laring under the whole building, which has not been used for many years. The expenses incurred by the alterations, after deducting the value of the old materials, were defrayed in part by a voluntary subscription, and partly by a loan from the lords of the manor and borough, which has since been paid off. The old building was the property of the lords of the manor and borough, and by the Act of Parliament obtained in 1785, the building, then about to be erected, was vested in them.

Paving and Lighting.

Under the Act of Parliament above mentioned, the road between Mercer's bridge and High-bridge, which before was narrow and very circuitous, and consequently very dangerous, was carried forward in a straight line, through the Treaty-house garden; and most of the cross-rails, water-spouts and sign-posts were taken down, and a considerable portion of the footways paved.

The improvements made in the town, by the provisions of this act, were numerous and very considerable; so much so, as to give it quite a new aspect, and make it assume to strangers, the appearance of being built in modern times.

These improvements are perceived in nothing more, than in the facilities and conveniences thereby afforded to travelling, the road being now in nearly a direct line from one end of the town to the other, and in all points sufficiently wide for several carriages to pass abreast.

The paving of the footways, begun under the provisions of the same act, was also found by the inhabitants to be a great advantage. But the expense entailed, by carrying all these improvements into effect, considerably exceeded the sum, which the trustees were enabled to raise by the powers of that act. Another was, therefore, obtained in 1806, under the powers of which the paving was completed through the town, the remaining cross-rails with a number of trees in front of the houses, at the north-west end of the town, were removed, and the town lighted and watched. The debt incurred by these additional improvements, amounted to two thousand pounds, which was advanced in shares of one hundred pounds, secured on the rates, and bearing interest at five per cent. The assessments under this act vary according to the relative value of property: thus, twenty pounds rental and upwards, is charged one shilling and six-pence in the pound: less than twenty pounds, and exceeding ten pounds, one shil

ling and less than ten pounds, and amounting to five pounds, six-pence: nothing under the value of five pounds, being liable to assess

ment.

Land-tax.

This town is assessed in the sum of two hundred and fifty-nine pounds three shillings and six-pence halfpenny for the land-tax. At Lady-day 1818, one hundred and thirty-nine pounds nine shillings and six-pence was redeemed.

SECTION 4.

THE UXBRIDGE ROAD, OR THE TURNPIKE-ROAD FROM LONDON TO UXBRIDGE,-ROCKINGHAM BRIDGE,— AND HIGHWAYS WITHIN THE TOWNSHIP.

The Uxbridge Road.

The road from Tyburn to this place, which is the high road to Oxford, Gloucester and Milford Haven, is called the Uxbridge Road. We have not been able to ascertain when it was made. It is stated that, formerly, the

high road to Oxford did not pass directly through the town, but that at Hillingdon-end, it went through the grounds now in the possession of J. Chippindale, Esq. and so skirted the town to the northward, and crossed the Coln some distance above the present highbridge. This was most probably the case up to the time when a bridge was first erected for carriages, which we have shewn was in the reign of king Henry the Eighth. See chap. i. sect. 6. Some have affirmed that it was the case much later, but we have not been able to ascertain more than the fact, that the high road to Oxford did once pass on the north side of the town. The alteration of making the highroad pass through the town has doubtless been of considerable advantage to the inhabitants, and has imparted an air of bustle and activity to the place. The facility of travelling must also have been greatly increased by it.

The present Uxbridge road passes through the following parishes;-Paddington, Kensington, Fulham, Hammersmith, Acton, Ealing, Hanwell, the precinct of Norwood, Hayes, and Hillingdon. Formerly each of these parishes repaired the part of the road within its own boundary, but this being found troublesome, and unnecessarily expensive to them, as well as injurious to the public, an Act of Par

liament was passed in the first year of the reign of George I. (1714) which empowered certain trustees to collect tolls for repairing and amending the highways between Tyburn and Uxbridge. Several acts have since been passed, which have much altered and enlarged the powers of the original act. The last of these was passed in the fifty-fourth year of the reign of George III. (1814.)

Mr. T. Lediard, jun. in his "Plan of the Great Road from Tybourn to Uxbridge," a copper-plate engraving of which is appended to the Oxford edition of the statute 7 George III. printed at the Clarendon Press in 8vo. 1769, makes the total distance from the turnpikegate at Tyburn to the Three Horse Shoes, afterwards called the Catherine Wheel, and now the Rose and Crown, in Uxbridge, by his admeasurement, fourteen miles six furlongs and thirty-seven poles.

Middleton in his survey of Middlesex, speaking of this road, after observing that it "is supposed to have more broad-wheeled waggons pass over it than any other in this county, or perhaps in the kingdom," says "During the whole of the winter 1797-8, there was but one passable track on this road; that