Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/913

Rh YORKSHIRE. 901 YORKSHIRE. Monday, Old St. Peter's-day, Old Lammas-day, Old Michaelmas-day, Old Martinmas-day, and Old Christ- mas-day ; the leather fairs arc the first Wednesday in March, June, September, and December ; the fairs for cattle, &c., are on Whit-Monday, 10th July, 12th August, and 23rd November ; the yearly horse-show in the last whole week before Christmas. YORKSHIRE, a maritime co. in the N. of England, and the largest ehire in the United Kingdom, being nearly equal in extent to Wales. It lies on the shores of the North Sea, between the Friths of the Humber and the Tees, extending between 53 18' and 54" 40' N. lat., and between 9' E. and 2 30' W. long. It is bounded on tho N. by Durham and the river Tees, on the N.W. by Westmoreland, on tho W. by the moorlands of Lan- cashiie, on the S.W. by Cheshire, on the S. by the Frith of the Humber, and the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, and Derby, and on tho E. and N.E. by the shores of the North Sea. Its form is irregular, the greatest length being across the county in a straight line, from tho pro- jecting point called Spurn Head, in the S.E., to tho border of Westmoreland on tho N.W., a distance of about 124 miles, and its greatest breadth 105 miles ; but its average length is about 90 miles, and breadth 65 miles. The whole circuit of the county is about 400 miles, of which 120 are coast-lino the northern portion being rocky, and the southern low and sandy. From the mouth of the Tees to Scarborough the cliffs, which are always washed by tho sea at high-water, rise from 70 to 150 feet, and often overhang the beach ; further on they rise still higher, and at Stoupe Brow, about 7 miles S. of Whitby, attain an elevation of 895 feet above the sea. The coast-line then gradually declines towards the promontory of Flamborough Head, which forms the extremity of a range of chalk cliffs. From this point to Hull the shore is generally flat, and subject to the encroachments of the sea, which has partially submerged the villages of Auburn, Hartburn, and Hyde. At Spurn Head, the Ocellmn Promontorium of Ptolemy, the Humber formerly made considerable encroachments, but since the reign of Charles I. it has gradually receded, leaving extensive tracts of marshland, which have recently been embanked and converted into pasture. The early his- tory of Yorkshire is little known. Who were the abori- gines, or whether the Iberian immigration reached hither, there is no evidence. On the coming of the Romans, two Celtic tribes, named the Fariaii and Bri- gantea, were found there, and about A.D. 71, in the time of the Emperor Vespasian, Petilius Cerealis overthrew the Brigantes, and thenceforth this county was included in the province Maxima Ctesariensis, and was settled by tho Romans, who held it till the early part of the 5th century. In their time Elmramm, or York, became a great city, being chosen as the seat or occasional resi- dence of several of the emperors, and a centre of govern- ment. About 306, Constantius Chlorus died there, and Constantino the Great, his son, was made emperor. Tho Romans had many other towns in this district ; among them were Cataractoiiium, Legiolum, Danum (Doncaster), Olicana, Cambodumtm, Isurium (Aldborough), Deventio, fnctorium (Flamborough), Calcaria (Tadcaster), and Dtlfwitia. They also bestowed great attention upon the public roads, of which considerable remains exist at the present time, and which were the primary means of opening up and civilising this part of the country. The Walling Street, which extended along the whole length of England, from liulupite, now Richborough, in Kent, to the wall of Severus, entered Yorkshire from Bawtry, "ii tho borders of Nottingham, going by Doncaster, over i.ibjr and Pigburn Leas to Barnsdale, and so by Pontefract and Tadcaster to York, from which city it continued northward along the N.E. bank of the Ouse t'j Aldborough, where, being carried across tho river, it went to Catterick Bridge and the Roman station Cata- raelotiium, vestiges of which still remain, and thence the Tees at Pierce Bridge into the county of Dur- ham. Another military way led from Mancunium, now heater, to York, passing by Stainland, near Hali- fax, and Almondbury, near Huddersfield, to Dewsbury, where