228 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



fen land. The woodlands, consisting; principally of tlie remains of ancient forests, 

 are still very extensive ; but the adjoininj^ inhabitants have the right to cut the 

 underwood and to depasture them, and they do not consequently yield as much 

 timber as they would under better management. The manufacture of boots and 

 shoes is extensively carried on, but other branches of industry languish, owing to 

 the want of cheap coal. 



Bmclilcy and Toiccester are ancient market towns in the extreme south of the 

 county. Dacenfnj occupies an eminence near the source of the river Nen. Not 

 far from it are the remains of an ancient encampment. 



Nofthdrnpton, the most populous town in the basin of the Wash, stretches 

 along a ridge of high ground on the left bank of the Nen, which here becomes 

 navigable. Several Parliaments met in this venerable town, and the number of 

 mediivval churches and other buildings is very considerable, but at the present 

 day Northampton is known principally for its boots and shoes and its horse fairs. 

 The environs are delightful, and gentlemen's seats abound. Althorp Park, the 

 seat of Earl Spencer, with a library of 50,000 volumes, lies to the north-west. 

 Descending the Nen, we pass Castle Ashbij and the adjoining Yanlley Chase, an 

 extensive tract of woodland. On the other bank of the river rises the tower of 

 the Saxon cliurch of Castle Barton. Lower down the Nen flows past the old 

 market town of WeUinghorough, and is joined by the river Ise, which passes Ketter- 

 ing in its course. Both these towns are places of considerable importance, with 

 iron mines in their neighbourhood and iron works. Higham Ferrers, on a lofty 

 cliff looking down upon the Nen, was the birthplace of Archbishop Chichele, and 

 the church, college, cross, school, and bedehouse raised and endowed by him form 

 the most conspicuous features of the town. Continuing our journey past the 

 pleasant toAvn of Oundle, where the Nen is spanned by a bridge, we reach Peter- 

 borough, which has grown up around a Benedictine abbey founded on the borders of 

 the Fen country in 655. The cathedral, with its magnificent western front 

 completed about the middle of the thirteenth century, is the most remarkable 

 building of the city. There are extensive railway works, and the manufacture of 

 agricultural machinery is carried on. Castor, a village about 4 miles to the 

 west of Peterborough, occupies the site of the Roman station of Durohrùœ, and 

 much pottery and many coins have been discovered there. Still farther west are 

 the remains of Fotheringatj Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded in 

 1587. 



There are no towns on the Northamptonshire bank of the "Welland, the only 

 remarkable object being Pockuigham Castle, founded by William the Conqueror. 



Rutlandshire, the smallest county of England, lies to the north of the river 

 Welland, above the Fen country, and has a beautifully varied surface. Oakham, 

 the county town, stands in the fertile vale of Catmose. The assizes are held in 

 the hall of its ancient castle, and there is a richly endowed grammar school. 

 Uppingham, the second town of the county, has likewise a grammar school of 

 considerable reputation. 



Lincolnshire lies only partly within the basin of the Wash, for the Trent and 



