WYE 



enlarged, and furnifhed with a profulion of ornaments by 

 his fon lord Le Defpencer. The parifh-church (lands on 

 the fummit of a fteep hill, at a fmall diftance from the 

 village, within the fcite of an ancient circular intrenchment. 

 It was rebuilt in 1763, (except the tower and chancel, which 

 are parts of a more ancient Itrudlure,) by lord Le Defpencer, 

 who fitted it up in the Grecian ftyle : the ceihng is painted 

 with Mofaic ornaments. Near the eall end of the church is 

 an hexagonal building, erefted by his lordfhip. One fide of 

 this building is infcribed to the memory of John, earl of 

 Weftmoreland, and another to George, baron of Melcombe 

 Regis, whofe legacy to lord Le Defpencer, for the purpofe 

 of erefting a monument to his memory, was the caufe of 

 his lordfhip's building this fingular maufoleum. Within it 

 are feveral receffes for monuments, and niches for arms and 

 bulls. The population of this parifh, in the return of the 

 year 1811, is ftated to be 1362 ; the number of houfes 273. 

 — Lyfons's Magna Britannia, vol. i. Buckinghamfiiire, 

 1806. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. i. Bucking- 

 hamftiire, by J. Britton and E.W. Brayley, 1801. 



WYDAW, a river of Denmark, which runs into the 

 North fea, near Tondern, in the duchy of Slefwick. 



WYDRAUGHT, a water-courfe, or water-paffage, to 

 carry off the filth and fuillage of a houfe ; properly a fink, 

 or common-fewer. 



WYE, in Geography, called by Leland, in his Itinerary, a 

 " pratie market townlet," is now only a confiderable village of 

 the county of Kent, England, as its market has been long 

 difcontinued. In the Domcfday-book it is written Wi, and 

 by that appellation it was granted by the Conqueror to the 

 abbey of Battle, in Sulfex, which he had founded in re- 

 membrance of his viftory over Harold, it having been pre- 

 vioufly a part of the demefne lands of the Saxon kings. 

 " The Chronicles of Battle abbey affirm," fays Lambard, 

 " that there were fometime two-and-twenty hundreths fub- 

 je6l to the jurifdiftion of this manor." The extenfive grant 

 of the royal manor of Wye, with all its appendages, liber- 

 ties, and royal culloms, was confirmed to the abbey of Battle 

 by different fovereigns, and it continued parcel of its pof- 

 feffions till the period of the diffolution. Queen Elizabeth, 

 in her firll year, granted it, together with various eftates in 

 the vicinity, to her kinfman, Henry Cary, lord Hunfdon, 

 to hold in capite by knight's fervice. The church of this 

 parifh was made collegiate by archbifhop Kemp, who was a 

 native of the place, and is fuppofed to have rebuilt this edi- 

 fice at the fame lime that he founded the adjoining college, 

 in the year 1447. It conilfts of a nave, aifles, and chancel, 

 with a large embattled tower at the fouth-eall angle ; the 

 nave is feparated from the aifles by four pointed arches on 

 each fide, rifing from clullered columns ; the chancel was 

 rebuilt at the commencement of the lafl century, and has a 

 femicircular eaft end. 



The ancient college, now the grammar-fchool, founded 

 by archbifhop Kemp, ftands on the eafl fide of the church- 

 yard. He endowed it for a provoft and fix fellows, " two 

 of whom had an additional ilipend for the duty of the 

 church, and care of a grammar-fchool," in which all fcho- 

 lars, both rich and poor, were to be inflrudled gratis. 

 Another fchool was inftituted here about the year 1708, 

 under a bequell of lady Joanna ThornhiU, who, among 

 other charities to the poor of Wye, direfted that the refidue 

 of her eftates fhould be appHed to the inftruftion of their 

 children. Sir George Wheeler added to this foundation, 

 and gave the college as the refidence for the mailer of the 

 grammar-fchool, and for the mailer anj, miftrefs of lady 

 Thornhill's fchool. The college buildings form a quad- 



WYE 



rangle, and the old hall is a large vaulted room, now uicd 

 for the fchool. The population of this parifh in the year 

 181 1 confilted of 1322 perfons, who occupied 224 houfes. 

