Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/555

Rh CHELMSCOTT. 545 CHELSEA. were discovered a number of human skeletons in stone c iffiiis. The Duke of Devonshire is lord of the manor. The feast is held on New Year's Day. CHELMSCOTT, a hmlt. in the par. of Brailes, in the Warwick, 4 miles E. of Shipston-ou-Stour. CHELMSFORD, a hund. in the middle portion of the co. of Essex. It contains the pars, of Great and Little Rtddow, Blackmore, Boreham, Broomfield, Buttsbury, I'helmsford, St. James Chignal, Smealy Chignal, Dan- Imry, Fryeming, East Hanningfield, West and South lianningtield, Ingatestone, Little Leighs, Margaretting, Moiuitiiessing, Hettendon, Roxwell with "Writtle, Run- .vU, Sandon, Springfield, Great and Little Waltham, Vidford, Woodham-Ferris, and part of Great Leighs, 'inprising 81,560 acres. CHELMSFORD, a par. and market town in the lund. of Chelmsford, in the co. of Essex, of which it is the unly town, 29 miles byroad, and the same distance by IK W. of the town, where it has a station and extensive warehouses. It derives its name from an ancient ford vur the river Chelmer, near its confluence with the river Conn. In Domesday Book it appears under the names fit Celmerafort and Cclmcrcsforde, and in ancient records as C/telmenford, (Jhiimexford, and Chelmsford. According to L'amden it was the Roman station Cantcnium, but later .vritevs have not endorsed this opinion, as there was no lirect road through the town until the reign of Henry [., when the Bishop of London built the first bridge vtr the Cann. The present handsome stone structure nus built in 1787. From the time of Edward the Con- ' : town and manor belonged to the bishops of London, but in 1545 they were given by Bishop Bonner to Henry VIII., whose daughter, Queen Elizabeth, granted them, in 1563, to Sir Thomas Mildmay, in whose The living is a root., dedicated to St. Mary, in the dioc. jf Rochester, val. 588, in the patron, of Lady St. John Mildmay, of Moulsham Hall. The church, a spacious Gothic structure, with a square embattled tower, crowned >viih pinnacles and surmounted by a lofty spire, was jriginally built in 1424, but a portion of the walls having given way in 1800, it was rebuilt. The interior contains many interesting monuments, and records are also preserved there. There is a district church at Moul- sham, dedicated to St. John, the living of which is a perpet. cur., val. 150, in the patron, of the rector. The Quakers, Wesleyans, Baptists, Irvingites, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics have chapels in the "., which, according to the census of 1861, contained 1,166 houses, inhabited by a population of 5,513, having reased in the decennial period, since 1851, by 520. The town, which is situated in a beautiful valley be- I tweenthe Chelmei and the Cann, consists of one principal t with three or four smaller ones branching off from it. The houses are mostly substantially built, and have li:ns behind, extending to the banks of the rivers, i It contains many handsome public buildings. The shire- hall, situated in Tindal-square, is a fine stone structure,
 * it Eastern railway from London, which passes to
 * imily the manor and most of the land still remain.
 * j which is the sitting statue in bronze of the late

f Justice Tindal, by Bailey; the corn-exchange,
 * ed in 1857, has a hall 100 feet long by 45 wide,

