[B] BEERALSTON. This place once had the privilege of sending two members to parliament. It is chiefly inhabited by labourers employed in agriculture and mining. The borough was under the influence of the Earl of Beverley. The right of election was vested in those who had land in the borough, and paid three-pence acknowledgment to the Lord of the Manor, who varied the number of electors at his pleasure, by granting burgage-tenures, which were generally resigned when the election was concluded, to as many of his partisans as were requisite. The portreeve, chosen annually in the Lord's court, was the returning-officer. The first members were returned in the twenty-seventh of Elizabeth. Risdon mentions that Beare was bestowed by William the Conqueror on a family descended from the house of Alencon in France, and that it still continues its name under the corruption of Bere-Alson. In the reign of Henry II., Henry Ferrers had a castle here, which came to the possession of his descendant Martin Ferrers, the last of the house, in the time of Edward III. The manor then came to the Champernounes, and passed respectively through the families of Willoughby, Mountjoy, Maynard, and Stamford, to the present possessor, the Duke of Northumberland. In this place are several lead-mines, now of inconsiderable value, though sometimes impregnated with silver; but in the reign of Edward I., it is said, that in the space of three years 1,600 pounds weight of silver was obtained. Since that time no considerable quantity has ever been procured. [Sidenote: Electioneering abuses.] Map| Names of Places. |County. | Number of Miles from | +--+-----------------------+----------+-----------+-----------+ 34|Berecrocombe pa|Somerset |Ilminster 5|Taunton 7| 11|Bere Ferris[A] pa|Devon |Saltash 3|Plymouth 6| 12|Bere Hacket pa|Devon |Sherborne 4|Yeovil 4| 12|Bere Regis[B] m.t. & pa|Dorset |Wareham 7|Blandford 9| +--+-----------------------+----------+-----------+-----------+ |Dist.| Map|Names of Places. |Number of Miles from |Lond.|Population. +--+-----------------------+----------------------+-----+------+ 34|Berecrocombe pa|Somerton 12| 135| 182| 11|Bere Ferris[A] pa|Tavistock 8| 215| 1876| 12|Bere Hacket pa|Beaminster 12| 121| 110| 12|Bere Regis[B] m.t. & pa|Dorchester 12| 113| 1170| +--+-----------------------+----------------------+-----+------+