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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Cheshire - -Author: Charles E. Kelsey - -Release Date: June 6, 2013 [EBook #42887] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHESHIRE *** - - - - -Produced by floofles, sp1nd and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE. ROADS] - - - - - OXFORD COUNTY HISTORIES - - CHESHIRE - - BY CHARLES E. KELSEY, M.A. - - - WITH TEN MAPS AND FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS - - - OXFORD - AT THE CLARENDON PRESS - 1911 - - - HENRY FROWDE, M.A. - PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD - LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK - TORONTO AND MELBOURNE - - - - -PREFACE - - -The aim of the present volume in the Oxford Series of County Histories -for Schools is to assist the study of the progress of the English people -by an examination of local antiquities, visits to ancient sites and -buildings, and suggestions of big national movements from local -incident. An attempt is made to foster the powers of observation in -children by showing them how to connect various styles of architecture, -for instance, with successive stages in the story of their county, and -to construct from familiar objects the broad outlines of national -history. Thus it is hoped that sooner or later the teaching of history -may become, to some extent, an _out-of-school_ subject and take its -place side by side with outdoor Nature-study and Practical Geography in -the curriculum of our schools. - -In rural districts this end is obviously more easily attainable than in -large industrial centres. In the latter the expense of moving classes of -children from their schools to visit a site some miles distant would be -no doubt considerable; but is it too visionary to hope that before long -a motor-bus, capable of carrying a class of thirty or forty boys and -girls, will be deemed by Educational Committees a necessary part of -their 'apparatus'? - -Apart from the educative value of such work there would, as the children -grow up, arise a body of public opinion which could give valuable help -in saving historic sites and buildings from loss or destruction, and -preventing the removal of antiquities from their natural home. Cheshire -has suffered perhaps more than her share of both these evils, and looks -with sorrowful eyes at many of her treasures housed in the museums of -towns beyond her borders. - -All students of Cheshire history owe much to Ormerod's great work. But -his history is largely genealogical, and personally I wish to -acknowledge a greater debt to the labours and transactions of local -societies, particularly the Chester Archaeological Society and the -Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society. Many learned members of -these two bodies have made most important contributions to our knowledge -of ancient and mediaeval Cheshire within the most recent years. Among -other works consulted I may mention the _Palatine Note Book_, _Cheshire -Notes and Queries_, and Morris's _Diocesan History of Chester_. I have -received kindly assistance from several Cheshire clergymen, and to all -who have given me permission to take photographs within their churches I -express my thanks. - -The maps, drawings, and photographs are original, with few exceptions. I -am indebted to the Council of the Chester Archaeological Society, and -the Grosvenor Museum for the loan of the block of a Roman tombstone from -a photograph by Mr. R. Newstead, and to Mr. Alfred Newstead, Curator of -the Museum, for photographs of the Runic stone and Roman altar. - -The Rev. J. F. Tristram, of the Hulme Grammar School, read the two -geological chapters and made valuable suggestions. To the Clarendon -Press I am grateful for much kind help and criticism. - - THE HULME GRAMMAR SCHOOL, - MANCHESTER, - _July, 1911_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - I. POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE 9 - II. THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (1) 16 - III. THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (_continued_) (2) 21 - IV. EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE 25 - V. THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE (1) 29 - VI. THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE (2) 36 - VII. SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE 43 - VIII. THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE 47 - IX. THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN 51 - X. THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE 58 - XI. THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE 64 - XII. THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE 74 - XIII. THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 81 - XIV. GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE 87 - XV. EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE 92 - XVI. THE COMING OF THE FRIARS 99 - XVII. A DEPOSED KING 107 - XVIII. THE RIVAL ROSES 114 - XIX. CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES 118 - XX. THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING 128 - XXI. ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE (1) 134 - XXII. ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE (2) 143 - XXIII. THE RULE OF THE STUARTS 150 - XXIV. CIVIL WAR: (1) THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH 153 - XXV. CIVIL WAR: (2) A MEMORABLE SIEGE 158 - XXVI. CIVIL WAR: (3) THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION 163 - XXVII. THE FALL OF THE STUARTS 167 - XXVIII. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1) 173 - XXIX. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (2) 180 - XXX. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (1) 183 - XXXI. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (2) 188 - XXXII. THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE 192 - XXXIII. PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 198 - XXXIV. THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN 204 - XXXV. FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE 211 - XXXVI. CONCLUSION 216 - - INDEX 220 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE - - -Few English counties owe more of their history to their geographical -position and surroundings, and to the character of their natural -features, than Cheshire. Not only in the past have the rocks and rivers -of Cheshire helped to make history, but even to-day they have a very -direct bearing upon the fortunes of Cheshire men and women. How many of -us reflect, as our eyes travel over the plain to the distant hills, that -on the wise and orderly arrangement of mountain and valley, forest and -winding stream, our very existence and means of livelihood depend? Truly -Nature has other work to do than merely create picturesque landscapes. - -Cheshire is situated in the north-west of England, washed partly by the -Irish Sea, and guarded as it were on its eastern and western sides by -two great ramparts of hill country, that on the east formed by the -southern spurs of the Pennine Chain, while the Welsh hills of Flint and -Denbigh are the natural frontier on the west. - -The western boundary, however, which has been frequently changed, now -follows roughly the Valley of the Dee. A semicircle of hills of lesser -height fringes the county on the south, and the river Mersey divides it -from its northern neighbour, Lancashire. - -In the north-west of the county a rectangular stretch of country known -as Wirral is washed by two great estuaries and by the Irish Sea, and a -wedge of moorland in the north-east penetrates into the heart of the -Pennines. Here the hills reach their greatest height, Black Hill the -highest point in Cheshire being just under 2,000 feet above sea-level. -The low-lying lands enclosed by this amphitheatre of hills form the -Cheshire Plain, broken only by ridges or terraces of low sandstone -hills running north and south. - -A glance at a map of the British Isles will show you that Cheshire lies -in the very heart of the three kingdoms. Its geographical position has -thus made it a meeting-place of nations, and you will see in later -chapters that all the peoples that have helped to make our national -history have in turn realized the importance of its position, and have -fought desperately for its possession. Briton and Roman, Angle and Saxon -and Dane, Welsh and Norman have all left some mark of their presence in -the county, and from these many elements is derived the blood that flows -in the veins of nearly all Cheshire boys and girls of to-day. - -Now look at the map opposite. The shaded portions represent land over -300, 600, or 1,000 feet above sea-level. In the south, the eastern and -western uplands slope gradually down towards the bit of white which -touches the centre of the bottom of the map and forms what is known as -the Cheshire Gap. Through this gap the Midlands lie open to the -north-west and to the Cheshire Plain, and over these lower heights -naturally passed the great highway from London to the Irish Sea. -Chester, built on a rocky plateau at the head of the tidal waters of the -Dee and protected on its western side by a natural bend of the same -river, was clearly a position of great importance for guarding alike the -coast road into North Wales and the roads to the north of England; and -there is no doubt that it was held as a fortified post long before the -Romans built the Roman city of Deva. - -For many centuries this stronghold was one of the chief military -outposts and frontier towns of England, not often free from war's -alarms, and the sentinels on her walls and watch-towers ever on the -look-out for the approach of some new enemy. Chester became the 'base' -or head-quarters from which all military campaigns in the north-west, in -Wales or in Ireland were carried out, united with the metropolis by the -great road that passed through the heart of England, along which armies -could march without any difficult hills to cross and hardly a river of -any great size to bridge. In later and more peaceful times, for the -same geographical reasons, the London and North-Western Railway, the -lineal descendant of the ancient 'Watling Street', laid its lines on -nearly the same ground as the old highway, and is thus the easiest as -well as the most direct of all routes from London to the north-west. - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE CONTOUR MAP] - -With the exception of the Dee, which rises near Lake Bala in Wales, the -rivers of Cheshire have their sources in the eastern or southern -uplands. For eight months of the year moisture-laden winds blow from the -sea across the Cheshire Plain and deposit their rains upon the hills. In -the hilly country of the north-east, where the rainfall is greatest, the -water is gathered and stored in a number of reservoirs in Longdendale; -and the moist climate is the chief reason why this district is the seat -of the cotton industry, for cotton threads become brittle in a dry -atmosphere. In the valleys of the Tame and Goyt the abundance of fresh -running water from the hills formerly caused many mills for the -bleaching, dyeing and printing of calicoes to be erected on or near the -streams. Nowadays, however, owing to the greater supply of water brought -by pipes from a distance, mills are erected principally on the outskirts -of the great towns and nearer the centres of population. Hence in the -villages of the Goyt it is no uncommon sight to see the tottering walls -of mills that have been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin and -decay. - -The combined waters of the Etherow, Tame, and Goyt form the Mersey at -Stockport. Only the left bank of this river is in Cheshire. Moreover, -for a large part of its course it has been 'canalized', so that it no -longer flows between its natural banks, but down the artificial channel -of the Manchester Ship Canal. The estuary of the Mersey, which is three -to four miles across at its widest point, narrows at Birkenhead to a -width of barely three-quarters of a mile. At this point the river is -kept open to the largest vessels afloat by constant dredging. Here in -the docks you may see ships of all nations, and generally one or more of -our huge ocean greyhounds riding at anchor in mid-river or awaiting -but the turn of the tide to take out their cargoes of human lives to -distant lands. - - [Illustration: SOURCES OF RIVERS IN E. CHESHIRE] - -The Weaver, on the other hand, is wholly a Cheshire river, rising in the -Peckforton Hills in the south-west of the county. The Mersey and the -Weaver receive a number of tributaries, of which the Bollin and the Dane -are the most important, from the eastern highlands, - - the high-crowned Shutlingslawe - ... with those proud hills whence rove - The lovely sister brooks the silvery Dane and Dove, - Clear Dove that makes to Trent, the other to the West. - -At Northwich the Weaver becomes navigable as far as the Mersey. - -The rivers flow mainly in a westerly or north-westerly direction. -Spreading evenly over the plain in almost parallel lines, they serve to -drain and fertilize the land, which thus affords the finest pasturage -for cattle. Dairy-farming and stock-raising have therefore become the -principal occupation of the inhabitants of the Cheshire midlands; and on -market days the piles of the famous Cheshire cheese are generally the -first thing we notice in the open market-places of our country towns. - -The most noticeable feature of the county are the two estuaries of the -Dee and the Mersey. The tract enclosed between them is for the most part -flat, Heswall Hill, the highest point, being little more than 300 feet -in height, and the lowest parts have to be protected from the inroads of -the sea by long embankments. Several portions were in fact, at one time -separated from the mainland, like Hilbre Isle at the present day, as is -shown by the names Wallasey, 'isle of the Welsh or strangers,' and Ince -'an island'. In the Middle Ages, owing to the importance of Chester, the -Dee was the principal outlet for the trade of the north-west, as Bristol -was for the south-west of England. In those days Liverpool was but an -insignificant town, and the Mersey was known as the 'Creek of Chester'. -But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the shipping trade of the -Dee declined owing to the great accumulation of sand and silt in the -channel. When vessels could no longer unload or ship their merchandise -under the walls of Chester a quay was formed at Shotwick, some six miles -along the northern shore of the estuary. In this neighbourhood over two -thousand acres of land have been recovered from the sea that once flowed -over them. Navigation was partially restored as far as Chester for small -vessels by a new artificial channel, but since the rise of the cotton -and other great industries in South Lancashire Liverpool and Birkenhead -have replaced Chester and become the second port in the kingdom. - -Cheshire also possesses a miniature 'Lake District'. Between the Bollin -and the Weaver are scattered many lakelets or 'meres'. They are -particularly numerous in the salt districts, where they are due to the -pumping of brine which has been going on for ages, and caused the -sinking down of the overlying rocks. In the neighbourhood of Northwich -the sheets of water thus formed are called 'flashes'. - -The county still contains much 'forest', that is, uncultivated land. The -hilly country of the east consists mostly of bleak and barren moorland, -affording but poor pasturage for sheep and used mainly for the -preservation of game. Such names as Wildboarclough, Wolf's Edge, Cat's -Tor, Eagle's Crag, and many others, show clearly the wild and desolate -character of this district. Extensive woods are found in the valleys and -'cloughs' of the Etherow and Goyt. Delamere was once a deer forest -extending as far as Nantwich, but in the last hundred years the greater -part of it has been cultivated. Many towns and villages still retain -their 'common' land, often bright with patches of broom and gorse, while -the numerous and extensive parks of the great landowners are justly -noted for their fine forest trees. - -To many of you the natural features described in this chapter must be a -familiar sight. Some of you have perhaps stood by the beacon on Alderley -Edge or by the sham ruins on the summit of Mow Cop, and viewed wide -stretches of the Cheshire Plain. Others have looked down from the -Frodsham Hills upon the estuary of the Mersey mapped out at their feet, -or from the walls of Chester have gazed upon the purple hills of Wales. -But the surface of the county suffered many changes before it assumed -its present aspect, and we must now see what story the stones have to -tell us of bygone ages when Cheshire was yet in the making. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE. I - -THE NEWER ROCKS - - There rolls the deep where grew the tree: - O earth, what changes hast thou seen! - There, where the long street roars, hath been - The stillness of the central sea. - - -Nearly every Cheshire boy has visited at some time or another a quarry -in the neighbourhood of the town or village where he dwells. He will -probably have noticed that beneath the two or three feet of soil at the -top of the quarry the rocks are arranged in beds or 'strata' piled one -upon another in horizontal rows, or sometimes sloping in parallel lines -towards the bottom of the quarry. When and how were these beds of rock -formed and laid down? - -If our quarry is in the central or western parts of Cheshire we shall -find that the rocks are of a reddish colour, generally hard and gritty, -but sometimes so soft that pieces may be crushed into fragments with the -fingers. These rocks are known as the New Red sandstones, and are -largely used for building purposes. Chester Cathedral and a great number -of Cheshire churches have been built of this material; and the hillsides -where the rocks crop out above the soil often glow with a rich warm red -in the evening sunlight. You may see them best perhaps in the railway -cuttings in the neighbourhood of Frodsham and Chester, or in the great -quarries at Storeton-in-Wirral and Runcorn. - - [Illustration: GEOLOGICAL MAP] - -These beds of sandstone are really wide stretches of the sandy shores of -an ancient sea, which have been pressed into a solid substance by the -weight of other layers of rock deposited over them in later ages. Thus -they belong to a group of what are called 'water-laid' rocks. We know -that seas once flowed over them because some of the beds show the -ripple-marks that we see so often in the sands when walking by the -sea-shore. A fearful looking monster, with the equally terrible name of -labyrinthodont, in appearance rather like a gigantic frog, has left his -'footprints in the sands' in the rocks near Lymm and Weston. You will -probably not be able to find these footprints, but in the museums at -Manchester and Warrington you may see them on large slabs of sandstone -rock. How would you like to meet one of these reptiles to-day, wallowing -in the mud on the shores of some Cheshire mere? On the same slabs you -will see suncracks which tell us of the baking of sand and mud in the -sun's rays when the tide has gone down. - -The lower layers of the New Red Sandstone are of a paler colour, light -brown or almost white. To these the name of 'Bunter' has been given to -distinguish them from the upper and therefore later deposits known as -'Keuper' sandstone. The Bunter beds are found chiefly in the west of the -county, and in Wirral, where you may see the Keuper rocks of Storeton -Hill sticking up above the layers of Bunter stone that surround and -underlie them. - -The greater part of the surface of Cheshire consists of these rocks. -Alderley Edge and Helsby Hill, the hills of Delamere and Peckforton are -composed of it, and it crops out often in our village streets. The steps -of the village cross at Lymm are cut out of a piece of rock which sticks -out in the middle of the road. - -In the sandstone beds at Northwich, Winsford, and Middlewich are layers -of rock salt from which we obtain our salt for food and other domestic -uses. The salt was formed at a time when the sea was gradually -disappearing from the surface of Cheshire leaving inland salt lakes, -which, becoming dried up, deposited beds of salt crystals. These, like -the sandstone, became pressed into a solid condition by the weight of -other layers. Where the salt has been taken out of the earth the upper -layers have sunk from time to time. At Northwich the land is continually -sinking, and you may see houses and chimneys cracked and twisted out of -their proper shape as if they had been visited by an earthquake. Often -the hollows where the land has sunk have become filled with water and -produced the numerous meres or small lakes dotted about the county. In -the valley of the Weaver they are locally known as 'flashes'. - - [Illustration: STRIATED BOULDER (ERRATIC): HIGH LEGH] - -When, in the course of time, the red sandstone formed the dry land of -Cheshire, it became covered by a great ice-sheet which extended over -Britain even as far south as the Thames valley. Beneath this covering of -ice the rocks were crushed and ground to atoms by the movement of the -ice-sheet over them. This formed beds of a substance called -boulder-clay, containing lumps of rock which must have been brought by -the ice great distances, for they are of a kind found only in the north -of England or in Scotland. Some of these 'boulders' are of great size. -Several have been placed in Vernon Park, Stockport, and in the West -Park, Macclesfield, you may see one that was dug up in the neighbourhood -of the town. It weighs about thirty tons. On Eddisbury Hill is a mass of -rock, ten feet long, of a kind found only on Skiddaw in the Lake -District, and in the narrow lane behind the 'Wizard' Inn on Alderley -Edge is a lump of granite from Eskdale, so that these rocks have been -brought by the ice a distance of a hundred miles. Such blocks and -boulders are called 'erratics', because they have wandered so far from -their original home. Another proof of the existence of the ice-sheet may -be seen in the scratchings and marks (called 'striae') on pebbles and -rocks found in these beds. In the lane outside the church at High Legh -are a number of large boulders which still show the lines of furrows and -scratchings made on their surface by the movement of the ice over them. - -The boulder-clay has been worn away by the action of water and weather -from a great part of Cheshire, but in the west of the county large -patches may be seen in the low-lying districts. You may observe the beds -most clearly in the cliffs of boulder-clay on the estuary of the Dee -between Heswall and West Kirby. In the neighbourhood of Chester, many of -the villages--Tarvin, Christleton, Aldford, Saighton, and Barrow, for -instance--are built on sandstone knolls and ridges which stick up -through the boulder-clay, for the sandstone is drier and healthier than -the clay to live upon, and the wells, especially those in the Bunter -beds, provide the purest water. - -As the ice-sheet melted and the glaciers or ice-rivers retreated -northwards when the climate became warmer, beds of sand, gravel, and -stones were spread over the Cheshire plain. These are called drift beds. -The stones and pebbles are rounded by the streams of melted ice and -snow which flowed from the mouths of the ice-rivers. Upon the beds of -drift lies the surface soil in which grow the crops and grass, the -herbage and the woods of to-day; and it is in the drift, as you will see -in a later chapter, that traces of the earliest inhabitants of Cheshire -are to be found. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (_cont._). II - -THE OLDER ROCKS - - -Let us now visit some quarries in East Cheshire. We shall find -considerable difficulty in reaching some of them. It will be necessary -to get permission from the owners of the quarries, put on a special suit -of clothes, enter an iron cage, and descend many hundred feet perhaps -into the depths of the earth's surface until we find ourselves--in a -coal-mine! - - [Illustration: SECTION OF ROCKS FROM KNUTSFORD TO BUXTON] - -Unlike the New Red Sandstones, which are found for the most part in flat -horizontal beds, the coal beds slope downwards from east to west. This -is due to the uplifting of the East Cheshire hills, which we shall -presently explain. When this uplift took place, the coal beds, which -were originally flat, became raised in the east and equally lowered in -the west. When the sea flowed over them they became covered by sandy -deposits of such a thickness that in the greater part of Cheshire the -coal cannot be reached. The earliest sands laid down formed what are -called the Permian rocks, and the later layers the New Red Sandstone -series mentioned in the last chapter. The Permian rocks may be well seen -at Stockport, in the river beds of the Tame and the Goyt which have cut -their way through them. In the strip of country between Stockport and -Macclesfield, and again on the south-eastern borders of Cheshire, the -upturned edges of the coal beds have been left exposed so that the coal -is near the surface and can be easily extracted. - -Coal consists of the vegetable remains of forest trees and their -undergrowth. If you look at a lump of coal you will see that it has been -pressed down into thin layers like the leaves of a book. When these -layers are split apart there are often found the fossil remains of -leaves and roots of trees, fronds of ferns, seed-cones and stems of -plants which grew in the forests. Some of these, particularly the ferns, -are often of great beauty. You may see a number of these 'coal pictures' -in the Vernon Park Museum at Stockport. Here too you will find portions -of the actual trunks of trees that have been dug up just where they -stood when the seas flowed over them. - -You may learn even to distinguish different varieties of these forest -trees, just as you are able to distinguish the oak and the beech and the -elm of to-day. Latin names such as Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, and -Salisburia have been given to them. The most beautiful of all is a -Maidenhair Tree-fern. The Calamites was a huge 'Horse-tail' plant of -which you may find small varieties to-day on banks and in hedgerows. - -On the coast of Wirral, between Meols and New Brighton, are the remains -of a forest which has only in very recent years been covered by the sea. -Boys who live in this neighbourhood may have heard their parents tell of -the stumps of tree-trunks sticking out through the sands when the tide -was low. This shows that the land is continually undergoing changes, at -one time being raised above the seas, at another time sinking beneath -the waves. - -The beds or 'seams' of coal vary in thickness from a thin film to -several yards, and are separated from one another by layers of hard -clays and flagstones. From the flagstone beds are obtained the square -slabs with which the pavements of our towns and cities are laid. In many -of the quarries near the Cheshire coal-field you may watch the workmen -cutting and shaping these stones. - -The beds of clays and seams of coal make up what are called the 'Coal -Measures'. These in their turn rest upon a foundation of hard rock, -harder than any we have yet examined, called Millstone Grit or -Gritstone. Boys who live in the hilly parts of East Cheshire are very -familiar with it, for very probably the houses in which they live and -the churches and chapels where they worship have been built of this -stone. It is composed of coarse sand and grit, and, like the red -sandstone, is a waterlaid deposit several thousand feet in thickness. -The Pennine Hills, on the borderland of Cheshire and Derbyshire, are -covered with Millstone Grit, which has been thrust upwards by the -crumpling and arching of the rocks beneath it. - -Below the Gritstone are still older rocks of a different character -called the Limestone series. The uppermost beds contain layers of a -sandy substance called Yoredale sandstones. Mixed with them are layers -of shale, a dark bluish grey clay that crumbles into thin fragments when -crushed with the hand, and thin seams of limestone and, occasionally, of -coal. These are the oldest rocks that are found anywhere in Cheshire. -You may see them in the hills east of Macclesfield and Congleton and the -higher parts of Longdendale. Below these beds is a mass of Mountain -Limestone which has been forced upwards into an arch by tremendous -pressure of rocks from either side, and has lifted up the Gritstone -above to a height of nearly two thousand feet. In this way the -highlands of East Cheshire, and indeed the whole of the Pennine Chain, -have been formed. The Mountain Limestone, which consists almost entirely -of animal remains, especially shells and corals, extends right under the -highest hills of Cheshire, and comes to light in the cliffs of the -beautiful dales of Derbyshire. Only at one spot, a quarry near Astbury, -does it appear at the surface in Cheshire. - -The Coal Measures, Millstone Grit, Yoredale sandstones, and Mountain -Limestone make up what geologists call the Carboniferous or Coal-bearing -series, so called because in England our chief supplies of coal are -obtained from this group of rocks. - -But we should have to dig deeper even than the Mountain Limestone before -we could reach the original surface of the earth in Cheshire. Long ages -ago, ages so distant that not even the most learned men of science can -reckon them, our earth was a globe of fiery molten rock. As the surface -gradually cooled it became wrinkled, as a baked apple will when taken -from an oven. Water collected in the hollows into which fragments of -rock were washed down from the ridges, and thus the waters were raised -and formed into seas and lakes. But we shall not find any of these rocks -in Cheshire, though you may see them in great masses in the mountains of -Cumberland and Wales, where they have been forced upwards by the violent -movements always at work in the interior of the earth. It is of these -molten rocks that the mass of stone which was brought by the ice from -Cumberland and left on Eddisbury Hill is composed. