W A L 



^V A L 



abbey, th*t but little remains to be faiJ of the foniier. In 

 the population return of the year 1811, the inhabitants of 

 this town arc enumerated as 2287 ; the houfos as 422. 

 Tuefday is the market-day, and here are now two annual 

 fairs. The chief manufadtures are thofe of printed linens, 

 and of pins ; for the latter purpofe fonie large buildings 

 have been recently erefted, in which a great number of chil- 

 dren of both fexes are employed. On one of the branches of 

 the Lea, near the town, are fome gunpowder mills, now in 

 the occupation of government ; thefe have been partly re- 

 built fince the year 1801, when confiderable damage was 

 done by the explofion of the Corning-houfe. The various 

 ftreams of the Lea, in this vicinity, are traditionally fup- 

 pofed to flow in the fame channels which the great Alfred 

 made to divert the current, when he drew off the water, and 

 left the Danifli fleet on (liore. Waltham parifli includes the 

 hamlets of Holyfield, Sewardftone, and Upfliire, which are 

 ftated to contain 297 houfes and 1398 inhabitants; making 

 the aggregate population of the parirti 3685, the number of 

 houfes 719. — Beauties of England and Wales, vol. v. Eflex. 

 By J. Britton and E. W. Bray ley, 1803. Hiftory, &c. of 

 Waltham Abbey, by J. Farmer, Gent. 8vo. 1735. 



Waltham, B'ljhop's. See Bishop's Waltham. 



Waltham, Wejl, or Waltham Crofs, a hamlet in the 

 parifli of Chefliunt, hundred and county of Hertford, Eng- 

 land, is filuated half a mile from Waltham abbey, nine 

 miles S. by E. from Hertford, and twelve miles N. from 

 London. It derives the appellation of Crofs from one of 

 thofe elegant ftone croffes which Edward I. eredled to the 

 memory of his confort queen Eleanor, who died in Novem- 

 ber 1291, at Hareby near Grantham, in Lincolnfliire. Her 

 bowels were interred in Lincoln cathedral ; her body was 

 brought to London, and depofited in Weftminfl:er abbey. 

 At each of the places where the proceffion reflcd, during 

 this journey, the king afterwards erefted a crofs ; of which 

 only thofe of Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham, now 

 remain. Waltham crofs is the leaft perfcft of the three, 

 though the Society of Antiquaries have twice interelled 

 themfelves in its prefervation ; once m 1721, and again in 

 IJ57, when lord Monfon, then lord of the manor of Chef- 

 hunt, at the requell of the Society, furrounded the bafe 

 with brick-work : it was originally encompafled by a fligiit 

 of fteps, but thefe have been long removed. The upper 

 parts are alfo greatly mutilated ; much of the foliage is de- 

 faced, and the pinnacles and battlements are broken. The 

 form of the crofs is hexagonal : it is fcparated into three 

 Ilories ; the middlemoft. of which is open, and difplays lla- 

 tues of queen Eleanor crowned ; her left hand holding a 

 cordon, and her right a fceptre or globe. Each fide of the 

 lower flory is divided into two compartments, beneath an 

 angular coping, charged with fliields exhibiting the arms of 

 England, Caltile, Leon, and Ponthieu. The cornice over 

 the firil ilory is compofed of various foliage and lions'-hcads, 

 furmounted by a battlement pierced with quatrefoils. The 

 fecond ilory is formed of twelve open tabernacles, in pairs, 

 terminating in ornamented pediments with a finial on the 

 top: this Ilory alfo finiflics with a cornice and battlement 

 like the firll, and fupports a third (lory of folid mafonry, 

 ornamented with fingle compartments in relief, fomewhit 

 refembling thofe below. In this hamlet is an ancient Spital, 

 confiding of four rooms below, and three above, from time 

 immemorial appropriated for poor lame people. The work- 

 houfe for the pariili of Chcfhunt is fituatcd in thin hamlet. 

 — Beauties of England and Wales, vol. vii. Hertfordfhire. 

 By E. W. Brayley. 1808. Lyfons' Environs of London, 

 vol. iv. 4to. 1796. Britton's Architedural Antiquities of 

 Great Britain, vol. i. 4to. 1807. 



Vot. XXXVII. 



