240 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



The church is dedicated to All Saints, and is a rectory, under 

 the patronage of the Marquis of Stafford. The Rev. James 

 Whitaker, of Alstonefield, is the present incumbent. 



ONECOTE is a township belonging to the parish of Leek. It is 

 situated to the north-west of Grindon, and contains 74 houses, 80 

 families ; 246 males, 218 females : total number of inhabitants 464. 

 Many of these people are employed in the copper and lead-mines 

 of Ecton. 



Narrowdale, in this township, is remarkable for the high rocks 

 with which it is surrounded, and the inhabitants of which seldom 

 behold the sun, and when it is visible, about one o'clock, they call 

 it the Narrowdale noon. 



Onecote Chapel is a chapel of ease, belonging to the vicarage 

 of Leek. 



BCTTERTON is a township and village in Mayfield parish, situ- 

 ated to the north-east of Onecote. It contains 68 houses, 72 

 families; 161 males, 194 females : total of inhabitants 355. 



The viHage of Butterton is irregular and ill-built, consisting of 

 about twenty farm-houses and smaller tenements, in a low situa- 

 tion, and surrounded with trees, which relieve the eye in these 

 dreary and naked Moorlands. 



The Church is a small modern fabric of stone, in the Gothic style 

 of architecture, with a small square tower : it is a chapel of ease to 

 Mayfield. The Rev. James Whitaker, of Alstonefield, is the present 

 minister. There are two white paper garlands, such as are carried 

 in the funeral procession at the burial of young unmarried women, 

 suspended from the roof of the church. 



Longevity. Elizabeth Stubbs died 28th August, 1799, aged 93. 



WETTON is a parish situated to the west of Butterton, and ad- 

 joining to Alstonefield. This parish is remarkable for ThorVhouse, 

 a cavern in a rock which extends into a hill the distance of 44 yards, 

 and is about 30 feet high in the middle. The roof is supported by 

 a large and rough natural pillar, and the cave is divided into several 

 partitions or rooms with rock-work, which has the appearance of 

 human figures. According to tradition, the Druids performed 

 their sanguinary rites in this cavern, and sacrificed human vic- 

 tims enclosed in wicker-work, on the altar of their idol Thor ; 

 but there is no historical document in existence to prove the 

 fact, and the story probably originated in the warm and invent- 

 ive imagination of some fanciful rustic, or hair-brained poet. Dr. 

 Darwin, whom nobody will suspect of credulity, 1ms contrived to 



