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Whitby ; on which account, probably, the town has chofen 

 three ammonites for its arms. 



Robin-Hood's Bay, fix miles fouth-eaft from Whitby, is a 

 noted fifhing-ftation, frequented for proteftion by many a 

 veffel paffing along that extended tra£t of inhofpitable (hore. 

 Among the country-feats in the vicinity of Whitby, which 

 arc not numerous, is Mulgrave caftle, the manfion of the 

 earl of Mulgrave, fituated five miles weftvvard from the 

 town, on a lofty eminence, commanding a moil extenfive 

 profpeft both by land and fea. Near to the fouthward 

 lland the remains of the ancient baronial caftle of Mulgrave. 

 Manifefl evidences of Roman occupation are to be feen 

 in various parts of the furrounding country. The Roman 

 road from Eboracum (York), northwards by the vicinity of 

 New Malton, (perhaps the Dei-venl'w of Antonine, ) and 

 apparently terminating atDurnfley, near the fea, three miles 

 W. from Whitby, is in many places very perceptible. 

 Along its courfe ftill remain traces of Roman encampments, 

 of which the camps at Cawthorn, 19 miles S.W. from 

 Whitby, fuppofed to be the Delgovitia of Antonine, are 

 very perfeft. Thefe works are noticed in general Roy's 

 " Military Antiq'jities of the Romans in Britain ;" but 

 much more particularly in " The Hiftory of Whitby and 

 Streonefhalh- abbey, with a Statiftical Survey of the Vici- 

 nity," by the Rev. George Young, in 2 vols. 8vo. Whitby, 

 1817. 



WHITCHURCH, a populous market-town in the 

 north part of the hundred of North Bradford, and county of 

 Salop, England, at the northern extremity of the county, is 

 fituated 20 miles N. by E. from Shrewlbury, and 160 miles 

 N. W. by N. from London. The church, the chief objeft of 

 notice, feated on the top of the hill over the town, is a fpa- 

 cious modern ftrufture, erefted in 1722, with a fquare tower 

 108 feet in height. Two recumbent ftone figures are pre- 

 ferved from the ruins of the old church ; of which one re- 

 prefents the celebrated John Talbot, the firft earl of 

 Shrewfbury, and marflial of the realm of France in the 

 reign of Henry VI. : he was called the Englifh Achilles, 

 and was greatly renowned in the wars of France. Shak- 

 fpeare, in his play of Henry VI., defcribes Talbot as a moft 

 formidable and magnificent charafter: " the terror of the 

 French : — the fcare-crow that affrights their children : — 

 whofe grifiy countenance made others fly : — none durft 

 come near him for fear of fudden death." Another effigy 

 reprefents Chrillopher Talbot, fourth fon of John Talbot, 

 fecond earl of Shrewfbury, and who was reftor of Whit- 

 church and archdeacon of Chefter. The reftory of this 

 parilh is one of the richeft in the county. The caftle has 

 long been ia ruins. Whitchurch has a very refpedable 

 free-fchool, in which many perfons of eminence have been 

 educated. Here are alfo meeting-houfes for Proteftant 

 diffenters, a charity-fchool for children of both fexcs, and 

 Jix alms-houfes for aged women, endowed by Mr. Samuel 

 Higginfon. A weekly market is held on Friday ; and 

 here are two annual fairs. The town is a place of much 

 public refort during the horfe -races which are occafionally 

 held here. Among the natives of Whitchurch, was dif- 

 tinguiihed the celebrated linguift Abraham Whelock, who 

 trandated the New Teftameut into Perfian, and affifted- 

 Dr. Brian Walton in the compilation of his polyglot Bible. 

 Whelock publifticd alfo an edition of the writings of the 

 venerable Bede. He died in 1654. The population return 

 of the year 181 1 ftates ttie town of Whitchurch to con- 

 tain 552 houfes, and 2589 iuliabitants : but the parifh com- 

 prehends, befides the town, thirteen townftiips. The whole 

 population is returned as 5332 ; the number of houfes as 

 1 107. 