it crossed tho river Calder, and proceeded along the present turnpike road to Wakefield, and thence, having joined the Watling Street, to Pontefract and York ; from which city it proceeded to Malton, and then separated into two branches one of which, now called Wade's Causeway, is in perfect condition, being 12 feet broad, paved with flint pebbles, and raised about 3 feet above the surface, led to Dunsley Bay, the Dunns Sinus of Ptolemy, and the other branch to Scarborough and Filey. Several minor roads also traversed Yorkshire in different directions, but converged towards York ; these were the vicinal way, from Castleford in the N., which went through Pontefract to Hatfield ; another road went through Pontefract, Ackworth, Hemsworth, Barnsley, and Sheffield, to Chesterfield ; and a third road from York passed over the Wolds to Bridlington Bay, with branches to Hunmanby, Patrington, Spurn Point, and Brough-on-the-Humber, where it crossed into Lincoln- shire. After the departure of the Romans, in 426, Yorkshire formed part of the British kingdom of Deifyr, which, in 559, being reduced by Ella, a Saxon chieftain, changed its name to Dtiira, and afterwards formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria, which was overrun by the Danes in 867. The Villa Begin, the seat of the Northumbrian kings, is conjectured to have been at Osmondthorp, in tho parish of Leeds. In 628 Chris- tianity was introduced, under tho auspices of Edwin, King of Northumbria, who laid the foundation of York Minster ; but he, being slain in battle against Pendar, King of Mercia, the progress of the structure was stayed by his successor, tho pagan Osric, until Oswald, King of Bernicia, having conquered the country, fixed his resi- dence at York, and completed tho church which Edwin had begun. During the reign of Alfred the Great, the greater part of Yorkshire was included in the D-inelagh, but in the subsequent wars with that nation Athelstan gave them a decisive defeat at Brunanburgh. At the time of the Norman Conquest, the N. of England had been so ravaged by the Scots and Danes that tho four northern counties are not included at all in the Domes- day survey, and Yorkshire itself was but sparsely in- habited, owing to the devastation of the armies of Harold and his brother Tostig, and afterwards by the Normans under William the Conqueror, who, on the revolt of Earl Waltheof, marched northwards, burning and destroying as far as York. The county had been previously divided into three ridings, or, as they were originally called " trithings," and appears in early times to have com- prised parts of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and the wolds of Lancashire. It was subsequently the scene of many events in the history of England, in con- nection with the Scottish wars, and in the wars of the Roses, when the battles of Wakefield, Ferrybridge, and Towton were fought, in which last 30,776 are said to have been slain. During tho reign of Henry VII. an insurrection of the northern counties against a land tax took place, when the insurgents stormed the residence of the Earl of Northumberland at Topcliffe, near Thirsk, and put the earl to death for the part he was supposed to have taken in the imposition of the tax ; but the insurrection was eventually suppressed by the Earl of Surrey. In the following reign Lord D' Arcy, Sir Thomas Percy, and other influential residents, incited tho people to oppose by arms the changes involved in the suppression of monasteries and other religious establishments ; and, in consequence of its supposed sacred object, their march was styled "The Pilgrimage of Grace." The castles of Pontefract, York, and Hull surrendered to the insurgents, but on approach- ing Doncaster they were met by an army under tho Duke of Norfolk, when, negotiations having been en- tered into, the insurgents dispersed ; but some of the leaders again endeavouring to revive the insurrection, were arrested and executed. Two partial insurrections of a similar character took place in 1637 and 1548, and in 1553, during Wyatt's rebellion, Scarborough Castle was surprised and taken by the insurgents. Some of x>ok place in this county, including the sieges of Hull, Wetherby, Tadcaster, Leeds, Bradford, York, Tickhill,
 * he earliest movements in the civil war temp. Charles I.