Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great BritainStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
A mile off is Geddington, where in a _trivium_ stands one of the stone
crosses[31] built by king Edward I. in memory of his queen Eleanor,
who died at Hareby near Bolingbroke, in Lincolnshire, 1291. It is
formed upon a triangular model, of pretty Gothic architecture to suit
its station. Her bowels were buried by the high altar in the Lady’s
chapel of Lincoln minster; and in her journey thence to Westminster,
where ever her herse rested, the king erected one of these magnificent
crosses, as a monument of his great love: upon them are the arms of
England, Castile, Leon and Poictou. These are the places, as far as I
am at present informed, Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford,[32] Geddington,
Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St. Alban’s, Waltham,
Cheapside over against Wood-street, Charing-cross. Near this place is
Boughton, having a petrifying spring, which forms itself a canal of
stone as it runs, consolidating the twigs, moss, and all adventitious
bodies. We saw near the road a spring-head, with a statue of Moses in
the middle of the water, belonging to Boughton house.
[Illustration: 12 _The West View of_ Waltham Cross _11 Jul. 1721._
_Petro Le Neve Ar. Norroy. tab. d.d. Wˢ. Stukeley_
_Stukeley delin._ _J. Harris Sculp._]
[Sidenote: +Eltabona+]
Through Kettering we went to Northampton, the most elegant town
in England: which, being wholly burnt down, is rebuilt with great
regularity and beauty. There is a spacious square market-place, a fine
assize-house of Corinthian architecture. Allhallow’s church is built
after a pretty model, with a cupola and a noble portico before it of
eight lofty Ionic columns: upon the balustrade a statue of king Charles
II. There is an inscription of John Bailes, aged above 126: his sight,
hearing and memory, intire; buried 1706. One of the old churches, St.
Sepulchre’s, seems to have belonged to the Knights Hospitalers of St.
John of Jerusalem, of a circular form: there has been another tacked to
it of later date, with a choir and steeple, as to that at Cambridge of
the same name and figure: another such I am told is at Guildford, which
are all of this sort that I know of in England. I suspect these are
the most ancient churches in England, and probably built in the later
times of the Romans for Christian service, at least in the early Saxon
reigns. Westward are the ruins of the castle, by the river side, built
by Simon Silvanect I. earl of Northampton, who founded here likewise
St. Andrew’s abbey: his son Simon Silvanect II. earl of Northampton
and Huntingdon, founded St. Mary de Près abbey here about 1150. This
probably is a Roman town arising from one of the forts built upon
this river, as that great people proceeded northward in the conquest
of the island; and being mentioned by Ravennas between Leicester and
Stoney Stratford, it is very likely the Eltabona there, meaning _ael_,
_supercilium_, and Avon, the river. Roman coins have been found on
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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