OLD 
OLD 
after it; for, when William the Conqueror made an order, 
that bifliops’ feesfhould be tranflated from obfcure villages 
to the belt cities.in each diocefe, this fee was removed 
from Sherborne to Old Sarum, by Herman, who laid the 
foundation of a cathedral, but died before he had finilhed 
it. Ofmond, his fucceffor, was fedulous in completing 
the work, and in procuring a learned clergy, and a 
variety of books ; nay, fo fond of letters was he, and fo 
defirous of their promotion, that Knighton tells us, he 
did not difdain to tranfcribe (printing not being then 
invented) many volumes with his own hand, and after¬ 
wards bound and illuminated them. According to Good¬ 
win, he dedicated his church, aflifted by Walkelyn bifhop 
of Winchefter, and John of Bath, A.D.T092. The fame au¬ 
thor remarks, that it feemed an omen of its ihort duration, 
by the lteeple being the next day deftroyed by lightning. 
Roger, who was advanced to this fee in 1107, raifed Old 
Sarum to an enviable degree of ftrength and fplendour: 
the buildings (fays Malmfbury, a contemporary writer) 
were fpacious, their appearance beautiful, and the expenfe 
very great; he particularly adorned the church of Sarum, 
and added fo many decorations to it, that it yielded to 
none, and even excelled moll religious ilrudtures in 
England. 
This munificence and zeal of bifhop Roger, which, in 
calmer times, would have procured him the title of 
benefactor, had now a contrary effeCt : his fortifying and 
embellifhing the caftles of Sherborne, Devizes, and Sarum, 
was interpreted by king Stephen as a traitorous proceed¬ 
ing, as forming places of refuge and protection to the 
emprefs Maud’s party, his rival in the throne. On this 
pretence, the king feized on his poffefiions and caftles, 
wherein he found immenfe riches; and this cruel ufage 
haftened the bifhop’s death, which happened December 
the 4th, 1139. Jealous of the ambitious defigns of the 
clergy, and refolved to curb their exorbitant power, 
Stephen deprived them of their places of ftrength, and 
conferred them on laymen, in whofe allegiance he could 
more fecurely confide. Sarum he bellowed on Patrick 
Devereux, fon to Walter earl of Rofmar in Normandy, 
1139, immediately on the deceafe of bilhop Roger. The 
king was alfo defirous of prefenting Philip, his chancellor, 
to the fee; but this both the clergy of Sarum and the 
pope’s legate violently oppofed : to be revenged on both, 
he kept the bilhopric unfilled during his life: his fuc- 
ceft'or Henry II. alfo fuffered it to remain vacant until 
five years before his deatli. Petrus Blefenfis, who was 
archdeacon of London in 1160, feemed to prophefy the 
removal of the cathedral to the vale, in tbefe words : 
“ Old Sarum is a place expofed to the wind, barren, dry, 
and folitary; a tower is there, as in Siloam, by which the 
inhabitants have for a long time been enflaved. The 
church of Sarum is a captive on a hill: let us therefore, 
in God’s name, go down into the level, where the valleys 
will yield plenty of corn, and the chainpain fields are of 
rich foil.” This was fulfilled in about iixty years after: 
the earl not being able to bear an equal, nor the bilhop' 
a rival in power, frequent contentions enfued, which at 
length ended in a final feparation ; a bull was procured 
for the tranfiation of the church, wherein the fpecious 
reafon of inconvenience was afligned for this removal, 
rather than the real caufe, (A. D. 1219.) A new wooden 
chapel was begun at New Sarum in honour of the bleffed 
Virgin; and in a ftiort time the work was fo far advanced, 
that, at the feall of Trinity, (1225,) the bilhop (Richard 
Poore) celebrated divine lervice in it, and there con- 
fecrated a cemetery. From this time (Ihys Goodwin) 
Old Sarum dwindled away ; and nothing remained of it 
when he wrote, but the walls of the caltle, the ruins of 
which are, at prefent, very inconfiderable ; but for a full 
defcription of it, as it fubfifted in the time of king 
Stephen, fee the article Architecture, vol. ii. p. 94. and 
Plate XVII. The fubterraneous paffage there mentioned 
to have been lately difcovered, is defcribed and figured in 
’the Gentleman’s Magazine for March 1795. 
