urch of its kind in England, if not in Europe."
It has more lately, however, been held that the present building is not
Aldhelm's, but a restoration, dating from about 975, and attributable to
the influence of Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury. Kingston House, long
the seat of the dukes of Kingston, is a beautiful example of early
17th-century domestic architecture. The local industries include the
manufacture of rubber goods, brewing, quarrying and iron-founding.

Bradford (Bradauford, Bradeford) was the site of a battle in 652
between Kenwal and his kinsman Cuthred. A monastery existed here in
the 8th century, of which St Aldhelm was abbot at the time of his
being made bishop of Sherborne in A.D. 705. In 1001 AEthelred gave this
monastery and the town of Bradford to the nunnery of Shaftesbury, in
order that the nuns might have a safe refuge against the insults of
the Danes. No mention of the monastery occurs after the Conquest, but
the nunnery of Shaftesbury retained the lordship of the manor until
the dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII. In a synod held here in
954, Dunstan was elected bishop of Winchester. Bradford appears as a
borough in the Domesday survey, and is there assessed at 42 hides. No
charter of incorporation is recorded, however, and after returning two
members to the parliament of 1295 the town does not appear to have
enjoyed any of the privileges of a borough. The market is of ancient
origin, and was formerly held on Monday; in the survey the tolls are
assessed at 45 shillings. Bradford was at one time the centre of the
clothing industry in the west of England, and was especially famous
for its broadcloths and mixtures, the waters of the Avon being
especially favourable to the production of good colours and superior
dyes. The industry declined in the 18th century, and in 1740 we find
the woollen merchants of Bradford petitioning for an act of parliament
to improve their trade and so re-establish their credit in foreign
markets.

BRADLAUGH, CHARLES (1833-1891), English free-thinker and politician, was
born at Hoxton, London, on the 26th of September 1833. His father was a
poor solicitor's clerk, who also had a small business as a law
stationer, and his mother had been a nursemaid. At twelve years old he
became office-boy to his father's employer, and at fourteen wharf-clerk
and cashier to a coal merchant in the City Road. He had been baptized
and