\V A T 



About one mile north-weft of the town is Cajhiobury, 

 Ihe feat of the earl of EfTex. The manfion is a fpacious 

 edifice, fituated in an extenfive and well-wooded park, 

 through which flows the river Gade ; and to which is the 

 line of the Grand Junftion Canal. The houfe was ori- 

 ^jinally begun in the time of Henry VIII. by Richard 

 Morifon, efq., and completed in the ftyle of that age by his 

 fon, fir Charles Morifon. It has fince been greatly altered 

 and improved, particularly under the direftion of the pre- 

 fent noble owner, and contains a number of elegant apart- 

 ments, together with a kind of cloifter, the windows of 

 [which have been recently ornamented with painted glafn, 

 executed in a very fuperior ftyle. In its general appearance, 

 the whole manfion, with its oflices, lias the character of a 

 nionaftic dwelling. The rooms are adorned with numerous 

 portraits, and other piftures of the firft degree of merit. 

 The park is between three and four miles in circumference, 

 ,and affords rich fcenery and noble timber ; the pleafure- 

 grounds and gardens are extenfive, and have lately undergone 

 fome judicious alterations. A particular defcription of this 

 fplendid feat, by Mr. Britton, is contained in Havell's 

 «' Views of Gentlemen's Scats," &c. which alfo contains a 

 'print of it. — Salmon's Hiftory of Hertfordfhire, fol. 1728. 

 ! Beauties of England and Wales, vol. vii. Hertford (hire, by 

 E.W. Brayley, 1808. 



; WATH, in Rural Economy, a term often ufed provin- 

 cially to fignify a ford. 



'. WATHULT, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in the 

 province of Smaland ; 47 miles W.N.W. of Wexio. 



WATKIN's Point, a cape on the S.W. coaft of Ma- 

 'ryland, in the Chefapeak. N. lat. 37° 59'. W. long. 76°. 

 1 WATLING's Island, one of the Bahama iflands, 

 jabout 18 miles long, and 4 broad. N. lat. 23° 50'. W. 

 long. 74° 16'. 



\ WATLiso-SfnTt, in Roman Antiquity. See Way. 

 ' WATLINGTON, in Geography, a fmall market-town 

 'in the hundred of Pirton, and county of Oxford, England, 

 is fituated between the two high roads leading from Lon- 

 'don to Oxford, about half a mile N. by W. from the Ike- 

 ,neild-ftreet, at the diftance of 5 miles S. from Tetfworth, 

 !l5 miles S.E. from Oxford, and 46 miles W. by N. from 

 'London. The ftreets are narrow, and the houfes, with a 

 ;few exceptions, mean and ill built. There is no ftaple ma- 

 •nufafture of any confequence : the making of lace, how- 

 lever, prevails to fome extent, and forms the chief employ- 

 •ment of the labouring females. A fchool has been formed 

 lexprcfsly for the purpofe of teaching this art, and isufually 

 attended by from forty to fifty pupils. The town is watered 

 'on the fouth fide by a brook, rifing in the vicinity, which 

 now works, within two miles from its fource, four corn-mills. 

 'A weekly niarket is held on Saturdays, which was originally 

 ,prantcd to Roger Bigod, carl of Norfolk, in the reign of 

 iRichard I. But this market is tliinly attended ; and the bufi- 

 ncfa of the day is invariably conduftcd in the parlours of the 

 principal inn. Here are likewife two annual fairs. In the 

 Icentrc of tlie town is the market-houfe, a fubftantial build- 

 iing, eredled by Thomas Stonor, efq. in the year 1664 : he 

 ;alfo founded and endowed a grammar-fchool for ten boys ; 

