Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/884

Rh WORCESTER WALK. 872 WORKINGTON. taries are the Stour in tho N., which is canalized throughout, the Warwickshire Avon iu the S., which is navigable from Stratford-on-Avon, and receives the waters of the Piddle, the Teme in the W., and the Sal- warpe and Leadon or Leddon. The canals are im- portant, connecting the Severn with the other English rivers, including the Staffordshire and Worcester, which communicates with the Grand Trunk hy the Stour ; the Dudley, which goes from Birmingham, northwards Ly Dudley to Stourbridge ; the Worcester and Birmingham, which traverses the county in a north-easterly direction, and joins the Birmingham and Stafford ; the Droitwich, which connects that town with the Severn; and the Leominster and Kingston- canal, in the western part of the county. There are mineral spas at Malvcm, where is a hydropathic establishment, Abberton, Bromsgrove, Churchill, Dudley, Evesham, Tenbury, and a chalybeate spring at Kidderminster. The climate is mild and healthy, even on the JIalverns, hut on the eastern hills it is colder. Branches of the Midland and West Mid- land railways traverse the county; the former, which is part of. the Birmingham and Bristol line, passes by Bromsgrove and Worcester, and the latter, which takes a circuitous rout through the county, passes by Evesham, Worcester, Droitwich, Kidderminster, and Stourhridge, to Dudley ; and about 8 miles of the tram railway from Stratford to Moreton,goby AlderminsterandEatington. The main lines of road from Worcester are, that by Pershore and Evesham to Shipston-on-Stour, that down the valley of the Severn, by Upton and Tewkesbury, to Gloucester, that by Powick and Great Malvern to Led- bury, that hy Droitwich and Bromsgrove to Birming- ham, that hy Spetchley and Kingtou to Stratford, and another up the valley of the Severn, by Stourport and Kidderminster, to Stourbridge. The northern part of the county is the chief seat of the hardware and iron manufactures, which are the most flourishing, employing together above 10,000 hands, chiefly at Dudley, Stour- bridge, Old Swinford, Wolverley, Cradloy, Bclbroughton, Bewdley, Harllubury, King's Norton, Redditch, Fecken- ham, &c., the last two named places being the seats of the needle and fish-hook manufactures. Other manu- factures are those of carpets and rugs at Kidderminster, employing 1,500 hands ; porcelain and gloves at Wor- cester, the former employing 500, and the latter 2,000 hands; glass at Dudley and Stourbridge, employing 400 ; besides woollens, worsteds, bombazines, silk, ribbons, plush, coach lace, and horsehair, employing together 2,000 persons, chiefly at Bromsgrove and Kidderminster. There are salt-works, breweries, mailings, tanneries, coke-ovens, alkali, vitriol, and vinegar works, paper mills, horn factories for making combs and lanterns, and several minor branches of industry. For purposes of civil government the shire is divided into East and West Worcestershire, each returning two members to parliament; and since 1831 into ten divisions, viz., Worcester, Kidderminster, Hundred House, and Upton, in West Worcestershire ; and Blockley, Droitwich, Dudley, Northfield, Porshoro, and Stourbridge, in East Worcestershire, instead of the five ancient hundreds of Blackenhurst, Doddingtree, Halfshire, Osbaldstow, and Pershore. Its capital is Worcester, a cathedral city, assize town, and parliamentary borough, returning two members, and containing a population of 31,227. The other boroughs are Bewdley, Droitwich, Dudley, Eves- ham, Kidderminster, and Stourbridge, each returning one member to parliament ; also 13 market-towns, and about 300 villages and hamlets. There are 286 town- ships and 197 parishes, besides 8 extra parochial places. In the ecclesiastical arrangement it belongs to the dio- ceses of Worcester and Hereford, in the province of Canterbury. It is governed by a lord-lieutenant, custos rotitlorum, high sheriff, and 40 deputy-lieutenants, as- sisted hy about 300 magistrates. The shire is within the Oxford circuit and Midland military district, and belongs to the jurisdiction of the Birmingham Court of