Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/855

Rh WIRRAL. 813 WISBEACH. by, and it is itself a railway station. It is situated amongst the limestone hills, comprising 13,040 acres, with a population in 1861 of 7,098. The par. includes, besides the market-town of the same name, the tnshps. of Alderwasley, Ashleyhay, Biggin, Callow, Cromford, Hopton, Ible, Middleton, Idridgehay, with Atton and Cliffo Ash, and the hmlt. of Ironbrook Grange. Wirks- worth was anciently written Wcrchcsworde, and Wirccs- u'orth, and is supposed to have derived its name from extensive lead and barytes mines in the vicinity, which appear to have been worked so early as the 2nd century by the Romans, from the discovery of a pig of lead in 1777, with an inscription of the Emperor Adrian, and subsequently by the Saxons, who carried on mining operations here on an extensive scale. In tho early Saxon times the manor belonged to the Abbey of Rep- ton, but was conveyed by tho Abbess Kenwara, in 835, to Humbert, on his engaging to furnish lead to the value of 15 annually to Archbishop Ceolnothbad for the use of Christ's Church, Canterbury. In the Domes- day survey it is described as having a church, a priest, and three lead mines, and was then the property of the crown, but was subsequently granted by John to Wil- liam de Ferrers, in whose family it remained till the attainder of Robert de Ferrers in the reign of Henry III., who presented it in 1265 to his son Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, since which period the manor has formed part of Tutbury Honour in the duchy of Lancaster. The town of Wirksworth, which, in 1861, had 2,592 inhabit- ants, is situated in a valley at the southern extremity of the mining district. It is well paved and lighted with gas, and is supplied with water conducted in pipes from the hills on its eastern side. The chief employment of the inhabitants is in connection with the mining and smelting of lead, but some am engaged in tho manufacture of tape, gingham, silk, cotton, and stockings. There are extensive stone quarries, and spars, fluors, &c., and are found in great variety. Malting is also carried on. Petty sessions are held on the first and third Tuesdays in each month, and a county court sits monthly at the Moot Hall, rebuilt in 1814 by the Hon. Charles Bat- hurst, then chancellor of the duchy. In this hall is preserved the hoppet or standard brass dish of Henry VIII.'s time for measuring the ores, and in it are also held the barmote courts twice a year before the steward of the manor to determine all disputes and offences against the ancient customs as defined and amended by the Derbyshire Mining Customs and Mineral Courts Act, 1852. The code of laws and customs by which these courts are .governed closely resemble those of the stan- neries of Cornwall ; one custom is, that every person has the privilege of digging and searching for lead ore in any part of the " King's Field," which comprehends the greater part of the wapentake, and should he discover a vein of lead, he has a right to work it, and erect buildings necessary for that purpose, without making any compen- sation to the owner of the land. A court of requests was established here in 1837 under a special Act of parliament. Two courts baron annually take place at Easter and Michaelmas, and a court leet at Easter for the king's manor, under the lessee of the crown. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are now the impropriators. There is also another manor within the parish, called the Holland or Richmond manor, which has no courts, but was granted in 1553 by Henry VIII. to Ralph Gell. The living is a vie.* in the archdeaconry of Derby and dioc. of Lichtield, val. 300, in tho patron, of the bishop. