lington. In these creations it is curious that the initial letter of the word Harlington is dropped, though it has been uniformly preserved in all parochial writings.-Both titles merged in that of Grafton, in consequence of the intermarriage of the first Duke of Grafton with Lady Isabella, only daughter and heir of the Earl of Arlington.

HARMONDSWORTH.

This parish lies to the west of Harlington, and is separated from Buckinghamshire by a branch of the river Colne. It comprises, as hamlets, Sipson, and the larger part of Longford; but the southern side of the latter place is in the parish of Stanwell. The whole of this parochial district has an unde. sirable flatness of surface, and is intersected by several small rivers, or streams, which creep in dull obscurity, without imparting to any spot an attractive portion of the picturesque.

The name of this place, (which is familiarly pronounced Harmsworth,) is written Hermodesworde in Domesday, and it is stated in that record that the Abbot of the Holy Trinity at Rouen held the principal manor, of the King. It answered for thirty hides, and there was land to twenty ploughs. There were three mills, paying sixty shillings and 500 eels. The fish-ponds produced 1000 eels; and there was one arpent of vineyard. The whole value is stated at twenty pounds; when received twelve pounds; in King Edward's time twenty-five pounds.

This manor shared the fate of many other possessions of the alien priories, and was seized by King Edward III. in the year 1340. The arable land belonging to the demesne was then valued at 4d. an acre; the meadow at 8d. and the pasture at 24 There

• Tanner says that there was here a priory of the Benedictine order, which was a cell to the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Rouen; but no traces of such a priory have been discovered in ancient records.

per ann.

There were two water-mills, one for corn, let at 18s. the other for malt, at 8s.*-The manor was afterwards conveyed to William of Wickham, who settled it upon the collegiate establishment of his foundation; but it was again obtained by the crown, in exchange for other possessions, in the reign of Henry VIII. By Edward VI. it was granted to Sir William Paget, from whom it descended to the present noble possessor, the Marquis of Anglesey.-As a manorial custom, of a character not very frequent, it may be observed that tenants have a right of fishery in all the rivers and common waters within the manor, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.-It is probable that the ancient manor-house occupied the site of a farmdwelling near the church, which claims notice as there is, in the attached yard, a barn of remarkably large dimensions, it being 191 feet in length, and 38 feet in breadth.

The small hamlet of LONGFORD is seated on a branch of the river Colne, and consists chiefly of mean houses, several of which appear to have been built early in the 17th century, or perhaps before that date. Attached to some of these buildings are rather extensive orchards, but of ancient standing and in a neglected state. From the sheltered character of the spot we may suppose that here was situated the arpent of vineyard noticed in the Norman record. But it will be recollected that much uncertainty of opinion prevails, as to the nature of the plantation so frequently mentioned in Domesday by that

name.

HEATH-ROW is situated to the south of the Bath road, on the margin of Hounslow-heath. At a short distance from this place, towards the east, were, until lately, the remains of an ancient camp, supposed to be Roman.† The vestiges were about 300 feet square, and the encampment was defended by a single trench only. The parish of Harmondsworth has been recently

• Vide Middlesex parishes, after Esch. 14. Edw. III.

+ Dr. Stukeley conjectures that this camp was formed by Cæsar, after he had crossed the Thames, and during his progress towards Hertfordshire, A view of the camp is inserted in the Itinerarium Curiosum.

recently enclosed by act of Parliament, and the plough has thrown into furrows the castrametation raised by the Romans in pride of military art.-The share of Hounslow-heath claimed but this parish, on the late enclosure, was 940 acres.

The village of Harmondsworth consists chiefly of scattered, rural, dwellings, many of which are in that ancient and simple mode of construction so favourable to the picturesque. The few houses of a more capacious character are ill-placed, and have but little claim on notice.

The Parish Church has marks of considerable antiquity. The body of this structure is composed of stone and flint. At the west end is a square brick tower, on which was bestowed, in an age long past, a coating of mortar and pebbles. On the north side are several narrow windows, of very early Gothic; and the south door is Saxon, but is not a richly-worked specimen of that style of architecture. The inner moulding is a torus, over which is a range of birds' heads, the beaks being thrown over the torus-band. The outward member is of chevron-work.