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE - - -A few years ago some workmen digging on the high ground of Alderley Edge -came across a number of flint stones, which from their shape and the -marks of chipping upon them had clearly been fashioned by the hand of -man. Some of the flints were shaped like a knife blade with a sharp edge -on their entire length, and others of a more or less oval shape had a -keen edge on one of their curves. The former were the knives with which -the earliest men of Cheshire cut the flesh of animals for food; the -latter were the scrapers with which they removed the flesh from the -bones or from the hides that provided them with clothing. - -Flints, however, are not naturally found in any of the Cheshire rocks; -they must be sought for in the districts where chalk hills abound. -Clearly therefore these men must have brought their tools and weapons -with them when they first came into Cheshire from the east or from the -south. Afterwards, no doubt, they bargained for them, giving skins and -furs in exchange. - -Men first made their homes in Cheshire when the glaciers of the Great -Ice Age retreated northwards and the climate became more suitable for -human habitation. A flint arrow-head found during some excavations at -Clulow Cross near Wincle, tells us that men lived then by hunting, -depending for their food on the flesh of wild beasts. They lived in -caves or in holes dug in the ground. The roughly-chipped stone axe in -the Grosvenor Museum was made by these men. - -The Flint men, or men of the Old Stone Age, probably came originally -from the mainland of Europe to which Britain at that time was joined, -the North Sea and English Channel being then dry land. The reindeer, -the mammoth, the wild ox, and packs of hungry wolves and hyenas roamed -over Cheshire in those days. - -These Flint men were succeeded by other races of New Stone men who found -that they could manufacture their necessary tools out of the boulders -embedded in the drift and boulder-clay. The men who dug up the knives -and scrapers of Alderley found near Mottram Common a heap of small -boulders carefully placed in a pit dug in the ground and clearly -selected for some useful purpose. For out of these stones were to be cut -and shaped stone hammer-heads with which they learned to crush copper -ore and axe-heads to cut down trees. Some of the hammer-heads themselves -have been found in this locality, and they are made of a stone similar -to that of the unbroken boulders. The stone 'celt' or axe-head in Vernon -Park Museum shows that they were improving in their skill and -workmanship, for their tools were no longer chipped into their required -shape but ground with hard mill-stones and afterwards smoothed and -polished. Afterwards, as you may see from the specimen in the Grosvenor -Museum, which has a hole cut through it, the New Stone men learned how -to fit handles to their axe-heads. - -In the course of time these primitive dwellers learned to tame and train -animals for their service and use. They were protected from attack by -wild beasts by circles of piled stones or raised earth covered with -turf. Traces of these circles have in recent years been found at -Alderley Edge, but they have been mostly levelled for agricultural -purposes. - -They also taught themselves the art of pottery, making rough jars and -urns of sun-dried clay and sand, jars wherein to store their water, and -urns in which to place the remains of their dead. One of these urns, dug -up at Stretton, may be seen in the Warrington Museum. - -The Stone men were succeeded by tribes of an entirely different race -called Celts. The Celts drove out the earlier inhabitants from their -Cheshire homes, compelling them to seek refuge in Wales and Ireland. -They came not all at once but in successive waves, the earliest arrivals -being the Goidelic or Gaelic Celts, who in their turn were ousted by -the Brythonic Celts, from whom the name of Briton is derived. These are -the ancestors of the Welsh nation. - -The Brythons, or Britons as we may now call them, were a more -intelligent and civilized race than any that had hitherto dwelt in the -land. They were a pastoral people, and brought with them great herds of -cattle, as well as horses and dogs. They could spin and sew, making -their spindles and needles of bone or horn, and grew corn, which they -ground with hand-mills. - -But the Britons must have been continually fighting against fresh -incoming tribes, for on some of the hill-tops of Cheshire you may see -the camps and earthworks which they made for their defence and refuge in -time of war. Suitable positions were chosen, with one side guarded by -precipitous cliffs if possible, the whole being enclosed except on the -steep side by a raised rampart of earth and a ditch. These earthworks -are circular or oval with gaps on either side for entrances. At Bucton -Castle, high above Mossley and the Tame Valley, at Kelsborrow Castle in -Delamere Forest, and Maiden Castle in the Broxton Hills, British -encampments may still be seen. - -The Britons were very particular about the burial of their dead. Over -the graves of their chiefs they erected great round 'barrows'. Many of -these barrows, or, to give them their Latin name, 'tumuli,' may be seen -to-day, and several of them have been opened and examined. In a field -near Oakmere, not far from the high-road that passes through Delamere -Forest, is a cluster of barrows called the 'Seven Lows' which clearly -mark an early settlement of considerable importance. They vary in size -from fifteen to thirty yards in diameter. One of them, when opened, was -found to contain an urn with charred human remains within it. The urn -was inverted, the better to support the weight of soil above it, and was -set in the middle of a floored space over which was a thin layer of -charcoal. This seems to show that a funeral pyre was erected on which -the body was first burnt, the remains being then gathered and placed in -the urn. The barrow was erected over the urn by piling stones and -covering them with soil and turf. Burial urns have been found at Castle -Hill Cob and Glead Hill Cob in Delamere Forest, and at Twemlow where -there is a group of five tumuli. - -In the hilly district of East Cheshire, where rocks are plentiful, the -burial grounds were marked by circles of upright stones. There are some -remains of such circles on the moorland near Clulow Cross. Among the -burnt bones in a barrow at this spot were found a flint[1] knife and -arrow-head, for it was believed that the dead man would require his -tools and weapons after death just as in his lifetime. For the same -reason often the wives and slaves of a chief were sacrificed or cremated -at his death to serve and wait upon him in another world. The barrows -were also used by the tribes as a place of assembly for their religious -rites, when prayers and human victims were offered to their gods and to -the spirits of their dead leaders, who, as they believed, would continue -to watch over them and help them in battle. - - [1] Flint weapons no doubt continued to be used, especially in - remote and hilly districts, even after the arrival of the Celts. - -The Brythonic Celts came to Britain between 1,000 B.C. and 500 B.C., and -were acquainted with the use and manufacture of bronze implements. Hence -the period during which they arrived and lived in Britain is called the -Bronze Age. The bronze 'celt' in the Grosvenor Museum was found in the -camp at Kelsborrow, and when the railway was cut at Wilmslow an urn -containing bones and a bronze dagger was dug up. The urn and dagger are -now in the museum at Peel Park, Salford. - -The river valleys and the lowlands of Cheshire were in those days swampy -and unhealthy, so the Britons lived as much as possible in the higher -parts, which were also more suitable for agricultural pursuits. On the -crests or slopes of hills were tracks or ridgeways for pack-horses, -leading from one settlement to another. On Werneth Low, Eddisbury Hill, -and Alderley Edge, these ancient ridgeways may still be traced. When men -went down to the rivers to fish they carried on their backs light -coracles of plaited reeds covered with skin, such as the fishermen -still use on the Dee between Farndon and Bangor where the water is too -rapid or shallow for boats. - -Roman writers have left us descriptions of the Britons who lived in the -centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ; from them we learn -that, although the British tribes were mainly occupied in fighting -against one another, a certain amount of trade was carried on with -travellers and merchants from other lands, and that they dwelt in -'towns' or collections of wattled huts surrounded by a stockade and -ditch. From the numerous fragments of British pottery that have been -unearthed in the neighbourhood of Chester, we gather that there was a -British town of considerable importance on the site of the later city, -and traders from the Mediterranean, who visited this country, may well -have moored their vessels in the tidal waters of the Dee. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. I - - -In the previous chapters all that we know of Cheshire and its people has -been learned from unwritten records, 'stories in stones', and from such -scanty remains as have been brought to light by excavation and careful -examination of the soil. From this time onwards our knowledge will be -much more extensive and sure, for we shall have _written_ records left -by men who lived in the times of which they wrote. - -Fifty-four years before the birth of Christ the British inhabitants of -Cheshire must have heard of the landing on the southern shores of -Britain of the drilled and disciplined soldiers of one of the greatest -generals that ever lived. Julius Caesar, who first led the Roman eagles -into Britain, has given us in his 'Commentaries' a description of the -Britain of his day and of its inhabitants. Some of the fierce hill-men -of East Cheshire may possibly have fought against him, for he tells us -that the British tribes ceased making war on one another, and united -themselves under a single leader called Cassivellaunus to resist the -invaders. After a decisive victory--at least, according to his own -account--Caesar returned with his legions to the Continent, and ninety -years passed by before the Romans came again, this time to make a long -stay of nearly four hundred years. - -About the year A.D. 50 the Roman axe might be heard hewing a road -through the dense forests which in those days almost surrounded the city -of Chester. A Roman governor, Ostorius Scapula, was busy in the -neighbouring county of Shropshire making war on the sturdy Welsh-Britons -of the borderland of Wales, and fortifying the city which he built under -the shadow of the Wrekin. From this point, slowly but surely, the Roman -soldiers made their way through forest and foe to Chester, or Deva as it -was then called. This was the chief town of a tribe called the Cornavii, -a pastoral people occupying the present county of Cheshire, except the -hilly districts of the north-east, where the Brigantes, a more warlike -tribe than the Cornavii, had their homes. - -The Romans did not, however, capture Chester without a struggle. The -city was well protected on its western and southern sides by the river -Dee, whose waters spread over the Roodee right up to where the walls of -the city now stand. Only from the east could the place be attacked, and -the highest points of Delamere Forest and the Peckforton Hills are still -marked by the British encampments and earthworks where the Britons made -their last stand, and by green earth-mounds or 'tumuli' where the dead -bodies of their leaders were buried. - -If you take up an Ordnance Map you will often find a length of road -running quite straight for some miles. Such roads will nearly always -prove to have been the work of the Romans, for the Romans made their -roads direct from point to point, like modern railways, their chief -object being to enable troops to march rapidly from one military station -to another. Two straight pieces of Roman road enter the city of Chester, -one on the south and the other on the east. - - [Illustration: ROMAN ROADS IN CHESHIRE] - -The Romans were skilful engineers and did their work very thoroughly, -clearing the forest land as they advanced, and draining marshes or -laying stone causeways across them. Bridges were built, though not every -bridge now called Roman was the work of the Romans. The 'Roman bridge' -near Marple was not built until many centuries after the last Romans had -left Cheshire, but it may well mark the spot where, according to -tradition, a Roman bridge had once stood. - -More often, where the roads crossed rivers, fords were marked by stakes, -and the bed of the river carefully laid with stones. In the Museum at -Vernon Park is a paving-stone taken from the Mersey at Stockport where -probably the Roman road crossed the river. The Roman roads were paved -throughout, except where they were hewn out of the solid rock. - -The road through Delamere Forest was part of the 'Watling Street' which -went in an almost straight line from Deva to Manchester, called by the -Romans Mancunium. Stretford is the place where the Roman 'street' -crossed the Mersey. The modern high-road from Chester to Manchester for -nearly its entire length keeps very close to the line of the ancient -Watling Street, only departing from the older road to avoid hills. At -such points the straight track of the Roman road can still be traced in -the fields and woodland. Often in the neighbourhood of Tarvin and -Kelsall has the pickaxe or the spade of the labourer struck against the -Roman paving-stones. - -When an excavation was made at Organsdale, midway between the villages -of Kelsall and Delamere, a portion of the Roman Watling Street, cut in -the solid sandstone, was discovered, still showing the wheel-ruts worn -on the surface by Roman and British carts. In other parts of the forest, -when the crops are in, you may see lines of raised earth and gravel -where the ancient road was laid along an embankment. - -At Northwich, which the Romans called Salinae or the 'saltworks', a -second road, which entered Cheshire at Wilderspool near Warrington, -crossed Watling Street at right angles and ran in a perfectly straight -line to Middlewich or 'Condate'. This road was called by the Saxons Kind -or King Street, and was continued southwards to Nantwich. - - [Illustration: TOMBSTONE TO CAECILIUS AVITUS (GROSVENOR MUSEUM)] - -The Grosvenor Museum at Chester contains a large collection of stones -with figures and inscriptions carved upon them, and other objects from -which we may learn a great deal about the Roman conquerors. The -inscriptions, which are of course in Latin, the language of the Romans, -show that Chester was an important garrison town, and the head-quarters -of the Twentieth Legion. A legion, or division, of the Roman army -contained about five thousand men. - -A number of these relics are tombstones of the legionary soldiers who -were stationed here. You may distinguish them by the opening words DIS -MANIBUS, or shortly D.M., which practically means in English, 'To the -memory of.' The inscriptions then give the name of the soldier and his -native place, his age, and the name of the 'century' or company to which -he belonged. Women accompanied the legion, as you may see from a -tombstone of a centurion and his wife. Another stone of which a picture -is given, shows the ordinary dress, the tunic and belt of a Roman -soldier. In most of the inscriptions on these stones are the letters VV, -which are the initials of the words 'Valeria Victrix', the victorious -Valerian, by which name the Twentieth Legion was known. The badge of the -legion was a boar, and this also appears on many of the stones and tiles -of the buildings put up by the soldiers of this legion. - -These tombstones were discovered in the year 1883 inside the base of the -north wall of the city of Chester while the wall was being repaired. It -is probable therefore that there had been a cemetery outside the city -wall at this point, from which the stones were taken during its -construction. - -The bodies of the Romans were burnt after death, and the ashes placed in -urns of earthenware not unlike those of the Britons. Roman burial urns -have been discovered on Winnington Hill near Northwich and at Boughton. -You may see them in the Chester Museum. - -Here also are a number of Roman altars dedicated, as their inscriptions -show, to the Roman gods Jupiter, Mars, Minerva, &c. On one of them you -can easily make out the words DEO MARTI CONSERV, which mean 'To the god -Mars the Preserver'. The lower portion, which has been broken off, -contained the name of the soldier who dedicated it. Another altar is -dedicated to the 'Genius', or guardian spirit, of the century. On the -sides of the altars are rough carvings of the axe and the knife, the jug -and the dish, used in sacrificial ceremonies. - - [Illustration: ALTAR: GENIO (GROSVENOR MUSEUM)] - -A third group of stones are called centurial stones. These, like our -modern foundation or memorial stones, were built into a portion of wall -or building and gave the name of the 'century' of soldiers by whom the -work was constructed. - -At first the Romans were hard taskmasters. Heavy tribute was demanded -from the conquered Britons, who complained loudly of the miseries of -bondage, and of the insults and injuries put upon them. Gangs of British -slaves were forced to work in cornfield and quarry under the whips of -their Roman rulers, or compelled to fight with one another or with wild -beasts 'to make a Roman holiday'. Rebellions were frequent, and were put -down by the Roman officers with great cruelty; and for many years it -was only the superior arms and military science of the Roman legions -that made it possible to keep in subjection a discontented people. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. II - -A piece of leaden water-piping discovered in Eastgate Street, Chester, -bears the name of Julius Agricola. Agricola was made Governor of Britain -in A.D. 78. Tacitus, a Roman historian, who married Agricola's daughter, -wrote a life of his father-in-law and a narrative of his work in -Britain. From his writings we learn that Agricola first turned his -attention to the fierce tribe of the Brigantes who inhabited the hilly -districts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and North-East Cheshire. - -Agricola made the preparations for his expedition at Chester, which -became his head-quarters, and built the fortified outposts of Mancunium -on the Irwell and Melandra on the Derbyshire bank of the River Etherow, -connecting them with one another with new roads. Both Mancunium and -Melandra have been excavated in recent years, and at the latter you may -see the foundations of portions of the wall laid bare, and the base of -one of the principal gateways leading into the fort. - -A Roman camp was usually square, with the corners slightly rounded, as -has been proved by the excavations at Melandra and by the piece of Roman -wall lately discovered at Chester, which shows a distinct curve towards -the Pepper Gate. Roads crossed the camp at right angles. The wall or -'vallum' was protected when necessary by a fosse or ditch, but Agricola -chose his positions with such care that one side at least was usually -already guarded by the waters of some stream. Watch-towers were placed -at the corners and on either side of the gateways. - -Chester still preserves the shape and plan of the Roman fortress. Its -four main streets, which are hewn out of the sandstone on which the -city is built, cross each other at right angles. The Welsh called it -Caer Lleon or Lleon Vawr--the 'Camp of the Legion'. The present walls -are not, however, the work of the Romans, though here and there they -have been proved to have been built on the foundations of the Roman -walls. The lowest courses of the North Wall near the Deanery Field, when -excavated, were found to be faced with massive stones of Roman masonry, -with a Roman 'plinth' running along the base. The stones fit very -closely together and no mortar was used. The inside of the wall was -filled with rubble. - -From time to time portions of Roman wall have been found in other parts -of the city. One big piece is in the cellars of Dickson's seed -warehouse. When the foundations of the offices of the National Telephone -Company in John Street were being excavated a year or two ago, a fine -piece of Roman wall was unearthed. The builders have left it standing -where they found it, and you may now see it in the basement of the -building, protected from future harm by an iron grid. - -On the Roodee is a portion of Roman masonry of finely jointed stones -which is thought to have been the quay of the Roman city. - -In the middle of a Roman fortress was the Praetorium or general's -quarters. Traces of such a building are to be seen in the camp at -Melandra, and at Chester the foundations of a large edifice discovered -in Northgate Street may possibly be a portion of a similar building. - -Inscriptions show us that another legion, called the Legio Secunda, was -stationed at Chester for several years. When Britain was more or less -pacified and required fewer troops this legion was recalled and sent to -the Roman provinces on the Danube. - -Tacitus tells us that Agricola spread civilization among the Britons, -sent the sons of chieftains to Rome to be educated, and even in time -taught the Britons to adopt Roman habits and dress and to speak the -Latin tongue. But he would not at first let them join the Roman legions -in Britain; those who wished to fight for the Roman emperors were sent -abroad to the Roman provinces on the Rhine or the Danube. - -The soldiers of subject races were not for many years after their -conquest allowed by the Romans to fight in their own country. The -tombstones mentioned in the previous chapter prove this, for not one of -them bears the name of any British soldier. A bronze tablet dug up at -Malpas, on which is engraved a decree of the Emperor Trajan, shows that -the soldiers who fought in the Roman army in Britain were not all -Romans, or even Italians, for it speaks of Thracians, Dalmatians, -Spaniards, and men of other nations conquered by Rome. - -For seven years Agricola was a wise and a humane ruler. He removed many -of the burdens put upon the Britons by previous governors, and it was -chiefly due to him that the Romans were able to make their rule -acceptable to the Britons. In time Britons became proud of the name of -Roman citizens. - -We have seen from the character of the remains that Chester was -peculiarly a military city. Thus it differed greatly from many of the -Roman cities of southern Britain, which lost their military character as -the tide of war rolled northwards and westwards. These cities soon -became busy centres of trade and civic life, with all the conveniences -and luxuries of Italian towns. They had their temples and their basilica -or town hall, theatres and public baths, palaces and colonnades of -shops, and handsome villas of Roman officials. But life at Chester, with -the continual arrival and departure of troops and stores, must have been -hard and monotonous, with the din of warfare probably never far distant. -The Welsh were never really subdued by the Romans. - -Yet even at Chester there were buildings of importance, as we can see -from the broken fragments of pillars in the little garden by the Water -Tower, and in the basements of Vernon's Toy Bazaar and other shops in -Chester. - -These pillars were made to support the porches and colonnades with which -the fronts and sometimes the sides also of Roman buildings were adorned. -No doubt you have noticed them in pictures you have seen of ancient -Rome. In a later chapter you will learn that the Englishmen of the -eighteenth century copied the Roman or Italian style of architecture in -their churches, town halls, and other public buildings, and from the -buildings then made you can get some idea of those of a Roman town. - -The pillars were of three different patterns or 'orders', and by -observing carefully their differences you will be able to tell at a -glance to which particular order a modern building belongs. The capitals -of the Doric and Ionic pillars are much simpler in design than those of -the Corinthian, which were often of a very ornamental nature. - - [Illustration: ROMAN CAPITALS: DORIC, IONIC, AND CORINTHIAN] - -The Romans felt the cold and damp of the British climate, so different -from that of their own warm and sunny land. Many of their houses and -public buildings were warmed by 'hypocausts' or heating chambers, and -every city had its public baths with rooms heated by hot air. In Bridge -Street is a hypocaust remaining just where the Romans left it. The -pillars which you see in the illustration are those of another hypocaust -found many years ago in Bridge Street. - -The pillars were set up in rows on a solid foundation, being fixed in -their places by cement. On the top of these a second floor of cement and -bricks, several inches thick, was laid. The space between the two floors -was heated by hot air, introduced through an opening in the side wall -communicating with a furnace or oven. In their own country the bath was -an important event in the everyday life of the Romans. - - [Illustration: REMAINS OF HYPOCAUST, CHESTER] - -The floors of Roman buildings were paved with tiny blocks of brick -called 'tesserae', three to four inches long and one inch wide. A piece -of flooring in the Grosvenor Museum shows that the bricks were laid on a -bed of cement or concrete in 'herring-bone' pattern, that is, with the -bricks at right angles to one another. A large number of tiles used in -roofing have been found all over the city; on many of these you will -see the stamp LEG XX VV of the Twentieth Legion. There was a tile -factory at Holt on the Dee where also many of these tiles bearing the -same stamp have recently been found. - -The Romans taught the Britons many useful trades. 'Veratinum' or -Wilderspool became under the Romans quite a busy manufacturing town, the -forerunner of a modern Warrington or Wigan. The site of the ancient -Roman town has been carefully dug over. Traces have been found of many -pits, hearths, furnaces, and ovens for the manufacture of glass and -pottery, a bronze foundry, and an iron smelting furnace, and an -enameller's workshop. In the museums at Warrington and at Stockport are -many fragments of pottery found here. Most of it is of a rough brown-red -ware, called 'rough-cast', of which the commoner utensils, water-jugs -and bowls and funeral urns, were made. A more ornamental kind is called -'Samian', and is of a darker colour, highly glazed and decorated with -embossed figures of men and animals. Many articles of iron, knives, -padlocks, keys, nails, found on the same spot show that Veratinum was -the Birmingham of the Roman occupation. - -Roman coins have been dug up in large numbers at Chester and other sites -along the Roman roads. Many of them are to be seen in Chester Town Hall -and in our museums. Nearly all the emperors of the first four centuries -are represented upon them. Several emperors came to Britain, and we may -be sure that in their tours of inspection they paid visits to the -important garrison city of the 'great legion'. - -Some of these coins bear the name of Constantine, the first Christian -emperor, who was born at York, and whose mother was perhaps a lady of -British birth. There is unfortunately nothing to show that there was any -Christian church in Roman Cheshire, though many of the Roman soldiers -must have been familiar with the Christian faith. Romans who became -Christians were allowed to worship in the basilica, which in after days, -as we shall see, became the model upon which Christian churches were -built. - -On a house near the East Gate of Chester are carved these words: 'The -fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.' This is the translation of an -inscription on a Roman coin found when the workmen were digging the -foundations of the building. The coins of the Emperor Magnentius show -the monogram of the first two letters of Christ. - -The Roman rule lasted for 370 years. During this period they had -transformed a desolate and barren land, inhabited by a people that were -almost savages, into a fertile and prosperous province; Britannia Felix -the Romans themselves called it. Large tracts of forest land were -cleared and brought under cultivation. Britain became one of the chief -granaries of Rome. In the museums you may see the Roman querns or -handmills with which they ground their corn. - -The Romans worked the copper mines on Alderley Edge; stone hammer-heads -with which the Britons crushed the ore for their Roman masters have been -found there. A 'pig' of lead weighing over a hundredweight, dug up in -the Roodee, shows that lead mines were extensively worked. The lead was -brought to Chester from the mines of Denbighshire and was part of the -tribute paid by the Britons to the Roman emperors. Salt, a scarce -commodity in many countries, was obtained, as at the present day, from -the salt beds of Northwich. - -At the end of the fourth century the Roman empire was overrun by hordes -of barbarians from Northern Europe. The Romans, weakened by luxury and -wealth, were unable to beat back the ruthless invaders. Legion after -legion was summoned from the distant parts of the empire for the defence -of the imperial city itself. About the year A.D. 380 the 'Conquering -Legion' marched out for the last time through the city gates of Chester, -and by 410 no Roman soldiers were left in Britain. - -With sorrow and despair the Britons watched the last soldiers depart. -Their own fighting-men were far away in distant lands, and they knew -that without the protection of the Roman legions on whom they had so -long relied, they were left a defenceless prey of the foes that were -threatening them on all sides. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE - - -As the Romans retreated southwards, tribes of Picts, a fierce race -inhabiting the northern parts of Britain followed in their wake -plundering and destroying the cities built by the Romans, and everywhere -falling upon the defenceless Britons. We know little of the doings of -this terrible time, for with the departure of the Romans there descended -upon Britain a veil of darkness that was not to be lifted for 150 years. - -In the latter part of the fifth century the tide of Pictish invasion was -rolled back by other races who landed on our southern and eastern -coasts. These were the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, the rude forefathers -of the English people, who left their homes in Northern Germany to make -new settlements and found kingdoms in our country. You will read -elsewhere of the long and gradual conquest of England by these barbarian -invaders. 'Field by field, town by town, forest by forest, the land was -won' from the British inhabitants. - -According to the story usually told, though I am obliged to admit that -we have very strong evidence for it, it was not until the year 584 A.D. -that any of them reached the part of the country that is now Cheshire. -By that time the West Saxons, one of the most powerful of these tribes, -had fought their way from the English Channel to the River Severn and -Shropshire, where they destroyed the great Roman city of Uriconium. -Under their leader Ceawlin they appear to have made an attempt to reach -Chester, but were met near Nantwich at a spot called Fethanleagh, now -probably the modern village of Faddiley, by Brocmael, Prince of Powys or -mid-Wales. The Saxons were routed and retired quickly to the South. -Chester was saved for a time and became the capital of the Welsh kingdom -of Gwynedd. - -Thirty years later, however, a greater than Ceawlin appeared before the -walls of the Roman city. The Angles, who had founded on our -north-eastern shores the powerful kingdom of Northumbria, crossed the -Pennine Hills under their leader and king Aethelfrith, and descended -upon Cheshire. Once more Brocmael put himself at the head of the Britons -and Welsh. We are told by Bede, the earliest of our English historians, -who wrote in the succeeding century, that 1,200 monks from a great -monastery at Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee accompanied Brocmael after a fast -of three days to the battlefield to offer up prayers for victory. -Aethelfrith watched the wild gestures of the monks and bade his -followers slay them first of all. 