Waltham, Greaty a townftiip of England, in Eflex 

 4 miles N. by W. of Chelmsford. 



Waltham on the Wold, a town of England, in the county 

 of Leicefter, which had formerly a weekly market on 

 Thurfdav, now difcontinued ; 18 miles S.E. of Nottingham. 

 N.lat.52^50'. W.long.o°48'. SeeWALTOii-on-the.Wolds. 



WALTHAMSTOW, an extenfive village in the hun- 

 dred of Becontree and county of EiTex, England, is iituated 

 near the borders of the river Lea, at the dillance of fix 

 miles and a half N.E. by N. from St. Paul's cathedra!, 

 London. Its name is derived from the Saxon word •weald, 

 a wood, ham, a manor, zndjlotoe, a place. It covers a con- 

 fiderable traft of ground, and is divided into the following 

 ftreets, or hamlets : Wood-ftreet, Clay-ftreet, Marfli-ftreet, 

 Hoo-ftreet, Hale -end, and Chapel-end. The parifli church, 

 a fpacious brick flrufture, conlHls of a chancel, nave, and 

 two aifles. At the wefl. end is a fquare tower, which was 

 rebuilt by fir George Monox, alderman of London ; who 

 alfo built the chapel at the eaft end of the north aifle about 

 the year 1535 : the fouth aifle was built about the fame 

 year with a part of fome monies beqeathed for charitable 

 ufes by Robert Thoriie, merchant-taylor, and citizen of 

 London. About the year 1740, a meeting-houfe for Pro- 

 teftant diflenters was eftabliflied in this village: in 1787 

 fome difputes among the congregation occafioned the build- 

 ing of a new meeting-houfe, which was opened in July 

 in that year : it has a cemetery adjoining. Sir George 

 Monox, before mentioned, built and endowed thirteen 

 alms-houfes on the north fide of the church-yard, for 

 eight men and five women ; with a fchool-houfe and 

 apartments for a mafter : the endowments were augment- 

 ed in 1686, by the will of Henry Maynard, efq. Thirty 

 boys are now clothed and educated in the fchool ; and 

 the benefits have been extended to twenty girls, in a 

 fchool efl;abliflied in 1780. Here is alfo a fchool for very 

 young children, who are taken care of till of age to be ad- 

 mitted into the other fchools. In the year 1795, fix alras- 

 houfes were built and endowed by Mrs. Mary Squires, for 

 widows of decayed tradefmen. The parifli of Walthamftow 

 contains about 4320 acres of land, of which upwards of 

 3000 are inclofed ; chiefly pafture land. The population 

 return of the year 181 1 flates the number of houfes to be 



562 ; the inhabitants 3777 Lyfons's Environs of London, 



vol. iv. 4to. 1 79C. 



WALTH ARN, a town of Hen"e Darmftadt ; 26 miles 

 E.N.E. of Heidelberg. 



WALTHAUSEN, a town of Auftria, with a convent; 

 4 miles N.E. of Grein. 



WALTHER, AuGLSTiKE FuEDF.uir, in Biography, an 

 anatoniill and phyfician, was appointed in 1723 profedor of 

 anatomy and furgcry, in the univcrfity of Leyden. Seve- 

 ral of his differtations on anatomical fubjedli arc upon the 

 whole commended, and have been reprinted by Haller. The 

 bell of his larger pieces are, " De Lingua Humana Libel- 

 lus," 1724, 4to. As a bolanifl, he publiflicd a cat.iIognc 

 of the plants in his own garden, and a work on the ilrnc- 

 ture of plants. He died about the year 1 746. Haller. 

 Eloy. See Waltheria. 



Walthfr, Bernard, an eminent aftronomcr, was born 

 at Nuremberg in the year 1430, and having apjilied princi- 

 pally to the iludy of mathematics, and more efpecially of 

 allronomy, under Regiomontanus, was eminently ufcful by 

 his talents and opulence in encouraging the inventions and 

 aiding the obfervations of his preceptor, whilft he con- 

 timieil at Nuremberg ; and when by th;- invitation of pope 

 Sixtus IV. he removed to Rome, with a view to the re- 

 formation of the calendar, he continued his obfervations for 

 4 R nearly 



