BURTON UPON TRENT. This town is situated on the north bank of the river Trent, from which it derives the latter portion of its name. It is a borough and market town, containing, according to the parliamentary returns of 1801, 833 houses, and 4359 inhabitants, of whom 546 were employed in various branches of trade. The market is held on Thursday, and is well supplied with all the requisite articles of human food. Burton upon Trent is undoubtedly of very great antiquity. At an early period of the Saxon dominion in Britain, it was a town of considerable note. In the annals of that people the Bbb 3 name name is written Byretun, which is synonymous to Bureton, or Buryton, a word used by them to denote places of Roman or British origin. Hence it may be inferred that some eminent person of one or other of these nations possessed a Bury,* or chief mansion or manor house, in the neighbourhood prior to the period of the Saxon conquest. This opinion, however, rests upon no authority, but that of probable conjecture, there being no records of this town till the time of the celebrated St. Modwen, called also Modwenna, Mowenna, and Mudwin. This lady, who flourished in the ninth century, had long been Abbess of a monastery in Ireland, which having been destroyed, she removed to England in the reign of king Ethelwolf. That monarch, pitying her misfortunes, bestowed upon her lands sufficient for the endowment of two religious houses, in one of which she resided for some years. After this she retired to the island of Andresey, an insulated meadow situated opposite to the present church in Burton. This island was sometimes called Mudwennestow, as we are informed by Lelandt from her name, as it was Andresey, from a chapel dedicated to St. Andrew which she built upon it. Upon her death she was buried here, and the following epitaph preserved by Camden, inscribed on her tomb : Ortum Modwennae dat Hibernia Scotia finem Anglia dat tumulum, dat Deus astra poli Prima dedit vitam, sed mortem terra secunda Et terram terrae tertia terra dedit Aufert Lanfortin quam terra Conallea profert Ireland *See Spelman's Glossary under Beria or Buria; Somner's Saxon Dictionary under Byri. Lel. Coll. Vol. II. p. 408. Modwenna is said to have founded a variety of other chapels and monasteries in different parts of England, as well as in Scotland and Ireland. Her piety and influence with the divine power were so famous, that king Ethel wolfe sent his son Alfred to her to be cured of a disease reckoned incurable, Ireland gave Modwen birth; England a grave. And happy Burton holds the virgin's bones.† The abbey of Burton was founded and endowed by Wulfric, Ulfric, or Alfric Earl of Mercia, about the year 1002. This nobleman long held the high situation of chief Counsellor of State, to king Ethelred, surnamed the Unready. He is characterised, however, by several of our historians as a traitor on many occasions, both to his king and country, and was slain in an engagement with the Danish invaders, in the year 1010. The lands which Wulfric bestowed upon this monastery seem to have been very considerable. The book of Abingdon has the following passage relative to this point. "A servant of king Ethelred named Ulfric Spot, built the abbey at Burton, and gave it all his paternal estate worth 7007., and, that the ratification of this gift might stand, he gave king Ethelred 300 mancs of gold for his confirmation, and to each bishop five mancs, and to Alfric, archbishop of Canterbury, over and above the town of Dumbleton."§ This gift was confirmed accordingly by the king, in the year 1004. The tenor of the confirmation, as usual, was full and free, exempting the abbey and its dependencies from all exactions, duties, and services, except the trinodas necessitas, the erection of fortresses and bridges, the reparation of high ways, and the repelling of invasions. In this charter, however, several places Bbb 4 are which, happily for her own fame and the benefit of England, she very soon accomplished. Editha, sister to Ethelred, was a nua under her. Holinshed, B. VI. c. I. p. 142. Gale's Annals, Vol. III. lib. 6. p. 226. Lel. Coll. Vol. II. p. 573. + Gough's Camden, Vol. II. p. 497. * Tyrconnel. Mr. Shaw says, the book of Abingdon may be correct as to the value given, but it was not his whole estate: Shaw's Staffordshire, Vol. I. p. 2. This place had been wrongfully taken from the church of Abingdon, by Walfric's predecessors. Monasticon, Vol. I. p. 265. | Monasticon, Vol. I. p. 966. are omitted, which are mentioned in the will of Ulfric. By an abstract of Mr. Shaw's from various parts of Domesday, the value of the possessions of this monastery, at the time of the conquest, appear to have been estimated at 361. 15s. of annual rent. A variety of charters were subsequently granted in its favour, by different monarchs, bishops, and others, in which its original privileges were confirmed, and many new ones added. The abbots were empowered to hold a weekly market, and had besides the privileges of collecting toll, and instituting fairs at different periods of the year. Some of them occasionally sat in Parliament, and were extremely beneficial to the abbey. After the dissolution, this monastery was constituted a collegiate church, dedicated to Christ and St. Mary, but continued to enjoy this distinction only for the short space of four years. The seal of the college is one of the most beautiful specimens of that species of sculpture extant in England. It is a representation of our Saviour and his disciples at the last supper, having the arms of Wulfric, the founder of the abbey, at the bottom. The words on the margin are in Latin, and signify the common seal of the dean and chapter of the collegiate church of Christ, at Burton upon Trent." An excellent copy of this seal will be found in Shaw's history of Staffordshire, on a plate contributed by the earl of Uxbridge* The buildings of this abbey appear to have been very extensive and superb. Mr. Erdeswicke, in his Survey of Staffordshire, says that it must have been "a very goodly one for the ruins be very large." The dimensions of the church were 228 feet in length, and 52 feet and a half in breadth. It was adorned with a handsome tower at both ends. The other buildings were proportionally extensive. The cloisters which lay on the south side of the church measured 100 feet square. The fraytor, or common sitting room, adjoining on the same side was 96 feet in length and 30 in breadth, and the principal dormitory on the east 100 feet by ten. Besides these there Shaw's Staffordshire, p, 6, 7, 8. were + Erdeswicke's Survey, p. 22. |