Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of BritaineHolinshed, Raphael
History
Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of Britaine
Holinshed, Raphael
Great Britain -- History -- To 1485; Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603
a rill of no great fame, neither long course, for rising about Coringham,
it runneth not manie miles east and by south, yer it fall into the mouth
of this riuer, which I doo now describe.
I would haue spoken of one créeke that commeth in at Cliffe, and another
that runneth downe from Haltsto by S. Maries: but sith I vnderstand not
with what backewaters they be serued, I let them passe as not skilfull
of their courses. And thus much of the riuers that fall into the Thames,
wherein I haue doone what I maie, but not what I would for mine owne
satisfaction, till I came from the head to Lechlade, vnto which, as in
lieu of a farewell, I will ascribe that distichon which Apollonius
Rhodius writeth of the Thermodon:
Huic non est aliud flumen par, nec tot in agros
Vllum dimittit riuos quot fundit vtrinque.
[Sidenote: Midwaie.]
Next vnto the Thames we haue the Midwaie water, whereof I find two
descriptions, the first beginneth thus. The Midwaie water is called in
Latine Medeuia (as some write) bicause the course therof is midwaie in a
manner betwéene London and Dorobernia, or (as we now call it)
Canturburie. In British it hight Dourbrée: and thereof Rochester was
sometime called Durobreuum. But in an old charter which I haue seene
(conteining a donation sometime made to the monasterie of saint Andrews
there by Ceadwalla) I find that the Saxons called this riuer Wedring;
and also a towne standing betweene Malling and east Farleie, Wedrington;
and finallie, a forrest also of the same denomination, Wedrington, now
Waterdon, wherby the originall name appeareth to be fetched from this
streame. It ariseth in Waterdon forrest east of Whetlin or Wedring, and
ioineth with another brooke that descendeth from Ward forrest in Sussex:
and after this confluence they go on togither, as one by Ashhirst, where
hauing receiued also the second brooke, it hasteth to Pensherst, and
there carrieth withall the Eden, that commeth from Lingfield parke.
After this it goeth to the southeast part of Kent, and taketh with it
[Sidenote: Frethus.]
the Frith or Firth, on the northwest side, and an other little streame
that commeth from the hilles betwéene Peuenburie and Horsemon on the
southeast. From thence also, and not farre from Yalling it receiueth the
[Sidenote: Theise.]
Theise (a pretie streame that ariseth about Theise Hirst) & afterward
[Sidenote: Grane aliàs Cranus.]
the Gran or Crane, which hauing his head not farre from Cranbrooke, and
méeting with sundrie other riuelets by the waie, whereof one branch of
Theise is the last, for it parteth at the Twist, and including a pretie
Iland, doth ioine with the said Midwaie, a little aboue Yalding, and
then with the Lowse. Finallie at Maidstone it méeteth with another
brooke, whose name I know not, and then passeth by Allington, Duton,
Newhide, Halling, Cuckestane, Rochester, Chattham, Gillingham, Vpchurch,
Kingsferrie, and falleth into the maine sea betwéene Shepeie and the
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