Excerpt from Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales, Vol. 1: Their Legendary Lore and Popular History The histories of Counties, it has been well observed, if properly written, become works of entertainment, of importance, and univer sality. They may be made vehicles of much general intelligence, and of such as is interesting to every reader of a liberal curiosity. What is local is often national. Books of this kind, in the hands of a sensible and judicious examiner, are the histories of ancient manners, arts, and customs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.