'i a glass roof, also auction and committee-rooms, .'1 a gallery ; the county gaol is an extensive struc- , capable of holding 400 prisoners; there are also i museum, an archaeological society, savings-bank, literary and mechanics' institute, concert and assembly rooms, dispensary, and spacious reading-rooms, capable rating 2,800 visitors. The town is lighted with gas, and well supplied with water. The fountain was reconstructed in 1841. Besides the stone bridge Already mentioned, there arc three others one of cast- iron over the Cann, and two over the branches of the Chelmer. The trade of the town is chiefly depen- dent on agriculture ; but there are manufactories for agricultural implements, corn-mills, organ and coach- builders, tanneries, and foundries. Chelmsford supports three newspapers. It is the head of a Poor-law Union and County Court district, and tho chief place for the VOL. I. county elections. Tho county assizes, and quarter and petty sessions are held in tho town. The inhabitants have the benefit of a grammar school founded and en- dowed by Edward VI. in 1 55 1. Itwas here that Philemon Holland, the translator of Camden : Dee, the astrologer ; Sir William Mildmay, founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge ; and Archd. Plume, were educated. There are, besides free schools, National, British, and infant schools. Tho market is on Friday. Fairs are held on the 12th May and November for cattle, and in June for wool. Annual races take place in August on an oval course of nearly 2 miles, at a place called Galleywood Common. Mr. Tufmell's harriers hunt in the vicinity. CHELSEA, a petty sessions town, and extensive sub- urban district of London, locally in the Kensington div. of the hund. of Ossulstone, in the co. of Middlesex, 3 miles S.W. of St. Paul's. It is situated at Chelsea Reach, on the N. bank of the Thames, where the ground rises about 15 feet above the level of the river. It is men- tioned in Domesday Survey as Clielched, but emended into Cercehede, and in the Saxon times was written Ceols-kythe, where a synod was held in 785. It was in the 16th century the residence of Queen Catherine Parr and the Princess Elizabeth, who occupied the old manor-house, which afterwards successively became the residence of the Duke of Northumberland, Lord Cheyne, and Sir Hans Sloane, who here formed his collection. The market gardens which surrounded this once quiet village are now almost entirely built over, and the town comprises the two pars, of Upper and Lower Chelsea and part of Knightsbridge. It has many handsome streets and squares, though tho greater part of the houses are small, and some of the streets almost exclusively occupied by mechanics en- gaged in tho manufactures of combs, pipes, oil-cloth, soap, or in the breweries. The population of Chelsea in 1851 was 56,538, which, in 1861, had increased to 63,439, with 8,314 inhabited houses. In former times many of tho nobility and gentry had residences here, and in the 17th and 18th centuries there were many public- houses with gardens, which were much frequented. The most remarkable object in Chelsea, and that from which it derives its chief interest, is the Royal Hospital for invalid soldiers, which, with its grounds, occupies more than 50 acres. Tho site was originally that of Dean Sutcliffe's Polemical Divinity College, the first stone of which was laid in 1609, and was called in the charter of incorporation, " King James's College at Chelsey." This college was appropriated by the parliament during tho civil war of the 17th century, and was subsequently given to the Royal Society by Charles II., but it was afterwards restored to the king for 1,300, in order that the present hospital might bo erected. The foundation stone was laid by the king on the 16th February, 1682, at the instance of Sir S. Fox, though tradition says of Nell Gwynne. The architect was Sir Christopher Wren, and the building was completed in 1690 at a cost of about 150,000. The front is 790 feet long, with a Doric centre. There are three courts, two of which are spacious quadrangles. In the centre are the chapel and great dining-hall. Mother Ross, who served as a dragoon under Marlborough ; Young, immortalised as Fielding's " Parson Adams," Dr. Burney, and others, lie in the burial-ground. The eccentric Monsey was physcian, and P. Francis chap- lain to tho hospital. The establishment consists of a governor, lieutenant-governor, and other officers. There are generally about 500 in-pcusioners, who are provided with clothes, lodging, and diet, besides an allowance of money varying from 8d. to 3s. 6il. a week, according to rank, and who are regulated by military discipline ; there are also between 70,000 and 80,000 out-pensioners. The total charge to tho country, which is defrayed chiefly by an annual grant from parliament, is about 1,000,000. At the lying-in-state of the body of the Duke of Welling- ton, in November, 1852, so great was the pressure of tho crowd that thronged to the hospital that several persons lost their lires. There is also another excellent institu- tion, called the Royal Military Asylum, in connection with the hospital ; it is an extensive building forming three sides of a quadrangle, with a portico and pediment of the Doric 4 A