march at least to take some hours' rest; the Earl of Derby told his Majesty, that in his flight from Wigan to Worcester, he had met with a perfect honest man, and a great convenience of concealment at Boscobel-house, but withal acquainted the king, it was a recusant's house; and it was suggested, that those people (being accustomed to persecution and searches,) were most likely to have the readiest means and safest contrivances to preserve him; his Majesty therefore inclined to go thither.

The Lord Talbot being made acquainted therewith, and finding Walker dubious of the way, called for Mr. Charles Giffard (a faithful subject, and of the ancient family of Chillington) to be his Majesty's conductor, which office Mr. Giffard willingly undertook, having one Yates, a servant, with him, very expert in the ways of that country; and being come near Sturbridge, it was under consideration, whether his Majesty should march through that town or no, and resolved in the affirmative, and that all about his person should speak French, to prevent any discovery of his Majesty's presence. Mean while General Lesley, with the Scottish horse, had in the close of the evening taken the more direct way northward, by Newport, his Majesty being left, only attended by the Duke of Buckingham, Earls of Derby, and Lauderdale, and others, to the number of sixty.

At a house about a mile beyond Sturbridge, his Majesty drank, and eat a crust of bread, the house affording no better provision; from whence he went to White Ladies, and afterwards to Boscobel, as has been more particularly narrated in a preceding

county.

After the battle it appears, that Charles had other shelter than Boscobel, for in a MS. in Ayscough's Catalogue at the British Museum, No. 856, p. 85. there is a grant of augmentation of arms, stating, "whereas our trusty, &c. Francis Woolf, of Madely, in the county of Salop, gent. after the unfortunate battle of Worcester, when wee were enforced for the safety of our person, being pursued by barbarous and bloody rebels, to rely upon the faith and integrity of our loyal subjects, did not only give us entertainment in his own bouse, but contributed by his advice, or otherwise, to our further preservation," &c.

There

county. Dr. Nash, who had the best opportunity of knowing many minutiæ of this business, says, that as soon as Charles entered the city, a cry was made "to remount the king;" when Mr. William Bagnal, a loyal gentleman, who then lived in Sidbury, turned out his horse ready saddled, upon which his Majesty fled through St. Martin's gate. This anecdote, he says, is copied from Dr. Thomas's papers, whose daughter was married to a son of Mr. Bagnal. He adds, from the same authority, that people who remembered it, asserted that the slaughter was great, and that the streets ran with blood. The heat of the battle lay to the east of the city, and the principal slaughter was between Perrywood and the commandery.*

Notwithstanding the marked loyalty of Worcester, yet its inhabitants have always shewn a strong constitutional sense of liberty; and it is worth recording, that when James II. in one of his visits here, went to a Roman Catholic chapel, to the door of which he was attended by the mayor and corporation, his Majesty asked if they would not go in with him; but the mayor (Thomas Shewring, Esq.) made this apposite answer, "I think we have attended your Majesty far enough already."! Few of the events, subsequent to this, are particularly deserving of notice, with the exception of the Royal visit in 1788; this, however, in its details can only be matter of local interest, and we, therefore, refer to the various "Guides" which have preserved copious accounts of all the proceedings; and also of a later visit of his

Royal

* There is an anecdote deserving of notice, of Dr. Thomas Nettleton, of Halifax, in Yorkshire, who being on the 30th of January in company with several gentlemen, one of them was laying great stress upon Echard's ridiculous story of Cromwell's having sold himself to the Devil, just before the battle, but that the wary Oliver for once was tricked, for while he intended to bargain for 21 years of success, the Devil, by transposing the figures, had reduced them to 12. "Now Dr." said the narrator," what do you think could be the Devil's motive for this?" The doctor, who was, notwithstanding a loyal man, answered with a degree of wit, which by some might be said to approach near to the truth, "I suppose he was in a hurry for the Restoration!"

Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, whilst on a visit at Ombersley.

In these various visits, the affability and benevolence of the different members of that august family could not fail to make a due impression on the good people of Worcester; and they have left lasting memorials of their kindness in their charitable benefactions, and in their patronage to the manufactures of this city. We shall now close this sketch of the city with noticing a recent calamity when a hail and thunder-storm took place, about half past four, on the evening of the 27th of May, 1811. Several pieces of ice were five or six inches in length. The House of Industry had 500 panes of glass broken; Flight and Barr's manufactory, 1200; the eastern painted window of the cathedral was completely destroyed; and much and very material damage done to the industrious working gardeners, and others.

