Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/840

Rh MIDDLESEX 832 MIDDLETHIED. Surrey. Besides these main roads there are othera of little less consequence, as the Harrow road, passing through Paddingtou and Harrow to Rickmansworth ; the Edgware-road, commencing at Hyde Park-corner, and passing through Paddington and Edgware to St. Alban's, where it joins the Great North road; the " Green Lanes," leading by Stoke Newington and Winchmore Hill to Enfield. Along all these roads, for at least ten miles out of London, numerous scattered villas and genteel residences, surrounded by gardens and lawns, have been erected for the convenience of wealthy citizens ; and on a near approach rows and terraces of houses line either side of the way, interspersed with plantations of flowering shrubs and flower gardens. Besides the metropolis, the great centre of attraction, there is throughout this county no great town or centre of population, though Brentford is considered the county town for the election of members of parliament and coroners for the county. The other market towns are Uxbridge and Staines for Corn, and Southall for cattle and sheep, also South Minims and Barnet, celebrated for its horse and cattle fair. The other small towns or im- portant villages are Edgware, Enfield, and Hounslow, formerly market towns, Acton, Bayswater, Bedfont, Bow, Bromley St. Leonard's, Brompton, Camden Town, Chelsea, Chiswick, Clapton, Dalston, Baling, Edmonton, Finchley, Fulham, Hadley, Hackney, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Hampton, with the royal palace of Hamp- ton Court, Harefield, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Hendpn, Highgate, Hornsey, Isleworth, Islington including Ball's Pond, Canonbury, Highbury, and Holloway, which are portions of the parish Kensington, Kentish Town, Kilburn, Pinner, Poplar, Ruislip, Southgate, Stepney, Great Stanmore, Teddington, Tottenham, Twickenham, and Winchmore Hill. But all these places may be considered as suburban to the metropolis, " to which the whole county, indeed, forms, as it were, but a small demesne, filled with splendid mansions, comfortable seats, and elegant villas, and laid out in gardens, pastures, and enclosures of all sorts for its con- venience and support." The metropolis contains the chief seats of the crown, legislature, government, eccle- siastical authorities, and a university ; but a full descrip- tion of these will be found under the article LONDON. The county is governed by a lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum, by two sheriffs chosen by the City of London, 33 deputy-lieutenants, and about 320 magis- trates, besides police magistrates. It returns fourteen members to parliament in the place of eight before the Reform Bill, viz. four for the City of London two for the City of Westminster, two each for the new boroughs of Finsbury, Marylebone, and the Tower Hamlets, and two for the county at large, for which last the place of election is Brentford, and the polling-places Bedfont, Bethnal Green, Enfield, Edg- ware, Hammersmith, Hampstead, King's Cross, London (City), Mile-End, Uxbridge, and Westminster. For civil purposes it is divided into six hundreds, viz. Ed- monton in the north-eastern part of the county, El- thorne in the W., Gore in the N., Isleworth in the S., Spelthorn in the S.W., and Ossulstone in the S. and E., this last being further divided into the Finsbury, Hoi- born, Kensington, London, and Tower divisions. Ex- clusive of the 105 parishes comprised within the cities of London and Westminster, there are 90 parishes and 23 extra parochial places or liberties, some of which belong to the Duchy of Lancaster or the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, who exercise separate jurisdiction. The City of London forms a county of itself, with inde- pendent jurisdiction, as does also the City of Westmin- ster. But for the more important criminal causes all are under the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, at the Old Bailey, London, which sits monthly. Less heinous criminal offences are tried at the Sessions House, Clerkenwell, where also the county gaol and House of Correction are situated, also a separate court sits eight times a year at the Guildhall for the City of London, which is under the police jurisdiction of its own aldermen. The parts adjacent to the metropolis are watched by the metropolitan police, and have police offices and stipendary magistrates, but the remainder of the county is under the police jurisdiction of the county magistrates. The City of London has a body of police of its own, under the direction of the lord mayor and court of aldermen, and the metropolitan police are under the jurisdiction of two eommissioners. It is included in the homo military district, and for civil suits is within the immediate jurisdiction of the superior courts sitting in the metropolis. For ecclesiastical purposes it is wholly within the diocese of London, and is divided between the archdeaconries of London and Middlesex, comprising the rural deaneries Ealing, Enfield, Fulham, Hampton, Harrow, St. Pancras, Staines, and Uxbridge. The numerous churches and magnificent public buildings within the county will be described under London, Westminster, or the parishes in which they are situated. The public parks include Hyde Park, St. James's, Regent's Park, and Victoria, with the cemeteries of Abney Park, East London, Kensington, Kensal Green, and Highgate. The royal palaces are Buckingham, St. James's, Kensington, and Hampton Court, with Bushy Park. Besides the royal palaces and a vast number of magnificent residences in the metropolis, there are numerous seats in this county distinguished for grandeur or elegance, as Fulham Palace, of the Bishop of London ; Chiswick, of the Duke of Devon- shire ; Sion House, of the Duke of Northumberland ; Richmond Gardens, Whitehall, of the Duke of Buccleuch ; Osterley Park, of the Earl of Jersey ; Bent- ley Priory, of the Marquis of Abercorn ; Rose Bank, of the Marquis of Londonderry ; Caen Wood, of the Earl of Mansfield ; Gunnersbury, of Baron Rothschild ; and Strawberry Hill, formerly the residence of the accom- plished Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford; Holland House, of Lord Holland ; Harefield Place, where Milton acted his Comus ; and Wyer Hall at Tottenham ; these three last named mansions are considered remarkably perfect specimens of ancient domestic architecture. The remains of antiquity include foundations of ancient Roman buildings, part of the walls of ancient London, Roman and British camps, implements, coins, religious houses, and bridges. [See article LONDON.] In various parts of the county are springs of mineral water, some of which have been in great repute for their medicinal properties, as Acton, Bagnigge and Sadler's Wells, Clerkenwell, Hampstead, Hoxton, Tottenham, and White Conduit House ; but none of them aro now much frequented, except perhaps Hampstead, which is strongly chalybeate. MIDDLESHAW, a post-office vil. in co. Dumfries, Scotland, near the town of Lockerby. MIDDLESMOOR, a vil. and chplry. in the tnshp. of Upper Stonebeck, and par. of Kirkby-Malzeard, Upper div. of the wap. of Claro, West Riding co. York, 7 miles N.W. of Pateley Bridge, its post town, and 15 W. by N. of Ripon. It is situated on the river Nidd, on the border of an extensive moor. The village, which is small, is built on the summit of a hill overlooking the valley of the Nidd. In the vicinity are many subterra- nean passages and stalactite caves. The soil is clayey, on a subsoil of clay and rock. The population has recently been decreasing. The living is a perpct. cur.* in the dioc. of Ripon, val. 117, in the patron, of the Vicar of Masham. The church is a stone edifice, erected in 1484, with a square tower containing one bell. In the interior are several monuments and an antique font. The charities comprise a rent-charge of 20, bequeathed by Simon Horner in 1809 for education. The Wesleyans have a chapel, and there is a free school for boys and girls, partly endowed. A fair is held on the 14th September for cattle, sheep, and lambs. MIDDLESTONE, a tnshp. in the par. of Auckland St. Andrew, S.E. div. of the ward of Darlington, co. Durham, 3 miles N.E. of Bishop-Auckland. There is a coal mine belonging to the Black Boy Coal Company. MIDDLETHIRD, a bar. in co. Waterford, prov. of Munster, Ireland. It is bounded in part by the Atlantic ocean and the bar. of Decies-without-Drum. It contains