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THE SEAT OF

JOHN TAYLOR, ESQ.

THIS elegant Mansion is situated in the north-east part of the county of Worcester, and is in the immediate proximity of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, within three miles of the town of Birmingham. It was the residence of John Taylor, Esq., a gentleman who was one of the principal sufferers during the memorable and disgraceful riots which took place at Birmingham in the year 1791; for both Moseley Hall and Bordesley, a new and capital Mansion, wherein Mr. Taylor then resided, were burnt to the ground. Moseley Hall was at that lamentable period tenanted by Maria, the amiable Countess Dowager of Carhampton, mother of Anne, Duchess of Cumberland. Her Ladyship was blind; and, a day or two preceding the destruction of the Mansion, she had notice sent her to remove her effects, as it was not against her, but the owner of the house, Mr. Taylor, that the vengeance of the infuriated populace was directed. Her Ladyship accordingly removed immediately to Canwell, in Staffordshire, the seat of her relative, Sir Robert Lawley, Bart.

Besides Moseley Hall and Bordesley, the property of Mr. Taylor, the houses of several other gentlemen, who were dissenters, and friends of Dr. Priestley, were destroyed by the infatuated mob. To enter into the history of these disgraceful occurrences, would be foreign to the object of this work. Suffice it to say, that after some time had elapsed, Mr. Taylor commenced rebuilding Moseley Hall, on the site of the old Mansion, for his own residence, having resolved to let Bordesley remain in ruins, as a perpetual monument of the riots.

The present elegant Seat is built upon a grander and much more extensive scale than the former, no cost having been spared to render it one of the most capital residences in the county. The furniture is also of a splendid description.

The grounds, the situation of which must ever be admired, and beautiful woods, exhibit great taste in the various dispositions in which they are arranged, and were laid out by Repton, whose system of landscape gardening is so universally admired.

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Armley House, Yorkshire;

THE SEAT OF

BENJAMIN GOTT, ESQ.

ARMLEY HOUSE is built upon a plan and elevation truly classical, from the designs of Robert Smirke, jun. Esq. A broad terrace and noble portico give great effect to the principal front, which overlooks scenery of the most beautiful description; in which the fine ruin of Kirkstall Abbey forms an interesting and striking feature: it stands upon an eminence on the south bank of the Aire, which glides in a serpentine course through the valley; and at a short distance from Kirkstall Bridge, in the road from Leeds to Bradford, from the first of which towns it is distant three miles and a half, and from the latter seven miles. In the different apartments are many fine pictures, by old masters of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools; and two excellent busts of James Watt, and of John Rennie, Esquires.

The Grounds, which have the natural advantage of undulation, were originally laid out by Mr. White; they have since been extended and improved under the directions of Mr. Repton, and afford an ample display of his taste.

This estate was for many ages the chief seat of the very ancient family of the Hoptons, of which Sir Adam Hopton, of Hopton, married Margery, the daughter and heiress of Thomas Headon, or Heyden, of Armley, in whose right he became possessed of Armley Hall.

Sir Ingram Hopton, Lord of Armley, had a daughter and heiress, Mary, married to Sir Miles Stapleton, of Wighill, or, as the name imports, the Battle Hill; whose daughter and heiress, Catharine, married Sir Thomas Mauleverer, who sold this manor to Margaret, widow and relict of Sir William Ingleby, of Ripley. In this family it continued till the year 1781, when the whole estate of Sir John Ingleby, Bart. who deceased July 14, 1772, was sold by his trustees to several purchasers, among whom Mr. Thomas Wolrich, of Leeds, merchant, contracted for the manorial rights, which were sold by his representatives to Benjamin Gott, Esq. the present owner, together with his estate in Armley.

The Chapel at Armley was built in the reign of King Charles I. Ralph Hopton, Esq. father to Sir Ingram, gave the ground on which it stands, but died before it was finished; the date of 1649 is carved upon the pulpit. This Chapel was consecrated by Archbishop Sterne, August 24, 1694; and in 1704, a house was erected for the successive Curates.

Giant's Hill, upon a steep precipice commanding the river Aire, and supposed by Thoresby to be a Danish fortification, has been cut through by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which forms a line of navigation between those important towns, 129 miles in extent. Its first Act was obtained in the year 1770. It passes on the south side the Aire, between that river and Armley House, by Calverley and Idle, to Shipley, where it is joined by the Bradford Canal. Dr. Whitaker remarks upon this stupendous undertaking, that, "It is not unpleasing to observe that this vast excavation, the remnant of which for several years presented to the eye the appearance of a long extended quarry through the township of Armley, by having been judiciously planted, as soon as its decompounding minerals became capable of vegetation, is now fringed with thriving trees of various kinds, and has nearly lost every appearance of its original deformity."-Loidis and Elmete, p. 100.

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Bretton Hall, Yorkshire ;

THE SEAT OF

THOMAS RICHARD BEAUMONT, ESQ.

BRETTON HALL, is eight miles from Wakefield, and seven miles north-west from Barnesley, on the left of the road leading to Huddersfield, in the parish of Silkstone, and in Agbrigg Wapentake. The latter term was used by the Saxons, in this part of the country, for a district of territory; it occurs only in the northern counties, and is synonymous with Hundred.

The House was originally erected by Sir William Wentworth, Bart. in 1720, when the old family-house, and chapel adjoining, were pulled down. Sir William married Diana, daughter of Sir William Blackett, Bart.; Colonel Beaumont became possessed of the mansion and large estates in Yorkshire, also of Hexham Abbey, and extensive property in estates and lead-mines in the counties of Northumberland and Durham, by his marriage with Diana, daughter of the late Sir Thomas Wentworth Blackett, Bart.

Very considerable additions and improvements have been lately made in the mansion by Mr. Jeffery Wyatt, consisting of a splendid library, music-room, dining-room, museum, and other apartments of excellent proportions. The gardens are remarkable for their extent and beauty, and the hothouses and elegant conservatories contain the choicest collection of exotics in the kingdom. The park is agreeably diversified with undulations of hill and dale, enlivened with a fine expanse of water, surrounded with luxuriant woods. On every side are beautiful views bounded by lofty hills; the country about Bretton Hall is also extremely fertile. Colonel Beaumont represented the county of Northumberland for twenty-four years in parliament.

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