W I N 



was procured from queen Elizabeth for incorporating the 

 " governor and poor perfons :" they were invefted with a 

 common feal and other corporate privileges. But notwith- 

 ftanding this parade, the charity has dwindled to nearly 

 nothing ; the fix perfons now on the foundation having only 

 each a room, and the poor pittance of fifty-two (hillings 

 yearly. — Hutchins's Hiftory of Dorfetihire. Beauties of 

 England and Wales, vol. iv. Dorfetfhire. By J. Britton and 

 E. W. Brayley. 



WIMBREL, in Ornithology, the Englifli name of a bird 

 of the curlew kind, the fcolopax phaopus of Linnseus, 

 and known among authors by the name of arquata minor, 

 or the lefTer curlew, and called in the Venetian markets 

 taraniola. 



It is much of the (hape of the common curlew, but is 

 not more than half its fize. Its beak is about three fingers' 

 breadth long, duflcy above and red below ; its feet are green- 

 i(h ; the feathers on the head and neck brown tinged with 

 red, marked in the middle with an oblong black fpot ; the 

 upper part of the back, coverts of the wings, fcapulars, 

 and fartheft quill-feathers, of the fame colour with the neck, 

 but the black fpots fpread out tranfverfely on each web ; 

 the quill-feathers duflty, their (hafts white, and their ex- 

 terior webs marked with large femicircular white fpots ; the 

 breaft, belly, and lower part of the back, are white ; the 

 coverts of the tail are of a pale whitifh-brown, eroded with 

 black bars. Its haunts and food are much the fame with 

 thofe of the curlew, but it is much lefs frequent on our 

 (hores. Pennant. 



WIMES, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the ftraits of Calais ; 9 miles S.S.W. of St. 

 Omer. 



WIMMERBY, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Smaland ; 62 miles N. of Calmar. 



WIMMIS,a town of Switzerland, in the canton of Berne, 

 on the Sibuen ; 18 miles S. of Berne. 



WIMPEL, of the Dutch tuimpel, a muffler, a plaited 

 linen cloth, which nuns wear to cover their necks and breafts. 

 The word is alfo fometimes ufed for a ftreamer, or flag. 



WIMPFFEN, in Geography, a town of Germ^any, on 

 the Neckar, near which it is joined by the Jaxt. This place 

 confifts properly of two towns, the moll confiderable of 

 which is called Wimp(fen-auf-dem-berg, or Wimpffen 

 on the hill ; and the other Wimpffen-inthal, or Wimpffen 

 in the vale. In the former of thefe are a Lutheran parifh- 

 church and a grammar-fchool, as alfo a Roman Catholic 

 hofpital ; but in the latter is a Roman Catholic abbey, with 

 a convent of monks. The magiftrates here are wholly Lu- 

 therans. The Huns are faid to have ravaged this town ; 

 but an inftrument of donation by king Henry VII. bearing 

 date in the year 1228, (hews it to have entirely recovered from 

 that calamity. On the failure of the dukes of Swabia, it gra- 

 dually procured its freedom, and the emperors Charles IV. 

 and Wenceflaus promifed to maintain it in its immediate de- 

 i pendency on the empire. In the years 1645 and 1688, it was 

 I taken by the French. In 1 802, it was given to the duchy 

 I of Baden ; 8 miles N. of Heilbronn. N. lat. 49° 15'. E. 

 I long. 9° 15'. 



; WIN, at the beginning or end of the names of places, 

 I fignifies that fome great battle was fought, or a viftory 

 I gained there. The word is formed from the Saxon minnan, 

 I to win, or overcome. 



j WINANDER Mere, or Winder Mere, in Geography, 

 I a lake of England, in the county of Weftmoreland, in which 

 I is an ifland, with a village. This is one of the largeft lakes 

 I in England, being 15 miles long, and two broad, and from 

 i 90 to 200 feet deep, well furnifhed with fifh of feveral forts, 

 I Vol. XXXVIII. 