447 
Roman coins, particularly of the latter emperors, have 
at different times been dug-up here, many of which are 
in the poffeflion of gentlemen at Salilbury. From hence 
it is not improbable, that fome of thole emperors redded 
near this place, as leveral of them (according to the 
hiftorians of that age) were in this illand, and no doubt 
viiited this ancient caftle, which at that period maintained 
a Roman garrifon ; and Johannes Sarifburienfis informs 
us, that the emperor Severus kept his court here. 
This borough returned members to parliament 23d 
Edward I. and then intermitted till 34th Edward III. 
fince when it has conftantly returned. By the return 
ill Henry V. it appears that its reprefentatives were, with 
thofe of other boroughs, eleCted at the county-court. 
We have already faid that the place contains neither 
houfe nor inhabitant: it ftill, however, retains its power 
of fending two members to parliament, who are eleCted 
by the proprietors of certain adjacent lands. The election 
is ufually holden in a temporary houle ereCted under a 
large tree, which may be obferved on the weft fide of the 
caftle, near the village of Stratford. There is alfo a houle 
near the ruins, adjoining the high road, fuppoled by 
fome to have belonged originally to Old Sarum ; but, as 
it has no femblance of antiquity, either within or with¬ 
out, it is natural to conclude that it was built not very 
long fince, and probably for the purpofe for which it is 
now ufed, the entertainment of travellers who vifit thefe 
curious remains of antiquity. 
The great earl of Chatham called thefe boroughs “ the 
excrefcences, the rotten part, of the conftitution, which 
muft be amputated,to fave the body from a mortification.” 
Yet, we have feen (vol. ii. p. 94.) that this excrescence was 
an heir-loom in his lordlhip’s family, and defcended to 
his relation, the late lord Camelford. That nobleman 
was killed in a duel in 1804; but, before his death, he 
fold his property here to the earl of Caledon, who nomi¬ 
nates feven voters (^called burgage-holders) for the 
election-day ; and they choofe two members, who are 
returned by a bailiff, alfo nominated for the purpofe. The 
prefent members are, J. Alexander, efq. his lordfhip’s 
coulin, and A. J. Crawfurd, efq. Wilkes's Britijh Directory, 
vol. iv. Oldfield's Representative Rifi. vol. v. 
OLD STRAT'FORD. SeeSTONEY Stratford. 
OLD SWIN'FORD, a village in Worcefterfhire, near 
Kidderminfter, and only two miles eaft of Stourbridge. 
In this parifti is an hofpital founded in 1670 by the truly- 
benevolent Thomas Foley, efq. anceftor of the prefent 
lord, and endowed with an eftate, at that time worth fix 
hundred pounds per annum, for the purpofe of feeding, 
clothing, educating, and placing out apprentice, fixty 
poor boys, fix of whom are always choien from among 
the inhabitants of Kidderminfter. 
OLD TOW'N, a town of the ftate of New-York, on 
Staten Ifland : twelve miles fouth-weft of New-York. 
OLD TOW'N, a town of the ftate of Georgia: lixfeen 
miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Louifville. 
OLD TOW'N, a town of Maryland, on the Potomack : 
fourteen miles fouth-eaft of Cumberland, and 142 north- 
weft of Baltimore. 
OLD TOW'N, a town of North-Carolina, near Brunf- 
wick. 
OLD TOW'N, an Indian town, on one of the. iflands 
in Penobfcot river; one mile below the town is a cataraCt, 
called Old-Town Falls. 
OLD TOWN CREE'K, a river of North-Carolina,. 
which runs into Cape Fear River in lat. 34. 8. N. Ion. 78. 
9 . W, 
O'LD-WIFE, J\ A contemptuous name for an olrl 
prating woman.— Refufe profane and old-wives' fables. 
1 Tint. iv. 7. —Countrymen lighten their toiling, old-wives 
their fpinning, mariners their labours, foldiers their dan¬ 
gers, by their leveral mufical harmonies. Fatherhy's Ath — 
She did gallop at an old-wife's rate. Fan/hnw's Poems, 5676, 
O'LD WIFE, in ichthyology. See Balistes vetula 
and Labrus tinea. 
0’I.D 