 ijccording to the will of the donor, the mafter was to be a 



fraduate of one of the univerfities ; but imperative circum- 

 ancea have caufed this article to be difpenfed witii : four 

 iboys have been added to the original number, and the whole 

 lare taught in a commodious room above the market-houfe, 

 lin which are likewife held the courts leet and baron of the 

 jmanor. The magiftrates hold a petty feffions once in a fort- 

 iTiight during the winter, but in fummcr not fo often. Ac- 

 cording to the population return of the year 181 1, this town 



W A T 



then contained 259 houfes, the number of inhabitants being 

 1150, which was a decreafe of 156, fince the enumeration of 

 the year 1801. The church is a refpeftable ancient building, 

 fituate N.W. of the town : in the chancel are feveral neat 

 monuments, and a handfome burial-place of the Home 

 family. Lands and tenements have been left by will for the 

 repairs of the church, without any pari(h-rate for that pur- 

 pofe ; and there have alfo been confiderable fums bequeathed 

 tor the ufe of the poor. Previous to tlie Reformation, the 

 abbot and canons of Ofney were patrons, to whom the 

 church was appropriated in 1263, by the bifhop of Lincoln; 

 In this parifh was anciently a chapel, founded by the lord of 

 the manor of Watcomb ; but on a complaint made by the 

 abbot and canons of Ofney, pope Urban III. dlftolved it : 

 no traces can now be difcovered of the fcite occupied by this 

 ftrufture. Wefleyan Methodifts and Baptifts have each a 

 place of worftiip in the town ; but the number of thefe fo- 

 cieties is comparatively fmall. The Methodifts were efta- 

 bhflied here during the life of John Wefley, who occafionally 

 preached in the open ftreet : a fubftantial meeting-houfe has 

 lately been erefted, but not more than thirty perfons are in 

 the habit of attending. The Baptifts are fcarcely fo nu- 

 merous ; and their meetings are held in a very humble build- 

 mg. The manor of Watlington was given by Henry III. 

 in 1 23 1, to his brother Richard, earl of Cornwall. By 

 Edward II. it was granted to Piers Gavcfton. On his dif- 

 grace it reverted to the crown, and was given by Edward III. 

 to fir Nicholas De la Becke, who obtained permiffion, in 

 1338, to build a fpacious caftlc, fome traces of which were 

 difcernible within the laft century. The building ftood on a 

 (lightly elevated fpot to the fouth-eaft of the church, and it 

 may yet be perceived that the ftrudlure was encompaffed by 

 a moat. King Charles I. granted the manor, in 1628, to 

 four citizens of London, who fold it in the following year. 

 Soon after this period it became fo divided and parcelled 

 out, that in the year 1664 there were about fifty perfons 

 participating in the manorial rights ; and previous to the en- 

 clofure of the parifh, which took place in 1809, the ftiares 

 of the manor were fixty-four in number. 



On Brittvell-hill, about a quarter of a mile eaft of the 

 Ikeneild-ftreet, fome remains of trenches point out the 

 fcite of an ancient encampment. 



Within half a mile from Watlington is one of the moft 

 complete agricultural eftablifhments to be found in the 

 county. The whole of the very extenfive farm-yard is en- 

 compaffed by buildings covered with flate, and prefents the 

 fpcftacle of a new and handfome village. This noble range 

 was erefted under the immediate infpeftion of William 

 Hayward, efq., and was completed in the fpace of one 

 year. His primary objeft appears to have been to produce 

 utility on the fimplcft and moft fcientific plan. 



About a mile to the north of W.-itlington is Pirton, an 

 inconfiderable village, though it gives name to the hundred. 

 Near Pirton is Shirbourn-Cajlle, the feat of the earl of 

 Macclesfield. A caftcllated edifice was firft cretted on this 

 fpot in the fourteenth century by fir Wariner de I'Ifle. The 

 caftle and manor were purchafed at the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century by Thomas, earl of Macclesfield. The 

 building forms an oblong fquare, and is encompafted by a 

 broad and deep moat, over which are three draw-bridges ; 

 tlic chief entrance is guarded by a portcullis : at each angle of 

 the edifice is a circular tower. The interior is dilpofed in a 

 ftyle of modern elegance and comfort that contains no allu- 

 fion to the external charafter of the ftrufture, except in one 

 long room fitted up as an armoury, and containing coats of 

 mail, ftiields, tilting-fpears, and offenfive arms of a modern 

 as well as ancient date. A park of about fixty acres is 



attached 



