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Ivy Cottage, (Ball, Esq.,) Allan Bank, (Thomas Dawson, Esq.,) The Cottage, (Orrell, Esq.,)

ULVERSTON.

ULVERSTON, a market town and port, containing about 5000 inhabitants, situate in that division of Lancashire, termed "North of the Sands," is supposed to derive its name from Ulph, a Saxon Lord. It is about a mile from the estuary of the Leven, with which it is connected by a canal, constructed in 1795, and capable of floating vessels of 200 tons. This canal has been of signal advantage to the town, as large quantities of slate and iron ore, with which the neighbourhood abounds, are hereby exported. The appearance of the town is neat, the greater part of the houses being of modern erection. The principal streets are four in number. The parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, received considerable additions in 1804; but a tower and Norman doorway of the old structure still remain. It contains an altar-piece after Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a window of stained glass, representing compositions after Rubens, both of which were given by T. R. G. Braddyll, Esq., the Lay Rector. From the sloping ground behind the church, a delightful view of the bay and neighbouring country may be obtained. new and elegant church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was erected at the upper end of the town in 1832, by public subscription, aided by a grant from the Parliamentary Commissioners. Amongst other

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buildings of recent erection, The Savings' Bank may be noticed. The town contains a Theatre, Assembly Room, and Subscription Library, and two good Inns, -the Sun and Braddyll's Arms. Ship-building is carried on to some extent; and the manufacture of check, canvass, and hats, is a considerable branch of trade.

The Duke of Buccleuch is Lord of the liberty of Furness, of which the Manor of Ulverston forms part.*

CONISHEAD PRIORY, the seat of T. R. G. Braddyll, Esq., has been termed, from its beautiful situation, "the Paradise of Furness." It is situate two miles south of Ulverston, near the sea shore, in an exten

* At Swart-moor, one mile to the south-west of Ulverston, the Friends or Quakers have a meeting-house, built under the direction of the venerable George Fox, being the first place of religious worship erected for the use of that community. Over the door are the initials of the founder, "Ex dono G. F. 1688." Swart-moor Hall was once the residence of Judge Fell, whose wife, and many of the family, in the year 1652, adopted the principles of the Quakers. In 1669, eleven years after the death of the judge, his widow married George Fox, whom she survived about eleven years. "In approaching Swart-moor Hall," says a recent tourist, "I crossed a narrow dell, shaded by a grove of fine beech trees, and watered by a murmuring brook. The old hall is overshaded by two sycamores of large growth; but its dilapidated condition, the barns and stables by which it is surrounded, and the litter of a farm-yard, give it no very classical air. I was taken into the study of George Fox, where he reposed and meditated in the intervals of those laborious missions which he undertook to persuade men to make the gospel, in all its simplicity, the standard of their conduct, in opposition to human customs and inventions. The bed-rooms are spacious apartments, and have in former days been ornamented with carved work, (which George doubtless found there when he succeeded to the wife and mansion of Judge Fell.) In one of them is a substantial old bedstead with carved posts, on which, as I was assured, the proto-quaker used to repose, and which any of his followers is permitted to occupy for a night." Swart-moor Hall stands on the borders of Swart or Swarth Moor, (now enclosed,) on which Colonel Martin Swart mustered the forces of Lambert Simnel in 1436. It is now converted into a farm-house.

BAINES' Companion to the Lakes, p. 239.

sive and well wooded park, which is intersected like most old parks, with public roads, forming a favourite promenade for the inhabitants of the town. The mansion, which has lately been rebuilt in a style of magnificence of which there are few examples in the north of England, occupies the site of the ancient Priory, founded by William de Lancaster, the fourth in descent from Ivo de Taillebois, first Baron of Kendal, in the reign of Henry II. Upon the dissolution of the religious houses, it fell into the hands of Henry the VIII., whose cupidity was excited by the great extent of its landed possessions. The family of Braddyll is of great antiquity and respectability. In a note to the "Bridal of Triermain," Sir Walter Scott informs us that the ancient families of Vaux of Triermain, Caterlen, and Torcrossock, and their collateral alliances, the ancient and noble families of Delamore and Leybourne, are now represented by the Braddylls. The interior of the mansion possesses some good paintings of Titian, the Carracci, Romney, Reynolds, and other celebrated painters. HOLKER HALL, a seat of the Earl of Burlington, is placed in a noble park on the oppcsite shore of the Leven, about three and a half miles east of Ulverston. Extensive improvements have been lately making on both the mansion and grounds. The noble owner has a good collection of pictures, among which are many excellent paintings by Romney.*

* This distinguished painter, a contemporary and rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was born at Dalton in Furness. He was, according to Flaxman, the first of our painters in poetic dignity of conception. Many of his

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Six miles north-east of Ulverston is the village of Cartmell, in which is an ancient church, once a priory, of unusual size and beauty, dedicated to the Virgin. A short distance from the village is a medicinal spring called Holywell. Six miles and a half to the south-west of Ulverston, in a close valley called Beckansgill, or the glen of deadly nightshade, from that plant being found there in great abundance, are the beautiful remains of FURNESS ABBEY, now belonging to the Earl of Burlington. This abbey was founded in 1127, by Stephen, Earl of Montaigne and Boulogne, afterwards King of England; "This prince conferred the greater part of the district, excepting the land of Michael Fleming, on the Abbey of Furness, by a charter dated 1126, in which, for the first time, the name Furness Fudernesia' or the further ness, is found. By this institution it was held till the dissolution, when it reverted to the crown, and became parcel of the duchy of Lancaster. In the year 1662, it was granted by Charles II. to the Duke of Albemarle, and his heirs, with all the rights, privileges, and jurisdictions belonging thereto. The lordship is now held by the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Beaulieu, to whom the property of the Duke of Albemarle descended by marriage. In the early part of English history, the Falls of Furness formed the boundary between Scotland and England, and in 1138, a terrible irruption from the north laid the whole peninsula desolate. The ruins of the

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finest pictures are scattered over this part of the country. There is a very fine collection at Whitestock Hall, the residence of his daughter-in-law, near Hawkshead.

castle of Pile of Fouldrey, form a monument of that invasion."*

The ruins amply attest the former magnificence of the structure. The length of the church is 287 feet, the nave is 70 feet broad, and the walls in some places 54 feet high, and 5 feet thick. The walls of the church, and those of the chapter-house, the refectorium; and the school-house, are still in great part remaining, and exhibit fine specimens of Gothic architecture; the chapter-house, 60 feet by 45, has been a sumptuous apartment; the roof, which was of fret-work, was supported by six channelled pillars. The great east window, the four seats near it, adorned with Gothic ornaments, and four statues found in the ruins, are particularly worthy of notice.t

"The windings of the glen," says Mrs. Radcliffe, "conceal these venerable ruins, till they are closely approached-and the by-road that conducted us is margined with a few ancient oaks, which stretch their broad branches entirely across it, and are fine preparatory objects to the scene beyond. A sudden bend in this road brought us within view of the northern gate of the abbey, a beautiful Gothic arch, one side of which is luxuriantly festooned with night

*BAINES' Hist. of Lancashire, vol. iv., p. 627.
"I do love these ancient ruins,-

We never tread upon them, but we set
Our foot upon some reverend history;
And questionless here in this open court,
Which now lies naked to the injuries

Of stormy weather, some lie interr'd,

Loved the church so well, and gave so largely to 't,
They thought it should have canopy'd their bones
Till doomsday-but all things have their end."

WEBSTER the Dramatist.

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