Before we proceed to the delineation of the environs, it is necessary to take notice of

ST. JOHN'S Bedwardine,

which, although on the western side of the Severn, may be said almost to constitute a part of Worcester, having obtained its name of "Bedwardine," from being allotted to supply the table of the monks of the cathedral with bread and provisions; and though not immediately within the jurisdiction of the city, yet so closely connected, that on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the mayor and aldermen, &c. walk as a corporate body through it, attended by the sword-bearer, &c. that, being the day of the annual fair, by virtue of an old custom as early as the reign of Edward IV. Though so near to the city, it has all the conveniences of the most rural country village, being situated on a rising ground, with a good air and fine views; and its open airy street, of which it principally consists, has many good houses, which, together with a few others in its immediate vicinity, form very pleasing country retreats for the inhabitants of Worcester. On the banks of the river are many warehouses, &c. connected with the navigation; and its south-western extremity is called the township of VOL. XV.

L

Wyck,

Wyck, bordering on that creek, which the river Teme forms at its confluence with the Severn. In the time of Leland, that part on the western side, which is in St. Clement's parish, was considered as a suburb to the city; for he says, "there is a fayre suburbe beyond the bridge on Severn, and the inhabitants thereof much resort to St. Clementes Church ad pontem;" the village itself, however, has a vicarage church, which is in the gift of the dean and chapter, but contains no monuments of any notice, and though a pleasing specimen of the rural Gothic, is extremely uncouth and irregular in its interior arrangements. It possesses, however, a good set of six bells. It is worthy of remembrance, that Reginald Bray, who rose to the distinguished station of Lord Treasurer, under Henry VII. was a native of this village; he seems to have owed his rise, partly to his skill in architecture, and partly to his eminent services in the cause of that monarch, in his exertions to dethrone an usurping tyrant, and it is even said, that the union which took place between the heirs of the two roses, was in a great measure owing to his politic advice, and active exertions. King's College Chapel, Cambridge, the ehurch at Malvern, and many other places, owe much to his architectural skill.

We now commence with the

ENVIRONS OF WORCESTER,

and proceeding to the north, enter the parish of

CLAINES, which was not a separate parish originally, but merely a chapelry belonging to St. Helen's church within the walls, from which it was taken about 1218. It now reaches into the Foregate Street, although its church is nearly two miles distant, situated between the Kidderminster and Droitwich roads, among very fertile meadows, and surrounded by lofty groves; this contains a few monuments, but has nothing else worth notice. That part which borders on the city contains White Ladies, the seat of the late R. Ingram, Esq. and which formerly was the nunnery of Whitestone, a priory of seven or eight

*

Tanner's Monasticon.

white nuns, valued at 531. 3s. 7d. at the dissolution, and granted to Richard Callowhill. The house itself is of more modern date, and forms a handsome rural residence, though almost within the bounds of the city. When Charles II. retired here, after the unfortunate battle, he left his gloves and garters, which long remained in possession of the Cookseys, who then lived there; and, in the early part of the last century, the chapel of the nunnery was still standing, and had some painted saints at one end. In this parish is also the island of

BEVERE, or BEVERYE, formed by the Beverburn, a stream that flows through Claines parish, now called Barbon. This is supposed to have signified Beaver brook, as those animals were once natives of this country. This island is remarkable for having twice proved an asylum to the citizens of Worcester; in the time of Hardicanute in 1041, as already related; and in 1637, during the time of a dreadful pestilence, mentioned in our historical sketch. Dr. Nash records, that at that awful period the country people were so terrified as to desert the city markets, so that the few remaining inhabitants must have starved, had it not been for the gratuitous and charitable care of the gentry in the vicinity, who sent them bread and other provisions. In this delightful hamlet is the Seat of the late Dr. Nash, now on sale, or lately disposed of; the house is commodious and comfortable, and nothing can be pleasanter, so near to a large city, than the shrubbery walks and terrace, which are a mile in circuit, so judiciously are they managed, possessing the most varied and charming prospects of the Malvern and Abberly hills, and of an extent of landscape rich in wood, water, and picturesque scenery. This venerable clergyman has left charitable donations to the poor of Strensham, Kempsey, St. Peter's Worcester, Claines his parish residence, and St. Peter's Droitwich, where his ancestors had property. The hamlet itself is considered as highly salubrious, and is resorted to by the Worcestrians both for health and pleasure, and for cold bathing.