'Bear they arms or no,' he said, 'they -fight against us when they cry against us to their God.' Brocmael left -them to their fate and fled from the battle, which ended in the utter -defeat of the Britons. - -The victory of Aethelfrith was followed by the capture of Chester, and -Cheshire became a portion of a kingdom that stretched from the Tweed to -the Dee. But the most important result of the 'Battle of Chester' was -that the northern Welsh Britons or 'Cumbrian' Welsh were now completely -cut off from their kinsmen in Wales. Everywhere the conquered Britons -were driven northwards and westwards to the mountains of Cumberland or -Wales, and the Britons as a united nation ceased to exist. - -For forty years Cheshire was ruled by Northumbrian kings, but during the -latter part of this period another kingdom was gathering strength in the -Midlands of England. This was the kingdom of Mercia or the Marchland. -The Mercian Penda defeated the Northumbrian king and added Cheshire to -the lands over which he ruled. Mercia and Cheshire were frequently -raided by the Welsh, and it was to keep them out that Offa, greatest of -the Mercian kings, built his famous 'Dyke' from Chester to South Wales, -many portions of which you may trace to this day. - -Mercia in turn was conquered by the kings of Wessex, one of whom, -Ecberght, is usually styled the first king of all England. Ecberght and -his West Saxons overran Cheshire and captured the city of Chester in -the year 828. Thus did three kingdoms strive for the possession of -Cheshire, which from its central position must have been the scene of -many an unrecorded fight. - -Numbers of Cheshire villages show by their names their Anglo-Saxon -origin. Davenham, Frodsham, and Warmingham speak to us of the 'hams' or -homesteads that the Saxons made for themselves in their newly won lands. -Bebington, Bollington, and Congleton take their names from the 'tun', -the enclosure or hedge of a farm or village; Prestbury, Marbury, and -Astbury from the 'burh' or fortified house of the headman of a tribe. - - [Illustration: RUNIC STONE, UPTON] - -Goostree is perhaps the 'God's tree' where the land was parcelled out -among the villagers and punishment meted to wrong-doers; Thurstaston, or -the tun of Thor's stone, the place of sacrifice to their heathen god -Thor. - -The ash tree gives its name to several Cheshire villages, Ashton, -Ashley, Astbury, for instance. This fact tells us that the tree was held -in great veneration by the Angles and Saxons. Even to this day the tree -is thought to possess the power of bringing good or evil. A -superstitious Cheshire labourer will not, if he can help it, cut down an -ash tree for fear it should bring him misfortune, and churn staves made -of ash are used by farmers' wives to prevent the butter from being -bewitched. - -It is in fact from the Angles and Saxons that we have inherited the -priceless possession of our English tongue. The oldest traces of our -language in a written form in Cheshire may be seen in the Grosvenor -Museum at Chester. Here on a plaster cast is an inscription written in -strange letters, 'Runes' or 'mysteries' as they are called. This cast is -a copy of an inscribed stone discovered at Upton-in-Wirral when the old -church was pulled down. The stones of this building had previously been -taken from the ancient ruined church at Overchurch. Learned scholars -examined the stone carefully and made out these words: FOLCAE AREARDON -BEC[UN]. [GI]BIDDATH FOR ATHELMUND. The meaning is 'Folk reared tomb, -bid (i.e. pray) for Athelmund'. You can see that the words are English, -though their form has changed considerably during the 1,200 years or -more that have gone by since the runes were carved. - -Fierce and bloodthirsty were these early ancestors of ours, 'hateful -alike to God and men,' as Gildas, a Welsh monk, described them. Yet even -they were taught in time to abandon their strange gods and turn to the -worship of Christ, and through the land in town and village uprose a -cross of wood or stone, the outward symbol of a new and better faith. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE - - -During the latter years of the Roman occupation there must have been -many among the Roman soldiers stationed in Cheshire who had heard the -message of the Gospel, and, following the example of their emperors, -professed the faith of Christ. But, as we have before stated, there is -no proof that a Christian church existed in Cheshire in those days, -though tradition says that where the cathedral church of Chester now -stands there was a church dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul, which had -previously been a temple of Apollo. - -In Wales and Ireland the Church flourished greatly through the troublous -period of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. We are told that Kentigern, the -first bishop of Glasgow, on his return to Wales landed in Wirral and -founded a church there. In the previous chapter we have seen that at -Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee there was a monastery of great importance, -which after the victory of Aethelfrith of Northumbria was razed to the -ground. - -Yet it was from Northumbria that Christianity was destined to be brought -and preached to the Angles and Saxons of Cheshire. Oswald, the son of -the heathen Aethelfrith, had during his exile in Scotland been converted -by Celtic missionaries. During the reign of this 'most Christian king, a -man dearly beloved of God, and fenced with the faith of Christ', -missionaries from Scotland 'began with great and fervent devotion to -preach the word of faith to those provinces which King Oswald governed, -baptising all such as believed. Therefore churches were builded in -places convenient: the people rejoicing assembled together to hear the -word of God,' The ancient churches dedicated to S. Oswald at Chester, -Malpas, Brereton, Peover, Bidston, and Worleston, are proof of the great -part played by King Oswald in the conversion of Cheshire and of the -high repute in which he was held as a champion of Christianity. - -The tiny hamlet of Chadkirk near Marple suggests to us a famous -missionary who lived at a time when Cheshire had become part of the -kingdom of Mercia. This was Ceadda or Chad, who was sent by the Irish -saint Colomba to preach the gospel to the people of Mercia, and became -in later times the patron saint of the bishopric of Mercia, founded by -King Offa. Chad, who like Oswald had received Christianity from the -Celtic missionaries of North Britain, continued the good work of the -Northumbrian missionaries. At the village of Over were formerly two -stone crosses which may well mark the spots where Chad preached to the -Saxons of Cheshire, baptizing the converts in the river Weaver that -flows hard by. The old church of Over is dedicated to him, as are also -the churches of Farndon and Wybunbury. It is worthy of note that all the -Cheshire churches named after him were built on the banks of streams, -which leads us to suppose that S. Chad, like S. John the Baptist by the -banks of Jordan, chose places where his preaching might be immediately -followed by the ceremony of baptism. - -At Sandbach are two stone crosses which are thought to be closely -connected with the conversion of Cheshire. The story goes that Peada, -son of Penda the heathen king of Mercia, wished to marry the Christian -daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria. To win the maiden the young man -consented to forsake his old religion and become a Christian; whereupon -the crosses were set up to commemorate his conversion and marriage. - -If you look carefully at the Sandbach crosses you will see that the -Angles of Mercia had reached a very high level of art in sculptured -stones. Carved upon them are several scenes in the life of our Lord, the -Nativity in the stable at Bethlehem with the ox and the ass kneeling -before the infant Christ, the Crucifixion with S. Mary and Apostles -below, Christ carrying the Cross, and Christ in glory with S. Peter on -His right hand bearing the keys of heaven. - -Few crosses were, however, carved so elaborately as these Sandbach -crosses. The majority were doubtless of wood, set up in the middle of -the open space round which clustered the huts and wattled dwellings of -the inhabitants. Others consisted of a plain stone shaft set upright in -the ground or on a base of stone steps, sometimes rudely adorned with -scroll-work such as you may see on the fragments of a cross preserved in -the churchyard of Prestbury. Most of them have perished, broken into -fragments where they fell, or have been used for repairs to damaged -buildings. Many were wantonly destroyed in the seventeenth century -during the Civil War. - - [Illustration: ANGLIAN CROSSES AT SANDBACH] - -Crosses were set up by the wayside at the junction of important highways -or in towns at the crossing of the principal streets, as at Chester. -Here in the open air the monks would gather round them bands of -listeners, and preach the Word of God. Afterwards close to the cross was -erected an edifice of wood or wattles in which the services of the -Church were held, and in still later times these wooden churches would -be replaced by stone buildings. Nowhere, however, in Cheshire are there -any churches or even portions of churches remaining which can be said to -have been built by our early Saxon forefathers. - -The church of S. John's, Chester, is said to have been founded by King -Aethelred of Mercia in the year 689. An ancient legend states that -Aethelred 'was admonished to erect a church on the spot where he should -find a white hind'. In the church you may see fragments of an ancient -wall-painting or 'fresco' on one of the pillars of the nave which -illustrates this story. A church certainly did exist here in very early -times, for we read that in later days Leofric, Earl of Mercia, -_repaired_ and enriched the church of S. John's, which may mean that the -earlier wooden church had fallen into decay, and a more substantial -building of stone was erected in its place. - -The house of the Mercian Penda produced yet another name closely -connected with the story of the Cross in Cheshire. Werburga, a -great-granddaughter of Penda, succeeded her mother as head of several -great abbeys. She died at Trentham in Staffordshire towards the end of -the seventh century, and two hundred years later, when the Danes (of -whom you will read more in the next chapter) were harrying the land, her -body was removed to Chester for safe keeping, and placed in the church -of S. Peter and S. Paul which had been re-dedicated to S. Werburga and -S. Oswald. For many centuries crowds of devout pilgrims made their way -to Chester to offer prayers and gifts at S. Werburga's shrine. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN - - -With the capture of Chester (Chap. VII) Ecberght's conquest of Mercia -was complete. Northumbria, Kent, and East Anglia also submitted to him. -But neither Ecberght nor the kings that came after him were to be -allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace, for a new and terrible enemy -now appeared on our shores. - -In the ninth century, the coasts of Britain were ravaged by the Northmen -or Vikings, those - - Wild sea-wandering lords - Who sailed in a snake-prowed galley with a terror of twenty swords. - -The word Vikings or 'wickings' means creek-men, from a Scandinavian word -'wick', 'a creek'. These Scandinavian and Danish sea-pirates left their -homes in the bays and fiords of North-West Europe, and made raids upon -Britain and the neighbouring lands more at first from greed of plunder -than with any idea of conquest. Large numbers of Danes landed on our -eastern coasts and ravaged the midlands. Under their leader Hasting or -Hastein, they seized and occupied the city of Chester. We can imagine -the hasty flight of the monks, for the abbeys and churches were always -the first objects of attack by these heathen invaders. You will read -elsewhere how King Alfred finally saved the greater part of England -from the Danes and converted their leaders to Christianity. - -The little village of Plemstall (or Plegmundstall), near Chester, -reminds us of Plegmund, a Saxon hermit, who took refuge here to escape -the Danes. Plegmund had been a friend and tutor of King Alfred. When -Alfred's work was done, and peace made with the Danes, he called -Plegmund from his lonely retreat in the marshes of the Gowy to be -Archbishop of Canterbury. - -Meanwhile, the Scandinavians had sailed round the north and west coasts -of Scotland, plundering the rich monasteries that had been built by S. -Patrick and his followers, and making new homes for themselves in the -Isle of Man and in Ireland. Towards the end of the ninth century they -crossed into Wales and sailed up the Dee to the walls of Chester, drawn -thither perhaps by the report of the wealth of the great church that had -been built on the banks of the river. But they found only a deserted -city in ruins, and retired to the shores of Wirral, where they settled -and tilled the land, and devoted themselves to the more peaceful -pursuits of agriculture. - -In the Wirral peninsula many of the names of the villages still show -their Scandinavian origin. Thus Shotwick means the south wick or creek. -This village stands at the edge of a strip of land that has been -recovered from the sea. In early times, boats could run along the creek -right up to the rising ground where now stands the village church. - -An interesting name survives in the little hamlet of Thingwall, situated -almost in the centre of the Wirral. Thingwall is the field where the -'thing', that is the tribe, assembled to divide the land and to dispense -justice. You will recognize the same word in the town of Dingwall in the -North of Scotland, and at the present day 'thing' is the Norwegian and -Danish name for Parliament. - -The ending '-by' in the villages Kirby, Irby, Raby, Frankby, and Helsby, -is the Danish name for a township, and we see the word in our modern -word 'by-laws', that is town laws. You will not find this ending in the -names of villages in any other parts of Cheshire. - - [Illustration: NORSE HOG-BACK, WEST KIRBY] - -In the museum in the old school-house by the churchyard at West Kirby -you may see a stone, which, from its shape, antiquaries call a -'hog-back'. The hog-back was a tombstone or grave-slab that marked the -burial-place of some Scandinavian chief. The carved ornamentation as -well as its shape is like that of other similar stones that have been -found in the parts of Britain where the Northmen settled. The stone -gives you some idea of the homes from which these pirates came, for the -carved oval shapes represent little wooden tiles; and the interlaced -lines are the wattles or osiers of which their huts were made. The -heathen Scandinavian liked his place of burial to be as much like home -as possible, which may be taken as a proof that he did not think that -his soul would perish along with his body. In the same museum is another -stone with a head shaped like a wheel, which is also the work of the -Vikings. - -We are, fortunately, able to tell almost the exact time at which the -settlements in the Wirral were made. We read in an old chronicle that in -the year 900 A.D. Alfred's daughter Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, -granted lands in Wirral to one Ingimund who had been driven out of -Ireland. This lady, Ethelfleda, fortified Chester and rebuilt the walls -which had lain in ruins since the departure of the Romans. Perhaps -Ingimund and his followers had already become Christians during their -stay in Ireland. If they had not, we may be sure that Ethelfleda did as -her father had done in his treaty with the Danes, and insisted on their -becoming Christians in return for being allowed to settle in Cheshire. - -It was in the reign of Alfred that many English counties or shires first -received their modern names. Cheshire or Chester-shire, like -Staffordshire and Warwickshire, took its name from the chief city or -fortress which dominated the district and protected it from the ravages -of the Danes. - -Alfred also ordered an English history to be written, in which the chief -events of each year were recorded. This Old English Chronicle, as it is -called, was kept up in the reigns of the successors of Alfred, and is -the principal source of our knowledge of England under the Anglo-Saxon -kings. - -The Chronicle tells us that, in order to prevent any fresh landing of -Danes, Ethelfleda built a castle or 'burh' at Runcorn at the head of the -estuary of the Mersey. The very site of her castle has now disappeared, -for 'Castle Rock', upon which it was built, was destroyed when the Ship -Canal was made. - -Another fortress was erected by Ethelfleda on Eddisbury Hill, the -highest point of Delamere Forest, where, probably, there was a large -camp in British times. Her brother Edward, who succeeded Alfred as King -of England, also fortified Thelwall on the Mersey, as an inscription on -the gable of an inn at Thelwall tells us. For the next twenty years he -carried on a vigorous war against the Danes of the 'Five Boroughs', -Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Stamford, and Lincoln. But in many parts -Saxon and Dane had already settled down side by side, the Danes -abandoned the worship of their heathen gods Odin and Thor, and received -the Gospel of Christ, and in the next century a Danish king was -destined to rule over all the land and to advance greatly the cause of -Christianity. - -Edward's work was done when he received the homage of the chief kings of -Britain, and made the royal house of Wessex supreme. In the year 924, as -you may read in the English Chronicle, 'then chose him for father and -lord the King of Scots ... and all those who dwell in Northumbria -whether English or Danes, and also the King of the Strathclyde Welsh.' - -Chester appears to have rapidly risen in importance, largely no doubt -owing to its central position, and to have become a great and populous -city. The walls were extended beyond the limits of the ancient Roman -city, and a new fortress built where the present 'Castle' of Chester now -stands, to guard the road over the river. - -Henceforth, the city was kept in a state of defence by a custom which -bound every 'hide' in the shire to provide a man at the town-reeve's -call to keep its walls and bridge in repair. A considerable trade with -the seaports of Ireland followed, largely it is to be feared in -connexion with the slave traffic, and the city became a favourite resort -of the English kings. Coins were minted here in the reign of Athelstan. - -Athelstan must often have been in Cheshire, for this favourite grandson -of King Alfred was brought up by the Lady of Mercia, and no doubt -learned from her the ways of a strong and wise ruler. When Athelstan -became king he was attacked by the King of the Scots and the Danes of -Ireland. A great battle was fought, perhaps on Cheshire soil, and the -English Chronicle breaks out into a wonderful song of victory. - - Athelstan King - Lord among Earls, - He with his brother, - Gained a lifelong - Glory in battle, - Slew with the sword-edge, - There by Brunanburh ... - - * * * * * - - Bow'd the spoiler, - Bent the Scotsman, - Fell the ship-crews - Doom'd to the death. - All the field with blood of the fighters - Flow'd, from when first the great - Sun-star of morningtide, - Lamp of the Lord God - Lord Everlasting - Glode over earth till the glorious creature - Sank to his setting. - -Brunanburh has been thought by some writers of history to be the village -of Bromborough in Wirral. We cannot be sure of this, but some day -perhaps the land will give up its secret, when some labourer's spade -shall dig up the javelins and the war-knives of the defeated Northmen. - -'Edgar's field' is supposed to mark the site of the palace of one of the -greatest of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of England. It is related that in the -year 973, Edgar the 'Peacewinner' visited Chester, and received there -the submission of many tributary kings. He assembled an imposing fleet -of ships on the Dee, and was rowed from his palace to the minster of S. -John's by six under-kings, the King of Scots, the King of Cumberland, -the King of Man, and three Welsh princes, he himself taking the helm as -being their head-king. 'Those who come after me', he said, 'may indeed -call themselves kings, since I have had such honour.' - -Guided by his chief adviser, the good Archbishop Dunstan, Edgar also did -much to increase the power and influence of the Church. He gave a -charter in 958 to the church of S. Werburga, and endowed it richly with -lands. The English Chronicle thus speaks of him: - - He upreared God's glory - and loved God's law - and bettered the public peace - more than the kings - who were before him - within man's memory. - - God also him helped - that kings and earls - gladly to him bowed - and were submissive - to all that he willed. - -In Edgar's reign we first hear of the division of the shire into -'hundreds' for the trial and punishment of evildoers. Why this name was -chosen is not quite clear, but the Hundred probably denoted a collection -of a hundred homesteads or hamlets. The Hundred had its 'moot' or -assembly of freemen, held near some sacred spot or conspicuous landmark. -In Cheshire some of them, Bucklow for instance, took their names from -the ancient 'lows' or burial-places. - -Early in the eleventh century fresh invasions of Danes took place, and -in 1016 Cnut Dane became King of England. Cheshire formed a portion of a -great earldom, embracing the whole of Mercia and governed by Earl -Leofric. Cnut, who during his reign visited Rome and had there learnt -much about church building, was a generous friend to the churches, -rebuilding those that had suffered in the wars and erecting many new -ones. The church of S. Olave or Olaf, in the south-eastern part of the -city of Chester, probably owes its foundation to him, for the name shows -that there was a Danish settlement in the city. The city itself was -governed at this time, like other Danish cities, by twelve 'lagmen' or -lawmen who presided over its law-courts. - -Leofric, not to be outdone by his master Cnut, almost entirely rebuilt -the church of S. Werburga in 1057, and if we may judge from the -memorials of his work which he has left in other cities of his earldom, -much of the new church was probably built of stone. It is doubtful -whether he lived to see the completion of his work. In any case, before -many years had passed, the church was again enlarged on a still grander -scale and by a greater race of church builders than any that had gone -before them. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE - - -In the early months of the year A.D. 1070 the Saxons of Cheshire fled -before the approach of an army of discontented and almost mutinous -troops who had cut their way through the deep snowdrifts of the Pennine -Hills. But neither the severity of the weather nor the hardships of the -march seemed to have any effect upon the stern and indomitable Norman -warrior at their head, who, like the Vikings whose blood flowed in his -veins, set an example of energy and endurance to his half-starved -fainting followers. - -William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, had landed in England three and -a half years previously, and defeated the English King Harold at the -battle of Senlac. But the real 'conquest' was yet to come; and after -swift visits to the west and north of England William crossed the hills -that lay between York and Cheshire and made a dash upon Chester, the one -great city of free England that had not yet bowed to the might of the -Norman invader. - -There were at this time in Chester many English, the wife of Harold -among them, who had fled thither after the defeat of Senlac, prepared on -William's approach to cross the seas to Ireland. In the next century -Gerald 'the Welshman' related the legend that Harold himself was not -killed at the battle of Senlac, but escaped, and, after many wanderings, -took refuge in a hermit's cell near the minster of S. John's, where he -remained until his death. The story was no doubt invented by those who -were unwilling to believe that an English king had been defeated by a -foreigner. - -William captured the city and received the submission of Edric the -Forester and other Saxon leaders. Chester was put in charge of a Flemish -noble called Gherbod, who, however, in the following year returned to -his native land. Then, leaving a trail of fire and sword through -mid-Cheshire, William marched southwards to Salisbury Plain, where he -held a grand review of all his followers and distributed to them their -rewards. You will not see him again in Cheshire. No part of the country -ever needed a second visit from the 'Conqueror'. - -The English who had borne arms against William were treated as rebels -and deprived of their lands and possessions, which were parcelled out -among the Normans. A parcel of land thus granted was called a manor. All -the landowners, including those English who were allowed to keep their -estates, were compelled to take the oath of fealty to King William in -person. In this way William broke up the great earldoms which had been -created by the Danish king Cnut. - -Cheshire, however, in which the Saxon Earl Edwin, Harold's -brother-in-law, owned vast estates, was from the first treated in a very -special manner. Owing to its position on the border of Wales, William -saw that it was very necessary to place a strong military power in this -part of England to protect his newly-won kingdom from invasion from the -west. So he bestowed the county upon his own favourite nephew Hugh -d'Avranches, surnamed Lupus or 'the Wolf', and his heirs, giving him the -title of Earl of Chester. The earl's duty was to repel any attacks that -might be made by the Welsh, and permission was given him even to extend -his earldom, if possible, beyond the Welsh border. Royal rights were -granted to him over all land within the earldom, which was held by him -'as freely by the sword as the king held England by the Crown'. For this -reason Cheshire was called a County Palatine, that is, a county whose -ruler exercises all the powers of an independent prince, save only that -he owns allegiance to his overlord the king. And the sword, the 'sword -of dignity', as it was called, was no light one. You may see it if ever -you visit the British Museum, a mighty two-edged weapon four feet long, -with its inscription in Latin engraved beneath the hilt, 'Hugo comes -Cestriae,' Hugh Count of Chester. - -In the quadrangle of Eaton Hall is an equestrian statue of Hugh Lupus, -an ancestor of the Dukes of Westminster, whose family derives its name -of Grosvenor from Robert the 'gros veneur' or great huntsman of the -Conqueror and nephew of 'the Wolf'. - -An old engraving gives us a picture of the royal state with which Earl -Hugh was surrounded. He is represented sitting on a raised throne and -presiding over his council or parliament, which consisted of the four -chief abbots and the four greatest barons of Cheshire. Behind a barrier -at the lower end of the council-chamber a crowd of humble people are -gathered, bearing petitions or grievances for the earl's hearing and -consideration. For the earl possessed power of life or death over all -offenders, could pardon treason and murder within his own domain, and -give protection or 'sanctuary' to criminals, who, however, paid heavy -fines for this privilege. He also raised taxes, appointed all the judges -and justices of the peace in the earldom, and created his own barons, -who were themselves permitted to hold baronial courts for the trial and -punishment of evildoers. Gilbert de Venables, the Baron of Kinderton, -and his successors held courts at their castle near Middlewich until -late in the sixteenth century, when all these courts were swept away. - -Ordericus Vitalis, a Norman monk who wrote in the early part of the -twelfth century, says that Earl Hugh 'was very prodigal, and carried not -so much a family as an army along with him. He daily wasted his estate, -and delighted more in falcons and huntsmen than in tillers of the soil. -He was much given to his appetite, whereby in time he grew so fat that -he could scarcely crawl.' He was also a lover of minstrelsy and romance, -and invited the best narrators of great deeds to live with him and spur -on to rivalry the young nobles whom he delighted to gather round him at -his court. - -The mass of the English people became dependent on their Norman masters. -The latter had learned the use of the lance and the longbow, and the -fame of their mailclad mounted knights had spread through all Europe. -They kept the English down by building strong castles in their midst. At -Aldford, Shocklach, Doddleston, and Malpas on the Welsh borderland, -where castles were naturally more numerous, little remains to be seen -at the present day but the green mounds on which were erected the keeps -or donjons of the Norman lords. Round the tree-clad hummock at -Aldford--'Blob's Hill' the village folk call it--the moat that -surrounded the Norman castle yet remains, now dry and carpeted in -springtime with primroses, whose waters must often have been dyed with -the blood of Norman, Saxon, and Welshman. - -The Norman castles were of great strength, though not always built of -stone. Many were built on the sites of British encampments or Saxon -'burhs', in which case the old wooden stockade was doubtless allowed to -remain. The central fortress or keep, a square, or sometimes circular, -building with walls of immense thickness, was surrounded by an inner -ward or courtyard in which cattle and provisions could be gathered in -case of attack, and where, on a raised mound in the centre, the baron -held his court. Round this ward were grouped the domestic apartments, -the stables, and the quarters of servants and retainers. Beyond these -buildings was a second or outer ward, the whole being enclosed by walls -with projecting towers at intervals. The castles of the plain were -further protected, as at Aldford, by a deep ditch or moat crossed by a -drawbridge leading to the principal entrance. The keep was the last -place of refuge when the defenders were driven from the walls, and -frequently contained a well of water. In the keep at Beeston Castle is a -well over three hundred feet deep, to which water was perhaps at one -time drawn from Beeston Brook or some other neighbouring stream. - -On the summit of Halton Hill you may still see a portion of the outer -wall of the castle built by Nigel, Baron of Halton and cousin of Earl -Hugh. He was the chief of all the Cheshire barons, was constable of the -city of Chester, and led the Cheshire army, when required, against the -Welsh. Thirty-seven manors, among them those of Congleton, Great Barrow, -Raby and Sale in the county of Cheshire, were included in his -possessions. Other barons created by the Earl of Chester were William of -Nantwich, Vernon of Shipbroke, Fitzhugh of Malpas, Venables of -Kinderton, Hamon Massi of Dunham, Nicholas of Stockport, and Robert of -Montalt or Mold. The last-named shows that the county of Flint was at -that time part of the earldom. The name of the Norman baron was often -added to that of the Saxon village where he dwelt, as in the case of -Dunham Massey, Minshull Vernon. - -The earl himself resided at Chester, where large additions were made to -the stronghold of Ethelfleda, but probably his castle was built largely -of timber, for no stone of it remains, and a hundred and fifty years -later Henry the Third ordered the stockade with which the castle ward -was enclosed to be removed and replaced by a wall of stone. On the -eastern side of the castle was erected a great shire hall where the earl -held his parliament, and an exchequer court where the dues and taxes -were paid to him. - -What these dues and taxes were we may learn from the Great Survey called -Domesday Book, which was made by King William's orders, and completed -about the year 1087. The chief object of the Survey was to find out what -the country was worth, and how much the people could afford to pay in -taxes. The book, which is carefully preserved at the British Museum, is -the most valuable record we possess of the state of England under its -first Norman king. Domesday Book was written in Latin, but translations -have been made by scholars, and may be seen in many of our free -libraries. In the 'Customs of Chester' we are told that the city paid in -rent forty-five pounds and three bundles of marten skins, a third of -which went to the earl and two-thirds to the king. The skins were -imported from Ireland, and show that the Irish pirates of former days -had given place to peaceful traders. The king also claimed two-thirds of -the produce of the brine pits at Nantwich, Northwich, and Middlewich, -the last-named being farmed 'for twenty-five shillings and two cartloads -of salt'. The value of every manor, with the number of 'hides' of arable -land, the extent of meadow land and of woodland, was faithfully -recorded. 