Bankruptcy. The population of the whole county in 1861 was 307,397, viz., 186,431 within the eastern, and 120,966 in the western division, of whom about a third are resident in Worcester, Dudley, Kiddermini Bromsgrove, Evesham, and Kedditch. The remains antiquity are not numerous, the principal being those of the Roman station Salince, now Droitwich ; of Bredon Hill, Witchbury and Kemsey Roman camps; a British barrow on Clent Heath, and a Danish camp at Condor- ton, near Witchbury. There are ruins of abbeys at Bordesley and Evesham, and of religious houses at Dodford, Dudley, and Coles Hill. WORCESTER WALK, an ext. par. lib. in Dean Forest, co. Gloucester, 6 miles W. of Newnham. It includes the village of Lidbrook. WORDESLEY, a hmlt. in the tnshp. of Stourbridge and par. of Old Swinford, co. Worcester, 2J miles N.W. of Stourbridge, on the Stafford branch canal, near the river Stour. WORD WELL, a par. in thehund. of Blackbourn, co. Suffolk, 6 miles N.W. of Bury St. Edmund's. The living is a rect. united to that of West Stow. The church is dedicated to All Saints. WORFIELD, a par. in the Hales-Owen div. of Brimstree hund., co. Salop, 4 miles N.E. of Bridg- north. It is watered by the Worfe, a tributary of the Severn, and is divided into N.E., S.E., N,W., and S.W. quarters, comprising 34 tnshps. The village is situated on the road from Bridgnorth to Wolverhampton. The soil is a rich loamy ryeland. The living is a vie.* ill the dioc. of Lichfield, val. 240. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, or to St. Matthew, has recently been re- stored, and contains 2 modern brasses, a decorated octagon font, and several monuments to the Bromley family. There are endowed grammar and parochial schools. The charities produce about 250 per annum. At Burcott, in 1809, a bone cave was discovered. A fair is held at Wyken in this parish on the first Monday in February for cattle and sheep. Thomas Charlton Whitmoro, Esq., is lord of the manor of Worfield, and W. S. Davenport, Esq., is lord of the manor of Wyken. WORGRET, or WORGATE, a tythg. in the pars, of East Stoke and St. Mary Out, hund. of Hundredsbar- row, co. Dorset, 1 mile W. of Wareham. WORKINGTON, a par., seaport, and market town in the ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, co. Cumber- land, 32 miles S.W. of Carlisle, 7 N.E. of Cocliermouth, and 5 S.W. of Maryport. It has stations on the Cockermouth and Workington and Whitehaven junction branches of the London and North-Western railway. The par. contains, besides the town of Workington, the tnshps. of Great and Little Clifton, Stainhurn, and Winscales. It is bounded on the W. by the Irish Sea, on the S.E. by the river Maron, and on the N. by the Derwent, which is here crossed by a bridge of three arches. In the reign of Henry YTII. it is described by Leland as a " lytel prety fyssher toun," and was the spot where Maiy Queen of Scots landed 16th May, 1568, in her flight to England, and was hospitably entertained by Sir Henry Curwen, of Working- ton Hall. Although ancient and somewhat irregu- larly built, the town, which extends for nearly a mile along the S. bank of the Derwent, contains many good shops and several spacious streets. There are a com market in the Upper Town, assembly rooms, theatre, ustom-house, commercial bank, savings-bank, dispen- sary, three-arched bridge, water and gasworks, and public offices in Christian-street, where petty sessions ire held weekly on Wednesday. The town and har- aour arc governed by trustees, and there is a district aoard of guardians lor the poor. It is a subport to Whitchavon, and has a harbour capable of admitting vessels of 400 tons burden, lined with quays which arc now undergoing considerable extension. Shipbuilding s extensively carried on in the yards of the Harrington uid Workington Company and of Charles Lamport, 3sq., and large iron works have recently buen erected )y the Hermatite Iron Company, for the manufacture of iron and tin plate, for which the abundance of coal md iron ore in the immediate vicinity furnish every acility ; a considerable business is also done in connec- jon with the coasting and timber trades, and in tha