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Wood End, Yorkshire;

THE SEAT OF

SAMUEL CROMPTON, ESQ.

WOOD END is situated at the distance of four miles from the Town of Thirsk, and seven miles from Northallerton, within a mile of the great Edinburgh road.

This handsome residence received considerable additions about thirty years since, by the late Samuel Crompton, Esq., upon a plan both commodious and elegant, with respect to the disposition of the apartments. The Hall is very handsome and spacious, a noble Staircase leads to the Gallery, which is a finely proportioned Room, one hundred and twenty feet long: the Dining-room is forty feet long, by twenty-four feet wide; the Drawing-room thirty feet long, by twenty-one in width: both excellent and highly-finished apartments. The Lawn is approached, both on the east and west sides, by handsome Lodges, constructed with much taste. The House stands in the centre of the Lawn, at the distance of a mile from either Lodge; the drive affords the most pleasing views, with the Hambleton and Western hills towering in the back-ground.

Wood End is in the Parish of Thornton le Street, in Allertonshire Wapentake, which village lies upon the great Roman road from Eboracum to the north, and from this circumstance it derived its appellation of Le Street, from Stratum, a road. The whole village is the property of the present proprietor of Wood End. Its Church is an ancient structure.

Sprotbrough Hall, Yorkshire;

THE SEAT OF

SIR JOSEPH COPLEY, BART.

SPROTBROUGH HALL was built in the reign of King Charles II., it presents a handsome elevation of stone, in the style of that period, exhibiting a degree of magnificence not seen in modern houses. The Drawing-room is very elegant, and is in three Divisions, each separated by Columns; its total length is seventy-three feet, and it is twenty-six feet wide; its height is twenty-two feet. Upon the Garden Front there is a broad Terrace, with a flight of steps leading to the Gardens, laid out in a taste conformable to the age when the house was erected: they are singularly beautiful, and much admired. The situation of the House is most advantageous, commanding a wide prospect of the surrounding country, enriched with wood, and watered by the windings of the river Dun, which takes its course at the foot of the eminence upon which the Mansion stands. In the distance is seen the ancient Castle of Coningsburgh; the Tower of which, of very early architecture, rises to the height of seventy-five feet, in the midst of a most beautiful country.

Sprotbrough Hall contains a fine collection of Pictures, of which the following are the most choice :

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By intermarriage of William, second son of John Copley, of Batley, Esq., with Dorothy, daughter and coheiress of Sir William Fitzwilliam, this estate, which had been in the latter family from the time of the Conquest, or soon after, descended to the Copleys, in which family it continued in the male line for six generations, till, on the death of Sir Godfrey Copley, in 1709, it descended to Catharine, his only surviving daughter and heir, married to Joseph, second son of Sir Walter Moyle, of Balke, Cornwall; whose son, Joseph Moyle, on becoming heir to his grandfather, took the name of Copley in that family it has continued in the male line to the present Sir Joseph Copley, Bart., who has one son and two daughters.

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Sir William Fitzwilliam, son of Sir William Fitz Godrick, who came in with the Conqueror, by his marriage with Eleanor, daughter and heiress of Sir John de Emley, Lord of Emley and Sprotbrough, obtained this estate; and the Family, by a singular coincidence in a younger branch, are returned to the neighbourhood of their ancient patrimonial inheritance; the present Earl Fitzwilliam, as heir to his uncle, the late Marquess of Rockingham, being resident at Wentworth House, within a few miles of Sprotbrough.-In the village formerly stood a Cross with this inscription on a brass plate, put up by Sir Wm. Fitzwilliam, in the reign of Henry V. Thoso is hungry and liste to eat, Let him come to Spotbro' to his meate; And for a night and for a daye

His horse shall have both corn and hay;

And no man shall ask him when he goeth away.

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Cusworth, Yorkshire;

THE SEAT OF

WILLIAM WRIGHTSON, ESQ.

CUSWORTH is beautifully situated upon an eminence in the centre of a fine Park, about two miles from Doncaster, and on the south side of the Road leading from that town to Barnsley. The House consists of a large and handsome quadrangular centre, and two wings built of a fine white limestone, about the year 1740, by William Wrightson, Esquire, the wings were subsequently added to the original building under the direction of James Paine the Architect. The Basement contains the offices, immediately over which are the principal Apartments, consisting of a Drawing-room, Saloon, Library, Eating-room, and a neat Chapel. The upper Chambers command a very extensive prospect over a fine sporting country, adorned with a great variety of Gentlemen's Seats, with the towers of York and Lincoln Minsters, each of which is about forty miles distant. The town of Doncaster, one of the most picturesque in appearance of any in the county, forms a foreground to the interesting view. The Plantations in the Park contain a great variety of different kinds of firs of luxuriant growth : it is watered by a lake so contrived as to have the appearance of being a branch of the river Don, from which it is distant half a mile. The Park is skirted by remarkably rich woods; and the Gardens, laid out in modern taste, present all the varieties of shrubs in due season.

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