'There was not one single yard of land, nor even one ox, one -cow, one swine that was left out.' - -Some Saxon villages had little left to record after the Conqueror's -visit, so that you may learn from Domesday something of the severity -with which William's conquest had been accomplished. Prestbury and many -other Saxon villages are not even mentioned. When Earl Hugh received the -city of Chester it was worth only thirty pounds, 'for it had been -greatly wasted; there were two hundred and five houses less there than -there had been in the time of King Edward' (the Confessor). - -From Domesday we can learn the names of the Saxon freemen who were -allowed to keep their lands. Marton was held by the Saxon Godfric, -probably in return for some service rendered to the invaders, or because -he had at least not taken arms against them; Butley was divided between -the Saxon Ulric and Robert, son of Hugh Lupus. The manor of Brereton was -retained by the Breretons, whose descendants play a great part in the -later history of Cheshire. But such cases are few and far between, and -by far the greater part of the county passed into new hands. - -The story of Mobberley may be taken as a good example of what happened -in most cases to the old English landowners. The very name of the -village brings to our eyes scenes of old English life as the Normans -found it, for Motburlege, as the name is written in Domesday, is the -open space (lege) by the fortified house (burh) where the assembly of -the people was held (mote). 'The same Bigot' (thus Domesday runs)' -_holds_ Motburlege. Dot _held_ it and was a freeman.... The value in -King Edward's time was twelve shillings, now only five shillings.' Such -is the simple story, repeated again and again in the great survey. Dot -was a Saxon lord of sixteen villages, including Cholmondeley, Bickerton, -Shocklach, Grappenhall, Peover, and Dodcot, to the last of which he gave -his own name. Thus, even as Dot's own forefathers had driven out the -Celtic tribesmen who pastured their flocks on the neighbouring commons, -so now it was Dot's turn to be thrust from his ancestral home at -Mobberley and seek a refuge perhaps among the very people whom he had -displaced. - -Bigot received more than one manor. Domesday tells us that he held -Sandbach also. Over the entrance of Sandbach Town Hall you may see his -statuette, placed there to remind you of the days when Cheshire lands -passed from the hands of the English to their Norman conquerors. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE - - -Among the friends of Earl Hugh who visited him at his castle at Chester -was Anselm the great churchman, who afterwards became Archbishop of -Canterbury. Anselm was at the time prior of the Abbey of Bec, which was -close to Avranches, the earl's own Norman home. Now if there was one -thing on which the Normans justly prided themselves, it was the founding -and building of churches, and the heart of Earl Hugh was set on building -in his own city of Chester a monastery that should rival in splendour -those of his native country. Perhaps, too, the Norman lords thought that -by devoting a portion of their wealth to the service of God they could -win salvation for their souls and atone for the shortcomings and -misdeeds of their stormy lives. So the Cheshire earl sent for his former -friend Anselm to come and aid him in his scheme, and the result of his -visit was that in 1093 the clergy of S. Werburgh's were turned out of -their homes, and the church itself pulled down, and in its place was -erected a monastery of Benedictine monks who were brought over from Bee, -Anselm's chaplain, Richard, being made the first abbot. - -The monks were men who lived a life of prayer, fasting, and study apart -from the world. None might ever leave the precincts of the monastery -without permission. The Benedictines received their name from Saint -Benedict, who lived in the sixth century, and drew up rules for the -daily life and conduct of the monks of the Order. They all slept in the -same dormitory, and all took their meals together in a common room -called a refectory. In the refectory at Chester you may see a lector's -pulpit from which portions of the Scriptures were read aloud to the -monks as they sat at their meals. They gave all their private -possessions to the monastery, and had to obey their superior in all -matters. Every hour of the day and night had its allotted duties of -work, study, or religious services. High up in the wall in one of the -oldest parts of Chester Cathedral is a row of tiny arches, and behind -them a narrow passage, along which the monks went from their -sleeping-chamber to the early morning services in the abbey church. - -To some of the monks was given the work of gardening, agriculture, and -even building. The name of Caleyards at Chester still speaks to us of -the kitchen-garden which the monks tended. Others made copies of -illuminated 'missals' or books of Church services, or wrote histories -and the annals of the abbey to which they were attached. The Chronicles -of S. Werburgh were kept and added to yearly by the monks of Chester; -though the original has been lost, a copy of it, made by a later scribe, -has happily been preserved. - -The most important part of the monastery was of course the church. The -Norman churches were built of stone, and, as they took many years to -build, very few of the founders lived to see the completion of their -work. Probably only the foundations and portions of the walls of the -church of Earl Hugh Lupus were finished during his lifetime. The work of -the Norman builders may be recognized by the round-headed arches, -doorways and windows which they copied from the Roman buildings. The -Roman basilica or hall of justice, in which the earliest Christians were -permitted to worship, was taken as a model for Christian churches. The -capital of a Norman pillar in Frodsham Church proves that they had -studied the architecture of the Romans, for it has the Ionic 'volute' or -spiral scroll on each of its four faces. If you look for the round -arches in the Cathedral of Chester you will be able to make out the -portions which remain of the church built by Earl Hugh and by the -abbots who completed his plans after his death. - -You will see from the Norman church of S. John's at Chester that the -churches were built in the form of a cross with four great semicircular -arches to support a central tower. Similar arches on massive circular -columns separate the nave from the two aisles. An examination of these -columns reveals the fact that the building of the nave was commenced -from both ends at once in order to make more rapid progress with the -work, for the mouldings of the capitals of the outer columns is the -same, but differ from those of the inner ones. Moreover, the masonry of -the latter is more finely jointed than that of the earlier end columns. -This shows that the Normans improved in the quality of their work as -they went on. In the north transept of Chester Cathedral, which is part -of the first Norman church, the stones in the lower parts have wider -joints and are less carefully fitted than those above them. - -The choir and aisles generally ended in a semicircular 'apse'. A -semicircle of dark blue stones set in the floor of the north aisle in -the Cathedral of Chester marks the apse of an aisle of Earl Hugh's -church. - -The village churches were of course not built on the same scale of -grandeur as the churches of S. John and S. Werburgh. Nearly everywhere -the Norman 'lords of the manor' rebuilt the rude and humble churches of -wood and stone that had served the needs of the Saxons before them. But -little remains in Cheshire of these Norman churches, save here and there -a doorway or a window or a capital, that has escaped destruction or the -ravages of time. The Norman architects and builders were few in number, -and must have employed many Saxon workmen in the task of rebuilding. The -latter, as you have already learned, were no mean masons and sculptors, -and the carving of the mouldings and capitals of the doorways of the -village churches was doubtless in many cases done by them. The 'chevron' -or zigzag moulding, and the spirals carved on the face of capitals could -easily be cut with an axe, for the Saxons were not yet acquainted with -the use of the Norman chisel. At Shotwick and Shocklach you may see -doorways, which, from the simplicity of their mouldings, are probably -the work of Saxons, performed under the eye of their Norman masters. - - [Illustration: NORMAN ARCHES, S. JOHN'S. CHESTER] - -Towards the end of the eleventh century the clever Norman masons, who -loved to invent new patterns and vary their work, introduced other forms -of ornamentation such as the 'billet' and 'lozenge' and 'scollop' in -their mouldings, and adorned the capitals and even the pillars with rich -carving. Carved pillars may be seen in the Norman arcade in the -cloisters at Chester. - - [Illustration: CLOISTERS, CHESTER: PORTION OF FIRST NORMAN ABBEY OF S. - WERBURGH] - -The head of a Norman doorway is sometimes filled with a semicircular -stone called a tympanum, usually covered with a carved picture of some -scriptural subject. The tympanum over the door of the Norman chapel at -Prestbury represents Christ seated in glory. - - [Illustration: NORMAN DOORWAY WITH TYMPANUM, PRESTBURY] - -The Norman windows, like the doorways, were round-headed. The tiny -window in the chancel at Woodchurch shows us that they were often mere -slits on the outer face of the wall, widening considerably towards the -inner face in order that the light entering through the narrow opening -might be diffused as much as possible. Very few Norman windows have been -allowed to remain in Cheshire, for nearly all have been replaced by -larger ones of a different style at a later date when more light was -needed. - - [Illustration: NORMAN WINDOW, WOODCHURCH, SHOWING WIDE SPLAY INSIDE] - -The font is sometimes the sole remaining portion of the older Norman -church in which it once stood. In the modern church of Wallasey is an -ancient font, which by the arcade of semicircular arches carved upon it -is evidently the work of the Norman builders, and belonged to the Norman -church that formerly stood on the site of the present building. The font -of similar pattern at Grappenhall was dug up during a restoration three -feet below the floor of the present church, where it had lain for -centuries, and there are Norman fonts at Eastham, Bebington, and Burton. -In addition to those already spoken of, the churches of Bebington, -Bruera, Frodsham, Church Lawton, and Barthomley contain portions of -Norman work in some shape or form. - - [Illustration: NORMAN FONT AT WALLASEY] - -The Norman style of architecture is rarely copied nowadays in the -building of churches, being considered too massive and sombre as well as -costly. Boys who live in Wirral should, however, walk to the village of -Thornton Heath, where they may see a new church built entirely in this -style, with every detail copied faithfully from famous old Norman -churches. - -Other Norman barons were not slow to follow the example of their -overlord the Earl of Chester. In 1150 Hamon de Massey, Baron of Dunham -Massey, built a priory at Birkenhead for sixteen Benedictine monks. The -tolls from a ferry across the Mersey were granted to them for their -support, the charges being 'for a horseman two-pence, for a man on foot -one farthing, a halfpenny for a footman on market days, and a penny when -he had goods or produce with him'. The name of 'Monks Brow' still marks -the landing-place of the ferry on the Cheshire side of the estuary. The -monks were also freed from attendance at the 'Hundred' Court of the -Wirral. The manors of Tranmere, Bebington, Saughall Massey, and -Claughton were also given to the priory, and the priors sat in the -council or parliament of the Earls of Chester. The ruined refectory is -the only portion of the priory now remaining. - -The Abbey of S. Werburgh received grants of land from Earl Hugh's barons -as well as a large number of churches and manors from the earl himself. -In the course of time one-fourth of the entire city of Chester became -the property of the abbey. The abbot also had the right of taking the -tolls at the annual fair held at Chester at the Feast of S. Werburgh. -The fair lasted for three days, during which time even criminals might -visit the city to make their purchases without danger of arrest. - - [Illustration: ARMS OF THE SEE OF CHESTER] - -Chester had in fact rapidly become the chief seat of trade in the -north-west of England, and when the Conqueror ordered the sees of the -bishoprics to be removed from thinly populated centres to the large -towns, Peter, the first Norman bishop of Lichfield, left Lichfield 'a -sordid and desert place' and came to Chester, 'a city of renown,' making -the church of S. John his cathedral. Chester did not, however, keep this -honour long, for Peter's successor removed to the rich monastery of -Coventry. Hence it is that you find three mitres on the arms of the -bishopric of Chester. - -Earl Hugh Lupus died in the second year of the reign of Henry the First. -Three days before his death he had put on the cowl and robe of a -Benedictine monk and entered his own monastery at Chester. He was buried -in the abbey cemetery, and his only son Richard, a boy of seven years of -age, inherited the earldom. - -The Abbey of Combermere was founded for another brotherhood of monks -called Cistercians. Their 'rule' was even more strict than that of the -Benedictines. They wore neither boots nor cowl, and for a portion of the -year were allowed but one meal a day; nor were they permitted even to -speak to one another. In 1178, John, Baron of Halton, to secure the -safety of body and soul previous to making a pilgrimage to Palestine, -built a Cistercian abbey at Stanlaw, a dreary spot on the shore of the -Mersey estuary, and a third house of the same Order was founded at -Pulton on the Dee by Robert Pincerna, butler to Earl Randle II. Stanlaw -was almost wholly destroyed by a huge tidal wave which swept up the -Mersey, and the monks were removed to Whalley on the banks of the -Lancashire Calder. The monks, doubtless, were not sorry for the change, -for by the end of the twelfth century the majority of them had grown -tired of the simple life, and, becoming more luxurious in their way of -living, preferred to build their homes in delectable river valleys, -where they could fish the streams to their hearts' content. - -Pulton Abbey was not more fortunate, and was much too near to the Welsh -to be a comfortable place to live in. The Welsh visits were so frequent -and unpleasant that the monastery was abandoned and the monks placed in -a fine new abbey at Dieulacresse in Staffordshire. - -The monks who kept the abbey records were not always very particular -about the truth of the events they relate. They were very superstitious, -and ready to believe any story that would increase the fame of their -founders, or of their patron saints, to whom they ascribed the power of -performing miracles. The story is told that when Earl Richard was making -a pilgrimage to the holy well of S. Winifred in Flintshire he was -attacked by a band of Welsh insurgents and compelled to take refuge in -a neighbouring monastery. He prayed for aid to S. Werburgh, who is said -to have instantly parted the waters of the Dee by making new sandbanks, -over which the Constable of Chester marched troops to the relief of his -lord. These banks were long after known as the Constable's sands. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE - - -In the western porch beneath the tower of Prestbury Church are a number -of fragments of broken grave-slabs of the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries. On nearly all is carved a cross, the head of which is usually -enclosed within a circle, the ends of the limbs of the cross consisting -of a triple lily, the favourite emblem of the Norman sculptors. One only -of these fragments tells us over whose remains the slab was placed. An -inscription, in which the letters VIVYN D are clearly seen, tells us -that this fragment formed part of the tombstone of Vivian Davenport, -Chief Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield. Hunting was the favourite -sport of the Normans, and in Cheshire, as elsewhere, large tracts of -forest land were enclosed for the protection of deer and game, and the -amusement of the Norman knights. The Conqueror himself set the example -by making the New Forest in the south of England, and shortly afterwards -the Earl of Cheshire enclosed the Forests of Mara or Delamere in the -west and Macclesfield in the eastern part of the county. - -The forest laws were very strict. William the Conqueror did not indeed -punish offenders with death, but he ordained that 'whoso slew hart or -hind man should blind him, that none should touch the harts or the -wild-boars, and he made the hare go free. So mightily did he love the -high deer as though he were their father. His rich men bewailed it and -the poor murmured at it, but he was so stark he recked not of them all.' -The forest laws of Rufus were far more severe, and caused fierce hatred -among his poorer subjects. The forests became the haunt of robbers and -outlaws, who clothed themselves in suits of 'Lincoln green', the better -to escape being seen in the greenwood. Foresters were appointed, whose -duty it was to hunt out these lawless and rebellious men, as well as to -preserve the game of the forest. - - [Illustration: Latin Cross, prob. c. 1180 - Norman Floriated Cross, c. 1200 - Double Floriated Cross on Grave-slab of Vivian Davenport, c. 1240 - - GRAVE-SLABS AT PRESTBURY] - -Hugh Lupus made John Done of Utkinton and his heirs Chief Bowbearer and -Forester of his Forest of Delamere. The Dones had the right to kill deer -and game, take swarms of wild bees, the fallen trees, and such small -game as 'foxes, hares, weasels, and other like vermin'; their badge of -office was a black bugle horn tipped with gold. Their hunting-seat or -'Chamber in the Forest' was served by ten keepers and two woodsmen. Some -of their descendants were buried at Tarporley, and on one of the tombs -you may see the badge of the bugle carved. - -Earl Richard, the successor of 'the Wolf', married Matilda, niece of -King Henry I and a daughter of Stephen of Blois. He was drowned with his -wife on his return from France when the ill-fated White Ship went down -in 1119. - -The next earl was Randle of Meschines. He was one of King Henry the -First's chief fighting-men, and led the van at the Battle of Tinchebrai -against the king's elder brother Robert. - -His son, Randle the Second, played a great part in the civil war of King -Stephen's reign. Stephen was quite unable to curb his barons as his -predecessors had done, and the Earl of Chester was unruly and ambitious. -In addition to his Earldom of Cheshire, he had succeeded to vast estates -in Lincoln and the Midlands. His power and influence was so great that -he ruled over an extent of country hardly smaller than the ancient -Earldom of Mercia. Stephen refused to add the city of Carlisle to the -already numerous possessions of the earl, who in anger declared himself -on the side of Stephen's rival Matilda when she took up arms, and became -one of Stephen's most bitter and active enemies. - -The king took Randle prisoner by a stratagem, and the monks of Pulton -Abbey were commanded to pray for the earl's safety. When at length he -was set free, the earl in a moment of gratitude gave the monks -permission to fish the waters of the Dee, and freed them from the toll -which they were accustomed to pay for grinding their corn in the Dee -Mills at Chester. Under the Norman rule the use of handmills, such as -the Saxons had used, was strictly forbidden, and everybody had to send -his corn to be ground in the mill belonging to his lord. - -When the Welsh heard of the earl's captivity they took advantage of his -absence and ravaged the county of Cheshire, but were defeated in a -battle at Nantwich in 1146 by Robert of Montalt. - -Randle died in the same year as King Stephen, and was succeeded by Hugh -Kyvelioc. This second Earl Hugh enclosed large stretches of forest-land -in East Cheshire, and gave the chief forestership to Richard Davenport. -It is Richard's grandson Vivian whose grave-slab we have seen in the -church at Prestbury. - -To Vivian Davenport's office was also joined the office of Hereditary -Grand Serjeant of the Hundred of Macclesfield. The Grand Serjeant -received twelve pounds six shillings and eightpence a year, and a fee of -two shillings and a salmon for the capture of a master-robber, and one -shilling for a common thief. Human life was held cheap in those days. -The robbers when caught were beheaded, and their heads sent to Chester, -where they were publicly shown as a warning to others. Descendants of -the Davenports live now at Capesthorne, and their peculiar crest, a -robber's head with a rope round the neck, recalls the gruesome duties of -their ancestors. - -A portion of the Forest was held by the Venables in return for providing -thirty-three huntsmen on hunting days. The Downes of Taxal held their -land more cheaply on the northern limits of the Forest, which is now -Lyme Park, 'by the blast of a horn on Midsummer Day and one pepper-corn -yearly.' Near Overton is a spot still called Gallows Yard, where the -Downes had power to execute robbers and criminals. In Lyme Park you may -see to this day the red deer that are descended from their wild -ancestors of Macclesfield Forest. - -When Hugh Kyvelioc was Earl of Chester, Henry the Second ruled England -and the greater part of France. He also received at Chester the homage -of the King of Scotland. But in the later years of his reign he found -it hard to keep together the widely scattered parts of his empire. -Rebellions were frequent, and his wife, his sons, and his barons all -took up arms against him. Among his discontented barons none was more -unruly than Hugh Kyvelioc, who stirred up Brittany against Henry, but he -was captured in battle and brought to England. In the great rising of -1173 Geoffrey of Costantin, one of Henry's sons, held the castle of -Stockport against the king. Not a stone of this castle is to be seen -now, but it stood in the highest part of the town near the Parish -Church. - -After Hugh Lupus, the greatest of the Earls of Chester was Randle the -Third, or Randle Blundeville. Like his predecessors, he was constantly -engaged in fighting against the Welsh, on one occasion being besieged in -Rhuddlan Castle until he was relieved by a rabble of vagabonds hastily -gathered from Chester Fair. This Randle was earl for over fifty years, -and was high in favour with three successive kings of England whom he -steadfastly supported. Henry the Second gave him in marriage his own -daughter-in-law, Constance, the widow of his son Geoffrey. The English -historian, Matthew Paris, says that the earl carried the crown at the -coronation of Richard the First, and he was present at the signing of -the Great Charter by King John, whose side he took in the quarrel with -the barons. - -The earl ruled Cheshire wisely, favouring especially the towns in his -earldom. To Chester, Macclesfield, and Stockport he gave charters by -which these towns were freed from certain payments and duties, and were -permitted to govern themselves under a mayor of their own choosing. In -the new Town Hall of Stockport is a stained glass window commemorating -the earl's grant to his baron Sir Robert de Stokeport of the town's -first charter of freedom. - -His gifts to the Church and the founding of abbeys won for him the title -of the 'Good' earl. He did not neglect the poor, for he built and -endowed the hospital of S. John, near the North Gate of Chester, for the -support of thirteen poor people, with three chaplains to minister to -their religious needs. At Boughton, outside the city walls, he founded a -hospital for lepers, whose terrible disease was brought to this country -by travellers returning from Eastern lands. - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries men's minds were deeply stirred -by the hardships and cruelties put upon pilgrims to the Holy Land. Men -of every Christian land and race joined in the Crusades or Holy Wars to -win back Jerusalem, which had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, -enemies of the Christian faith. Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, came -to Chester and preached from the High Cross the duty of all Christian -men to rescue the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre from the power of the -unbelievers. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he did not preach in vain. -Men of all classes dedicated their lives or their wealth to the service -of the Cross. King and baron, soldier and priest, rich and poor alike -put on the sign of the Cross, and sailed to the Holy Land, where they -vied with one another in deeds of chivalry and valour. - -Randle Blundeville joined the Crusades in 1219, and set out with a -number of other English knights for Jerusalem. He distinguished himself -greatly in Egypt, and when he returned the fame of his brave deeds made -him a popular hero, and his adventures were recited or sung in many a -stirring ballad. - -The stone effigy of Sir William Boydell in Grappenhall Church will give -you some idea of a crusading warrior. He is clad in chain armour with a -plain surcoat. His legs are crossed, a sign perhaps that he had taken -the vows of the Cross, and his head rests on his helmet. A shield is on -his left shoulder, by his left side a sword. - -Many Crusaders bound themselves by sacred vows and joined different -'Orders' or companies to which the names Knights Templars, Knights -Hospitallers, or Knights of Saint John, and so on, were given. The -last-named founded a house where the brethren of the Order might live in -their old age at Fulshaw, near Wilmslow. - -When Randle returned to Cheshire he built in the heart of his earldom -the strong castle of Beeston, on the summit of Beeston Rock, from whose -walls he could survey nearly every portion of the county over which he -ruled. He entertained Henry the Second at Chester Castle when Henry made -an expedition against the Welsh, the troops encamping on Saltney -marshes. Henry the Second had high views of the duties of kingship, and -was always busily occupied at home or in his continental dominions. But -Cheshire saw little or nothing of his son Richard, greatest of all -Crusaders, for he spent the greater part of his reign seeking adventures -abroad, and left his people to take care of themselves. - - [Illustration: EFFIGY OF CRUSADER: GRAPPENHALL] - -Earl Randle lived long enough to see the boy king Henry the Third -dismiss his guardians and rule on his own account. Almost his last act -was to refuse to allow the clergy of Cheshire to pay the tenth part of -their incomes to the pope to aid him in his private wars. In 1232 he -died, and was buried with his forefathers in the Abbey Church of -Chester. