Esq. of Kyngeton in Suffolk. The sides of this monument arg ornamented with six male and female figures, the former begirt with swords. At a small distance from this tomb is another of alabaster, having the figures of two persons engraven upon it, but so mutilated by time that the inscription is wholly illegible. The chancel floor contains a brass plate in honour of Thomas Newport, steward of the household to Walter, first earl of Essex; upon which appears the following inscription: In obitum Thomae Newport Armigeri Dui charus Charis faerat qui firmus amicis ; Duem Deus et Coelum, quem pia vota habent. Hanc lapidem posuit Riens Bagot Ar Sup. fidele Amicue, fecit Thoma Newport Ar. quondam Lenesetratus hospitii prenobilis Malteri Eomitis Essex, et Prenobilis Robti Comitis Esser qui oblit 30 die Junii 1587." Adjoining to this parish is Chartley, remarkable as having been for some time the residence of Mary queen of Scots, during her unjust detention as a prisoner, by the haughty and jealous Elizabeth. The ancient edifice was built round a court, and great part of it is curiously made of wood, embattled at top, and the sides carved. In many places are the arms of the Devereux, together with devices of the Ferrars and Garnishes. Over the door of the gateway was carved a head in profile, with a crown over it. Several of the windows contained painted glass, with various representations. The whole of this house was destroyed by fire in 1781, so that little remains to mark its site, but the moat by which it was surrounded. Not far from hence, on the summit of an artificial hill, stand the remains of the castle built by Richard Blundeville, earl of Chester Chester, in 1220, on his return from the Holy Land.* This fortress seems to have been very soon allowed to fall to decay, for we find it mentioned by Leland as being ruinous in his time. Its present remains consist chiefly of the fragments of two rounders, and a part of a wall which measures twelve feet in thickness. The loop holes are so constructed as to allow arrows to be shot into the ditch, exactly under the tower or in a horizontal direction. The keep appears to have been circular, and fifty feet in diameter, a wall of brick having been raised on its foundations, and a summer house erected thereon, which has suffered considerably by time. After the death of Randle the founder, this castle, with the estates belonging to him, devolved on William Ferrars earl of Derby; whose son Robert, having entered into the factious views of the Barons in the reign of king John, was defeated at Chesterfield in the year 1266; and consequently forfeited his estates to the crown. Henry the third shortly afterwards bestowed them upon Hamon le Strange; but, notwithstanding this, Robert possessed himself of it by force, and the king was compelled to command his brother Edmund earl of Lancaster, to besiege it, which he did, and took it after a very vigorous resistance. Ferrars, however, was pardoned; and, though deprived of his earldom of Derby, was suffered to retain this castle. In this family it continued, till the reign of Henry the sixth, when Anne or Agnes, heiress of William lord Ferrars, carried it by marriage to the Devereuxes, earls of Essex. Robert Devereux the last Earl, dying without issue, Charles II. declared Sir Robert Shirley, (who had married that Nobleman's 0003 sister To defray the expenses of building this edifice, a tax was levied on all his vassals. + Leland's words are, "Chartley the olde castell, is now yn ruine; but olde yerle Randol, as sum say, lay in it when he builded Deulencres abbay. This castel standeth a good flite shot from the building, and goodly manor place, that now is ther as the principal house of the Ferrars, and cam to them be similitude by marriage. Ther is a mighte large parke." sister Dorothy) lord Ferrars of Chartley. This Nobleman was afterwards created viscount Tamworth and earl Ferrars by queen Anne. In 1754, the barony devolved on Charlotte wife of George viscount Townshend, whose son George succeeded her in 1770. STONE. This market town is situated on the northern bank of the river Trent, at the distance of seven miles from Stafford. Since the canal navigation between the Trent and the Mersey was effected, it has considerably increased in extent. It consists of one principal street, which is now a pretty good one, with a new market place; and contains a population of 2035 persons, of whom 963 are males, and 1072 females. But what chiefly renders this town remarkable, is the religious foundations which it anciently contained. Wulferus king of Mercia, whom we have already noticed as having built a castle at Bury Bank, founded a monastery here for canons regular of the order of St Augustine, about the year 670. This prince had been brought up in the Pagan worship, but after his father's death became a convert to Christianity, and married Ermenilda, a Christian princess, daughter of Egbert king of Kent, by whom he had two sons Wulfad and Rufin, also a daughter named Werburgh. In this faith he continued for some years, when he thought proper to embrace Paganism again, and educated his children in that religion. Wulfad, however, during a hunt, having accidentally entered the cell of St. Chad, who resided as a hermit at Stowe in the neighbourhood of Lichfield, was converted to Christianity by that saint. Rufin, his brother, soon followed his example, and both joined in requesting their instructor to remove himself nearer to their father's castle, which he accordingly did, and fixed himself at a neighbouring hermitage. At this place the princes, under pretence of hunting, constantly visited him to receive his in structions, |