Holinshed Chronicles: England, Scotland, and Ireland. Volume 1, CompleteHolinshed, Raphael
History
Holinshed Chronicles: England, Scotland, and Ireland. Volume 1, Complete
Holinshed, Raphael
Great Britain -- History -- To 1485; Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603
Iles, 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
[Sidenote: Frethus.]
southeast part of Kent, and taketh with it 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
[Sidenote: Theise.]
also, and not farre from Yalling it receiueth the Theise (a pretie
[Sidenote: Grane aliàs Cranus.]
streame that ariseth about Theise Hirst) & afterward 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
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