WAR 



WAR 



which runs into the Chefapeak, N. lat. 37^ 25'. W. 

 long. 76° 26'. 



Ware, Earthen, Queen's, and Stone. See Potteky. 

 Ware-5'm. See SsA-lVare. 



WA RECTUM, in indent IVritings, fignifies land that 

 has lain long neglefted, and untiiled. 



In ancient records, we meet with tempus waredi, for 

 the time in which land lies faUow, or elfe the feafon of 

 fallowing. 



WAREE, in Geography, a town of Africa : capital of 

 a country of the fame name ; 60 miles S. of Benin. N. 

 lat. 5^ 25'. E. long. 4° 48'. — Alfo, a country of Africa, 

 near the weft coaft, fouth of Benin. — x\lfo, a town of 

 Hindooltan, in Guzerat ; 50 miles W. of Radunpour. 



WAREHAM, a borough and market-town in the 

 hundred of Wnifrith, Blandford fouth divifion of the 

 county of Dorfet, England, is fitnated on a peninfula, 

 formed by the rivers Frome and Piddle, near their con- 

 fluence -.vilh the waters of Poole harbour, at the diftance of 

 18 miles E.S.E. from E)orchefter, and no miles S.W. by 

 "W. from London. It appears to have been a Britifh town, 

 from its earthen vallum, and from the barrows in its vi- 

 cinity ; and that the Romans had a ftation here is evinced, 

 by a militarv way which proceeds immediately hence to 

 Dorchefter, and by Roman coins found in the neighbour- 

 hood. Mr. Baxter and other antiquaries confider it to have 

 been the Morinlo of Ravennas and Richard of Cirencefter. 

 Wareham was a place of fome confequence in the time of 

 the Saxons ; but was made a theatre of war by the Danes 

 for a century and a half ; in which period its principal no- 

 toriety arofe from its misfortunes and defolation. In the 

 reign of Athelftan it had recovered fo much import- 

 ance, that the king appointed it to have two mints and 

 mint-mafters ; a greater proportion than any town in the 

 county poffefled, except Shaftefbury. Here alfo Edward 

 the Martyr was privately buried, after his aiTalTmation at 

 Corfe caftle ; though within three years his body was re- 

 moved to Shaftelbury abbey. In the year 998, Wareham 

 was vifited by the Danes; and likewife in 1015, when 

 Canute entered the Frome, and ravaged the adjacent 

 country. It feems to have been the conllant practice of 

 thefe pillagers, when the invafion of the weftern counties was 

 their objeft, to make this town their head-quarters ; fo that 

 it was in a ilate cither of continual apprehenfion or of abfo- 

 lute warfare. In Domefday-book, it is defcribed as being 

 in a defolate ilate in the time of Edward tlie ConfeiTor : 

 after the conqueil, it gradually became of greater im- 

 portance ; but from the year 1 1 38 to 1 146, it was a fcene of 

 confufion and war, ariiing from the contentions between 

 king Stephen and the emprefs Maud, during which the 

 town and caille were burnt. From tliis period fcarcely any 

 thing important occurred in Wareham, till the civil war in 

 the reign of Charles I., when it was early fortified for the 

 parliament ; but in a (hort time it was pofTeflfed by the king : 

 it was afterwards again taken by the parliamentary forces, 

 who relinquifhed on the furrender of Corfe caille. On the 

 25th of July 1762, Wareham experienced a dreadful ca- 

 lamity, in a fire which broke out nearly in the centre of the 

 town, and fpread with fuch violence and rapidity, that in 

 three hours two-thirds of the town were reduced to a heap 

 of ruins: 133 dwelling-houfes, with the town-hall and 

 other buildings, were deltroyed ; and the lofs, exclufive of 

 infurance, was eftimated at 10,000/. The fubfcriptions for 

 the relief of the fufferers did honour, to the nation, and the 

 town rofe out of its afhes to greater advantage than before. 

