Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/631

Rh TAVERHAM. 619 TAVISTOCK. the upper part comprises an assembly room, with a full- length portrait of George III. The new market house was erected in 1821 at the western side of the Parade, the lower story being used for meat, poultry, and dairy pro- duce, and adjoining it is the fish market ; while the upper part is appropriated to the Somerset and Taunton Literary Institution, with reading rooms, library, &c., and to the museum of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, which is rich in valuable geo- logical specimens, chiefly of saurians from the lias, Devonian fossils, and cave bones from the Mendip hills, some of the latter specimens being unique ; there is also a rich collection presented to the county by John Hugh Smith Pigot, Esq., of drawings of churches and other architectural buildings in Somersetshire. Besides these buildings there are cavalry barracks in Mount- street, with accommodation for 63 men and horses ; a savings-bank, at the top of High-street ; four commer- cial banks ; several good hotels ; philharmonic society ; assembly rooms, at Heeton's London Hotel ; the union workhouse, in South-street, erected in 1837 ; the Taun- ton and Somerset Hospital, in East-reach, founded in 1809 ; the eye infirmary, established in 1816 ; the lying- in institution ; gas and water works ; also three silk mills, iron and brass foundries, mailings, breweries, coach-building works, and cabinet manufactories. The woollen manufacture was established here in the 14th century, but has long since decayed, and that of silk, which superseded it, is now on the decline, but a con- siderable business is done in gloving and machine sewing. Four weekly newspapers are published in the town viz., the Taunton Courier, Somerset County Herald, Somer- set Gazette, and Western News. The county assizes and quarter sessions are held here alternately with Wells, also a county court, which sits monthly at the shire hall. Taunton is likewise the seat of a superintendent registry and of a Poor-law Union embracing 37 parishes and townships in Somersetshire. It is the head-quarters of the 1st Somerset Militia, and of the 2nd battalion of the Somerset Rifle Volunteers. Taunton gives name to an archdeaconry, and to a deanery in the dioc. of Bath and Wells. The livings are St. James's, a perpet. cur., val. 250, in the dioc. of Bath and Wells ; St. Mary Magdalene's, a vie., val. 350, in the gift of the Church Patronage Society; Trinity, a perpet. cur., val. 160, in the patron, of the bishop ; St. John's, in Park-street, also a perpet. cur. ; and St. George's, in tb par. of Wilton, a perpet. cur., val. 125. The church of St. James, which formerly belonged to Bishop GiSard's priory for Black Canons, founded in 1127, is a structure of the 14th century, with a quadrangular tower of the Tudor period, containing five bells, and an octagonal font. The church of St. Mary Magdalene, which stands near the centre of the town, was originally a chapel to the conventual church of St. James, but was made parochial in 1308. It was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VII., and has a tower at the W. end, 153 feet high. The rebuilding, after a facsimile of the original, was completed in 1865. The interior of the church had been restored twenty years previously, and contains a ceiling of bog oak and a carved pulpit, a painted E. window of seven lights, a painted W. window by Gibbs, of London, inserted in 1864, and some specimens of ancient glass saved from the debris of the old E. window, and now inserted in the side windows, also a peal of eight bells, and a rhyming epitaph on Robert Gray, commencing " Taunton bore him, London bred him," &c. The register dates from 1558. The church of the Holy Trinity was built in 1842, at a cost of 7,000, and is situated in South-street. The church of St. John the Evangelist is a modern structure, by Scott, erected at a cost of above 12,000. The church of St. George, in Wilton parish, is an ancient structure with a square tower. The register commences in 1558. The Roman Catholics also have a church, erected in 1861, at the top of Billet-street, the highest ground in the town, which, when completed by the addition of a steeple to bo