United States or Ghana ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And Colonel Brereton seems to have imagined that the presence of the soldiers acted as an irritation; for in this crisis he actually sent them out of the city to Keynsham, then came and informed the mob, who cheered him, as well they might.
Then his mind recurred to the plan of marching into Cheshire, a plan which he had rejected as impracticable when he was at Keynsham, and which assuredly was not more practicable now that he was at Bridgewater. While he was thus wavering between projects equally hopeless, the King's forces came in sight.
At Pensford they were only five miles from the Somersetshire side of Bristol; but the Gloucestershire side, which could be reached only by going round through Keynsham, was distant a long day's march. That night was one of great tumult and expectation in Bristol. The partisans of Monmouth knew that he was almost within sight of their city, and imagined that he would be among them before daybreak.
Bristol had fortifications which, on the north of the Avon towards Gloucestershire, were weak, but on the south towards Somersetshire were much stronger. It was therefore determined that the attack should be made on the Gloucestershire side. But for this purpose it was necessary to take a circuitous route, and to cross the Avon at Keynsham.
The one thing he could not afford was to be inactive, so he marched to Glastonbury, then to Wells, then to Shepton Mallet, harassed the whole way by a handful of troops under Churchill, drenched by continuous and heavy rain. Then he turned to seize Bristol, but, checked at Keynsham, he turned towards Wiltshire.
On the 5th an account was received of the king's army being considerably advanced, and Monmouth's first thought was to retreat from it immediately, and marching by Axbridge and Keynsham to Gloucester, to pursue the plan formerly rejected, of penetrating into the counties of Chester and Salop.
But the weather proving rainy and bad, it was deemed expedient to return to Keynsham, a measure from which he expected to reap a double advantage; to procure dry and commodious quarters for the soldiery, and to lull the enemy, by a movement, which bore the semblance of a retreat, into a false and delusive security.
Burnett, a small village 2-1/2 m. S.E. of Keynsham. The church is a tiny late Perp. building of poor workmanship. In the organ-chamber is a small brass to John Cuttle , once Mayor of Bristol. An attendant family are all quaintly labelled. Burnham, a watering-place on the Bristol Channel, 24 m. S.W. from Bristol and 8 N. from Bridgwater.
But the fine mediaeval rectory should be observed. It stands near the bridge at the entrance of the village, and bears the arms of its builder, Bishop Beckington. The farm near the church has an ecclesiastical-looking window and some carved finials. Stanton Prior, a small and secluded village 6 m. W.S.W. of Bath, situated at the bottom of a lane a little to the E. of the Wells and Keynsham Road.
Middleton, the Misses Brooks, and a thousand others, who shone at court with equal lustre; but it was Miss Hamilton and Miss Stewart who were its chief ornaments. She afterwards re-married with George Rodney Bridges, Esq., second son of Sir Thomas Bridges of Keynsham, in Somersetshire, knight, and died April 20, 1702. By her second husband she had one son, George Rodney Bridges, who died in 1751.
Word Of The Day