598 Retrofpedt of Domeftic Litcrature.—Topography and Antiquities. 
are cumprized in this volume, we may fair- 
ly fay that not one has before had a legi- 
timate hiforian : fince Athmole’s ‘* Berk. 
fhire’? contained little more than notes 
from parifh churches. Prefixed to each 
county is a feparate introduction; the firtt 
portion of which relates to. its etymology, 
or antient inhabitants; followed, fuccef- 
fively, by its hiftorical events, antient 
and modern divifions, ecclefiatical divi- 
fion, monaiteries and hofpitals, maiket 
and borough towns, population, principal 
Jand-owners at various pericds, and prin- 
cipal extinét families, nobility, geogra- 
phical and geological defcription, produce, 
natural hiftory, reads, manufactures, an- 
figuities, Roman remains, Roman roads 
and ftations, church architecture, itained 
elafs, antient tems, monalitic remains, 
fies of caftles and caftetlated mantions, 
eamps and earth-works ; followed by the 
parochial topography. As fpecimens of 
the introduétion, we fhall tranicribe what 
ts faid of the Reman remains and antient 
manfion houfes of Berkfhire. 
“© Roman Remains —Traces of Roman 
buildings had been found in the parifh of 
Whie Waltham, in Weycock-field in the 
parifh of Lawrence Waltham, and at a 
place called Wickiam Bufhes, near Ce- 
far’s Camp, on Bagfhot Heath. Roman 
bricks, &c. are alfo faid to have been 
found at Old Windfor. Great quantities 
of Roman pottery were difcovered in 1783, 
at a farm called the Roundabout, near 
Bagthot Park, and alfo at Wickham 
Buthes before mentioned. A large urn, 
probably Roman, was found in Spene- 
ynoor, about one mile and a half weft of 
Newbury, under a éwmulus of earth, eight 
feet high. Roman coins and urns have 
been found at Lawrance Waltham, St. 
Leonard’s Hill, near. Windfor, at Wal- 
lingford, on Bagthot Heath, and at Wan- 
tage. Leland fays, that they were found 
within the camp on Sinodun Hill, but 
none have been {een there of late years. 
Stukely mentions a Roman altar, dedi- 
cated to Jupiter, dug up in 1730, at 
Frilfham, near Spene. It has been faid 
that there are two Roman mile-ftones 
between Streatley and Aldworth, We 
were not able, on inquiry in the neigh- 
bourhood, to learn where they are fituat- 
ed.” 
‘© Antient Manfion Houfes—The moft 
remarkable private manfion in this coun- 
ty, in point of antiquity, is the manor- 
hovfe at Appleton. This building flands 
near the church, and is furrounded by a 
moat. The principal entrance is through 
2 door-way, having a circular arch with 
various plain mouldings, and feveral {mall 
pillars on each fice, with capitals of fo- 
liage: this door way leads into a paflage, 
at the end of which was formerly a fimi- 
lar one, and on one fide the paffage are two 
plain door-ways with circular arches. 
‘Tne other parts of the building have been 
altered from the original form. It is pro- 
bable, from the ftyle of the principal docr- 
way, that it is as antient as the reign of 
King Henry I1., which is the more re- 
markable, as it does not appear that this 
building ever formed any part of a religi- 
ous houfe. ‘ 
‘* Witham houfe is a irregular ent. 
battled building, having a tower in the 
centre of the eaft front, under which 1s 
the principal entrance by a bridge over a 
moat. It was built in the beginning of 
the reign of King Henry VIE. by Sir 
Richard Harcourt, who becaime poffcifed | 
of the manor af Witham in 14890. Some 
valterations appear, fromm the form of the 
windows, to have been made in the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth or James I. 
<¢ Cumner-place, which was one of the . 
country feats of the abbots of Abingdon, 
having been the rectoral houfe referved in 
the hands of the abbot, ftands on the 
welt fide of the church-yard. It is built 
round a quadrangle, and retains nearly its 
original form. ‘The hall, now ufed asa 
granary, and the chapel occupy the welt 
fide of the quadrangle; and, from the 
ftyle of the windows, feem to have been 
built as early as the fourteenth century. 
Several alterations appear to have been 
made by Anthony Fortier, the firft grantee 
of the eftate after the diffolution of the 
monaftery. The initials of his name, 
with the date 1571, appear over a door- 
cafe inthe hall. Part of the building is 
now converted intoa farm-houfe. 
‘© The reftoral houfe of Sutton-Court- 
ney, which alfo belonged to the abbots of 
Abingdon, is ftill flanding, and the feat 
of Francis Juftice, efg. Some parts of it 
have been altered; but feveral of the ori- 
ginal windows remain, which ‘appear to 
be of nearly the fame age as the oldett 
part of Cumner- place. 
«© At Little Shefford is an ancient un- 
inhabited manfion-houfe, in the ftyle of 
the buildings of King Henry the Eighth’s 
reign; the hall of which is now uled asa 
barn. 
“¢ Ockholt manor-hovfe, an ancient feat 
of the Norreys family, now a farm houfe, 
appears to have been built before the Re- 
formation. Inthe hall is a large bay-° 
window, filled with coats of arms, which 
appear coeval with the building ; among 
them 