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. The chancel was restored in 1855. In the interior are several old monu- ments of the Gells, Lowes, Hurts, and Wigleys, in- cluding an effigy of Anthony Gel], Esq., founder of the grammar school of almshouses, bearing date 1583. There are besides chapels of ease at Cromford, at Alder- wasley, rebuilt in 1855, on the site of a former one of Henry VIII., and at Middleton, built in 1844, also a new district church at Idridgehay, erected in 1855. There are chapels for Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Indepcn dents, and Baptists, in the town of Wirksworth, besides several in other parts of the parish. The free VOL. lit. grammar school, founded by Anthony Gell in 1576, situated close to the churchyard, was rebuilt in 1828. It has an income from endowment of 160, and is attended by about 110 pupils, of whom 50 are admitted on the foundation, and the rest are subject to moderate quarterly charges for education. In connection with the school charity are Cell's almhouses, or hospital, for six almsmen, who receive 3s. Grf. a week, with other privileges. There are also several other schools in various parts of the parish, and a mechanics' institution at Wirksworth. An annual feast is kept for a week, com- mencing on the first Sunday after the 8th of September. Market day is Tuesday for corn and provisions. Fairs are held on Shrove and Easter Tuesdays, 12th May, 18th July, 8th September, and the third Tuesday in Novem- ber, principally for cattle, the last being also a statute fair. WIRRAL, a hund. in two divisions, higher and lower, lying between the Mersey and the Dee, co. Cheshire. The higher div. contains the pars, of Burton, Eastham, Neston, Shotwick, Stanlow, Great Stanney, Stoke, and parts of Backford, Bromborough, St. Mary-on-the-Hill, St. Oswald, and Holy Trinity ; and tho lower div. con- tains the pars, of Bebington, Bidstone, Birkenhead, Heswall, Thurstaston, Upton, Wallasey, Kirby West, Woodchuroh, and part of Bromborough; comprising together 63,220 acres, with a population, in 1861, of 69,448. This place gives name to a Poor-law Union and to a deanery in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester. WIRSWALL, a tnshp. in the par. of Whitchurch, eo. Chester, 2 miles N. of Whitchurch. WISBEACH, a hund. in the Isle of Ely lib., co. Cam- bridge, contains tho purs, of Elm, Leverington, Newton, Outwell, Thorney, Tydd St. Giles, Upwell, Wisbeach, and Wisbeach St. Mary, comprising 70,790 acres. WISBEACH, a par. , seaport, municipal borough, and market town, in the hund. of the same name, Islo of FJy, co. Cambridge, 25 miles N. of Ely, and 40 from Cambridge. It is situated in the Fens, on the river Nene and Wisbeach canal, near the Norfolk border, and is connected by several branch lines of railway, with the Great Eastern and Midland lines. In the Saxon times it was called Wisebec, and was given by Osway in 1000 to Ely abbey. Tho Conqueror built a castle hero in 1071, which was rebuilt by the bishops of Norwich, who made it their palace in the fifteenth century. On several occasions it has been inundated by the sea, and was shaken by an earthquake in 1750. It was first chartered by Edward VI., and was fortified by Crom- well. Under the Municipal Reform Act it is divided into the north and south wards, including part of Walsoken, and is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 coun- cillors, with tho style of " burgesses of the borough of Wisbeach." The corporation revenue amounts to about 3,000 per annum. The spring and midsummer assizes for the liberty of the Isle of Ely are held here, and petty sessions for the hundred regularly by the county magis- trates. It is a polling place for the county elections, and a seaport town, with custom-house and quays, capable of admitting vessels of 400 tons from Lynn Deeps. An iron bridge and wharves have recently b6eu erected at a cost of about 60,000 to the town. The population of the municipal borough in 1861 was 9,276. It contains a shire hall or sessions house, erected in 1801 ; corn exchange, in 1811 ; house of correction for the Isle of Ely and borough of Wisbeach ; a custom house, savings-bank, two branch banks, stamp office, theatre, library and reading-rooms, mechanics' institute, literary society, museum, union workhouse, baths, assembly rooms, gas and water works, and two ceme- teries. There aro besides, breweries, planing and saw- mills, foundries, boat-building yards, mast and block works, rope-walks, a cooperage, tannery, cotton-reel manufactory, corn-mills, malt - houses, tobacco-pipe works, and brickfields. A considerable business is done in the shipping trade and in corn, timber and malt, no less than 250,000 quarters of grain having changed hands in a single year. Many hands arc also engaged (3 a