W I N 



but efpecially char ; 17 miles S.S.E. of Kefwick, and 270 

 N.N.W. of London. ' 



WINBERG. See WiNTERBERG. 

 WINCANTON, or Wincaunton, a market-town in 

 the hundred of Norton-Ferris, and county of Somerfet 

 England, is fituated on the weftern (lope of a hill near the 

 river Cale, at the diftance of 108 miles W. by S. from Lon- 

 don. It is a place of remote antiquity ; and was probably 

 occupied by the Romans, as numerous coins of that peo- 

 ple were difcovered here in the early part of the laft century. 

 The Saxons were long in poffeflion of it ; and it is recorded 

 in Domefday-Book to have been held by one Elfi in the 

 reign of Edward the ConfelTor ; but when William came to 

 the throne he gave it to Walter de Dowcri. It afterwards 

 palTed to the Lovels, lords of Caftle Cary, and through the 

 families of St. Maur and Zouch, till by attainder itlapfed to 

 the crown, i Henry VII., who granted it to Giles, lord 

 Daubery. The town, in its prefent (late, confifts of four 

 principal ftreets. A fire which occurred in 1747 opened a 

 way towards the improvement of the buildings. The turn- 

 pike-road from Taunton to Sahlbury runs through it. A 

 confiderable market is held on Wednefdays for cheefe, but- 

 ter, pigs, and (lax-yarn for the linen manufaftures, which 

 are chiefly thofe of dowlas and ticking, in which mofl of 

 the poorer inhabitants find employment. Here are alfo 

 three annual fairs. The town-hall is a refpeftable brick 

 ftrudlure, with a ruftic (lone bafement : here is likewife a 

 fmall old market-houfe, with a few fhambles. At the weft 

 end of the town, in the road to Caftle Cary, is a ftone bridge 

 of two arches over the Cale : there is another of one arch 

 over the fame ftream in the road to Bruton. Wincanton 

 church is a fpacious edifice, and confifts of a nave, chancel, 

 and two aifles. The church is ancient ; but the chancel was 

 rebuilt, and the church new-roofed and windowed in the 

 year 1748. At the weft end is a plain fquare tower. The 

 pariih extends nearly feven miles from north to fouth, and 

 three miles from eaft to weft : it includes, befides the town, 

 five fmall hamlets. The population return of the year 181 1 

 ftates the whole to contain 380 houfes, and 1850 inhabitants. 

 Within this pari(h, at the diftance of about three miles 

 north-eaft from the town, are the remains of the priory of 

 Stavordale, founded in the reign of Henry III., by Richard 

 Lovel, then lord of the manor, for canons of the order of 

 St. Auguftine. The priory is now converted into a farm- 

 houfe and barn, in which feveral arches and other parts of 

 the original ftrufture ftill remain. — Collinfon's Hiftory of 

 Somerfet(hire, vol. iii. 4to. 1791. 



WINCH, a popular term for a windlafs, 

 WixcH alfo denotes the crooked handle for turning round 

 wheels, grind-ftones, &c. 



Winch, a fmall windlafs, with an iron axis, hung in 

 rhodings or gudgeons, abaft fome velfels' mafts to hoill the 

 main-fail, &c. with a conical piece of timber at each end 

 without the cheeks. It is hove round by two iron handles, 

 formed by cranks or winches, from whence it takes its 

 name. 



Winches, the large iron handles by which the main- 

 pumps in (liips are worked. 



Winch, ufed by rope-makers, is made of wood, having four 

 fpokes at each end, connefted together by four blades, to 

 form the body. Through the centre of the fpokes is a hole 

 to receive an iron bolt, on which it turns by a handle in one 

 of the fpokes. Its ufe is to wind the yarn on as it is fpun. 

 Winch, to twift or make fpun.yarn with, is fimilar to 

 the former, but much lefs. The motion given to this winch 

 is by the hand in twilling the yarn : on the edges of the 

 fpokes is a fmall iron hook to ftop the yarn in twilling, 

 3 O after 



