ciently belonged to the Barons of Torrington, the last of whom, Matthew de Toriton, left five daughters, among whom his estates were divided; and, by the respective marriages of the heiresses, passed into different families.

AXMINSTER,

CALLED Arminstre in the Domesday Book, and in old writings, Axmyster, was so denominated from the river Axe, which runs through it, and a Minster reported to have been erected by King Athelstan, for seven Priests, whom he appointed to pray for the souls of seven Earls, "slain at Calesdown in a battle which raged to Colecroft by Axminster." Previous to the Norman Invasion, the Manor belonged to the Crown. King John gave it to William Lord Briwere, from whom it descended to Lord Reginald de Mohun, who founded an Abbey of the Cistercian order at Newenham, and bestowed upon it the Hundred and Manor of Axminster. At the Dissolution, it came to the Norfolk family; but is now the property of Lord Petre, to whose ancestor, Sir William Petre, it was granted by James the First.†

Axminster is a large irregularly built town; the streets are in general open, but the houses are of various architecture, and not remarkable for elegance: their number, as returned under the late act, was 431: that of inhabitants, 2154. The laboring classes of the latter are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of carpets, leather breeches, gloves, &c. The Carpet manufactory was esta blished here about the year 1755, and is now in a very flourishing state; the number of hands employed being upwards of one hundred. The process of weaving differs materially from that pursued in most other places. The carpets are woven in one entire piece, several hands being employed in conjunction at the same loom, working the patterns with needles. The Turkey and Persian carpets are here imitated with great success; but the usual patterns are flowers, roses, &c. and it is not unusual, in many large pieces, to copy Reman tesselated pavements, which have an uncommon richness and variety. One loom measures in breadth no

Pole's Collections, p. 115.

+ Chapple's MSS.

less

less than twenty-seven feet, and the piece woven in it may tended to any length.

be ex

The Church is a large, venerable building, dedicated to St. Mary it exhibits specimens of several kinds of architecture; but it seems doubtful if any part is so ancient as the time of its reputed founder. The interior has a heavy, cumbrous appearance, particularly where the bulky tower, rising awkwardly in the middle of the structure, intercepts the view, and gives a disagreeable heaviness to the whole. This Church is said by Leland to have been "famose by the sepultures of many noble Danes slain in King Æthelstane's time, at a batel on Branesdowne thirby, and by the sepultures likewise of sum Saxon Lordes slain in same feld." Some few parts of the building have the appearance of great antiquity, particularly a Saxon door-way, that has been removed. from the south side to the eastern end of the aisle. The windows of the School-House, close by the Church, are also rounded in the Saxon style. In this town is a Roman Catholic Chapel, a Meeting-House for Independents, and another for Methodists.

The most eastern part of this county is the parish of Thorncombe, (a tract of land surrounded by Dorsetshire,) within whose boundaries is FORD ABBEY,* the seat of John Francis Gwynn, Esq. This is a large pile of building, consisting partly of the old Abbey walls, with various heterogeneous additions. Parts of the ancient building bear evident marks of elegant architecture, and particularly the remnant of the cloister. This beautiful fragment consists of eight windows facing the south, with light buttresses between them, and joins a round Chapel on the east; and on the western side connects with the great hall, or refectory. This is a noble room, fifty-five feet by twenty-eight, lighted with four large windows on one side, charged with mullions and tracery: five similar windows on the opposite side are blocked up. The south

front

In the Print is represented part of the Chapel to the right. The modern additions project from the centre, and are connected to a fine square tower entrance. This unites with the great Hall, which is joined to other modern apartments. The water in the fore-ground is part of one of the Abbey fishponds.

front opens to a raised terrace, and presents a long range of building, in which is combined a strange and incongruous mixture of English and Grecian architecture. The first is displayed by the cloisters and hall; whilst the latter is seen in a projecting colonnade, and some apartments that have been added to the centre. These additions are said to have been made by Inigo Jones, and the style of architecture seems to justify the opinion; but whether adopted by a professional architect, or recommended by a tasteless proprietor, it is sufficient that they exist a singular example of perverted taste. "The ruin," observes Mr. Gilpin, "is patched up into an awkward dwelling; old parts and new are blended together, to the mutual disgrace of both. The elegant cloister is still left, but it is completely repaired, white-washed, and converted into a green-house. The hall, too, is modernized, and every other part; sash windows glare over pointed arches, and Gothic walls are adorned with Indian paper." The original Abbey was founded by Adelign, daughter of Baldwin de Brioniis, in 1140, for Monks of the Cistercian order. The revenues were valued, at the Dissolution, at 3811. 10s. 84d. and the house, with its demesnes, was given by Henry the Eighth to Sir Richard Pollard. It came into the Gwynn family by the marriage of Margaret Francis in 1690, with Francis Gwynn, Esq. of Lansanor, in Glamorganshire. In the Chapel are some monuments of the Prideauxs', and the arms of several families who have successively possessed the Abbey. Some of the wainscotting and pannels are the same as cased the ancient walls. In the saloon are several pieces of tapestry wretchedly copied from Raphael's much admired cartoons.