W A L 



Walsingham, a tune in queen Elizabeth's Virginal 

 Book, with thirty variations by Dr. Bull ; fo difficult, that 

 the famous finger, Margarita, after flit; had quitted the 

 ftage, and was ntiarried to Dr. Popufch, though (he became a 

 great harpfichord player, could never entirely conquer them. 

 See ViRGiN'AL Book of queen Elizabeth and Dr. Bull. 



We at firil imagined that this tune might have had its 

 name of Walfingham, from the compofer of whom we have 

 been fpeakmg in the preceding article ; but find that in 

 Ward's Lives of the Prof, of Gres. Coll. it is faid to have 

 been fird compofsd by Birdo, with twenty variations, and 

 that Bull compofed his variations at different times. After- 

 wards, we thought then that the name might have been a 

 compliment to fir Francis Walfingham, the queen's minifter; 

 but that idea was relinquifhed on finding that it was the 

 tune of an old fong, beginning, " As I went to Walfing- 

 ham," in queen Elizabeth's book ; and " Have with you 

 to Walfingham," in lady Nevil's virginal book, where it is 

 inferted with twenty-two variations by Birde. Now it is 

 well known by tradition, in Norfolk, that Henry VHI., 

 previous to the fuppreffion of the monalleries, viflted that 

 of our lady of Walfingham, fo rich in votive gifts from thofe 

 who had been cured of diicafes, or imagined themfelves 

 cured, by the waters of the holy well, that it has been fup- 

 pofed that Henry, tempted by the riches and fplendour of 

 the religious houles at Walfingham, precipitated their fall ; 

 and it is probable, that the words to the tune called Wal- 

 fingham were written about this time. 



Walsingham, Liltle, or Neiv, in Geography, a confider- 

 able market-town in the hundred of North Greenhoe and 

 county of Norfolk, England, is fituatcd on the banks of a 

 fmall river at the dillance of 29 miles N.W. from the city 

 of Norwich, and i 14 miles N.N.E. from London. The 

 great celebrity which this town obtained for feveral cen- 

 turies was originally derived from the widow of Ricoldie 

 Faverches founding, about the year 1061, a fmall chapel in 

 honour of the Virgin Mary, fimilar to the Sanfta Cafa at 

 Nazareth. Sir Geffrey Faverches, her fon, confirmed the 

 endowments, made an additional foundation of a priory for 

 AugulHne canons, and eredled a conventual church. Im- 

 menfe wealth was accumulated by grants and offerings ; 

 and the image of the Lady of IValfingham was as much fre- 

 quented, if not more than the fhrine of St. Thomas a Becket 

 at Canterbury. Foreigners of all nations came hither on 

 pilgrimage ; many kings and queens of England alfo paid 

 their devoirs to it ; fo that the number and quantity of her 

 devotees appeared to equal thofe of the lady of Lorctto in 

 Italy. Erafmus, who vifited this place, fays, that " the 

 chapel, then rebuilding, was diftinft from the church, and 

 infide of it was a fmall chapel of wood, on each fide of 

 which was a little narrow door, where thofe who were ad. 

 mitted came with their offerings and paid their devotions ; 

