east end of the chapel-yard is a fine spring, much 

 resorted to in former times for its medicinal virtues. It is probable 

 that Kenelm was murdered in the field called Cowbach, but buried 

 here. Although this place consists of only a few farm-houses, and 

 the roads to it are deep and bad, there is an annual fair for cheese, 

 &c. on the 29th of July. At the wake here, called Kenelm's 

 wake, there is a singular custom among the people of throwing- 

 crabs at each other. 



The church, dedicated to St. Leonard, is a living in the presen- 

 tation of the Crown, but the tithes of the rectory are in posses- 