 Wareham is built in a flat country, and forms a long fquare: 

 the buildings, which are chiefly conftruded of brick, are 



dilpolVd in four fpacious ftreets, interfefting eacli otiier at 

 right angles. The area on which it ftands is computed at 

 an hundred acres, and is inclofed, except on the fouth iide 

 where the Frome runs, by a high rampart or bank of earth, 

 which was call up by the Danes in the ninth century, and 

 meafures 5360 feet. The fpace between the bank and the 

 town was anciently occupied by houfes, the foundations of 

 which ftill remain. At prefent it conlifts chiefly of exten- 

 five garden grounds, divided into regular quadrangles, the 

 fcites of ancient llreets ; the holders of thefe grounds are 

 entitled to vote for members for the borough. Thele gar- 

 dens produce vail fupplies of vegetables, confidcrable quan- 

 tities of which are fent by water to Poole and Portfmouth . 

 The foil is favourable for the cultivation of hops, which 

 grow wild and luxuriant in the hedges and fields This 

 town was anciently a borough by prefcription, and is fo 

 ftyled in Domefday-book. By a charter of queen Eliza- 

 beth, the government of the town was veiled in a mayor, fix 

 burgefTes, and other corporate officers ; but, from fome pe- 

 culiar circumftances, thefe privileges were neglefted, and 

 became obfolete. The mayor, by prefcriptive right, is 

 coroner of the town, and of the ifles of Purbeck and Brown- 

 fea : this right is ftill claimed and exercifed. By a charter 

 of the fecond year of queen Anne, the town is incorporated 

 by the ftyle of " the mayor, the capital, and aififtant bur- 

 gefies ;" and, among other privileges, is empowered to have 

 a gaol and houfe of corretlion ; and to hold three fairs, and 

 a court of pie-powder ; the profits of the fairs and courts to 

 be for the fole benefit of the mayor. A weekly market ig 

 held on Saturdays. Two members have been returned to- 

 parliament ever fince the 13th of Edward I. The right of 

 eleftion was anciently veiled in four burgeffes ; but in the 

 year 1 747 it vpas determined to be in the mayor and corpo- 

 ration, jointly, with fuch inhabitants as paid fcot and lot, to- 

 gether with fuch freeholders who hold lands in their own 

 occupation, or by defcent, marriage-iettlement, or promo- 

 tion in the church. Wareham had formerly eight churches, 

 of which only three remain. Trinity is reputed the mother- 

 church, but does not contain any thing remarkable. St. 

 Martin's is an ancient ilrudlure, neatly fitted up : St. Mary's- 

 is a lofty fabric, and with the exception of Sherborne and 

 Wimborne, the moll fpacious and ancient in the county ; in 

 the fouth aifle is a chapel, faid to be the burial-place of the 

 Saxon kings ; within it is a neat mural pyramidical monu- 

 ment, to the memory of the Rev. John Hutchins, reftor of 

 Wareham, and author of the Hiftory and Antiquities of Dor- 

 fetfhire. The building that was formerly St. Peter's church 

 is now ufcd as a tov/n-hall, fchool-houfe, and gaol. This 

 parifh is fingular for a houfe in the market-place, called 

 Homo cum cane, the owner of which is always a tithing-man, 

 and obliged to attend at the wool-court, twice a year, with a 

 one-eyed bitch. Here are two meeting-houfcs for Dif- 

 fenters, a free-fchool, a charity-fchool, and an alms-houfe : 

 the latter founded by John Streche, efq. of Exeter, and 

 rebuilt, in 1741, by Henry Drax, efq. and John Pitt, efq. 

 The priory, fituated on the river iide, near St. Mary's 

 church, is one of the moil ancient in the county : it is faid 

 to have been founded by Adhelm,bifliop of Sherborne, who 

 died in 709 ; and appears to have been a nunnery antecedent 

 to 876, when, together with the town, it was deftroyed by 

 the Danes. Robert Bellamont, earl of Leicefter, changed 

 it into a convent for monks, fnbjeCl to the Benedictine 

 abbey of Lira, in Normandy. At the diifolutiou of alien- 

 houfes, it was bellowed on the Carthufian monailery of 

 Shene, in Surrey ; and on the general dilfolution of monaf- 

 teries, it (hared the common wreck of thofe monuments of 

 religious fplendour. By various defcents, it is now tlie 

 property of lord Rivers. In a clofe, denominated Caftle 



clofe, 



