AXFORD. AXMOUTH. on the 2nd of February, the 25th of March, the 1 1th of June, and the 28th of October. The par. contains only 510 acres, part of which is valuable ground recovered from the river. AXFOKD, a tythg. in the par. of Ramsbuiy, and nind. of the same name, in the oo. of Wilts, 3 miles to !iu E. of Marlborough. It lies on, the banks of the Ivor Kennet, not far from the borders of Berkshire. In a of Henry IV. the manor of Axford waa held >y the Lovels. AXHOLME, ISLE OF, a river island constituting lie western div. of the wap. of Manlcy, parts of Lindscy, n the co. uf Lincoln. It forms the north-western extrc- uity of the Co., and lies on the borders of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. It is bounded on the E. by the river 'mil, and was enclosed formerly by the rivers Don, i ud Idle. It contains the following seven pars. : 11 >e, Briton, Crowle, Epworth, Haxey, Ludding- >>n, and Owstun. Two of these, Crowle and Epworth, market towns. Haxoy, formerly called Axel, and ace the chief town, has given, name to the district. i<;t of country was in the earliest times covered l:!i lijrc.il, and subsequently (it is not known when) a m ir.-!i. After various attempts and failures, [ho f.isk of draining and reclaiming it was undertaken essfully accjmplished in the reign of Charles I., y a skilful and energetic Dutchman, named Cornelius . ' i-muyden, whose compensation was to have been
- io-third part of the lauds recovered. Many Dutch
uoh Protestants came over and established hi : use lyes in the neighbourhood, between whom and the < itives unhappy contentions soon arose, which grew into niinous lawsuits, and terminated after a long period by decree awarding to each party their own share of the The island is very fertile, and is divided into
- y small farms. It contains gypsum and beds of
cat. A castle formerly stood at Haxey, belonging to lie Mowbrays, which was demolished in 1174. Mil- t p ood Park was a seat of the same family, near which tf established a Carthusian monastery. This dis- ibout 18 miles in length from N. to S., and breadth from 3 to 5 miles. It comprises an area it 46.(IOU acn AXMIXSTER HUNDRED, one of the thirty-three inds. of the co. of Devon, southern div., bounded on 10 N. by Somersetshire, on the E. by Dorsetshire, on S. by the English Channel, and on the "W. by Hem- )ik and Colytou hunds. It contains the following Axminster, Axmouth, C'ombe-Pync, Combe-Ra- -igh, Honiton, Kilmington, Luppitt, Membnry, Mus- osdown, Thorncombe, Uplyme, Upottery, and .uvomlie. The hund. extends over an area of 51,930 AXJIIX^TER, a par. and market town in the hund. f Axminster, in the co. of Devon, 25 miles S. from ,'aunton railway station, 25 miles to the E. of Exeter, pid 147 miles from London. It is a station on the 'outh- Western lino to Exeter, and is situated on the ast side of the river Axe, in the eastern extremity i the county, and on the border of Dorsetshire, only i miles N.W. from the seaport town of Lyme Regis, Hinty. The par. includes the tythgs. of Beer- ... A shvater, "Wyke, and several others. The cele- nited battle of Brunanburgh, the Anglo-Saxon name If Axminster, is supposed to have been fought here in "", between King Athelstan and the Danish invaders horn he had expelled from Norlliumbria. In remem- i-.-ance oi that battle, the royal manor of Prestaller, in
- is parish, and the church of Axminster were given by
ie king to the church of York, and still remain the pro- ihe prebendal stalls of Grindal and Wartliill
- that cathedral. The manor of Axminster belonged in
e middle ages to the Abbey of Newenham, and is now lay hands. During the civil war, a battle was fought ar this town between the forces of the king and the irliament, in which Sir R. Cholmondeley fell. The 11 u i if Axminster is not incorporated, and the par. divided into ten tythgs., governed by ten surveyors, ur overseers, two churchwardens, and two paid con- stables, all nominated at vestry meetings annually. Previously to 1834, the streets in front of the church were very narrow and circuitous, but on the 24th of May in that year, being Trinity Sunday, a great fire occurred , which consumed twenty-four houses, on tho site of which Trinity Square has sinco been built, facing the church. Axminster obtained a name and distinction for itself by the manufacture of carpets which rivalled in their beauty and durability tho works of Eastern looms. The manufacture was introduced in 1755, but has long been discontinued, owing to the great cost of production and the limited demand for the carpets. Tho machinery was removed to Wilton in 1835, and tho factory, a modern building west of the church, converted into the county court house and a private residence. Owing to the diversion of the traffic by the construction of the Great Western and the Bris- tol and Exeter railways, the trade and prosperity of the town had much declined ; but it is likely again to re- vive, now that the South Western line to Exeter is com- pleted, on which it is a station. A small mill for the winding and tlirowing of silk has recently been erected. There are also three corn and grist mUls worked by water-power, and a malting-housc, but no breweries. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Exeter, val., with the perpet. curs, of Kilmington and Membuiy, 975, in the patron, of tho Conybeare family as lessees under the church of York. A church existed in this place as early as the 7th century ; but of this, and of the later fabric of Athelstan, there are no remains. Of the present church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, tho earliest part (except a Nonnan doorway) is the small but good chancel of very early decorated work, A.D. 1315 ; tho north aisle, of lato perpendicular work, was built about 1525 ; and a south aisle added about fifty years ago. Tho church contains a handsome carved pulpit of 1613, and a very beautiful altar window, recently erected in me- mory of the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, the late vicar. There arc chapels belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists and Independents, and a new and handsome one belonging to the Roman Catholics. Not far from the town are some slight remains of the Abbey of Newenham, which was founded in 1346 for monks of the Cistercian order. At the Dissolution its revenue was 231. Tho parochial charities amount to 64 per annum. Axminster is the seat of a comity court district and of a Poor-law Union. Petty sessions are held here once a fortnight. There have been no hundred or manor courts held, as formerly, for a quarter of a century, in consequence of the estates and manor being in chancery. Tho ancient churchyard of Axminster was closed in 1855, in pursuance of the Extra Metropolitan Burials Act, and a cemetery formed about half a mile from tho town, adjoining the Chard road. Dr. Buckland, tho geologist, was a native of this town. Tho market is held on Tuesday and Friday, and fairs on tho first Tuesday after the 25th of April, tho first Wednesday after the 24th of Juno and after tho 10th of October. AXMOUTH, a par. in the hund. of Axminster, in the co. of Devon, 6 miles to the S.W. of Axminster, its post town. It lies on the coast of the English Channel, at the mouth of the river Axe. It is chiefly a fishing village. A i "astguard station is established here. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Exeter, of the val. of 230, in the gift of J. H. Hallett, Esq. The church was considered a cell to the abbey of Mountborough, in Normandy, to which the manor of Axmouth was granted in the reign of Henry II. At Christmas, 1839, this village was the scene of an extraordinary and alarming landslip. A ch.-ism was formed nearly a mile and a half long, between 200 and 300 feet in depth, and from 400 to 600 feet in breadth. Loud noises, as of crushing or rending, some- times near sometimes more distant, accompanied tho convulsion, which lasted the whole day. The sea bottom was raised, and a new reef formed nearly 50 feet long. The chasm has a curving direction, convex towards the north, or landwards. The slip was probably occasioned by the mining effects of springs in the porous substratum of red sandstone, locally called " fox-mould."