 In this parifh is Ollantigh, where archbifhop Kemp was 

 bom in 1380, and where towards the end of his hfe he 

 built a chapel, or oratory. Here alfo it is conjedured was 

 born Thomas Kemp, bifliop of London, and nephew of 

 the archbifhop. John Sawbridge, a patriotic alderman of 

 London, was likewife a native of this place, where he was 

 born March 17, ,1732, and where he died in 1795. ^'^ 

 filler, Mrs. Macaulay Graham, an Englifh hiflorian, derived 

 her birth from this place on the 23d of March 1731. (See 

 Graham, Macaulay.) About one mile N.E. from 

 Ollantigh, a Roman burying-place was difcovered in the 

 year 1703, and feveral flceletons, urns, and other vefliges of 

 interments, have been difcovered, and are now preferved at 

 Heppington, in this county. — Hafted's Hiflory, &c. of 

 Kent, 12 vols. 8vo. Beauties of England, &c. Kent, by 

 E.W. Brayley, 8vo. i8o5. 



Wye, a river of South Wales, is rendered particularly 

 noted, in confequence of the high praifes bellowed on it by 

 topographers, tourifls, and poets. The fhores of this famed 

 flream are diftinguifhed by bold, rocky, and woody fcenery, 

 and adorned by feveral towns, feats, callles, and abbeys. 

 The poet Gray fays, " its banks are a fuccefBon of namelefs 

 beauties." Taking its fource on the fouth fide of the moun- 

 tain called PlinUmmon, in Montgomeryfhire, within a quarter 

 of a mile from the fpring-head of the river Severn, the 

 river takes a courfe in general to the S.E. between the 

 counties of Brecknock on the W. and Radnor on the E. 

 Entering Herefordfhire, it winds by and partly tlirough the 

 capital of that county ; and then turning fouthward, it forms 

 the boundary between Glouceilerfhire on the E. and Mon- 

 mouthfhire on the W., until it unites its ftream with that of 

 the Severn, a few miles below Chepilow. At its fource, the 

 fcenery is wild, romantic, and bare ; but after defcending 

 to Buallt, the fcenes are extremely beautiful. In the valley 

 of Glafsbury, the flream is fo confiderable as to have re- 

 quired in 1783 a Hone bridge of feven arches, which twelve 

 years afterwards was fwept away by the floods. At Hay, 

 where it enters Hcrefordfliire and receives the waters of the 

 Dulas, the Wye is fo much increafed in the winter feafon as 

 to be navigable for barges. From thence to Hereford it 

 winds through a continuation of rich and beautiful fcenes, 

 and paffes by many pleafant villages and country-feats. 

 Bradwardine, a village, where in ancient times flood a caftle, 

 on the right or fouth bank, gave name to Thomas Bradwar- 

 dine, archbifhop of Canterbury, who was flyled from the 

 depth of his learning " the profound doftor." About 

 three miles lower down is Moccas-court, the modern refi- 

 dence of fir George Cornwall, bart. About fix miles 

 below Hereford the Wye receives the Lug, one of the three 

 principal rivers of the county, flovsang in general fouth-eaft 

 from the borders of Radnorfhire. " Near the conflux of 

 the Lux and Wye," fays Camden, " to the eafl, a hill called 

 Marclay-hill did, in the year 1575, roufe itfelf as it were 

 out of fleep, and for three days together, fhoving its pro- 

 digious body forward, with a horrible roaring noife, raifcl 

 itfelf, to the great aflonifhment of all beholders, to a higher 

 place." Two miles below the influx of the Lug, but on 

 the weft fide of the Wye, is Holme-Lacy, the ancient feat 

 of the Scudamores, the heircfs of whom married the late 

 duke of Norfolk. The manfion occupies the fcite of an 

 abbey, which was founded in the time of Henry III. Five 

 or fix miles lower down, and on the fame fide of the Wye, 

 is Harewood, a remnant of tlic forcll of that name, fekaed 



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