BRADFORD is a well-built and populous town, beautifully situated at the union of three extensive valleys, and forms nearly a central point with Halifax, Keighley, Leeds, Wakefield, Dewsbury, and Huddersfield. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the manufacture of woollen cloths and cotton. And about three miles to the south-east of the town are extensive foundries, with abundance of coal and iron ore in the vicinity. The trade of the town is greatly promoted by a canal which leads from the centre of the town to the Leads and Liverpool canal. Bradford possesses two spacious churches and several meeting houses. The environs of the town are extremely pleasant, and the surrounding country abounds with picturesque scenery. During the great civil war the inhabitants of Bradford were distinguished for their adherence to the parliamentary cause and twice repulsed a large body of royalists from the garrison of Leeds. Two' M. P. Pop. of township, 34,560. At Undercliffe, near Bradford, is the Airedale College for the education of Dissenting ministers. About five miles from the town is the Moravian settlement of Fulneck, distinguished by the neatness and industry of its inhabitants. CIX. LONDON 10 SEDBERGH BY BOROUGHBRIDGE, LEYBURN, AND BISHOP AUCKLAND, 258 Miles. Ten miles from Pierce Bridge is BARNARD CASTLE on the Tees. The name of this town was derived from a castle which was erected here shortly after the Norman Conquest by Barnard, son of Guy Baliol, who came into England with the Conqueror. The extensive ruins of this fortress are situated on the summit of a rocky eminence, and include within their area a circumference of upwards of six acres. Baliol's Tower, at the western extremity of the building, is a round tower of great size and antiquity, and remarkable for the curious construction of its vaulted roof. The prospect from the top of the tower commands a rich and magnificent view of the wooded valley of the Tees. Upon the forfeiture of John Baliol, the first King of Scotland of that family, this fortress was seized by Edward I. It subsequently passed into the possession of the Beauchamps of Warwick, the Staffords of Buckingham, and ultimately of the Nevilles, Earls of Westmorland. On the occasion of the insurrection, in which the last representative of that family was engaged with the Earl of Northumberland, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, for the purpose of restoring the Roman Catholic faith, Barnard Castle was seized by Sir George Bowes, and held out for ten days against all the forces of the insurgents. (See Wordsworth's White Doe of Rylstone.) On the forfeiture of the Earl of Westmorland, Barnard Castle reverted to the Crown, and was sold or leased out to Car, Earl of Somerset, the guilty favourite of James I. It was afterwards granted to Sir Harry Vane the elder, and is now the property of his descendant, the Duke of Cleveland.* Barnard Castle is the scene of part of Sir Walter Scott's poem of Rokeby. The town of Barnard Castle has one of the largest corn-markets in the north of England. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in tanning, and in the manufacture of Scotch camlets and stockings. Pop. of chapelry, 4452. Two miles from the town is a chalybeate spring. Between two and three miles from Barnard Castle is Streatlam Castle, (John Bowes, Esq. M. P.), situated in a secluded but romantic vale encircled by lofty and irregular hills. The park displays some rich natural scenery. About five miles and a quarter from Barnard Castle is Staindrop, about a mile from which is RABY CASTLE, the fine old baronial mansion of the Duke of Cleveland. Raby Castle was the ancient seat of the Nevilles, formerly one of the most powerful families in the kingdom. Camden states, that from this house sprung six Earls of Westmorland, two Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, an Earl of Kent, a Marquis of Montacute, a Baron Ferrers of Oversley, Barons Latimer, Barons Abergavenny, one Queen, five Duchesses, besides Countesses and Baronesses, an Archbishop of York, and a great number of inferior gentlemen. The famous Earl of Warwick, the “ King-maker,” was of this house. The origin of the family of the Nevilles is to be found in Saxon times. Canute gave Staindropshire to the church of Durham, and the prior and convent granted the same district to Dolphin, son of Uchtred, and Raby soon became the seat of the honour. The grandson of Dolphin married Isabel, sister and heir of Henry de Nevil. From her mother Emma, daughter and heiress of Bertram Bulmer, this Isabel derived the castles and lordships of Sheriff Hutton and Brancepeth, and a whole train of estates and manors dependent on those two great fees. Out of gratitude for these large possessions, the family adopted henceforth the surname of Neville. Raby is said to have been built by John Lord Neville, son of Ralph Lord Neville, who was one of the leaders at the bat *See Appendix to Rokeby, Note A. HowITT's Visit to Remarkable Places, 2d Series, p, 231-261 |