The interior, which is spacious and light, is chiefly divided into a chancel, nave, and two aisles; but the chancel has also a north aisle, which appears to have formerly been provided with an altar. There are, also, in this aisle the remains of a niche, probably intended to contain sacred articles connected with the eucharist. The ceiling of the same aisle was originally of carved rafter-work.

On the south side of the chancel are three stalls, or seats, now blocked up; and a piscina. The nave is divided from the aisles by pointed arches, supported by short and massy circular pillars. The furniture of the church is of a rustic character, and many of the pews are of ancient oak, without the modern accommodation of doors.-There are not, in this church, any monuments of more than common interest.

The Rectory of Harmondsworth was possessed, in conjunction with the manor, by the abbot and convent of the Holy Trinity at Rouen. By King Henry VIII. the rectory was first separated

separated from the manor, in 1544. It has since passed through various hands, and is now the property of George Byng, Esq. one of the representatives in Parliament for the county of Middlesex. The vicarage was consolidated with that of Drayton in the year 1755.

THE HUNDRED OF GORE

joins that of Elthorne on the west, and is bounded on the north by Hertfordshire; an incursive branch of which county like. wise penetrates Middlesex from the same quarter, and divides the eastern part of this Hundred from the Hundred of Edmonton, On the south it attaches to the populous Hundred of Ossulston.-This district affords vestiges of Roman antiquity. The Watling Street is believed to have passed near Hendon and Edgware, in its progress towards St. Alban's (Verulamium.) Near Brockley-hill is supposed to have stood the ancient city of Sulloniacæ; and numerous Roman coins, and other relics, have been found in that neighbourhood.

This Hundred abounds in elevations, which impart an agree able air of variety, and are favourable to picturesque effect.— Edgware, comprised in this division of the county, is nominally a market-town.

STANMORE MAGNA

lies at the northern verge of Middlesex, on the border of Hertfordshire, and is termed Stanmore (a word signifying the boundary-mark, or stone, in the record of Domesday. The addition of Magna was evidently intended to distinguish this from the adjoining parish, now called Stanmore Parva, or Whitchurch; but it would appear that both districts formed one parish only, at the time of the Norman survey, though the period PART IV. 2 R

at

at which they were divided is not ascertained.—Stanmore Magna is supposed to contain about 1400 acres of land: much the greater proportion of which is in meadow and pasture; and nearly 250 acres still lie in common.

Many interesting remains of the Romans have been found in this neighbourhood; and Camden, Dr. Stukeley, and several other writers suppose the ancient city of Sulloniacæ to have stood near Brockley Hill, in the north-east division of this parish, about a mile south of Elstree, a village on the border of Hertfordshire. Reynolds, in his Edition of the Itinerary of Antoninus, does not hesitate to describe the site of Sulloniacæ to Brockley Hill; and, after mentioning the numerous vestiges of Roman habitation discovered here, observes, "that no evidence is wanting on the subject, but to shew that the distance is agreeable to the numerals." The distance between the presumed site of this city and Verulamium is estimated, according to Mr. Reynolds, at nine miles and one quarter.

Roman antiquities, consisting chiefly of coins, urns, rings, and Roman bricks, have assuredly been found in large quantities in the neighbourhood.* Such discoveries have given rise to the following proverbial couplet :

No heart can think, nor tongue can tell,

What lies between Brockley-hill and Pennywell.

As a classical memorial of the city which is supposed to have formerly occupied the adjacent tract of ground, an obelisk, with an inscription in Latin on each of the four sides, was erected some years back by Mr. Sharpe, Secretary to the Duke of Chandos, who then resided at Brockley-hill, in a house which

will

Among the numerous articles publicly noticed as having been found here, may be mentioned two small antique bronzes; the one representing a Lion and the other the head of an Apollo. These were discovered on the estate of Mr. West, near Brockley-hill. Drawings of both are preserved in the Library at Strawberry-hill.