220 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



of Derby ; Dodsley, a hamlet of this parish, south of the BIythe ; 

 and Field, a village containing nine houses. 



Church Leigh contains a handsome and commodious school- 

 house, originally founded and endowed by a Mr. Allen, for the in- 

 struction of boys who are the sons of parishioners. About 70 

 boys are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are 

 admitted at eight or nine years of age, and continued till they are 

 fit to be put apprentice to some trade, or to return home and assist 

 their parents in the farm. The funds of this institution are now 

 sufficiently ample, amounting to about o100. a-year. The old 

 school-house was taken down, and the present enlarged building 

 erected, in 1806. 



Another free-school was founded by the beneficence of Mr. Wal- 

 ter Evans, of Derby, on his own estate here, for the instruction of 

 60 boys and girls or upwards, who are not the children of parish- 

 ioners, yet reside in the parish of Leigh : and thus ample means 

 for the education of the children of the poor are provided by the 

 philanthropy of two individuals. The Hon. and Rev. Richard 

 Bagot, the rector, supplies this latter free-school with books, 

 paper, pens, &c. : and a Sunday-school for all the neighbour- 

 ing children, is also opened weekly, at this institution ; where 

 from 80 to 100 children receive the benefit of sabbathical in- 

 struction. 



As a proof of the fertility of the soil in this parish, it is recorded 

 that in the year 1680, an elm was felled on the estate of Sir 

 Harvey Bagot, near the village of Field, which produced the fol- 

 lowing quantity of timber : it contained 96 tons of solid timber, 

 and 61 loads of firewood. Two able and experienced woodmen 

 were employed five days in felling- it. The height of this tree 

 was 120 feet, and it was 25f feet in circumference in the middle. 

 The workmen were obliged to put two saws together, and place 

 three men at each end to cross-cut this tree, and the size seemed 

 so incredibly enormous, that it was thought necessary to attest 

 the particulars by the signature of Sir Harvey Bagot, the propri- 

 etor, and all the other persons who were eye-witnesses of the fact. 

 Perhaps there would be little difficulty in finding even a larger 

 tree in the vast wilds of America, but we have no record of any 

 elm of equal growth being felled in Europe. 



CHECKLEY AND TEAN. This parish is large and populous : the 

 soil is good in general, particularly the land on the banks of the 

 small river Tean, which flows through it. The village of Check- 



