206 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



The situation of this town, on a dry and moderately-elevated 

 soil, is equally pleasant and healthful ; it is considered favour- 

 able to longevity, and is seldom visited by epidemical diseases. 

 It contains fourteen streets and lanes. The houses in general 

 are well built of brick, and commodious. The wharf belonging 

 to the Grand Trunk Canal Company, with several large ware- 

 houses enclosed by a brick wall, and situated at the northern 

 extremity of High-street, has contributed much to the prosperity 

 of this small but flourishing town, which is thickly inhabited, and 

 exhibits undoubted proofs of the opulence of its merchants, trades- 

 men, and inhabitants in general. There are several neat modern 

 mansions of brick, built in the vicinity of the wharf, and about a 

 quarter of a mile westward of it, stands the work-house, a neat, 

 clean, and comfortable asylum for the indigent, with a large and 

 well-cultivated garden. 



The market is held on Wednesday, according to a Charter ob- 

 tained by Thomas Earl of Lancaster, in the second year of the reign 

 of Edward the Second, A. D. 1308. It is a very considerable corn- 

 market ; the grain is not pitched, but sold by sample, and large 

 quantities of corn are sent to different parts of England from this 

 town by the canal. It is also a great market for butter, poultry, 

 bacon, and all kinds of provisions ; and several higlers, and other 

 chapmen, come from the Potteries, Walsall, and Birmingham, and 

 purchase and carry away large quantities of the produce of this 

 fertile neighbourhood. The clerk of the market regulates the 

 weights and measures, and endeavours to prevent forestalling, by 

 ringing a bell at half-past ten o'clock ; but the farmers evade this 

 by taking their goods to the inns, where the chapmen from distant 

 places privately purchase them. 



There is a fair held in the town every fortnight, for the sale of 

 cattle and merchandize. 



Uttoxeter is the residence of the High Constable for the Hun- 

 dred, and a meeting of the Justices is held every fortnight, alter- 

 nately, at the White Hart and Red Lion inns. There is only one 

 public brewery in this town, but abundance of excellent ale is also 

 brewed by the different innkeepers. There are two well-established 

 banks in Uttoxeter, besides a branch of the Burton and Stafford- 

 shire bank, where business is transacted two days in the week. 



The Church is an ancient fabric of stone : it consists of a nave, 

 chancel, and two aisles ; the roof is covered with lead, but the 

 exterior part of the walls is much out of repair. The steeple and 



