and synodals were 13s. 4d.; the value of the vicarage, 71, 6s. 8d.; and John Benskin, the chantry priest, had 31. 9s. a-year. In 1650, Syston was returned as an impropriation, the rectory worth 1201.; the vicar's stipend of money, 201.; and the incumbent "sufficient.”—About a mile south-west of this village is a Tumulus, on the eastern side of the Foss road.

SILEBY, a large and populous village, on the eastern bank of the Soar. The extent of the lordship from east to west is one mile and half, and from north to south two miles. It contains about 2139 acres. In 1759, an Act was passed for inclosing about 2200 acres of open fields belonging to this village; and William Pochin, Esq. was then described as impropriator and patron of the vicarage, and entitled to all the great and small tithes, and to the glebe and other land. The manor now belongs to Earl Ferrers, by whom it has been customary to call a court once in three years. There were formerly two ancient mansionhouses at Sileby, one belonging to the Sherard family, and the other to that of Pochin. Most of the inhabitants are employed in agriculture and frame-work-knitting. Here is a free school, and three other large schools; and in 1800, there were 234 houses and 1111 inhabitants.

The church is built of stone, and ornamented with much sculpture. It consists of a nave, ailes, chancel, porch, and tower. The latter is handsome, and has purfled pinnacles with ornamental buttresses, and the whole of the church is in a fine style of architecture. It was first appropriated to the Abbey of St. Ebrulph in Normandy, which was suppressed by King Henry the Fifth. In the subsequent reign, John Duke of Norfolk obtained a patent from the king to appropriate this church to St. Mary's Priory, in the isle of Axholme, in the county of Lincolu.

GARTRE HUNDRED is bounded by that of East Goscote to the north, that of Guthlaxton to the west, whilst the counties of Northampton

Northampton and Rutland attach to its southern and eastern borders. This hundred is regularly noticed in Domesday-book by the names of Gertrev and Geretrev. Nearly in the centre of it, is a place called Gartre-Bush, where, till the beginning of the last century, were held the county courts; since held at TurLangton. The great mail road from London to Leicester, Manchester, &c. now crosses this hundred, nearly in a line from south-east to north-west. The principal road was formerly more to the east, and is supposed to have been in the track of the Via Devann, a Roman road which enters this hundred, from Colchester, near the village of Bringhurst, and continues in a direct line to Ratæ or Leicester. Near Medbourn are the earthworks of an encampment; and between Cranoe and Glooston is a large Tumulus on the course of this road.

The townships in Gartre Hundred, with their ecclesiastical distinctions, are

Bagrave, a chapelry belonging originally to Keame, and afterwards to Hungarton, Billesdon, a vicarage; including Goadby and Roeleston, in each of which there is a

chapel.

Bradley, the site of an old priory.

Bringhurst, a vicarage; including the chapelries of Drayton and Great Easton; with Prestgrave.

Burrow, a rectory.

Bishop's Fee (Suburbs of Lei- Burton Overy, a rectory.

cester.)

Blaston, a small township with
two chapels; the one, a royal
donative, within the parish of
Medbourn; the other, a cha-
pelry to Hallaton.
Bosworth, Husbands, a rectory.
Bowden, Great, a perpetual
curacy; including the vicarage
of St. Mary in Arden, and
the chapelry of Market Har-
borough.

Carlton Curlew, a rectory; in-
cluding the chapelry of Il-
ston.

Cranhoe, a rectory.
Evington, a vicarage.
Foxton, a vicarage.
Galby, a rectory; including the
chapelry of Frisby.

Glen Magna, a vicarage; in-
cluding the chapelry of Great
Stretton.

Glewston,

E e

HARBOROUGH,

Or Market Harborough, is the chief town in this hundred, and is situated near the southern border of the county, where it joins Northamptonshire on the northern bank of the river Welland. It is a respectable well built-town, consisting of one principal street, two short streets, and four lanes. Within the last twenty years, Harborough has been very materially improved, and several new houses have been erected in the vicinage within that period. Many of these buildings are, however, included in the parishes of Great and Little Bowden, to the former of which the town is attached.

"The latitude of Harborough, deduced from many very accurate observations of the altitude of the sun's centre, made in the year 1737 by my late worthy father, Mr. Samuel Rouse, a draper in this town, is 52° 29′ north; its longitude is 55′′ or 3′ 40′′ of time, west of Greenwich. The accuracy of these observations have been confirmed by the satisfactory authority of the late Rev. William Ludlam, who took much pains nicely to ascertain the latitude of St. Martin's church in Leicester. The .latitudes and longitudes of places, when settled with accuracy, are valuable, as well to the practical astronomer as to the geographer; and those of Leicester and Market Harborough may be relied on* "

In the Testa de Nevill, this place is called both Herberburr Buggedon, and Haverberg, and by the latter name it is designated in most other ancient writings wherein it is mentioned. Haver, Johnson informs us, is a common word in the northern counties for oats. This may have given occasion to the tradition, that it owes its rise to the good oats which travellers used to find at an inn here (the King's Head), supposed to be at that time the only house in the place. To this tradition Moreton has given some authority by observing, that "Market Harborough and some

other

* Mr. Rowland Rouse, in a letter to the Royal Society, May 11, 1775.

other road towns that are now considerable, took their rise from only a single inn." Another account is, that this town was built by an earl of Chester, who resided in Leicester castle, for the convenience of a lodging-place for himself and his retinue, in his passage to and from London. But there is reason to believe that neither of these traditions have any foundation in truth; for it is certain, that Harborough has a strong claim to Roman antiquity. On the east side of the town are plain traces of an ancient Encampment, which, from its form, may be considered of Roman origin. At a short distance, both east and west, Roman urns and other pottery have been discovered; and even in the street, an ancient drain was lately found, a few feet below the surface, which appeared to be of Roman masonry. The most conspicuous remains of the encampment are in an old inclosure called The King's Head Close. The house, formerly the King's Head Inn, but now converted into private houses, stands opposite the southeast corner of Lord Harborough's new building. It is said to have been the ancient manor-house; and from its vicinity to this camp, probably was so: for wherever these camps are discovered, the manor-house is generally built in or very near them. This encampment was of a squarish form, and included about six acres of ground; but the banks and foss are nearly levelled with the adjacent lands. Near this spot was discovered, in the year 1779, two sepulchral urns, one of a large size, and the other smaller, These were formed of clay, very slightly baked. Two other smaller urns were afterwards found; and at subsequent times various fragments of other urns, with burnt bones, pieces of a pattera, &c. have been discovered; all which prove, that this spot was once a considerable cemetery.

It is rather a curious circumstance, that Harborough has no land or fields belonging to it; whence originated the local proverb, that "A goose will eat all the grass that grows in Harborough field." In ecclesiastical affairs, this town is dependant on the parish of Bowden Magna; and its chief religious structure is only a chapel of ease. This building, however, is large, handEe 2 some,