 it was lighted up with wax torches, and the glitter of gold, 

 filver, and jewels, would lead you to fuppofe it to be the feat 

 of the gods." This far-famed image was, in the 30th year 

 of Henry VIIL, conveyed to Chelfea, and there publicly 

 burnt. The prefent remains of this once-noble monallic 

 pile are, a portal, or well entrance gateway, a richly orna- 

 mented lofty arch, fixty feet high, which formed the call 

 end of the church, fuppofed to have been eredled in the 

 time of Henry VII. ; the refectory, feventy-eight feet long, 

 and twenty-feven broad, and the walla twenty-fix feet and a 

 half in height ; a Norman arch, part of the original chapel, 

 which has a zigzag moulding ; part of the old cloiilers, a 

 ftone bath, and two wells, called the Wifhing Wells, from a 

 charm which fupcrllition attached to them. The principal 

 parts of thefc venerable ruins arc included in the plcafure- 

 9 



W A L 



grounds of Henry Lee Warner, efq. who has a commodious 

 houfe, which occupies the fcite of the priory. The prefent 

 proprietor has progreffively, for feveral years, been making 

 improvements in planting, and laying out the grounds in 

 the immediate vicinity of his manfion. The church of 

 Walfing;ham is a fpacious and interelling pile, difplaying in 

 its architedure, ornaments, monuments, and very elegant 

 font much to gratify the antiquary. The latter is not only 

 the finefl fpecimen of the fort in the county, but perhaps in 

 the kingdom. It is of an oaangular fhape, and the whole 

 of its bafe, fiiaft, and projecting upper portion, is covered 

 with fculpture, reprefenting buttrefies, pinnacles, niches, 

 crocketted pediments, &c. with feveral figures in baffo- 

 relievo. It is elevated on a plinth of four fteps, the ex- 

 terior faces of which are alfo decorated with tracery mould- 

 ings. (See an account and view of it in Britton's Archi- 

 teftural Antiquities of Great Britain. ) A houfe of grey 

 friars was founded in this town about the year 1346 by lady 

 Elizabeth de Burgh, countefs of Clare ; but its fame was 

 eclipfed by the fuperior grandeur of its neighbour, and 

 poverty thruft it ftill further into obfcurity. An hofpital 

 for lazars was founded here in 1492 : the building of which 

 is ufed now as a bridewell. A fair is held annually ; aud a 

 market weekly on Fridays. The population, by the return 

 of the year 1811, was ilated to be 1008, occupying 236 

 houfes. 



At the diflance of a mile and a half N. by E. is the village 

 of Old Walfingham, which contains two churches ; and in 

 181 1 was returned as liaving 71 houfes, and a population 

 of 34y perfons. 



In the adjoining parifh of Binham are the remains of 

 Binham Priory, formerly an edifice of great extent and 

 Uberal endowment. Its ruins are now very confiderable and 

 interefting, but are gradually mouldering away. Of the 

 once-fpacious collegiate church, only the nave and north 

 aifle, the chief part of the weilern front, and fragments of 

 the tranfept, are now left. Excepting the weft facade, the 

 whole is of the early Norman architefture, and moll pro- 

 bably conftitutes part of the original ftrudture founded in 

 the beginning of the reign of Henry I. The exterior of 

 the weiicrn front is wholly in the pointed flyle, and is an 

 interefting fpecimen of the ecclefiaftical architefture of the 

 thirteenth century. 



Holkham Houfe, in the adjacent parifh of Holkham, the 

 magnificent feat and refidcnce of Thomas AVilliam Coko, 

 efq., was begun in the year 1734 by the earl of Leicefter, 

 and completed by his dowager-countefs in 1760. Tlie 

 central part of this fpacious manfion extends three hundred 

 and forty-five feet in length, by one hundred and eighty in 

 depth, and is accompanied by four wings or pavilions, whicli 

 are connefted with it by reftilinear corridors or galleries ; 

 each of the two fronts, therefore, difplays a centre and two 

 wings. In the centre are comprifed the principal rooms ; 

 and each wing has its refpcdlive deftination, and fuite of 

 family apartments. There may be houfes larger and more 

 magnificent than this, but fcarcely any one in the kingdom 

 that can equal it for convenience and appropriate arrange- 

 ment. The fitting up of the interior is in the nioft fplendid 

 ftyle, and in fome of the apartments with the moft elegant 

 tafte. A correfpoiiding ftyle prevails in laying out the cx- 

 tenfive pleafure -grounds and park. On the north fide of the 

 latter, a lake, covering about twenty acres, extends in nearly 

 a right line for 1056 yards ; it includes a fmall ifland, and 

 the fliore is finely clotlied with wool — Beauties of England 

 and Wales, vol. xi. Ni>rf()lk. By .1. Britton, F.A.S. 18 10. 

 Blomcfield's Topographical Ilillory of Norfolk, vol. ix. 

 Svo. 1808. 



Wal- 