placed on the tower, will attain an elevation of 210 feet, and form one of the most striking architectural features of the town. There are two chapels belonging to the Wesleyans two to the Independents, and one each to the Primitive Methodists, Baptists, Society of Friends, Unitarians, and Plymouth Brethren ; of these the most interesting are the Unitarian and Indepen- dent, the former for its internal architecture and the latter as standing on the site of Paul's Meeting, once held by George Newton, the Nonconformist minister of St. Mary Magdalene, at Taunton, who was ejected, with 2,000 brother clergymen, by the Act of Uniformity passed in 1662. The convent formerly called Taunton Lodge was purchased in 1807 by the society of religious ladies of the Second Order of St. Francis, who came over from Belgium during the French Revolution and settled at Winchester, from which place they subse- quently removed to Taunton, where they devote them- selves to educational purposes. The West of England Dissenters' Proprietary School was founded here in 1847, and is connected by royal warrant with the Uni- versity of London, and has about 130 pupils. The Wes- leyans have a collegiate institution here, built in 1847, by J. Wilson, with a frontage of 250 feet in length and a tower 80 feet high. In Bath-place is the School of Art. The free grammar school was founded in 1522 by Bishop Fox, of Winchester, and endowed by the Rev. William Walbec, the patronage being in New College, Oxford. It has in connection with it a botanical garden, museum, and laboratory. There are National, British, Sunday, and infant schools, also several first-class educational establishments for both sexes, including Fullard's House School, which deserves notice as being situated in a demesne of 20 acres, with 10 acres of cricket and play grounds. The principal residences in the vicinity arePyr- land Hall, the old seat of the Yea family, Flook House, Longford House, and Belmont. Besides the remains of the castle above described, and the Roman bridges, there are traces of a Carmelite Friary, founded in 1322 by Walter de Meryet ; of a Black Priory, at Priory Farm, founded by Bishop Giffard, of Winchester, in 1127 ; also of a lepers' hospital of the 13th centuiy. The charities are considerable, producing annually about 1,200, in- cluding the town lands and tho incomes of the alms- houses, among which must be mentioned Huish's hos- pital for 13 poor, with a chapel; R. Gray's almshouses for 18, with a chapel and school attached; also Pope's, Henley's, and St. James's almshouses. Taunton was the birthplace of Samuel Daniel, the poet ; of the Eev. Henry Grove, who wrote Nos. 588, 601, &c., of tho "Spectator;" and of A.W. Kinglake, M.P., author of " Eiithen" and other works. Cardinals Beaufort and Wolsey, while Bishops of Winchester, resided in the castle, and Dr. Joshua Toulmin, who wrote the town history, was a Nonconformist minister here. The races have been discontinued for some years. Market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays, the last Saturday in every month being the chief day for cattle and sheep. Fairs are held on 17th June and 8th July for cattle. TAVERHAM, a hund. in the co. of Norfolk, contains the pars, of Attlebiidgo, Beeston St. Andrew, Catton, Crostwick, Drayton, Felthorpe, Frettenham, Hain- ford, Horseford, Horsham St. Faith, Horstead, Newton St. Faith, Rackheath, Salhouse, Spixworth, Sprowston, Taverham, Wroxham, and part of Hellesdon, comprising an area of 30,980 acres. TAVERHAM, a par. in the above hund., co. of Nor- folk, 6i miles N.W. of Norwich, its post town. The village is situated on the river Wensum and on tho road from Norwich to Fakenham. Many of the inhabitants are employed in a paper mill. In a plantation called Friars' Wood are slight remains of a friary. The living is a rect. in tho dioc. of Norwich, val. 300. The church, dedicated to St. Edmund, has a brass to J. Thorpe, bearing date 1515. The register dates from 1713. There is a National school for both sexes. The Hall has re- cently been rebuilt. J. N. Micklethwait, M.A., is lord of the manor and principal landowner. TAVISTOCK, a bund, in the co. of Devon, contains the pars, of Brent-Tor, Milton Abbots, and Tavietook, comprising an area of 19,790 acres. 4 i.