England Delineated; or, a Geographical description of every county in England and Wales; with a concise account of its most important products, natural and artificial. For the use of young persons

Front matter

ENGLAND DELINEATED; OR, i GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF EVERY COUNTY IN ENGLAND and WALES: WITH A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF ITS MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCTS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL. FOR THE USE OF YOUNG PERSONS. With Outline Maps of all the Counties. FOURTH EDITION, CONSIDERABLY IMPROVED, Such n^blc warlike steeds, such herds of kine, So sleek, so vast ; such spacious flocks of sheep, What other paradise adorn but thine, Britannia ?------ - To these thy naval streams, Thy frequent towns superb of busy trade, And ports magnific add, and .stately ships Innumerous. Dyer's Fleece, LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST, PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, .BY T. BENSLEY, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET. 1800.

Preface

IT is the principal object of this work to make my young countrymen better ac quainted than they are usually found to be with their native land. The utility of such a. desgn will not be questioned. The rea sons which induced me to think the present attempt particularly seasonable, and the man ner in which I have endeavoured to fulfil my purpose, shall be briefly displayed. Tours through England, and accounts of English Geography, in v.arious forms, are publications sufficiently common and numerous ; and new editions, with alledged improvements, are successively appearing as they are called for ; but it will be no breach of critical candour to assert, that they are, for the most part, works of a very low order in literature, abounding with gross faults both of plan and execution. Tedious de- A 2 scriptions

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. scriptions of objects, either absolutely tri vial in themselves, or interesting only to readers of a particular turn ; relations be come totally erroneous through length of time, and transmitted, unchanged, from one successive compilation to another; weak and illiberal partialities, local and national, with inelegancies and vulgarisms of every kind ; — these are defects from which none of them that I have seen can be called tolerably free; and wh;ch certainly render them little proper to be put into the hands of youth, and indeed much lefi^ (heir value to readers of all ages. Yet, as books of reference, some of them will continue to be useful, till a work shall be executed which I consider as one of the greatest of literary desiderata — an accurate and comprehensive account of the present state of these kingdoms, under the several heads of natural and political history, agriculture, and? commerce. The adequate execution of such a design would demand the long-continued labours, not of one man only,

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. V only, but of several persons associated, who should be perfectly qualified sor the different departments ; and it can never be executed without a liberal public encouragement. The present performance scarcely pretends to be an imperfect outline of such a plan. The leading idea pursued in it was, to sketch out such a general view of each county, with respect to its geography, products natural and artificial, commerce, towns, and other principal objects, as might impress the mind a distinct notion of its discriminating character and relative consequence. In doing this, the greatest difficulty, next to that of collecting proper materials, was to keep a due medium between the meagre uninteresting manner of a catalogue, and such a minuteness of detail as would have amplified the work beyond its proposed limits, and would, if not equally diffused through the several parts, have rendered the whole disproportionate. How far this point has been attained, the reader must determine; A 3 but VI

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. but few can form an adequate judgment of the difficulty of such a task, without actual experience in attempting it. The geographical descriptions were pur posely made somewhat diffuse, that they might serve as exercises in that very useful branch of study; and therefore ought to be read with a good map in hand. The state of cultivation, trade, and manu factures, in this kingdom, has undergone so many changes, even within a short period, that it was not possible to derive from books alone such information as might be depended upon. Therefore, besides consulting some of the most modern tours through particular districts, and histories of particular towns and counties, I thought it necesiary to apply for written information to persons residing in various parts of the country; and, in consequence, I have been favoured with a number of communications, especially relative to the several branches of commerce and ma- 9 nu fact ure,

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. VII nufacture, from the most respectable authori ties, which, I flatter myself, have enabled me to give more authentic, though concise, ac counts of a variety of important objects, than have hitherto appeared in print. I cannot, however, but lament that my opportunities for obtaining this best kind of information have not been every where alike. Antiquities I have almost entirely passed over. The necessary details on this subject could not possibly be brought within the pre scribed limits of this work; and the publica tions already extant have given much more copious and genuine information on this head than on the present circumstances of things. For reasons somewhat similar, I have scarcely given any notices concerning family history, noblemen's and gentlemen's feats, pleasure grounds, profpecls, and the like.

Wherever a proper occasion offered, I have been desirous of introducing historical A 4 matter P R E FACE. matter of importance, as connected with some particular place; in cder that, by such an association, the events might be forcibly impressed upon the memory of a young reader. I have, however, taken such facts rather from the later than the earlier periods of our history, as being better authenticated, and of greater consequence to us at present.' It remains for me to return my best thanks o those correspondents who have favoured me with assistance in collecting materials for this work. Were I to name them all, the list might appear rather a display of osten tation than of gratitude ; nor can I suppose that they would all choose to appear in public as contributors to so humble a performance.

I ihal! therefore request of them to accept my general acknowledgments. Two names of benefactors I must, however, beg leave to particularize — One is that" of Rc-bekt Bransby Cooper, Esq. residing at Dursiey, to whose elegant pen I am indebted for the account, almost entirely as it is printed, of the

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. the county os Gloucester — the other is that of Thomas Pennant, Esq. a gentleman, who, by his assiduous labours, has contri buted more than any other person, since the great Ray, to elucidate the zoological part of the natural history of this country; and has, besides, in his various tours, made us acquainted with a great number of curious and interesting particulars of the ancient and modern state of a large part of the kingdom; and, while he has conveyed useful informa tion to his readers, has, at the fame time, laboured to eradicate all mean and unge-r nerous prejudices and partialities. I have not only borrowed freely from his printed works, but have obtained from his friendship the liberal use of several papers which he had collected respecting the state of the southern coast of this isiand. JOHN, AIKIN. Great Yarmouth, Sept. i, 1788. { x )

ADVERTISEMENT.

TO THE FOURTH EDITION. The printed reports of that most useful institution the Board of Agriculture, have afforded the author an opportunity of cor recting and enlarging his description of the general appearance, soil, and products, of most of the counties, of which, on this re publication, he thought he could not, with out injustice to his work, refuse to avail himself. J. A. London, Sept. 20, 1799. )