with a skeleton tolerably entire, and a chalice now used for the communion service. Nothing else in this church seems to require notice except the tomb of Thomas Whitgrave, Esq. celebrated for the protection he afforded to the monarch last mentioned.

Near this village, appears a very considerable tumulus which Dr. Plot supposes to have been of Roman construction, seemingly upon no other ground but that the brass head of the bolt of a catapulta was dug up in a small wood here called "the Burchen Lesow." That the opinion of this author may be correct we will not deny; but we cannot refrain from reprobating the absurd practice of concluding every work to be Roman, near which a coin of that nation, or other trivial remnant of antiquity, has been discovered.

Codsall, situated in the north-west corner of this hundred, deserves to be noticed on account of the beauty of its church, which consists of a chancel and north aisle, separated by very fine pointed arches. The roof is of wood, carved in a most curious and elegant manner. Some handsome zigzag work ornaments the porch, and in the chancel stands a noble altar monument erected in honour of Walter Wrottesley, whose figure lies in a recumbent posture on the top. His head rests on his helmet, and at his feet is a gauntlet.

A sulphureous well in this parish springs up in a very uncommon manner through the old stump of a tree. So strongly is the water impregnated, that it leaves a yellow appearance on every part of the surface over which it flows. Anciently this well was famed for the cure of leprosy; and it still retains celebrity as a specific for the itch.

CUDDLESTON HUNDRED.

BREWOOD is a market town, situated about a mile and a half to the south of the Watling-street, and at the distance of nine

miles from Stafford. A small priory of Cistertian or Benedictine nuns, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded here in the reign of Richard the first, and continued to flourish till the general dissolution, when its revenue was valued at 11. 1s. 6d. per annum.

This town is neatly built, and delightfully placed on one of the branches of the river Penk. According to the population returns of 1801, it contained 2,867 inhabitants, of whom 1,405 were males, and 1,462 females. The market is held on Friday every week. The Free school is an excellent institution. Processioning was prevalent here as well as at Wolverhampton during the last century, on which, occasions it was customary for the inhabitants to adorn their wells with boughs and flowers.*

Several severe shocks of an earthquake were felt at this place in 1678, which were preceded by a loud rumbling noise, resembling distant thunder. The bishop of the diocese is said to have had a seat here before the Conquest.

1

Sharehill lies at nearly an equal distance between the Worcestershire, and the Wireley and Essington canals. On the south and north sides of this village are two encampments supposed, from their square form and proximity to the Watling-street, to be of Roman construction. The area of the largest measures somewhat more than a rood in extent. In the church here, which, with the exception of the tower, is of modern erection, are several curious antique monuments, preserved at the demolition of the ancient edifice. At Hilton, which is situated south from this place, there was formerly an abbey of Benedictine monks, founded by Henry de Audeley, in the year 1223, which was valued at the time of the dissolution at

891.

This custom of adorning wells is a relict of popish times. When that religion prevailed, this ceremony was instituted to distinguish such wells as were celebrated for the cure of particular diseases, and generally took place on the saints' days, when the people diverted themselves with music and dancing, and had cakes and ale.

$91. 10s. 1d. per annum. No vestiges of this fabric can now

be discovered.

The service enjoined to be performed by the lord of the neighbouring manor of Essington to the lord of Hilton is so peculiar, that it seems to deserve particular notice. By his charter the former was bound to bring a goose to the hall here, every New-year's day, and drive it at least three times round the fire while Jack of Hilton was blowing the fire.* This part of the ceremony being finished, then the lord of the manor of Essington, or his bailiff, carried it to the table, and received a dish from the lord of Hilton, for his own mess. This service was actually performed for upwards of one hundred and forty years; but nothing has been heard of it since, nor is the origin of the custom known.

Crossing the Watling Street in a north east direction from hence, the traveller arrives at Cannock, an ancient village situated on the southern boundary of the extensive waste, from whence it derives its name. This waste stretches from hence to the south bank of the river Trent, comprehending according to Mr. Pitt, about 40 square miles, or 25000 acres.† A great proportion of the land here consists of a good light soil, well adapted for turnip or barley culture ; but towards the east and south parts it is extremely gravelly, and covered for a large extent with heath.