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About nine miles to the northward of Whitchurch is 

 Hawkftone-park, long the refidence of the ancient family 

 of the Hills, and a place celebrated for its natural and ar- 

 tificial beauties and curiofities. The manfion, an elegant 

 modern building fituated on the north fide of a romantic 

 hill, is adorned with a lofty portico of the Compoflte order. 

 With the beauty of the exterior of the edifice, the interior 

 fully correfponds : the chapel and the faloon are particularly 

 elegant, and the latter is ornamented with valuable paintings. 

 The grounds around the manfion are particularly intereft- 

 ing for their affemblage of naturally romantic fcenes, to 

 which art has greatly contributed. The grotto, the view 

 from the cliff, called Paoli's-point, the retreat, or hermitage, 

 St. Francis's cave, the Svvifs bridge, the terrace, the obelilk, 

 and the widely-extended profpeft it prefents over the fur- 

 rounding country, the tower, the artificial river, the cottage, 

 or whim, are among the many attraftive features of Hawk- 

 ftone-park, which owes much of its embelliftiment to the tafte 

 and munificence of the late fir Richard Hill, bart. The 

 beautiful and romantic fcenery of this noble place is fully 

 detailed in T. Rodenhurft's " Defcription of Hawkftone." 

 — Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xiii. Shropftiire ; 

 by R. Rylance, 181 1. 



Whitchurch, a fmall but ancient borough and market- 

 town in the upper half hundred of Evingar, Kingfclere 

 divifion of Hampfiiire, England, is fituated on the borders 

 of Chute Foreft, at the diftance of 1 3 miles N. from Win- 

 chefter, 24 miles N. by E. from Southampton, and 57 

 miles W.S.W. from London. It pofleffes the rights of a 

 borough by prefcription ; and has fent two members to 

 parliament fince the twenty-feventh year of queen Eliza- 

 beth. The borough is the joint property of lord Sidney 

 and lord Middleton ; the freeliolds, which give the right of 

 voting, being conveyed by them to their refpeftive friends 

 for the purpofe of performing the ceremony of an eleftion. 

 The freeholders are nominally about feventy, but the real 

 eleftors are faid to be appointed and influenced by the noble- 

 men before-mentioned. The government of the town is vefted 

 in a mayor, annually chofen at the court-leet of the deari 

 and chapter of Wincheiler, to whom the manor belongs. 

 The town, though fmall, is remarkable for a variety of re- 

 ligions fedts ; there being, befides the church, places of 

 worfhip for the Independents, Anabaptifts, Quakers, Me- 

 thodifts, and Sandimanians. A market is held weekly on 

 Friday, and three fairs annually. The population of the 

 parifh, as afcertained by the return of the year iBii, was 

 1407 ; the number of houfes 281 : the labouring claffes are 

 chiefly employed in woollen manufaftures, and in agriculture. 



Adjoining to the wcftern end of Whitchurch is one of 

 the entrances to the ead of Portfmouth's diif inguifhed refi- 

 dence, Hurftbourne-park. Of late years the park has been 

 much enlarged. The grounds contain confiderable diverfity 

 of furface and fcenery ; and the converfion of a fmall ftream 

 into a broad piece of water, has tended very much to im- 

 prove the place. In the old part of the park, trees have 

 attained a fize much beyond what might be expefted from 

 the chalk and flint which conftitute fo great a portion of 

 the foil of North liampfhire. An old manfion-houfe flood 

 in the bottom near the prefent parifh-church and village : 

 but the late lord Portfmouth pulled it down and erefted 

 the prefent building in a much more ehgible and healthy 

 fituation. It ftauds on elevated ground, commanding ex- 

 tended and varied profpefts, particularly to the fouth and 

 the north. This manfion, erefted by Mr. Meadows from 

 the defigns of James Wyatt, efq. confifts of a centre .nnd 

 two correfportdent wings conneftcd to it by colonnades. 

 The eaftern wing contains the library and a chapel, and in 

 3 D 2 the 