Different opinions are entertained by antiquaries concerning the etymology of the term Cannock, some deriving it from the Cangi, and others from Canute, the first Danish king of England. 1 But, whatever may be the derivation of its name, it was doubtless a celebrated forest during the period of the Mercians, being the favourite

This Jack of Hilton is a little hollow image of brass, which leans upon its left knee, and has its right hand placed on its breast. In its mouth is a little hole just sufficient to admit the head of a large pin; and water is poured into it by a hole in its back, which is afterwards stopped up. This image being set on a strong fire, the air evaporates through a pole at the mouth with a con tinued blast, which blows the fire very strongly.

t Pitt's Survey of Staffordshire, p. 144.

+ Vide ante, p. 718.

favourite chace of their monarchs. It was then and for many succeeding centuries covered with a profusion of majestic oaks. Several centuries, however, have past away since it was wholly stripped of its foliage, and converted into a bleak and dreary 'waste. This sad change is well described by Drayton in his Polyolbion, but much more beautifully by Mr. Masters, in his Iter Boreale of 1675. So elegant, indeed, is the composition of the latter, that we deem it unnecessary to apologise to our readers for introducing it here, as every individual, who possesses the smallest taste for refined poetical description, must afford to it his meed of praise:

"Hine mihi mox ingens ericetum complet ocellos,
Silva olire passim Nymphis habitata ferisque,
Condense quercus, domibus res nata struendis ;
Ornandoque foco, et validae spes unica classis.
Nunc umbris immissa dies, namque æquore vasto,.
Ante, retro, dextrâ, laeva, quo lumina cunque,
Verteris una humili consurgit vertice planta,
Purpureoque erice tellurem vestit amictu,
Dum floret suaves et naribus adflat odores

Haec ferimus saltem amissae solatia sylva.”*

Cannock

The Rev. Richard Williams of Fron, Flintshire, has given the following beautiful translation of this poetical effusion :

"A vast, a naked plain confines the view,

Where trees unnumbered in past ages grew;

The green retreat of wood Nymphs; once the boast,
The pride, the guardians, of their native coast.
Alas! how changed, each venerable oak
Long since has yielded to the woodman's stroke;
Where'er the cheerless prospect meets the eye,
No shrub, no plant, except the heath, is nigh.
The solitary heath alone is there,
And wafts its sweetness in the desert air,
So sweet its scent, so sweet its purple hue,
We half forget that here a forest grew.

Pennant's Journey, p. 134.

Cannock is abundantly supplied with coal, and likewise with a particular species of iron ore called Cannock stone, which oxygenates so rapidly as to be incapable of much useful application.

At Radmore, within the boundaries of this waste, there formerly stood an abbey for the Cistertian order of monks. These religious were originally formed into a society about the year 1140; but at that period their retreat was only a her mitage. The empress Matilda and king Stephen, however, having conferred upon them a considerable extent of lands situated in the neighbourhood, they founded a monastery. This was at first merely a priory, but was shortly after constitu ted an abbey at the instigation of the empress. It soon, however, lost the distinction it had acquired by the removal of the monks to Stonely in Warwickshire, a measure which was the result of the inconveniences of this situation. Some large single stones fixed here have frequently been the subjects of antiquarian investigation. The design of their erection, notwithstanding, still remains undetermined.

PENKRIDGE.

This market-town lies at the distance of several miles to the northwest of Cannock, and one mile to the south of Stafford. It derives its name, as is generally supposed, from the river Penk, which flows past it, as does likewise the Staffordshire and Worcestershire grand trunk canal.

Penkridge is undoubtedly a place of very great antiquity. According to some, it is the Pennocrucium of the Romans, mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus. On this point, however, there is considerable diversity of opinion amongst antiquaries. Camden regarded it as having been that Roman station; but Plot,* Stukeley, and Horsley, transfer the latter to Stretton, a village

situated

• Plot's Nat. Hist. Stafford, p. 401. Horsely 19. Salmon will not have Pennocruciun to be in this neighbourhood at all, maintaining it to have been situated at Oldbury in Warwickshire. Survey of England, Vol. II,