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY - - -The greatest churches which the Normans planned were on such a scale -that they could not be finished in the lives of their designers. The -work was carried on more or less continuously by the builders and -architects who came after them. But, as time went on, various -improvements were made in the art of building, and new fashions came -into being, and the original plans had often to be altered to meet the -growing needs of the day, or to allow the newest features of style to be -introduced. - -The interior of S. John's Church, Chester, will show you some of the -changes of style which were taking place in the early part of the -thirteenth century. The two rows of _pointed_ arches over the circular -headed arches of the nave tell us that by the time the massive Norman -piers and arches were finished, an entirely different form of arch was -coming into fashion. - -The pointed arch was first used when Norman and Saxon had settled down -peaceably side by side. From the fusing of the two nations, the English -people grew in strength and power. Norman baron and Saxon peasant had -combined to wrest from a wicked king the Great Charter of freedom for -the English people. Hence the new style is appropriately called Early -English. - -The work of church building had often been interrupted. During the civil -war of Stephen's reign, the building of churches was almost at a -standstill; the Crusades, by drawing large numbers of people from the -country, also checked the progress of the work. The raids of the Welsh -often destroyed a half-built Cheshire church. But from the time of Magna -Charta the erection of sacred buildings went forward apace, and was -continued with even greater zeal and activity through the long reign of -Henry the Third. - - [Illustration: RUINS OF S. JOHN'S, CHESTER - Change from Norman round arch to pointed arch] - -The pointed arch was the principal feature of the new style, which is, -therefore, sometimes called the Pointed style. But we must look -carefully at the shape and details before we can be quite sure that an -arch belongs to this period of building. - -The arch must be tall and narrow, the columns on which they rest, round -and slender, often grouped together in clusters of three or more. Often -the columns consist of slender shafts united on one base and under one -capital. The mouldings of the arch, base and capital must be deeply cut -and grooved. The pointed arches of S. John's have all these -characteristic features. The lower of the two rows of pointed arches is -called the triforium or blind story, that is, without windows, for it is -built within the slope of the roof over the side aisles of the church. -The upper row is the clerestory, containing many window lights. A -triforium is only to be seen in the very largest churches. In the ruined -portion of S. John's you may see round and pointed arches side by side. - -The arches of the nave at Prestbury belong to this period. The columns -are very much more slender than the massive columns of S. John's. You -will notice that the capital of one of the columns is covered with -carved foliage which could only have been done with a chisel. Deep -under-cutting is a feature of the Early English style, and shows that -the English masons had improved greatly in their skill. - -Early English windows, like the arches, are long, narrow, and pointed. -From their shape they are called lancets. Sometimes two or more lancets -are grouped together side by side under a single 'dripstone' or hood. At -the east end of the Chapter-house at Chester is a window consisting of -five lancets. - -Several portions of Chester Cathedral, or rather the Abbey of S. -Werburgh as it was still called, were built during this period. In the -north aisle of the choir you may see the point where we pass from the -massive Norman masonry to the lighter and more graceful Early English. -The piscina or basin built in the wall is the place where you must look -for the change. - -At the end of the twelfth century the church of Hugh Lupus was already -in ruins. Earl Randle was in the Holy Land, and, during his absence, the -Welsh were more than usually troublesome. In the early years of the -thirteenth century large sums of money were given to the abbey, and the -abbots began building in the new style. When Hugh Grylle was abbot, the -Chapter-house, in which the business of the abbey was transacted, was -built. The number of monks also increased to such an extent that a new -and larger refectory was needed. - - [Illustration: BOSS FROM RUINS OF S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER - Left of the boss is a strip of dog-tooth moulding] - -This refectory and the vestibule or entrance hall leading to it contain -the most beautiful examples of Early English work to be found in -Cheshire, and boys and girls who live in or near Chester should study -them carefully. In the refectory is the stone pulpit referred to in a -previous chapter, with a staircase and arcade of Early English arches -leading to it. The wall above the arches is pierced with a row of -'quatrefoil' openings, with deeply cut mouldings. - - [Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH DOORWAY, CHESTER] - -In the hollows of the Early English mouldings we sometimes see an -ornament pointed like a dog's tooth. You will see it in the moulding -round a circular opening over the doorway of the vestibule in -the cloisters of the Cathedral. Another ornament which the -thirteenth-century masons invented and put into their work was the -'cusp', a projection made by the meeting of two curves placed end to -end. If you put two cusps into the head of a pointed arch you will find -that you have made a trefoil-headed arch. The triforium arches in the -choir of the cathedral are all of this description. Quatrefoils are made -by arranging four cusps within a circle. - -Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Abbot Simon of Whitchurch -built the Lady Chapel east of the choir. The windows of this chapel are -all lancets, those at the side being arranged in groups of three, while -the east window contains five lights. The Lady Chapel looks very new -now. It has, in fact, been almost entirely rebuilt since Abbot Simon's -day. The mediaeval builders of Cheshire did not select their -building-stone very carefully. You will see from the cloisters how the -red sandstone has weathered and crumbled to ruin. - -The walls of Early English buildings were not so thick as those built by -the Normans, and required to be supported on the exterior by buttresses -which projected further from the walls than the flat Norman buttresses. -You will find Early English buttresses at Audlem and Prestbury. - -Many houses in Chester are built over crypts or underground cellars, -which were made during the reign of Henry the Third, and consequently -show some of the features we have been describing. The oldest of these -crypts is under a shop in Bridge Street. It is lighted by a triple -lancet window having deep splays. The door of the staircase leading to -it has a trefoiled head, and the vaulted stone roof is groined and -ribbed like the roof of the cloisters of the cathedral. The roofs of -Early English churches were groined in the same way, but with wood -instead of stone. - -Many Cheshire churches were, no doubt, rebuilt or repaired in the new -style. At Bruera there is a pointed doorway under a semicircular arch. -Bruera was one of the many churches bestowed on the Abbey of S. Werburgh -by Norman lords. A grant of a manor or a church was often made when a -baron or some member of his family entered the abbey as a monk of the -brotherhood. - -Their descendants did not always approve of these gifts. In the -Chronicle of S. Werburgh, we read that in 1258 Roger de Montalt, Chief -Justice of Chester, tried to recover the churches of Bruera, Coddington, -and Neston, which the lord of Montalt had given to the abbey in the days -of Earl Hugh. Roger entered Neston Church with a body of armed men, and -turned out the monks who had been sent from the abbey to perform the -services, and gave the living to his nephew Ralph. The Chronicle speaks -of the misfortunes that befell Roger as a warning to other would-be -robbers of the Church. His eldest son died within fifteen days, and -Roger himself 'died in poverty within two years, the common people being -ignorant of the place of his burial'. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE - - -Earl Randle 'the Good' had no son to succeed him, and when he died the -earldom passed to his nephew John the Scot, the son of Randle's eldest -sister. John married the daughter of Llewellyn the Prince of Wales, so -that peace was secured for a time between the Welsh and the earl's -subjects. He did not live to enjoy his earldom long, however, and he too -died without an heir. His wife was suspected of causing his death by -poison. - -Henry the Third was at this time King of England. He had looked with -anxious eyes upon the growing power of the Earls of Chester. Now that a -suitable opportunity presented itself, the king decided to take the -earldom into his own hands, his excuse being that he was unwilling that -so fair an inheritance should be divided 'among distaffs', meaning the -sisters of John the Scot. So he gave them each a portion of land and a -husband, and appointed John de Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, as custodian -of Cheshire. - -A few years later Henry bestowed the earldom on his son Edward, and from -that time down to the present day the title of Earl of Chester has -belonged to the son and heir of the reigning monarch. The present -Prince of Wales is also Earl of Chester. One of Edward's first acts was -to confirm to the barons and the people of Cheshire all the liberties -and privileges which Randle had formerly granted them. - -Some of these 'liberties' are set forth in the Charter which John the -Scot gave to the people of Chester: 'Know that I have conceded and by -this my present charter confirmed to all my citizens of Chester that no -merchant should buy or sell any kind of merchandise which has come to -the city of Chester by sea or by land, except these my citizens of -Chester themselves and their heirs, or in accordance with their will, -and except in the established fairs, that is on S. John the Baptist's -day and at the feast of S. Michael. Likewise I have conceded and by this -my present charter confirmed to my citizens of Chester, to have and to -hold their guild merchant, as freely as they held it in the time of my -uncle, Lord Randle, Earl of Chester.' - -Similar charters were given to other Cheshire towns. Earl Randle, who -was one of those who saw King John sign the Great Charter, gave to his -baron, Sir Robert de Stokeport, a charter for his town of Stockport, -with permission to hold markets and fairs, receiving in return the -market dues and tolls. Hamon de Massey gave a charter for a weekly -market to the inhabitants of Altrincham. Congleton received its charter -in the reign of Edward the First from Henry de Lacy, whose statue you -may see on the front of Congleton Town Hall. Macclesfield boasts of -charters received from Randle Blundeville and from Edward the First, -though by the latter the citizens were compelled to grind their corn at -the king's mill and bake their bread in the king's oven, paying a toll -of one shilling each for this privilege. - -In the thirteenth century the merchants and traders of a town formed -themselves into guilds, which drew up sets of rules for the regulation -and protection of their trade and industries. The merchants met at fixed -times in their guild-hall, where they elected the officers of the guild, -an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, and an usher, and where they -transacted the business of the guild. By these laws no merchant could -buy or sell goods in the town unless he was a member of the guild. All -the members subscribed to the guild, and if one of their number fell -into poverty, or was unable to work and provide for himself, he received -a sum of money every year from the common chest. - -The little schoolroom in the churchyard of Nantwich was the old Guild -Hall. The guilds became very rich in time, and bought property and built -homes for poor people who had belonged to the guild, and schools where -their children might be taught. - -The workmen also who worked for the merchants wanted their own guilds, -and craft guilds were formed by the different trades of a city, each of -the guilds receiving a charter of its own. Several charters of this kind -may be seen in the muniment room of the Chester Town Hall. - -In mediaeval towns those who were engaged in a particular trade lived -near to one another in the same street, to which they often gave the -name of their industry. The name of Shoemakers' Row still survives at -Chester to tell us where the shoemakers' shops were to be found. Newgate -Street was formerly Fleshmonger Lane, and was the chief place of -business of the butchers. The Skinners lived in 'Castle Drive', and a -portion of Bridge Street known as Mercers' Row was given over to the -mercers, drapers, and haberdashers. The trade guilds were formed in the -same way as the merchant guilds. Each had its own officers and -meeting-place. The Phoenix Tower takes its name from the crest of one of -the city guilds, which used the tower as its council-chamber. - -While the merchant guild looked after the interests of the trades, the -town itself was governed by a mayor and aldermen, who were responsible -for the good behaviour of the inhabitants. They also fixed the prices at -which food and other necessaries of life were to be sold, and had the -control of all markets and fairs. Commonhall Street takes its name from -the old Common Hall in which the mayor and aldermen of the city met for -their deliberations. The old hall has long since disappeared. The mayor -and the magistrates administered justice in the Penthouse or Pentice, -which used to stand close to S. Peter's Church in the centre of the -city. - -During the two great fairs of the city of Chester a large white glove -was suspended from the tower of S. Peter's as the symbol of welcome to -all strangers to bring their wares into the city for sale. In the church -of S. John's is an ancient grave-slab with glove and scissors carved -upon it. The slab once covered the remains of a glover; glove-making has -always been one of the chief industries of Chester. Another slab shows -by the hammer and horseshoe engraved upon it that it belonged to the -tomb of a smith. - - [Illustration: TOMBSTONE OF A GLOVER, S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER] - -One of the privileges of the Shoemakers' Guild was that of providing the -ball for the annual game of football played on the Roodee on Easter -Monday. The mayor and all the city guilds came to watch the game, which -unfortunately did not always end happily, for we read that 'great strife -did arise', and many of the players were haled away to be dealt with by -the Mayor at the Pentice court. The saddlers provided a silver bell as a -prize for the winner of a horse-race on the Roodee. - -But the greatest event of the year in mediaeval Chester was the -performance of scenes from the Scriptures--mystery plays, as they were -called--at the Festival of Whitsuntide. The city guilds bore the whole -of the expense and chose the players to perform them, each guild being -responsible for one scene. Thus the painters and glaziers performed the -Shepherds' Watch and the Angels' Hymn; the vintners acted the part of -the Wise Men of the East; the butchers the Story of the Temptation; the -glovers the Raising of Lazarus. Scenes from the Old Testament were -included, the linen drapers performing the story of Balaam and the Ass, -and the watermen of the Dee, appropriately enough, the story of the -Flood. - -The plays were put into English verse by Randal Hignet, a monk of S. -Werburgh's, and no doubt were originally performed by the monks as a -means of instructing the people in the outlines of the Christian faith. -As the abbey church was found to be unsuitable they were performed -publicly in the streets, in order 'to exhort', as a clerk of the Pentice -said, 'the minds of the common people to good devotion as well as for -the common weal and prosperity of the city.' - -Twenty-five scenes in all were played, and the performance lasted for -three days. On the first day the people saw scenes representing the -Creation of the World, the Banishment from the Garden of Eden, the Birth -of Christ and the Vision of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Wise -Men; on the second day the Passion and Resurrection of Christ; and on -the third day stories illustrating the founding of the Christian Church, -the Lives of the Saints, and the final Advent of Christ and the Day of -Judgement. - -The plays were performed on movable stages fitted with wheels. The -stages consisted of two stories, the upper one being left open for the -plays, the lower one covered with curtains that it might serve as a -dressing-room. The first performance took place at the Abbey Gate. The -stages then passed one by one to the Water Gate, where a second -performance was given. The plays were acted for the third and last time -in Bridge Street. - -People crowded into Chester from all the country round on these -occasions, for the pope granted one thousand days of pardon to all who -witnessed the plays. The abbey also grew in wealth, for every one was -expected to visit the Abbey Church and lay some offering at S. -Werburgh's shrine. To provide a passage for the crowds of pilgrims, side -aisles were built round the choirs of famous churches, and behind the -high altar a vacant space left where the shrines of saints were placed. - -The Cheshire towns which grew in importance during the thirteenth -century as a result of the great increase in trade were situated on or -near the great roads of Cheshire, which were still, in the main, the old -roads laid by the Romans. Their position was generally one of great -strength, having been chosen in early times in order that men might be -able to beat off the attacks of enemies. Chester was, as you have -already seen, guarded on two sides by a bend of the river Dee, and was -the meeting-place of Roman roads. Northwich on the Watling Street, -Middlewich on Kind Street, and Stockport were all built at a point where -two rivers meet. Runcorn, Lymm, and Altrincham are on sandstone heights -protected on the north by the Mersey; Macclesfield is astride the main -road in East Cheshire, and Nantwich on the highway into Wales. It was -only by means of the roads that commerce between the towns could be kept -open. The 'Welsh Row' of Nantwich recalls the days when the principal -trade of the town was with the wool-weavers of Wales, a trade that was -too often interrupted by the fierce outbreaks on the border. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE - - -Simon of Whitchurch received the Abbey of S. Werburgh from the hands of -another and a greater Simon, the powerful Earl of Leicester, who was -engaged in a grim struggle with the king on account of the king's -extravagance and misgovernment, and the rule of foreign favourites. Both -Henry and his son Edward were, in fact, at this very time prisoners of -the earl, for the battle of Lewes, which ended so disastrously for the -king, had just been fought. In the same year Earl Simon summoned the -famous Parliament in which knights from the shires, and citizens from -the boroughs, sat side by side with the nobles and bishops. - -Edward had not long received the Earldom of Chester from his father when -the Barons' War broke out. Simon de Montfort made an alliance with -Llewellyn the Welsh prince, and Chester, expecting an attack, was put -into a state of defence. Abbot Simon could hardly have commenced -building his beautiful Lady Chapel when he saw his church desecrated and -turned into barracks by Sir William de la Zouche, the Chief Justice of -Chester. - -After the defeat of Henry and Edward at Lewes they were compelled to -hand over to Earl Simon the Earldom of Chester, and Henry de Montfort, -Simon's eldest son, came to Chester and received in his father's name -the homage and oath of fealty of the citizens. Lucas de Taney was left -in charge of the city. - -Edward afterwards escaped from the custody of Earl Simon, and James de -Audley seized the castle of Beeston on his behalf. He also besieged -Lucas de Taney in the castle of Chester for ten weeks, but did not -succeed in taking it on account of the excellent defence made by the -garrison. De Taney surrendered when he heard of the death of Simon de -Montfort at Evesham, where Edward won a great victory. The chief of the -surviving barons were brought as prisoners to Beeston Castle. - -But the great prize for which de Montfort fought and laid down his life -was won. When Edward came to the throne he learned from the mistakes -made by his father, chose his ministers wisely, and gave his people good -laws. His reign saw the growth of a full and free parliament, in which -all classes of free men were represented. Cheshire did not, however, -send any members, but being under the personal eye of the king had still -a separate government of its own as well as its own judges and -law-courts. - -Vale Royal reminds us of the great Plantagenet king, whose motto was -'Keep Troth' and who for thirty-five years did all he could to win the -love of his people. Before Edward became king he went on Crusade to the -Holy Land, where he distinguished himself by recovering the holy city of -Nazareth from the Saracens. On his return he narrowly escaped shipwreck. -In his peril he invoked the aid of the Virgin Mary, and vowed that if he -were saved he would build a monastery in her honour on his return to his -own country. The Chronicle tells us that 'the vessel straightway -righted itself and was miraculously brought safe into port; the sailors -disembarked, the Prince landing last of all, and immediately the vessel -broke in pieces, and every fragment of the wreck vanished under the -water'. - -Edward 'kept his troth' and built a home for one hundred monks of the -Cistercian Order at Darnhall. Four years later he laid the foundation -stone of a stately Abbey at Vale Royal, in the very heart of Cheshire. -Queen Eleanor and a great company of nobles accompanied him. We may not -now hear the Angelus tolling its summons to evening prayer, nor see -jolly monks fishing the streams of the Weaver, but in the last few -months the foundations of the Abbey church where they chanted the mass -have been discovered. - -The abbey took more than fifty years to build, and it was not until the -reign of the third Edward that the monks were able to move from their -temporary lodgings to the new and spacious building. The abbey received -valuable lands in the neighbourhood of Over, Darnhall, and Weaverham, of -which villages the abbot became lord. By the ancient 'customs' of the -manor of Darnhall the villagers were required to attend at the manorial, -now the abbot's court; the abbot had power of life and death over all -his tenants, who had also to grind all their corn at the abbot's mill; -at the death of any native the abbot took all his horses, cattle, and -pigs, and half of his standing and gathered corn. - -Cheshire saw a good deal of Edward the First in the earlier half of his -reign. In the year after the ceremonies at Vale Royal we find him at -Macclesfield, when he began to build the parish church of S. Michael. - -He was the first English king to take in hand the conquest of Wales -seriously. In the reign of Henry the Third the Welsh had taken advantage -of the king's troubles with his barons, and waged a murderous warfare on -the Cheshire border. They advanced as far as Nantwich, and James de -Audley, who owned a large part of the barony of Nantwich, saw his -castles burnt, woods felled, and cattle destroyed. Preparations were -made for a big expedition into Wales, and Prince Edward summoned the -knights and barons of Cheshire to Shotwick Castle on the banks of the -Dee. A grassy knoll, where once stood the castle keep, is all that is -left of the scene of the gathering. - - [Illustration: CHESTER WALL. Roman below; Edwardian above] - -Chester, from its position at the very gates of North Wales, was the -natural meeting-place for the troops, and the starting-point of Edward's -expedition against Llewellyn. Soon after his accession he summoned the -Welsh princes to do homage to him. This they refused to do, and the king -prepared for war. Llewellyn's brother David for a long time fought on -the side of the English, and received the manor of Frodsham as his -reward. - -Edward's first task, however, was to strengthen the defences of Chester -so that it might resist all attacks. The enemy frequently came close up -to the walls of the city, and raided especially the suburb of Handbridge -on the opposite shore of the Dee, naming it Treboeth or 'Burnt Town', a -name that tells its own tale. - -Edward was a great castle-builder, as many of you have learnt from -pictures you have seen of his Welsh castles. The Norman castle of -Chester had been constructed largely of wood. Edward now rebuilt it of -stone, and greatly enlarged it by adding an outer ward or 'bailey'. He -surrounded the whole fortress with 'curtain' walls flanked with towers -and protected with a deep ditch. He also set to work to rebuild the -walls of the city. - -The ancient Roman walls had long since crumbled to their foundations, -though here and there a mass of masonry remained standing, and the Roman -east gate was still in its place. The stones of which the walls had been -built had provided building-material for many centuries. On the east -side from the Pepper Gate to the Phoenix Tower Edward built his wall on -or near the foundations of the Roman wall, portions of which you may -still see on this side of the city. For the most part, however, the new -walls were built outside the older ones, and the area enclosed was much -greater than that of the Roman town. - -The walls were strengthened by a number of watch towers, some of which -were not completed until the time of his grandson Edward the Third, when -Bonewaldeston's Tower and the Water Tower were built. A wall-tax called -'murage' was levied on the inhabitants of Cheshire for keeping the walls -in repair. The citizens of Chester were also made to build a bridge over -the Dee. Edward's chief engineer was named Richard, and in return for -his services he received for a number of years the Dee Mills, so that -for the time being he was the 'Miller of the Dee'. - - [Illustration: WATER TOWER AND CURTAIN WALL, CHESTER] - -After some years of hard fighting the conquest of the Welsh was -complete. At Rhuddlan Castle, on the borders of the ancient palatine -earldom, Edward gave to the conquered Welsh a settled government and a -system of law-courts similar to that which he had already set up for the -English. He returned to Chester to celebrate the peace that he had made, -and accompanied by his queen, with great pomp and ceremony attended mass -and a service of thanksgiving in the Abbey of S. Werburgh. - -The river Dee washed the walls of the Water Tower, and great iron rings, -to which the barges were moored, were fixed in the Tower walls. The -ships brought wines from Gascony and cloth from Flanders, whither the -monks of Vale Royal and Combermere sent the wool of the flocks that -pastured on their meadows. Some of the Flemish weavers left their own -country and settled on the shores of the Mersey near Birkenhead. - -In nearly every field in the pastoral parts of Cheshire are to be found -one or more small round pools, often fringed with willows and reeds. You -know them well, for you have been to them often to watch the tadpoles -and the minnows. But you have not wondered why they are there, and why -there are so many of them. Yet they have something to tell of the -wool-raising in the days of the three Edwards. For they are marl-pits, -and many of them were dug first when the first Edward was king; the -marl, which is a great fertilizer, being taken out of the earth and -spread over the grass-lands on which the flocks were pastured. The -farmers do not use it now, for new and easier ways of enriching the soil -have been found. - -The marl-diggers, or 'marlers' as they were called, had their own -particular feast-day once a year, when they claimed toll of every -passer-by, and in the evening sang their marling songs in the village -ale-house. - - When shut the pit, the labour o'er, - He whom we work for opes his door - And gies to us of drink galore, - For this was always Marler's law. - Who-whoop who-whoop wo-o-o-o-o. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE COMING OF THE FRIARS - - -Three streets in Chester in the neighbourhood of the Church of S. Martin -bear the names of Grey Friars, Black Friars, and White Friars -respectively. During the thirteenth century numbers of begging friars, -clad in simple grey or black or white tunics, came to Chester and -settled in the poorest quarters of the city. Like the early disciples of -Christ, whose lives of poverty they sought to imitate, they carried with -them neither gold nor silver, and walked unshod, begging their food and -shelter as they journeyed from town to town. - -Their simple teaching appealed to the poor, who soon began to look upon -them as their best friends. For they brought the Gospel of Christ to -them in their streets, and tended the sick and the aged amid their -squalid homes. They were forbidden by the rules of their Orders to -receive either money or lands. - -The first to arrive in Chester were the Dominicans or Black Friars, who -settled near the Watergate when Randle Blundeville was earl. The old -palace of the Stanleys formed part of the home of the Black Friars. They -were followed a few years later by the Franciscans or Grey Friars who -also lived by the Watergate, near the spot on which the Linen Hall was -afterwards erected, and in the reign of Edward the First the White -Friars or Carmelites took up their abode in the neighbourhood of White -Friars Street. - -Unlike the monks, the friars had at first no fixed homes of their own, -and preached at wooden crosses set up at the street corners. Afterwards, -with the alms they received from the people and the legacies from rich -men who admired their devout lives, each of the different Orders of -friars built for themselves a permanent dwelling-place or friary, to -which a church in time was added. - -The Church of the Carmelites must have been one of great beauty. Some of -the glazed coloured tiles which formed the pavement of the building may -be seen in the Grosvenor Museum. Excavations have been made at the spot -where the tiles were found, and three feet lower down the workmen came -across broken columns and bases of a large Roman building. Mediaeval -Chester was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman city. A doorway in -an old house called 'The Friars' was part of the Carmelite Friary. - -The friars studied medicine and devoted themselves particularly to the -care of lepers. They also built schools for the children of the poor. -The Dominicans were also skilful engineers, and Edward the First -employed them in making wells and laying water-pipes in the city. - -Unfortunately some of the friars did not live up to their early vows of -poverty, and the rules which S. Francis and S. Dominic had drawn up for -them. When wealth poured in upon them they became jealous of one -another, and quarrels and disturbances frequently arose between them. -The Records of Chester tell of many violent acts on the part of the -Dominicans and Carmelites, the latter of whom, armed with cudgels, were -wont to roam in the night time through the city to the terror of the -inhabitants. - -The monks of the thirteenth century had also become idle and luxurious. -They had, as you have already read, become great landowners, and -received the manorial dues from the manors which belonged to them. The -Abbots of Vale Royal ruled with a rod of iron. The poor people rebelled, -and fights between them and the monks were frequent. They laid their -complaints before the king, and good Queen Philippa interceded for them -as she did for the burghers of Calais, but the abbot was generally able -to prove his 'rights', and the people obtained little satisfaction. The -wealth of the monasteries was also greatly increased by the cultivation -of crops and the sale of their wool. But the richer they became, the -more they neglected their spiritual duties. The poor could no longer -look to them for their spiritual teaching or for charity and good -works, and so gladly turned to the friars who for a time ministered to -their needs so well. - -Monks and friars alike were bitterly attacked in Edward the Third's -reign in a poem written by William Langland. In this poem, which is -called 'The Vision of Piers Plowman', the poet speaks of the ignorance -and sloth of the monks, one of whom is made to confess that he cannot -even chant the Lord's Prayer. - - I cannot the Pater Noster as the priest it syngethe, - But I can Rimes of Robin Hood and of Randall of Chestre. - -A few exceptions there were to the general rule. In his quiet retreat in -the Abbey of S. Werburgh, Ranulf Higden wrote a work called -'Polychronicon', which contained a history of the world from the -Creation to his own day, with geographical descriptions of the different -countries of the world, and the favourite mediaeval legends of Babylon -and Rome. The book is valuable because it is one of the earliest pieces -of literature written in the language of mixed Norman and Saxon which is -our mother tongue to-day. When printing was invented in the fifteenth -century, the Polychronicon was one of the books printed by Caxton the -first English printer. - -Many of the churches in Cheshire show us that the masons and builders of -Edward the Third's long reign made great progress in their art. - -We have seen how the thirteenth-century workmen learned to group a -number of lancets together under one hood, and to shape the lancet heads -like a clover leaf by the addition of cusps. In the fourteenth century -the space above a row of lancet or trefoil-headed lights was filled in -with a number of geometrical figures such as circles and foils. Hence -the name of Geometrical or Decorated has been given to the work of this -period. The large east windows of many of our Cheshire churches are made -up in this way. The patterns of flowing lines thus produced are called -'bar tracery'. There are Decorated windows in the aisles of the choir -and south transept of Chester Cathedral. - - [Illustration: NORTH-WEST VIEW OF NANTWICH CHURCH] - -Windows and arches were now made wider than in the previous century. The -builders of the Pointed period sought after height; those of the -Decorated period aimed rather at breadth and openness. - - [Illustration: GEOMETRICAL WINDOW, SOUTH TRANSEPT, CHESTER CATHEDRAL] - -The fourteenth-century masons studied nature carefully, and put masses -of carved fruit or flowers or leaves in the capitals of their columns. -The arches of the nave of Chester Cathedral prove this fact. - -A favourite ornament of the Decorated period is the crocket, a -projecting bunch of foliage added to pinnacles, the hoods of arches, and -the canopies of niches and tombs. Another device is the ball-flower -carved in the mouldings. The ball-flower is as sure a sign of Decorated -mouldings as the dog-tooth was in those of the Early English period. - - [Illustration: ALTAR TOMBS, MACCLESFIELD] - -The choir of Stockport Parish Church is a beautiful example of the -Decorated style, and the greater portions of Macclesfield, Nantwich, and -Prestbury Parish Churches belong to the same period. In many other -churches you will find some detail, generally a window or a doorway or -an altar tomb, which will show you some of the features of this style. - -In the Early English and Decorated periods a spire was sometimes added -to the tower, as at Astbury and Bebington. The spire grew out of the -pyramid-shaped roof with which the towers of Norman churches were -covered. - -In the low-lying portions of the Cheshire plain, where stone was scarce -but timber plentiful, the framework of a church was often built of wood. -In the village of Warburton, on the banks of the Mersey, is a -fourteenth-century wooden church, which served as the chapel of a priory -that was established here by the Normans. The name itself -('Werburgh-ton') speaks to us of S. Werburgh, the patron saint of the -Abbey of Chester, and a field by the river is still called the Abbey -Croft; the stone coffins within the church once contained the bones of -monks who lived here. - - [Illustration: INTERIOR OF WARBURTON TIMBER CHURCH. FOURTEENTH CENTURY] - -The arches within are made of rough-hewn timber, rudely shaped with the -axe. Lantern pegs of buck-horn from the deer that once roamed the -woodlands of Dunham Massey are fixed on the oak pillars; the roof is -supported by stout cross-beams. The brick tower has been added at a -later day, and the south wall built when the timbers on that side of the -church collapsed. The timber churches of Lower Peover and Marton belong -to the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. -Marton Church was the burial-place of the Davenports, who lived at -Marton Hall. - - [Illustration: THE OLD PRIEST'S HOUSE, PRESTBURY] - -The Davenports had a more splendid home at Bramhall, the oldest portions -of which were built when Edward the Third was king. The great hall at -Baguley was built about the same time. The massive upright posts are -cut from timber more than two feet square, and the spaces between them -filled with wickerwork and plaster. The open roof is supported by a -mighty 'tie-beam' and two uprights called 'queen-posts'[2]. The windows -are tall and the lights narrow, and separated from one another by oak -mullions. - - [2] Sometimes the roof was held up by a single 'king-post' in - place of two queen-posts. The 'king-post' reached from the centre - of the tie-beam to the point of the roof. - -Surely the men who built it had hearts of oak. The building reflects the -rugged character of the men of the days when 'knights were bold' and -'might was right'. In this hall we can picture old Sir William Baggiley -feasting with his family and his retainers, when the summons came from -his king to follow him to the French wars. - -His effigy still rests in the hall that he himself perhaps built. It is -broken and battered, but enough remains to show us that the knights who -fought for Edward and the Black Prince had changed the fashion of their -war dress since the Crusades. A hood of mail still protects the head and -neck, but the suit of mail has given way to plates of steel riveted or -hooked together, so that the whole body is cased in armour. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -A DEPOSED KING - - -When Edward the First completed his conquest of North Wales, and the -Welsh chiefs swore fealty at Chester to the first English Prince of -Wales, the fighting squires of Cheshire found themselves without any -occupation. Edward the Third, ambitious of recovering the French -dominions of the Norman and Angevin Kings of England, provided the -Cheshire men with a fresh field of adventures, with far greater -opportunities of performing deeds of valour and satisfying their thirst -for warfare. - -A number of Cheshire knights followed the king and the Black Prince to -France. The French Chronicler, Froissart, tells us that Sir James Audley -and his four Cheshire squires 'fought always in the chief of the battle' -at Poitiers. One of the four squires was Sir John Delves, who built the -old tower of Doddington Castle, near Audlem. In Barthomley Church is a -monument to Sir Robert Fulleshurst, who also was one of the dauntless -four. - -In the chancel of Bunbury Church is the tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley, who, -by his bold deeds, won for himself the title of the 'Cheshire Hero'. -Over the doorway of the inn at Handley you may see the sign of the three -calves, the ancient coat of arms of the Calveleys. Sir Hugh was the -leader of a famous band of soldiers called the 'Companions', who gave -their services for pay to any leader who required them, and were the -terror of the country people of France for many years. Edward made him -the Governor of Calais, from whence he sacked the seaport of Boulogne, -and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. Indeed, many of his -exploits are anything but deeds of glory. - -When Sir Hugh Calveley returned in his old age to his home in Cheshire, -wishing to atone, perhaps, for his ruthless acts, he founded a college -at Bunbury for a master, two chaplains, and two choristers. Their chief -duty, no doubt, was to pray for the repose of the soul of their -benefactor. - -Cheshire knights and Welshmen fought side by side at Poitiers. When the -Black Prince returned to England he gave the Dee Mills for life to Sir -Howell y Fwyall. - -An inscription on the wall of the Parish Church of Macclesfield tells us -that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd King Edward the Third and the Black Prince -his sonne in all their warres in France, and was at the Battell of -Cressie, and hadd Lyme given him for that service'. The descendants of -the Leghs still live at Lyme Hall, near Disley, where a life-size -portrait of the Black Prince hangs in the entrance hall. Sir Perkin -married the daughter of Sir Thomas d'Anyers, who received a handsome -reward for rescuing the Royal Standard at Crecy from the French. His -body lies beneath the d'Anyers monument in Grappenhall Church. - -The same inscription at Macclesfield tells us that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd -King Richard the Second, and left him not in his troubles, but was taken -with him and beheaded at Chester'. - -Cheshire was very loyal to the unfortunate Richard, who styled himself -Prince of Cheshire, and showed great favour to the ancient earldom. The -victory of Crecy was due to the English archers, and among them none -were more famous than those of Cheshire. On their return from the wars, -Richard's faithful bowmen became his body-guard, and could always be -relied upon whenever he wished to strike a blow at his enemies. 'Sleep -in peace, Dickon,' they would say to him, 'we will take care of thee, -and if thou hadst married the daughter of Sir Perkin of Legh, thou -mightest have defied all the lords in England.' - -Cheshire men got a very bad name, for they were cruel and bloodthirsty, -given to lawless deeds and inspiring terror wherever they appeared. They -were safe in Cheshire, for the county was governed directly by the king, -and did not yet send representatives to Parliament. The House of Commons -itself was overawed by a force of 2,000 Cheshire archers, commanded by -seven Cheshire esquires. When the Commons rose against the misgovernment -of the king, the unpunished robberies and evil deeds of the Cheshire men -were one of the causes of complaint. The bowmen all wore the badge of -the White Hart, Richard's own device. There are at the present day many -inns in the villages of Cheshire that bear the sign of the White Hart, a -reminiscence of the days of Richard and his Cheshire guards. - -The enemies of Richard were determined to depose him, and put in his -place Henry of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt. Richard banished Henry, -and deprived him of his estates and possessions. When Henry landed with -a small force at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, in the year 1399, he was joined -by many of the northern lords, chief among whom was the powerful Earl of -Northumberland and his son, Harry 'Hotspur'. Richard surrendered to his -cousin at Flint, and was brought to Chester 'on a sorry hack not worth a -couple of pounds'. He was confined in the tower over the gateway of the -Castle at Chester before being removed to Pontefract, where he probably -met a violent death, though it was given out that he died of starvation. -Perkin a Legh was executed for his loyalty to Richard, and his head -fixed on a pole on the highest tower of Chester Castle. - -The Cheshire archers struck one more blow in Richard's defence. Hotspur -had been made Justice of Cheshire and North Wales by Henry the Fourth, -to keep down the turbulent Cheshire men and the Welsh insurgents. He -suddenly changed sides, and joined Earl Mortimer and Owen Glendower of -Wales in their revolt against the new king. - -Hotspur gave out that Richard was yet alive at Sandiway, and the chief -barons of Cheshire, the Venables and the Vernons, and the archers of -Macclesfield and Delamere flocked to his standard. The Mayor of Chester -went too, and the parsons of Pulford, Davenham, Rostherne and other -villages, each with his own following. Though they were afterwards told -that Richard was really dead, they were quite content to avenge him, and -the army decked with the badge of the White Hart marched from Cheshire -to join the Welsh leader. - -King Henry met them near Shrewsbury, where a fierce battle took place. -The Cheshire archers fought with great bravery, and even routed a -portion of the king's army. But they were gradually overcome by the more -numerous royal forces, and Henry's victory was complete. Hotspur himself -was killed, and among the slain were 'the most part of the knights and -squires of the county of Chester'. After the battle, the baron of -Kinderton, Sir Richard Venables, was executed, and his estates given to -his brother, a supporter of the king. - -The ancient yew-trees in many of the churchyards of Cheshire will remind -you of the sturdy bowmen who overthrew the mail-clad mounted men of -France at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers. The big yew in the -churchyard of Farndon must have been of great age, even in the days -when Richard's archers cut their bows from its tough and pliant boughs. - - The bow was made in England, in England, - Of true wood, of yew wood, the wood of English bows: - So men who are free - Love the old yew tree - And the land where the yew tree grows. - -In order to encourage archery among workmen and labourers, Richard -forbade the playing of football, tennis, and the like, under penalty of -fine or imprisonment. Among the town-laws of Chester was one which -compelled all children of six years old and upwards to be taught the use -of the bow and arrow, both 'for the avoiding of idleness' and for -service 'in the ancient defence of the kingdom'. Every Easter Monday the -two sheriffs chose teams of archers, and shot a match on the Roodee, the -prize being a breakfast or dinner of calves' heads and bacon, in which -the Mayor and Aldermen also took part. When a man of any well-to-do -family married in Chester, he was expected to give a silver arrow in the -following year as a prize for archery. - -Some of the knights who returned from the French wars found their old -homes burnt or destroyed by marauding Welshmen during their absence. The -castles which they built for their protection were built of stone, and -portions strongly fortified. The massive tower or keep of Doddington is -crowned with a battlement and four square corner turrets; the windows -are mere slits in the walls. Brimstage Tower in Wirral was built in 1398 -by Sir Hugh de Hulse. The parapet or gallery is 'machicolated', that is -to say it projects beyond the walls of the tower, so that molten metal -might be poured through holes in the parapet upon an attacking force -below. - -The more famous Storeton Hall was built about the same time, though -little remains now to show its former splendour. From Storeton came the -powerful Cheshire House of Stanley. In the reign of Edward the Third, -Sir Philip de Bamville was master-forester of Wirral, which at the time -was covered with an extensive forest, so that an old rime said - - From Blacon Point to Hilbre - Squirrels in search of food - Might jump straight from tree to tree, - So thick the forest stood. - -Sir Philip was being entertained by John Stanley. In the evening, when -the festivities were at their height, young William Stanley ran away -with Joan de Bamville, Sir Philip's only child. Through forest and over -moorland they spurred their horses, and stayed not till the wide -Cheshire plain lay between them and their homes. At Astbury Church they -were wedded, and after the old knight's death, the Stanleys succeeded to -the forestership and the estates that went with it. - -Scarcely any churches were built in Cheshire in the latter part of the -fourteenth century, though the chancel of West Kirby was put up in the -reign of Richard the Second. The carved heads on one of the window-hoods -are those of Richard and his queen. Labourers were very scarce, owing to -the ravages of the terrible calamity known as the Black Death, and the -men who returned from the wars had no fancy for doing the work of the -mason and the builder. Men refused to work; wages and the price of bread -rose so high that a limit had to be set to them by law. Even so great a -person as the Abbot of S. Werburgh was fined because his steward charged -too big a price for the abbey corn. - -When the next century dawned and the land had rest for a while under the -Lancastrian king, churches were no longer built in the Decorated style -of the fourteenth century. Another style of church-building prevailed. - -The curious Chester 'Rows' were originally built during the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries, though they have been altered and rebuilt many -times since then. There is nothing quite like them in any other English -city. The 'Rows', or galleries, run continuously for most of the length -of the four principal streets over the shops on the street level, as if -the front rooms on the first floor of all the houses had been taken -out and a thoroughfare made through them. At the ends of the Rows, and -at street corners, you may descend by a staircase to the pavement below. - - [Illustration: CHESTER ROWS, WATERGATE STREET] - -No one can be quite sure how the Rows came to be built on this plan. -Some people have thought that they were copied from the porticoes or -colonnades of shops in Roman towns. Others, again, say that they were -intended to serve as barricades in the street fighting which often took -place when the Welsh attacked the city. Probably, however, neither of -these explanations is correct. - -Many old houses in Chester show that they were at first built with -outside flights of stone steps leading from the street to the first -floor. Under the steps was an entrance to a cellar or storeroom. At some -time or other the steps were removed, except at the ends of the streets, -and a footway laid along the tops of the cellars. The upper stories were -then brought forward, and, resting on columns of wood, made level with -the street fronts of the basement. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE RIVAL ROSES - - -Henry the Fourth belongs partly to Cheshire, for a Duke of Lancaster had -married the heiress of the Lacys, who were descended from Nigel, Baron -of Halton and Constable of Chester. John of Gaunt, the king's father, -was a frequent visitor at Halton Castle, which he used as a -hunting-lodge. - -The French wars broke out again in the reign of Henry the Fifth. Once -more the loyal Leghs and other Cheshire knights followed their king. In -fact the king's body-guard was composed of Cheshire men, among them -being Richard de Mobberley, Ranulf de Chelford, and William de Mere. -Piers Legh, the grandson of Perkin Legh, fell at Agincourt, as you may -read on the brass plate in Macclesfield Church. In the same church is -the altar-tomb of another hero of Agincourt, Sir John Savage, who was -knighted after the battle. - -Henry was stricken down at the very moment of his triumph, and a baby -king succeeded to the throne of England. The royal uncles, who acted as -guardians, quarrelled with one another, and in a few years the English -were compelled to leave France. Foreign wars were followed by strife in -our own country. The Wars of the Roses lasted for the greater part of -the second half of the fifteenth century. - -Queen Margaret, the 'outlandish woman' as her Yorkist enemies called -her, was in Chester in the year 1459. The king was ill, and the queen -conducted the wars herself, and summoned the fighting-men of Cheshire to -rally to her side. The people of Cheshire were not greatly excited over -the wars, which were mainly blood-feuds of powerful nobles. The trading -classes and the artisans of the towns took little part in the fighting, -but the sturdy Cheshire yeomen followed the squires, who ranged -themselves on the one side or the other. Members of the same family -often found themselves opposed to one another. - -A sixteenth-century poet, describing the battle of Blore Heath, which -took place just over the southern border of Cheshire, says: - - There Dutton Dutton kills, a Done doth kill a Done, - A Booth a Booth, and Legh by Legh is overthrown; - A Venables against a Venables doth stand, - A Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand. - -The Red Rose was badly beaten in this battle, in which Lord Audley and -two thousand Cheshire men were killed. - -One of the Booths who fought in the Wars of the Roses is buried beneath -the chancel floor of Wilmslow Church. Set in a marble slab which covers -the grave is a brass plate with figures of Sir Robert de Bothe and Douce -Venables his wife. Similar 'brasses' were common enough in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the monuments of those families -who could afford them. They represent, for the most part, knights and -priests. Few are left now, for numbers were stripped from their places -during the Great Rebellion. Portions of the brass at Wilmslow have been -destroyed or lost, for the figures were at one time set in a handsome -canopy of brass, and the whole surrounded by an inscription, only a -fragment of which remains. - - [Illustration: BRASS OF ROBERT DE BOTHE AND DOUCE VENABLES] - -The brass shows us the costume of a knight and lady of the fifteenth -century. The knight is in plate armour, which, since its first -appearance in the Edwardian wars, had become more and more elaborate and -highly ornamental. If you study this brass and the effigies on the -Savage monuments at Macclesfield you will be able to recognize in other -churches the warriors who fought in the battles of the fifteenth -century. - -Douce Venables was only nine years of age when she was married by her -parents to the twelve-year-old husband whom they chose for her. -Throughout the Middle Ages child-marriages were frequently arranged in -order to make secure the estates which the children were to inherit, and -save them from the greediness of the kings. The sovereign claimed the -right of wardship over all heirs and heiresses who were left orphans in -early life, and took a large sum of money out of their estates when he -gave them away in marriage. If they did not then marry according to his -wishes they had to pay a further sum. We may be sure the kings made all -they could from this source, for wars were expensive and the kings were -always short of ready money. - -The people of Cheshire were glad when the Wars of the Roses were over. -The Roses were united when Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, married -Elizabeth the heiress of Edward the Fourth and of the House of York. On -the porch of Gawsworth Church is a carved corbel consisting of a rose, -within whose petals appear two faces. This is the Tudor Rose, a symbol -of the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York. The porch was -therefore built shortly after the wars were ended. - -The Cheshire Stanleys helped Henry Tudor to win the crown of Richard the -Third on the field of Bosworth, the last battle of the rival Roses. When -Richard saw the redcoats and the harts' heads of the Stanley followers -ranged on the side of his enemies, he knew that he was doomed. - - The Stanley strokes they are so strong, there may no man their blows - abide. - -It was Sir William Stanley who picked up the crown which had fallen from -King Richard's head when he was struck down, and taking Henry aside, set -it on his head. - -Macclesfield suffered severely in this battle. Among the corporation -records of Macclesfield is preserved a letter to King Henry the Seventh, -praying that the town might not lose its charter because it could not -make up the necessary number of aldermen, owing to the heavy slaughter -of the townsmen at Bosworth. - -Lord Derby, the head of the House of Stanley, arranged the new king's -marriage with the Lady Elizabeth, and Sir William Stanley was for a time -high in favour with the king. But one day he asked for too great a -reward--nothing less than the Earldom of Chester, and the suspicious -king chopped off his head. Thus were men often requited for their -services. - -Notwithstanding the squabbles and jealousies of rival kings and princes, -the people as a whole were progressing along more peaceful ways. Trade -was flourishing, and the class of well-to-do merchants becoming yearly -more numerous and important. Wealthy aldermen imitated the good example -of King Henry the Sixth, founder of many schools and colleges. Edmund -Shaw, of Stockport, founded in 1487 a Free School at Stockport for the -children of the burgesses. The master of the school was to be a priest, -'a discrete man, and conning in grammer and able of connyng to teche -gramer.' The art of printing had just been discovered, and now that -books were likely to be within the reach of all, it was necessary first -of all to teach Cheshire boys how to read and understand their own -language. - -The century, that opened with war and bloodshed, closed in peace such as -Cheshire had hardly ever before experienced. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES - - -Many of the largest and finest churches in Cheshire were built during -the Wars of the Roses, and in the reigns of the early Tudors. This fact -shows us more than anything else perhaps that the wars did not greatly -interfere with the progress and prosperity of the inhabitants of -Cheshire. During this period the churches of Mottram, Malpas, Great -Budworth, Nantwich, Astbury, Grappenhall, Tarvin, Bunbury, Wilmslow, -Witton, Gawsworth, and many others were built or completed. - - [Illustration: ASTBURY, WEST FRONT. PERPENDICULAR] - -If you study any of these churches carefully you will see that the style -was once again changing. Probably the first thing you will note will be -the change in the patterns of the windows. The mullions which divide -the lights are carried right up to the crown of the windows instead of -branching off to right or left in flowing curves. This is the chief -feature from which the new style has received the name of Perpendicular. - -The Perpendicular builders of the latter half of the fifteenth and the -first half of the sixteenth centuries found their windows growing to -such a size that they had to strengthen them with cross-bars called -transoms. Thus the windows, as in the west front of Astbury and the -south transept of Chester Cathedral, for instance, present the -appearance of a number of rectangles placed side by side and piled one -above another. The crown of the windows are also now flattened until -they hardly appear to be pointed at all. - -The clerestories of the Perpendicular churches were filled with rows of -windows until the whole length of the wall was almost continuous glass, -as at Malpas and Astbury. When Bibles and Church services began to be -printed more light was needed, for people went to church to read as well -as to listen. - -The doorways, like the windows, have changed with the times. The heads -are flattened and covered with a square moulded hood. The corner spaces -between the arch and the hood are called spandrels, and are generally -filled in with carved foliage or shields. At the sides are often niches -for the images of saints, or moulded panels. The door of the Rivers -Chapel at Macclesfield is a beautiful specimen of Perpendicular -architecture. - -The walls of Perpendicular churches are generally surmounted by a -parapet which runs round the whole length of a church, as at Malpas. -Sometimes the stone work of the parapet is pierced with panel-shaped -slits or ornamented with rows of quatrefoils. Panels appear on the -buttresses of Gawsworth Church. - -But the great glory of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century churches are -the tall and massive square towers. These are built in stages separated -from one another by a narrow projecting course of stones or by bands of -quatrefoils. The name of the builder often appears on the tower. Round -the tower of Mobberley Church runs a Latin inscription bearing the -names of John Talbot and Margaret his wife, the patrons of the church, -and Richard Plat the master-mason. On the towers of Macclesfield and -Gawsworth Churches are carved rows of shields bearing the arms of -different lords of the manor. Like the body of the church, the tower is -generally crowned with an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the four -corners. - - [Illustration: PERPENDICULAR TOWER, HANDLEY. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] - -In the carved foliage of one of the capitals in the nave of Chester -Cathedral are the letters S. R. They are the initials of Abbot Simon -Ripley, one of the greatest of fifteenth-century builders in Cheshire. -He rebuilt the upper parts of the nave and south transept of the Abbey -Church, and planned the central tower, which was finished by the next -abbot. Simon Ripley also built the old tower and gateway at Saighton -Grange, which had been the residence of the Abbots of S. Werburgh ever -since the time of Hugh Lupus. - -Many of the village churches of Cheshire were built on the sites of -former churches, and often a portion of the older building remains to -prove this. The Norman font at Grappenhall and the little Norman window -at Woodchurch are all that is left to prove that churches existed here -before the present buildings were erected. In such churches you can -often trace the successive buildings and rebuildings, alterations and -additions that have been made from time to time. A single church may -indeed show the chief features of all the styles from the time of the -Conqueror to the Civil War. At Prestbury you may see a Norman doorway in -the little chapel in the churchyard; in the chancel of the church is a -window of pure Early English, and in the nave a pillar of the same -period. There are Decorated windows in the aisles, and a Perpendicular -window at the east end. - -The Cheshire churches are beautiful still; they must have been even more -beautiful in the sixteenth century, before the Puritans of the -Reformation and the Civil War in their mistaken zeal destroyed almost -everything of beauty within and without that could be destroyed. On the -walls of the interior were often painted pictures of Bible stories such -as the Creation, the Crucifixion, or the Resurrection of our Lord. When -the plaster was stripped from the walls of Gawsworth Church some of -these wall-paintings were discovered. Drawings were made from them, -which you may see in the Free Library of Macclesfield. On the wall of -the nave of Mobberley Church some of these paintings still remain, but -their meaning is not very clear. - -The chancel was divided from the nave by a screen of carved oak, with a -long narrow gallery above it called a rood-loft, from the rood or cross -which was placed in the centre of the gallery. The crosses have gone, -but at Mobberley you may see the ancient screen, with an inscription, -and the date 1500 carved upon it. - - [Illustration: SHOCKLACH: CROSS AND NORMAN DOOR] - -Throughout the Middle Ages it was the custom for the lord of the manor -to reserve some portion of the church for his own use, or to add to the -building a chantry or chapel where his own chantry priest might pray -daily for the salvation of his soul. These chapels are generally at the -eastern ends of the aisles. You will know them by the handsome monuments -which were raised over the graves of the founders, for these chapels -were used as the burial-place of the founders and their families. The -Calveleys had a private chapel at Bunbury, the Mainwarings at Over -Peover, the Dones at Tarporley, the Troutbecks in S. Mary's, Chester, -and the Cholmondeleys at Malpas. - -The church porches are on the south side of the church. They are -generally large, for portions of the baptismal service were read there, -and the font is therefore close to the door within the church. In the -corner of the porch at Woodchurch you will see a little stone basin or -'stoup' in which holy water was placed for the use of those entering the -church. At Malpas there is a little room above the porch called a -'parvise'; this was used as a priest's room. Over the door of the porch -are niches for the images of the saints to whom the church is dedicated. - -In the churchyard near the south porch, which was nearly always the -principal entrance to the church, you will generally see a cross or -stump of a cross and steps representing a Calvary. From these steps the -friars used to preach to the people when they travelled through the -Cheshire towns and villages. - -In many of the old churches of Cheshire you will see a stout oak chest, -often black with age, and strongly bound with bands and clasps of iron. -These chests were made to hold the deeds of gift of land and money made -by rich patrons. Beneath the tower of Wilmslow Church is an ancient -chest that was carved out of a solid block of wood. Some of you have -perhaps tried to raise the heavy lid of the chest at Little Peover, but -it is as much as a strong man may do. An old legend says that the maid -who can lift it is indeed worthy to become a Cheshire farmer's wife. In -the museum at Warrington is preserved the old parish chest of -Grappenhall. It is the oldest chest in the county. It is of the rudest -description, consisting merely of a tree trunk, seven feet long, chopped -smooth with an axe, sawn into two portions and hollowed. - - [Illustration: PORCH WITH PARVISE: MALPAS] - -In these chests were also placed the churchwardens' accounts of -expenses, as well as the registers of births, deaths, and marriages -which Henry the Eighth in 1538 commanded to be kept in every parish. -These ancient records are valuable now, and preserved with great care -for from them we can glean much information about the lives of our -forefathers. Many of them have been copied and published by scholars, -and may be read by you in your libraries. Many Cheshire parish registers -date from the times of the Tudors, but a large number were lost or -destroyed during the Civil Wars. - -Churchwardens' accounts help us to picture in our minds the interior of -a mediaeval church. We read of payments made 'for timber bought to make -the pulpit', 'for mending of the Bible book and for the covering of the -same', for strewing rushes on the floor of the church to keep it warm, -and 'for a chain to the Bible'. There are chained Bibles still at -Bunbury, Backford, and Burton. A printed Bible cost a lot of money, and -chains were necessary to prevent it being stolen. - -There were no comfortable cushioned seats for those who worshipped in -mediaeval churches. Wooden or stone benches were ranged along the walls, -and 'kneeling places' were made for those who could afford to pay for -them. In Acton Church the old stone bench running all round the walls of -the nave and chancel still remains. - -In the choir there were stone seats, called 'sedilia', for the priests. -They are set in the wall on the south side of the chancel, and are -generally covered, as at Stockport and Mobberley, with a canopy of Early -English or Decorated tracery. - -In the churches which were closely connected with an abbey or monastery, -wooden stalls were made for the monks. These are often beautifully -carved, and covered with handsome canopies of wooden tracery and -pinnacles. The choir stalls of Nantwich are said to have been brought -from the Abbey of Vale Royal. - -The carved oak stalls in Chester Cathedral are thought by many people to -be the handsomest in England. Many of them still remain as they were in -King Henry the Eighth's days, freed now from the coat of white paint -with which stupid workmen covered them at a later time. The heavy seats -are fitted with hinges, so that they may be raised. On the under side -are quaint carvings of birds and dragons and unicorns, kings, knights -and seraphs, illustrating ancient legends such as Richard CÅ“ur de -Lion pulling the heart out of a lion, or Scriptural subjects and stories -from the lives of the saints. - - [Illustration: Sedilia at Mobberley] - -All Cheshire boys and girls should learn to read and understand the -stories of the Cheshire churches, for in them is bound up the story of -Cheshire men and women of many ages. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING - - -On one of the walls of the Parish Church of Macclesfield is a small -brass plate, a few inches square. It is called a 'Pardon brass', and -represents the Pope bowing before Christ, while Roger Legh and his six -sons are in the act of prayer. Beneath the figures is the inscription: -'The pardon for saying of five paternosters, five aves and a creed, is -twenty-six thousand years and twenty-six days of pardon.' We are not -told how much money Roger Legh paid the Pope for obtaining pardon for -his misdeeds, but it was a good round sum, I imagine. - -During the Middle Ages the doctrine grew up that sins committed by one -man might be atoned for by the prayers or penance performed by others, -together with a sum of money, which varied according to the crime. The -price of pardon for robbery was twelve shillings, for murder only seven -shillings and sixpence, and for perjury nine shillings. By the sixteenth -century people began to have an uneasy feeling that the sale of -'indulgences', as these pardons were called, was wrong, and preachers -rose up everywhere to denounce the system. - -This was only one of many evils which was bringing the Church into ill -repute. Reformers, like Martin Luther, showed that the Church believed -many things which did not agree with the teaching of the Bible. -Moreover, churchmen filled all the principal offices of state, and used -their position as a means of amassing great wealth, a portion of which -passed into the hands of the Pope, who was the recognized head of the -Church and whom the clergy were bound to obey. As the clergy would not -reform the Church themselves, the king and his lay ministers decided to -do it for them by Act of Parliament. King Henry the Eighth declared -himself head of the English Church, which, from this time, became -separated from the Church of Rome. - -The king then turned his attention to the monasteries, which had grown -wealthy at the expense of the people. The monks themselves had grown -lazy and careless of their duties, and many of them were living evil -lives. The king decided to turn out the monks and do away with the -monasteries altogether. - -In the year 1536 the king's officers appeared in Cheshire. The first to -suffer was the Abbot of Norton Priory, who resisted stoutly and summoned -all his tenants to his assistance. The king's men were compelled to take -refuge in a tower, but managed to send a message to Sir Piers Dutton, -Sheriff of Chester, by whose aid the abbot was captured and conveyed to -Halton Castle. The priory was sold, and the revenues, plate, and jewels -confiscated to the king. - -Vale Royal fared no better. In this case, at any rate, the monks -deserved their fate. They had long been the terror of the neighbourhood, -and were the friends of the robbers and cut-throats of Delamere Forest. -Abbot and monks were expelled from the abbey, which was handed over to -Sir Thomas Holcroft. The Holcroft crest was a raven, and superstitious -people saw in the fall of Vale Royal the fulfilment of a prophecy of a -Cheshire 'wise man' named Nixon, who said that the abbey would one day -be destroyed and become a raven's nest. - -The Cistercian Abbeys of Combermere and Darnhall, and the Priories at -Mobberley and Birkenhead, were treated in similar fashion, and their -wealth and estates divided between the neighbouring gentry and the king. - -The Abbot of S. Werburgh was the most powerful man in Cheshire, but he -could not save his abbey from the greedy hands of the king's officials. -The wealth of this abbey was reckoned at more than a thousand pounds, a -large sum in those days, equal to a sum at least ten times as great at -the present time. The abbots lived in their fortified manor-houses at -Saighton and Ince, where they kept great state, and supported large -numbers of retainers and dependants. They held a court at Chester, and -frequent quarrels arose between them and the Mayor of Chester as to the -extent of their powers and jurisdiction. - -The people of Chester were probably not sorry to see the abbot stripped -of his power. He did not, like the Abbot of Norton, show violence to the -royal officers, but fell in quietly with their wishes. For this he -received his reward, and returned to Chester within two years, no longer -as abbot, but as dean of a new cathedral. - -Many of the bishoprics of England covered such a vast extent of country -that Henry decided to spend a portion of the wealth which he had taken -from the monasteries, in creating six new bishoprics. Chester was one of -them, and the Abbey of S. Werburgh became the cathedral church of the -new bishopric, a portion of the new buildings being set apart as a -palace for the newly made Bishops of Chester. The first bishop was John -Bird, a Carmelite friar. - -Henry did not go as far in his reformation of the English Church as many -people wished. There were many who 'protested' against practices in the -Roman Church which they thought wrong, such as the worship of images or -of the relics of saints, to which the people were encouraged by the -clergy to pray for help. The Protestants, as the extreme reformers were -called, increased in number daily, and in the reign of Edward the Sixth -got the upper hand. They did away with the old Latin services of the -Church, which the greater part of the poorer classes did not understand, -and wrote a Book of Common Prayer in the English tongue. By an Act of -Uniformity, all the clergy were called upon to use this Prayer Book in -their churches. - -During Edward's reign, the rich jewelled vestments of the priests, the -church plate and crucifixes, and even the church bells, were swept away -and sold for the benefit of the king. Many of our village crosses were -wantonly destroyed during this period. The beautiful Sandbach crosses -were thrown down and broken in fragments. Most of the pieces were -recovered at a later day, and the crosses set up again, but they will -for ever remain a proof of the careless destruction of works of art by -which the period of the Reformation was marked. - - [Illustration: CHESTER CATHEDRAL (before Restoration)] - -When Queen Mary came to the throne she restored the old religion of -Rome. A memorial obelisk on Gallows Hill, Boughton, reminds us of the -dark days when Protestants were persecuted with blind and bitter hatred -by their Catholic enemies, and even suffered death for their beliefs. On -Gallows Hill, George Marsh was burnt at the stake for teaching the -doctrines of the reformed faith. He was tried in the Lady Chapel of the -cathedral, and condemned to death. The citizens of Chester, who had -shown themselves sympathetic to the reformers, were filled with horror, -and, led by one of the sheriffs, tried to rescue him, but failed in the -attempt. The bones of the martyr were collected and laid in the -burial-ground of S. Giles. The sheriff was forced to flee to the -continent until better times. He returned in the more tolerant days of -Queen Elizabeth, and became mayor of the city. - -A settlement was brought about in Queen Elizabeth's reign, which -satisfied all but the extreme men on either side. She was the more -inclined to the Protestant cause inasmuch as she hated the Catholic King -Philip of Spain, who called her 'the heretic queen', and whose spies -were to be found all over England. When the struggle with Spain was near -at hand, Protestants and Catholics forgot their quarrels in face of a -common danger, and the queen had no more loyal subjects than the great -Catholic families of Cheshire. Rowland Stanley, of Hooton-in-Wirral, -gave a large sum of money for improving the defence of the sea-coast, -for it was thought that Philip might land troops in Wirral. - -The Reformation was only part of a great awakening of peoples all over -Western and Central Europe. Scholars studied and brought from Italy -copies of the books of the ancient Greek and Roman writers. The -invention of printing helped the spread of learning, and the Tudor -monarchs encouraged the building of schools and colleges in order that -all classes might have the benefit of a better education. Over the porch -of the King's School, Chester, is a statue of King Henry the Eighth. He -was the founder of the school, which for a long time was carried on in -the ancient refectory of the abbey. - -Some of the wealth taken from the abbeys and monasteries was devoted to -the foundation of schools. The Grammar School at Macclesfield was -endowed in the reign of Edward the Sixth. At Bunbury, Thomas Aldersey, a -haberdasher of London, founded a school, the chantry and college of Sir -Hugh Calveley having been dissolved at the same time as the abbeys. - -Sir John Deane, son of Laurence Deane, of Davenham, gave some property -which had been in the possession of monks for the building of a free -Grammar School at Northwich, 'forasmuch as God's glory, His honour and -the public weal is advanced and maintained by no means more than by -virtuous education and bringing up of youth under such as be learned and -virtuous school-masters.' - -'God's glory' was indeed not the least of the things that Cheshire boys -of the sixteenth century were taught to observe. In the statutes of the -founder of Witton Grammar School it is laid down 'that the scholars -shall thrice a day serve God within the school, rendering Him thanks for -His goodness done to them, craving His special grace that they may -profit in learning to His honour and glory'. - -In the reign of Henry the Eighth the voice of the people of Cheshire was -heard for the first time in the Parliament of the English people at -Westminster. Hitherto, the miniature Parliament of the Norman and royal -Earls of Chester had been considered sufficient for them. Henry now -summoned two knights of the county and two burgesses from the city of -Chester to take their place side by side with the chosen representatives -of the other English shires and boroughs in the national assembly. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. I - - -The chief event with which all boys, I imagine, connect the name of -Queen Elizabeth is the defeat of the Great Armada sent against these -shores by the King of Spain. Doubtless on that summer night in the year -1588 there were watchers by the beacon on Alderley Edge who saw the -'Wrekin's crest of fire' flashing its message northwards. There was no -telegraph in those days, and yet in an hour or two at most the news of -the approach of an enemy was carried by beacon fires from the Channel to -the Cheviots. Cheshire indeed produced no Drake or Hawkins; but Sir -George Beeston, whose tomb you may see in Bunbury Church, commanded the -ship Dreadnought, one of the four ships that broke through the Spanish -line and took an active part in the pursuit and destruction of the -Spanish vessels. - -A few years later Sir Uryan Legh of Adlington Hall accompanied Lord -Howard and Raleigh and the Earl of Essex on an expedition to Cadiz, when -they destroyed the ships in the harbour and for a second time 'singed -the King of Spain's beard'. The town itself was taken by storm, and for -his bravery on this occasion Sir Uryan Legh was knighted. The Leghs were -always to the fore when there was any fighting to be done. A canopied -arch in Prestbury Church marks his last resting-place, but the tomb -itself has long since disappeared. - -One result of the expeditions of Drake and Raleigh was that Englishmen -were inspired with a passion for travel, whether abroad or at home, -partly for the sake of adventure and the pursuit of wealth, partly out -of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. The voyages of the great -navigators, 'itineraries' or diaries of travel, and histories of our own -country and its people were written at this period. These books show -clearly in their pages how intensely proud the Englishmen of Elizabeth's -day were of their country and their queen and her brave seamen, who by -their victories over Spain raised England to the first position among -the nations of the world. - -Michael Drayton wrote a long poem called 'Polyolbion', in which four -hundred lines are taken up with a description of Cheshire, which he -calls the - - thrice happy Shire, confined so to be - twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee. - -He speaks of Chester as - - th' imaginary work of some huge Giant's hand: - which if such ever were, Tradition tells not who. - -The book was illustrated by a number of curious maps, adorned with -quaint figures of men and women representing the rivers, hills, forests, -and castled towns. - -John Speed was born at Farndon on the Dee, and wrote a book called the -_Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain_, which contained the earliest -set of maps published in England. - -Cophurst, an old house near Sutton Downes in the Forest of Macclesfield, -is thought to have been the birthplace of the chronicler Raphael -Holinshed, who wrote a History of England and dedicated it to William -Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great minister of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare -used this book for the plots of some of his plays. - -The triumphs of Francis Drake were celebrated in a long Latin poem by -Thomas Newton of Butley, who placed the small brass tablet on the wall -near the pulpit in Prestbury Church to the memory of his parents. Newton -was for some time the head master of Macclesfield Grammar School. -Another Elizabethan poet was Geoffrey Whitney, who was born at Nantwich. - -An inscription on an old house at Nantwich, bearing the date 1584, shows -that Elizabeth returned the affections of her people and did all she -could for them. The verse reads thus:-- - - God grant our royal Queen - In England long to reign; - For she hath put her helping hand - To build this town again. - - [Illustration: MAP OF CHESHIRE. From Drayton's 'Polyolbion'] - -Nantwich had been almost totally destroyed by fire in the previous year. -The risk of fire was always very great, owing to the fact that nearly -all the houses of the Middle Ages were built of timber and thatched with -straw. - -The black and white timbered halls are the glory of Cheshire. Let us pay -a visit to-day to Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton, perhaps the most -beautiful of them all. The people who live here are proud of their home, -and on certain days of the week allow you to examine at your leisure -many of the rooms in the old house, which remains in almost the same -condition as when the Moretons removed to a new and more spacious house -of brick hard by. - -The framework of the house is all of wood, good solid English oak, and -black with age. The spaces between the beams and props are filled with -plaster and painted white. The principal beams which support the -building are of course upright, firmly laid on a foundation of stone. -Within the squares of this framework other beams are set in sloping -parallel lines, forming patterns of chevron or diamond, or arranged in -rows of quatrefoils and arcades of trefoil-headed arches. The upper -stories and the gables of the roof project beyond the ground floor of -the building, which is thus kept dry. - -We cross the moat by a substantial stone bridge, and enter through a -gateway whose massive oaken lintel and side-posts are covered with rich -carving, and find ourselves in a square paved courtyard. Within the -gateway is a stone horse-block. - -Facing us are two deep bay-windows formed of five sides of an octagon. -Over them you may read the carved inscription: 'God is al in al things. -This window whire made by William Moreton in the yeare of oure Lorde -MDLIX.' The building of the home was regarded by our Elizabethan -forefathers as an almost sacred work, to be carried out with hardly less -reverence than the building of a church. - -A second gateway forms the entrance to the dining-hall on the one hand -and the kitchen on the other. The walls of the dining-room are lined -with wainscoting of panelled oak; the open timbered roof is held up by a -strong central beam; the windows are filled with countless tiny panes of -glass, with bright patches of red and orange and blue where the -coat-of-arms and crest of the Moretons are painted upon them. - - [Illustration: LITTLE MORETON HALL] - -In the kitchen are marks of the growing comfort and luxuries of -Elizabethan days--the rows of pewter plates bearing the Moreton arms, -and a great spice-chest where the fragrant spices of the East, brought -home by travellers, were stored, as well as the sweet herbs, the sage -and rosemary, lavender and thyme, from the herb-garden of the Hall. In -the open fireplace, ten feet wide, an ox might well be roasted; the -smoke from the log-fire was carried upwards from the roof by a -chimney-stack of brick. - -Over the 'screen' or passage that divides the dining-hall and the -kitchen is a musicians' gallery, where the players of the viol and the -harp made music while the squire and his lady supped in the early -evening. - -To the left of the gatehouse through which we first entered is the -chapel, where the chaplain read the daily prayers to the assembled -family. A narrow spiral staircase fixed upon a central newel post leads -to a long gallery at the very top of the house, running the whole length -of one side of the courtyard. This was the ballroom, where Elizabeth -herself may perhaps have danced, as tradition says she did, for we know -that she was fond of visiting her people in their own homes. - -Few sixteenth-century houses were without a secret chamber. Little -Moreton Hall contains two such rooms, cunningly concealed in a corner of -the house. They are entered by sliding panels from an apartment over the -kitchen, and the fugitive could escape his pursuers by an underground -passage leading underneath the moat to the open field beyond. - -At opposite corners of the moat are two green circular mounds, on which -probably once stood two watch-towers to guard the house against attack. -A large number of the old halls of Cheshire were at one time moated for -their protection, though in many cases the moats have been filled up, -now that they are no longer necessary. Peel Hall in Etchells, Irby, -Swinyard Hall, Twemlow, Marthall, and Allostock Hall still retain -portions of their original moats. - - [Illustration: THE GALLERY, LITTLE MORETON HALL] - -Handforth Hall was built, as the inscription over the entrance door -tells us, 'in the year of our Lord God MCCCCCLXII by Uryan Brereton -Knight.' The Tudor builders were not ashamed to put their names to their -work. Within the Hall is a wide oak staircase with a wonderfully carved -balustrade, one of the most beautiful pieces of Tudor woodwork in -Cheshire. Sir Uryan's daughter married Thomas Legh of Adlington, who -built the timber portions of Adlington Hall in 1581. - -As you have already seen in a previous chapter, some of the timber -houses of Cheshire belong to a period much earlier than the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. Just as they reached their highest pitch of beauty and -richness under the Tudors a new style of domestic architecture was -coming in. Bricks, which had been very seldom used since the days of the -Romans, were again employed. The bricks were much larger than those used -by the Romans; in fact they were precisely similar to those of the -present day. They were not, however, laid as they are now, but in the -style called 'English bond', in which one 'course' or row shows all the -long faces and the next one all the short ends. - -These brick mansions were larger and more spacious than the old wooden -ones, and built for comfort rather than defence. They were set in the -midst of broad parks, and surrounded by terraced lawns and gardens -enclosed by walls of clipped yew-trees. Sometimes ornamental fish-ponds, -such as you may see at Gawsworth, were laid out in front of the house; -avenues of limes and Spanish chestnuts imported from abroad were planted -along the roadway leading to the principal entrance. Their general -shape, out of compliment to Queen Elizabeth, was that of the letter E. -Brereton Hall is a good example of this 'Tudor' style. It was built in -1586, the first stone being laid, so it is said, by the queen herself. - -In the eastern parts of Cheshire, where stone is abundant, houses -similar in design were built of this material instead of brick. Arden -Hall, near Stockport, is now in ruins, but enough remains to show the -chief characteristics of an Elizabethan mansion; the turret with -circular stone staircase, the wings with gabled ends, and the bay -windows carried up to the roof. Other Elizabethan houses are Marple -Hall, Poole Hall, Carden Hall in the Broxton Hills, Dorfold Hall, and -Burton Hall in Wirral. - - [Illustration: TUDOR MONUMENTS IN GAWSWORTH CHURCH - The central figure is that of Mary Fitton] - -In Gawsworth Church are a number of monuments of members of the Fitton -family, who lived at the Old Hall at Gawsworth. Mary Fitton was one of -Elizabeth's maids-of-honour, and used to take part in plays for the -amusement of the queen; and it is not at all unlikely that she was a -friend of Shakespeare. It is indeed supposed that she is the 'dark lady' -of whom the poet speaks in his sonnets. From an examination of these -Fitton monuments you can learn what the costume at the end of the -sixteenth century was like. Lady Alice Fitton is surrounded by the -kneeling figures of her two sons and two daughters, the former in plate -armour, the latter wearing the familiar head-dress and ruff which are -such distinctive features in the dress of Tudor ladies. The figures are -carved in alabaster, and have clearly at one time been painted in bright -colours. The picture of Mary Fitton will help you to recognize the Tudor -monuments which are to be seen in many Cheshire churches. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. II - - -Many attempts were made by the Tudor sovereigns to conquer the Irish. -From time to time expeditions were sent across the sea, and the troops -embarked at various points on the Cheshire coast. The fighting Leghs of -Adlington raised a troop of Cheshire soldiers, and Thomas and Ralph Legh -fell in battle against the Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill. A Cheshire -knight, Sir Edward Fitton, of Gawsworth, was made Governor of Connaught. - -In the later years of Elizabeth's reign a constant stream of ill-clad -and ill-paid soldiers marched through Cheshire on their way to the wars. -The soldiers had to be supplied with food and quarters by the towns and -villages through which they passed, and the cost of billeting the men -in the houses on their arrival at Chester fell very hard on the city -merchants, who were soon brought to great distress. The soldiers were -generally put on board ship at Parkgate, for the channel of the Dee had -become so choked up with sand that only the smallest vessels could reach -Chester. - -The leader of one of the expeditions was the Earl of Essex, who was a -frequent visitor at Lyme Park, where he hunted the stag with his host, -Sir Piers Legh. - -The wars with Spain ruined the oversea trade of Chester, consisting at -this time largely in the export of tanned leather to the French ports of -Rochelle and Bordeaux. In the year 1598, Thomas Fletcher, the Mayor of -Chester, wrote to Lord Burghley that he 'had found the poor city to be -generally very weak and much decayed, especially in the chiefest parts -thereof (the merchants) who have been heretofore the most able to do her -Majesty service'. For eight months there had not been 'one ship nor -small bark laden into any foreign place'. The queen had, some years -previously, given the merchants license to export 10,000 'dickers' (that -is, bundles of ten) of tanned calf-skins within a certain time, but -owing to the wars they were unable to get them away within the given -period, and the merchants asked for the time to be extended. - -An old gabled house in Watergate Street, with its pious superscription -'God's Providence is mine inheritance', reminds us of a more dreadful -scourge than war which visited Chester, and indeed the whole of -Cheshire, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This was the -terrible plague, which attacked rich and poor alike, and stopped the -trade of the city so much that, as one writer says, 'grass did grow a -foot high at the Cross'. Houses that were infected with the disease were -marked with a cross, that none might go near; no merchandise was allowed -to enter the city until it had been unpacked and aired outside the -walls. Death came suddenly, or within a few hours at most; and often 'to -those that merrily dined it gave a sorrowful supper'. God's Providence -House received its name from the fact that its inmates alone of all -the neighbourhood escaped the disease. - - [Illustration: STANLEY PALACE, CHESTER (showing influence of - Renaissance)] - -The Courts could not be held in the plague-stricken city; the Exchequer -Court was removed to Tarvin, and the Assizes were held at Nantwich. The -annual fairs were abandoned to prevent the spread of the disease. -Numbers of victims were carried out from the city and hastily buried in -the 'Barrow Field'. Other Cheshire towns suffered severely. On the -hills, near Macclesfield, are many gravestones of the victims of the -plague; two gravestones near the Bowstones on Disley Moor tell the same -tale. - -Some of the English nobles had residences in Chester. The city gates -were confided to noble families for safe keeping. The East Gate was -guarded by the ancestors of Lord Crewe. The 'Bear and Billet' Inn in -Bridge Street belonged to the Earls of Shrewsbury, who were Sergeants of -the Bridge Gate. The Earls of Derby had charge of the Watergate. The -North Gate, however, the most important entrance to the city, was -entrusted to the mayor and the citizens. - -A narrow court in Watergate Street leads to the Stanley Palace of the -Earls of Derby; the gardens extended down to the river-side. The -architecture is very similar to that of the old timber halls described -in the last chapter, but the row of round-headed panels tells us that -people were beginning to imitate in their timber decorations the -round-headed arches of the Italian style. - -As early as the reign of Henry the Seventh, English architects were -beginning to study the remains of ancient buildings in Rome, and Italian -architects were brought over to England. Henry the Eighth invited a -builder named John of Padua, who designed the north side of Lyme Hall. -The Italians despised the Pointed styles of English architecture, -calling it contemptuously 'Gothic', from the name of the barbarian -Goths, who overran the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries. - -Many of the Cheshire gentry left their homes in the towns to live in new -houses in the country. The old hall of the Sandbach family is now the -principal inn of the town of Sandbach; the ancient home of the Ardernes -in Great Underbank, Stockport, is now a bank; and the house built at -Nantwich by 'Richarde and Marjery Churche' has been turned into a -ladies' school. The Mainwarings lived in a fine house in Watergate -Street, Chester, until a number of little shops were allowed to block up -the front of their home. The Wilbrahams moved from Nantwich to the -spacious Elizabethan hall at Dorfold. - -When the monasteries were destroyed, a large number of people were -thrown out of work, especially in the country districts. The distress -was so great in Queen Elizabeth's reign that Parliament passed a 'poor -law', by which the inhabitants of every parish were compelled to pay -taxes for the support of their own poor. - -This did not, however, prevent rich and charitable men from devoting a -portion of their wealth to the building of hospitals and almshouses, -where the aged poor could live in comfort. In Commonhall Street, -Chester, are the old almshouses founded by Sir Thomas Smith in 1532, and -there are almshouses at Acton, Little Budworth, Macclesfield, Nantwich, -Tarporley, Sandbach, and Stockport, though some of these were built in -later reigns. Nantwich was particularly favoured by benefactors, and -possesses four separate sets of almshouses. - -Sometimes sums of money were left to be spent on providing bread for -those who were unable to work. In the churches at Little Peover, -Mottram, and Woodchurch, you will see some wooden shelves fixed on the -wall near the porch. On these were placed the loaves which were -distributed after the Sunday services. At Bebington and Woodchurch sums -of money were given by a family of the name of Goodacre for the purchase -of bullocks to draw the ploughs of the poor peasants of Wirral. - -Certain days of the year were set apart as public holidays. Every parish -had its 'wakes' or festival of the dedication of the parish church. -These were held on the feast-day of the saint after whom the church was -named. Another festival was that of the 'rush-bearing'. In a former -chapter you have read of the rushes that were spread on the floors of -churches. They were gathered from the fringe of a stream or mere, and -tied into bundles and placed on the rush-cart, which was gaily decked -with ribbons and flowers. A procession was then formed of the villagers, -who accompanied the cart to the church, where a special service was -held. There are still rush-bearing services at Farndon, Aldford, and -Forest Chapel, but in many villages the merry-making too often ended in -disorder and drunkenness, and the custom has been allowed to die out. - -An Elizabethan writer tells us that the people of Nantwich visited the -brine pits on Ascension Day and decked them with flowers and garlands. -Then they offered hymns and prayers of thanksgiving for the blessing of -the brine, on which the prosperity of their town depended. - -May-day was the favourite holiday of the people. The maypole was set up -on the village green, where the Queen of the May was crowned, and -morris-dancers danced to the fiddle and horn-pipe, as they do to this -day at Lymm, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel, and many other Cheshire villages. -Sometimes there were wrestling matches, and combat with sword and -quarterstaff. At Gawsworth are the remains of a tilting-ground where -such encounters took place. The long terraced banks of earth on which -the spectators sat may still be seen. - -The good people of Chester were particularly fond of shows and pageants, -and processions. On Midsummer Day the mayor and aldermen of the city -marched with banners through the streets to S. Oswald's Church. With -them went 'four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, an ass and a dragon, -and six hobby horses'. The giants were made of pasteboard and repainted -every year, and 'dosed with arsenic to keep the rats from eating them'. - -Some of their amusements were, however, of a more degrading kind. The -High Cross of Chester, from which the friars and Wyclif's 'poor priests' -had preached in former days, now became the scene of brutal pastimes. -For at this spot bulls were baited in the bull-ring when a mayor -finished his year of office, the mayor himself paying the expenses. - -The Bear's Head and White Bear Inn at Congleton remind us that the -natives of Congleton were so fond of bear-baiting, that a local proverb -says that they 'sold their Church Bible to buy a new bear'. Few towns or -villages were without a cock-pit, for cock-fighting was a favourite -amusement of all classes. Happily, these degrading sports are now -forbidden by law, and we do not regret their disappearance. - - [Illustration: Cross and Stocks, Warburton] - -Little mercy was shown to those who were guilty of brawling or breaches -of the peace. Often by the lichgate of a Cheshire churchyard, or near -the village cross, you will see the remains of the wooden stocks in -which drunkards were placed and exposed to the jeers and gibes of the -passers-by. In the museums at Chester, Stockport, and Macclesfield, you -will see a still more barbarous form of punishment. The scolding or -brawling woman was compelled to have her head encased in a 'brank' or -skeleton helmet of iron, with a spiked iron piece pressing on the -tongue. A chain was attached to the woman's waist, and she was led -through the town. - -Another instrument of punishment is to be seen in the Museum at West -Park, Macclesfield. It is a girdle or cage, consisting of a number of -iron hoops fastened together by chains which were placed round the body -of a woman, who was then tied to a plank called a 'ducking-stool', and -dipped in a pond. There was also an iron strait-jacket at Macclesfield -for drunkards and lunatics. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE RULE OF THE STUARTS - - -In the 'Stag Parlour' of Lyme Hall is a framed piece of needlework done -by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, when she stayed at Lyme. When she was -deposed by her Scottish subjects she threw herself on the mercy of Queen -Elizabeth, who permitted her to live in England. But plots were made -against the life of Elizabeth, and Mary was suspected of having a hand -in them, and in the end Mary had to pay the penalty of death. - -Mary was a Catholic, but her son James, who succeeded to the English -throne on the death of Elizabeth, had been brought up among the Scottish -reformers. The extreme English reformers, or Puritans as they were now -called, hoped therefore that the king would be friendly to their wishes. -The Puritans were disappointed, but James agreed to one of their -demands, and said that he would have a new translation of the Bible -made. The Authorized Version of the Bible which is read in all Cheshire -churches and chapels to-day is the one noble work due to the first -Stuart king. - -The Puritans were so named because they wished to 'purify' the Church of -certain forms and ceremonies, such as the use of the surplice, and the -sign of the cross at baptism, and even the ring in the marriage service. -They also objected to the rule of bishops, and wished the Church to be -governed by councils of elders or 'presbyters' after the manner of the -Presbyterian Church of Scotland. - -During the reign of Elizabeth many Puritan clergymen had refused to -perform the services of the Church in the way ordered by the Prayer -Book. They were driven out of the Church, and formed separate -congregations of their own. Hence they received the name of -Independents, and they were the earliest of the Nonconformist -dissenters. - -Many Independents suffered so severely at the hands of King James and -his archbishop, that they determined to leave the country and settle in -new homes across the sea. They gave the name of New England to their -colony in America, and thus became the founders of our American -possessions. Among the exiles was Samuel Eaton, a Wirral clergyman. He -returned in the reign of Charles the First, and became a minister in the -chapel attached to Dukinfield Hall, which thus became one of the -earliest places of worship for the Independents in Cheshire. The ancient -chapel now forms a portion of the modern Nonconformist church of -Dukinfield. - -The Catholics were not more pleased with James than the Puritans were. -They were compelled to attend the new services of the Protestant Church. -Those who refused to do so were called 'recusants'. The Bishop of Chester -was ordered by James to hunt out all the Popish recusants in Cheshire -and bring them to trial. The secret hiding-places built in the walls of -many Cheshire halls must often have sheltered these fugitive priests, -for many great families in Cheshire, such as the Stanleys of Hooton and -the Masseys of Puddington, were strongly Catholic. - -Chester was Protestant, and a Puritan Mayor of Chester stopped the -Midsummer show, and broke up the pasteboard giants, and abolished the -bull-ring; for the Puritans disliked shows and processions and sports of -all kinds, and even such harmless pastimes as the May-day dances. - -The Midsummer revels were, however, revived, and held with great pomp -when King James paid a visit to Chester in 1617. His arms are carved in -a panel under one of the front windows of Bishop Lloyd's house. One of -the Fitton family was mayor on this occasion, and the king's sword was -borne by a Stanley. James rode to the minster, where he heard one of the -scholars of the King's School read a Latin address of welcome. 'After -the said oration he went into the choir, and there, in a seat made for -the king at the higher end of the choir, he heard an anthem sung. And -after certain prayers the king went from thence to the Pentice, where a -sumptuous banquet was prepared at the city's cost: which being ended, -the king departed to the Vale Royal: and at his departure the order of -knighthood was offered to the mayor, but he refused the same.' The sale -of knighthoods and baronetcies was one of King James's ways of raising -money, and the Mayor of Chester was not the only one who declined the -honour. - -A zealous Puritan named William Prynne wrote against the performance of -stage plays, dancing, and other amusements. Some things that he said -were thought to refer to the Queen of Charles the First, and he was -tried by the Star Chamber and ordered to pay a fine of £5,000 and to -have his ears slit. There was a branch of the Court of Star Chamber at -Chester, but it was abolished in Charles the First's reign. In one of -the rooms of Leasowe Castle are some oak panels brought from the Star -Chamber at Westminster. - -William Prynne passed through Chester on his way to his prison in -Carnarvon Castle. The Puritans turned out to welcome and cheer him in -the streets, but their leaders were punished by fines and imprisonment -for so doing. - -Neither James nor Charles got on well with their Parliaments. The Tudor -monarchs had for the most part understood the people, and the people in -their turn allowed them to have their own way. But the Stuarts began to -claim powers which the people would not permit. When Parliament refused -to grant money they asked for, the Stuart kings tried to raise money by -means which the people thought illegal. Charles borrowed large sums of -money without the consent of Parliament. Sir Randolph Crewe, of Crewe -Hall, was one of the judges who thought that this was wrong, and he was -dismissed from his office by the king. - -Charles also tried to impose a tax called Ship Money, a tax which had in -former times been levied on the counties on the seaboard for the support -of the navy. Now the king proposed that inland counties also should -contribute for this purpose. Sir William Brereton, a Cheshire knight, -objected strongly to the hateful tax, and was very angry with the people -of Chester for rating some land of his near Chester, called the Nunnery -Fields, for the payment of the money. - -It is not surprising that trouble should arise between Parliament and a -king who refused to obey the wishes of the people over whom he ruled. -The Stuarts believed in the theory known as the Divine right of kings, -that is, that kings are made by God alone, and that from Him alone they -receive their power. But from the time of the great awakening the people -had begun to think for themselves, and the result of this was that they -were now determined that the king should carry out the will of the -nation through the mouth of its Parliament. - -Moreover, Charles was suspected of being a Catholic; at any rate he had -married a Catholic wife, and Parliament was not in a mood to permit a -return to the unhappy state of affairs of Queen Mary's reign. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. I - -THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH - - -Charles proclaimed war on Parliament in the year 1642, and both sides -prepared at once for the struggle. Roughly speaking, London and the -south-eastern counties were on the side of Parliament, for they were the -chief centres of trade in the seventeenth century, and felt most keenly -the evils of bad government. The great modern industrial towns of the -northern counties of England were in most cases as yet mere villages. - - [Illustration: THE CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE] - -The king's supporters were drawn chiefly from the north and west. They -were called Royalists or Cavaliers, while the Parliamentarians were -nicknamed Roundheads because they wore their hair cut short, after the -manner of the Puritans, and disdained the flowing curls which were -fashionable at the time. But although the country was thus roughly -divided into two opposing factions, supporters both of king and of -parliament were to be found in nearly every town and village. Indeed it -sometimes happened that members of a single family found themselves on -different sides in the war. The Breretons of Brereton Hall were stout -royalists, but their cousins of Handforth were, as you will see, the -most determined opponents of the king. - -The towns of Cheshire, with the exception of Chester, were largely on -the side of Parliament, while most, but not all, of the great landowners -and their numerous retainers fought for the king. The county was -represented in the Long Parliament by Sir William Brereton, the son of -William Brereton of Handforth Hall. - -Brereton was an ardent Puritan, and at the first signs of approaching -war he put himself at the head of the Parliamentary party in Cheshire, -calling upon all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty -to join him at Tarporley, and soon after was appointed by Parliament -itself as commander of the Cheshire forces. His career was very nearly -cut short at the very beginning of the struggle, for he brought about a -riot in Chester by causing the drum to be beaten publicly in the streets -for Parliament. He was brought to the Pentice but released, and with -difficulty saved from the fury of the citizens, who in later days -complained bitterly that the mayor had preserved the life of one who was -to be the author of so much disaster to themselves. - -In Tarporley Church you may see a helmet and breastplate that were dug -up in the neighbourhood. They were probably worn by some soldier who -fought in one of the earliest battles of the civil war in Cheshire. The -first fighting took place in the southern parts of the county. In -February, 1642, Brereton was attacked at Tarporley by the king's troops -who had marched out from Chester. Entrenchments were thrown up near the -church, but the severest fighting was at the neighbouring hamlet of -Tiverton, where both sides lost heavily. The Royalist troops retired to -Chester and the Parliamentarians to Nantwich, which Brereton made his -head-quarters. From these two places the two parties 'contended which -should most prevail upon the affections of the county to declare for -them and join them'. - -Brereton's task was the capture of the important city of Chester, in -order to prevent assistance reaching the king from Ireland. To this end -he placed troops on the principal roads leading to the city. The roads -from the south were watched by the Nantwich forces, who captured and -occupied Beeston Castle. On the north Warrington Bridge was seized to -prevent help coming from Lancashire or from Scotland, which remained -loyal to Charles. Norton Priory and the Norman castle of Halton, already -in ruins, were fortified and held by the Roundheads. A strong force was -posted at Northwich which commanded the main road through the forest of -Delamere, thus completing a chain of garrisons along the valley of the -Weaver from Nantwich to the Mersey. On the Welsh side the border castles -of Holt on the Dee and Hawarden in the county of Flint were attacked and -occupied by the Parliamentarians, who thus prevented the arrival of -reinforcements from the west. - -In 1643 Brereton won his first great victory by defeating Sir Thomas -Aston, the Royalist leader, at Middlewich, capturing two cannon, four -barrels of powder, four hundred soldiers, and arms for five hundred men. -Sir Thomas Aston marched out from Chester with a strong force of -Royalists one Sunday morning in March. Brereton was at Northwich at the -time, and word was sent to him that the king's forces were at Middlewich -and taking up a strong position there. The Roundheads hurried -southwards, but had not sufficient ammunition to take the town. A fresh -supply was sent for, and on Monday afternoon Sir Thomas Aston found -himself between two fires, for troops from Nantwich also arrived on the -scene. - -The Royalists were driven into the narrow streets of the town, where the -cavalry were penned like sheep and quite useless. The foot-soldiers fled -into the church, where they laid down their arms or were slain. The -church steeples, like the keeps of the Norman castles, were usually the -last places of refuge for the defenders of a town, and many of them -suffered great damage in consequence during the war. Aston escaped with -a remnant of his cavalry, leaving the infantry to their fate. He laid -the blame for his defeat upon his Welsh allies, who were sent to line -the hedges of the roads by which the Roundheads advanced, but who threw -away their arms and fled at the first approach of the enemy. - -Brereton's victory at Middlewich was complete, but some months -afterwards Sir Thomas Aston had his revenge and turned the tables on his -enemy. He was reinforced by troops from Ireland, by whose aid he was -able to drive the Parliamentarian general out of Middlewich. - -The Royalists now appeared to be getting the upper hand, and they -actually laid siege to Nantwich, which was defended by Sir George Booth -during the temporary absence of Brereton. The besiegers were commanded -by Sir Nicholas Byron, the governor of Chester, and an ancestor of the -poet Byron. Brereton returned with Sir Thomas Fairfax, one of the -greatest of Cromwell's lieutenants, and compelled the Royalists to raise -the siege. Thus the fortunes of war inclined now to one side, now to the -other, and the towns continually changed hands. The strong Parliamentary -garrison at Northwich was attacked by Aston, at first without success, -but later in the year Brereton was badly defeated here by his determined -enemy, and the town held by the Royalist troops. - -The event which had most effect on the war in Cheshire was Brereton's -victory in August, 1644, at Tarvin on the road from Chester to -Northwich. Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, nephews of the king, were -attempting to reach Chester with a relieving column. Brereton attacked -and routed them and posted himself astride the main road. Tarvin Church -still shows traces of the fighting here, for a bullet is buried deep in -a brass plate in the chancel. After this success Brereton advanced his -head-quarters to Christleton, only two miles from the gates of Chester. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. II - -A MEMORABLE SIEGE - - -In 1645 word was brought to Chester that the king himself was coming, -and the drooping spirits of the Royalists revived. Charles entered the -city with about three hundred followers who had escaped from the battle -of Naseby, where the main Royalist army had been cut to pieces by -Cromwell's Ironsides. During his short visit to Chester the king was the -guest of Sir Francis Gamull at his home, still called Gamull House, in -Bridge Street. - -Many of you have read the inscription on the Phoenix Tower on the walls -of Chester-- - - 'King Charles - stood on this tower - September 27th, 1645, and saw - His Army defeated - on Rowton Moor.' - -Rowton Moor is no longer moorland. A village now stands on the -battlefield where the last hopes of the loyal inhabitants of Chester -were destroyed. The defeated army consisted of the remnants of the -Royalist cavalry under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was trying to cut his -way through the enemy to reinforce the garrison of Chester. The -Royalists were almost successful, and a sortie was made by the troops -within the city to join hands with Langdale, but the Puritan General -Poyntz, following closely on the heels of the Royalist horse, threw -them into hopeless confusion and drove them helter-skelter in all -directions. During the battle Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, whose tomb is in -the Shakerley Chapel at Little Peover, carried dispatches to the king, -ferrying himself across the river Dee in a tub. Some matchlocks and -firelocks used in this battle have been found on the Heath, and are now -in the Chester Museum. - -This defeat was almost the final blow received by the king in his -struggle with Parliament. On the following day Charles fled into Wales -by an undefended road, asking only that the city might hold out for -eight days longer to enable him to make good his escape. In a tiny -window in Farndon Church are some pieces of ancient painted glass, with -portraits of several of the Cheshire esquires who attended Charles -during his stay in Chester. - -The cordon was now drawn tighter round the doomed city, and a regular -blockade followed to starve the citizens into surrender. When the -Cromwellian troops who had been battering Lathom House in Lancashire -arrived and took up a position on the north side of the walls, the city -was completely surrounded. Dodleston Hall, to the south-west of the -city, was occupied by Brereton to prevent any further escapes into -Wales. The Roundheads made a floating bridge across the river Dee, which -was, however, destroyed by fireships which were turned adrift and were -carried up the river by a strong spring tide. Scaling-ladders were fixed -on the walls, but the Royalists dragged them up into the city in the -night-time. - -The inhabitants were determined not to give in without a struggle. Even -women took a share in the work of defence, carrying baskets of earth to -fill up the breaches made by a night attack upon the city walls. The -city was well protected by the river Dee on its western and southern -sides; a semicircle of mud earthworks was made round the north and east -of the city. Many large houses in the neighbourhood were burnt by the -Royalists to prevent their being used by the enemy. The suburb of -Boughton, with its hall, was entirely destroyed, fighting taking place -almost daily in this quarter. The Royalists also made breaches in the -Dee Bridge. - -When the outworks were carried by the Parliamentarian troops, all S. -John's parish lay at their mercy. The Roundheads turned the church into -a fortress, and planted a battery of guns on the tower, from which they -battered the city walls. In a glass case at the west end of the church -you may see a cannon ball that was fired from the walls and long -afterwards found embedded in the church tower. - -The walls were also fiercely bombarded from Brewers Hall on the opposite -side of the Dee, though a battery of guns placed on the summit of -Morgan's Mount kept the besiegers at bay on the north. The Water Tower -at the north-west corner of the city bears the marks of some well-aimed -shots from the guns of Cromwell's men. - -Within the city the hardships were very severe. Fires were frequent, -especially in the night-time. Cold and bleak December days increased the -suffering, and, worst of all, food was getting scarce, and the pinch of -hunger began to be felt. At length the inhabitants were reduced to -eating the flesh of horses and dogs, and still Sir Nicholas Byron held -out, waiting daily for the help that never came. Famine did its work at -last, and after a siege of eighteen weeks the city surrendered to -Brereton on February 3, 1646. - -One of the conditions of surrender was that the victorious troops should -not do any damage to the city. The fragment of the High Cross, now in -the Grosvenor Museum, shows that in this respect the soldiers of -Cromwell did not keep their word. Sir Francis Gamull, the mayor, -bargained with the Roundheads that the tombs of his family should not be -harmed, and this explains the fact that the Gamull monuments in S. -Mary's-on-the-Hill are almost the only relics of the kind in Chester -that escaped destruction. - -The events of the war were published every week in the Mercurius Aulicus -or 'Court Mercury,' a forerunner of the modern newspaper. In the Free -Library at Birkenhead are preserved some sheets of this paper, on one of -which is related the story of the capture and recapture of Beeston -Castle. After its occupation by the Parliamentary troops a daring -assault was made upon the castle by Captain Sandford and a party of -eight Royalists, who scaled the steep rock on which the castle is built -and called upon the defenders to surrender. Captain Steel, the Puritan -commander, was tried for cowardice in yielding to so small a force, and -condemned to be shot. After the battle of Rowton Moor the castle endured -a seven weeks' siege, and surrendered in November, 1645. Shortly -afterwards Parliament ordered the castle to be dismantled, and it has -been in ruins ever since. Several of the officers who were killed at -Beeston are buried at Tarporley. - -Many of the Cheshire halls, which were held mainly by Royalists, -suffered severely for their loyalty to the king. Crewe Hall was taken by -the Roundheads, retaken by Byron, and finally garrisoned by the soldiers -of Brereton. Huxley Hall was occupied by Colonel Croxton during the -siege of Chester. Puddington Hall, in Wirral, the ancient home of the -Masseys, whose owner, Sir William Massey, remained in Chester till its -fall, was destroyed by fire. - -Adlington Hall, the home of the loyal Leghs, endured a fortnight's -siege, at the end of which time its gallant garrison of one hundred and -fifty men was compelled to surrender and permitted to depart. The marks -of cannon shot used in the bombardment may still be seen upon the -massive oak doors of the courtyard. Wythenshaw Hall was held by -Royalists, but Colonel Dukinfield, a friend and neighbour of Sir William -Brereton, compelled a surrender after a short siege. Cannon balls have -been found in the grounds of the hall. - -Vale Royal, the private residence of the Cholmondeleys since Henry the -Eighth turned out its abbot and monks, was plundered and partly burnt by -the soldiers of General Lambert's army. Sir Peter Leycester, of Tabley -Hall, fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians and was sent to -prison. During his captivity he first planned his famous book of the -History and Antiquities of Cheshire. - -The lot of the unhappy Cheshire squire was indeed pitiable. Royalists -and Roundheads were equally unwelcome guests, treating their host with -scant ceremony, ransacking his house and helping themselves freely to -everything that might be of any service to them. Let Peter Davenport, -the squire of Bramhall, tell in his own words the story of his woes: 'On -New Year's Day, 1643, came Captain Sankey (a Parliamentary officer) with -two or three troopers to Bramhall, and went into my stable and took out -my horses, above twenty in all, and afterwards searched my house for -arms again and took my fowling-piece, stocking-piece, and drum, with -divers other things. Next day, after they were gone, came Prince -Rupert's army, by whom I lost better than a hundred pounds in linen and -other goods, besides the rifling and pulling to pieces of my house. By -whom I lost eight horses, and they ate me threescore bushels of oats.' -Poor Peter was not yet at the end of his troubles, for when the war was -over he had to pay five hundred pounds in order to buy back his own -property, for the estates of the Royalists were confiscated by -Parliament and sold back to their owners for large sums of money. - -The empty niches over the porches of many Cheshire churches tell their -own tale of the damage done by the Cromwellian troops. Sculptured images -were everywhere broken in fragments, lead was stripped from the fonts -and roofs to be turned into bullets. The pipes were taken from the organ -of Budworth Church, and the stained glass windows of Tarvin destroyed by -the Puritan fanatic, John Bruen. The sacred buildings themselves were -used throughout the war as barracks, fortresses, stables, or prisons. - -The destruction of property and of works of art that can never be -replaced was indeed largely the work of the Roundheads; but it was the -Royalists who perpetrated the blackest deed in this long tale of civil -strife. In the winter of 1643 Lord Byron's troopers were plundering the -villages of South Cheshire, burning farms and homesteads, and driving -the country people before them. One of his officers, Major Connought, -entered the village of Barthomley, and many of the panic-stricken -inhabitants took refuge in the tower of the church. Connought and his -brutal followers broke up the pews, gathered together the mats and -rushes strewn upon the floor, and made a bonfire at the entrance to the -tower. Forced from their place of refuge by fire and smoke, the -unfortunate villagers were stabbed and hacked to death as they came out -one by one. This was their Christmastide, the season of peace and good -fellowship and brotherly love, and men, blind with the lust of blood, -were cutting the throats of their brothers as if they were sheep in the -shambles. Happily, such scenes as this were rare, even in those dark -years. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. III - -THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION - - -The story is told that a schoolboy, wandering among the tombstones in -the churchyard of Macclesfield, scratched these strange lines on one of -the grave-slabs: - - My brother Harry must heir the land; - My brother Frank must be at his command; - While I, poor Jack, shall do that - Which all the world will wonder at. - -'Poor Jack' was John Bradshaw, whose name is the first on the list of -those who signed the warrant for the execution of the king. On January -1, 1649, Parliament decided that Charles should be tried before a High -Court of Justice, and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, Bradshaw, -the president of the Court, pronounced the death sentence in Westminster -Hall. - -John Bradshaw, the 'regicide', was born at Wibbersley Hall, near Disley. -In the register of the Parish Church of Stockport is the record of his -baptism: 'December, 1602, John, the son of Henry Bradshaw, of Marple, -baptised the tenth. Traitor.' The word 'Traitor' has been added by -another hand, no doubt that of some ardent Royalist. - -He was educated at Bunbury School by Edward Burghall, a notable -Cheshire Puritan, who was afterwards made vicar of Acton, and wrote a -Diary (or copied someone else's Diary) of the Civil War in Cheshire. -Bradshaw also probably spent a short time at the Grammar School at -Macclesfield. He became Mayor of Congleton and Chief Justice of -Cheshire. - -The name of Major-General Thomas Harrison, a native of Nantwich, also -appears on the list of those who signed the death-warrant of the king. - -Memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most -devoted of his followers. In the Stag Parlour at Lyme Hall are some -chairs, said to be covered with portions of the cloak that Charles wore -at the time of his death. Here also are a pair of embroidered gloves -that belonged to the king, and a dagger with his name 'Carolus' engraved -upon it. - -The war was continued by his son, Charles the Second. James Stanley, -Earl of Derby, was made commander of the Royalist forces in Cheshire. In -the year 1651 Knutsford Heath was a scene of bustling activity. Here -were encamped the forces of General Lambert, one of Cromwell's most -trusted lieutenants, consisting of 9,000 horse and 4,000 foot. He was -waiting for the Royalist army, which was marching southwards from -Scotland under the command of Charles himself and General Leslie. -Lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at Warrington to prevent the -passage of the king's army, but arrived too late. Skirmishes took place -at Budworth and High Legh, and Lambert was compelled to retreat to -Knutsford, while the Royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field -of Worcester. - -A few days later, the people of Sandbach were setting up the stalls and -spreading their wares in the market-place for the September Fair. A cry -was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town. They were all -that was left of Leslie's Scottish Cavaliers. Weary of war, their horses -jaded and lame, they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their -homes again in safety. But the townspeople, remembering perhaps the -massacre of Barthomley, were not minded to let them off easily. The -foremost troopers, who alone were armed, were allowed to pass through -the town. Then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and -cudgelled them. Many were wounded and captured, and placed in the town -prison, where perhaps they were not sorry to rest. Others escaped into -the open fields. 'Scotch Commons', as the scene of the encounter is -still called, reminds us of this last event of the Civil War in -Cheshire. The struggle was ended. Charles was an exile, and Cromwell -ruled over the land. - -One of Cromwell's Acts decreed that all who had any communication with -Charles the Second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the -State. The Earl of Derby, who escaped from the rout at Worcester, but -was captured at Nantwich, was tried under this Act and condemned to -death. He escaped from his prison in the castle at Chester, and lay -concealed for a time, it is said, in a secret chamber in the Stanley -Palace near the Water Gate. The 'Martyr Earl' was, however, recaptured -on the banks of the Dee, and beheaded at Bolton. - -Brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the Parliamentary cause with -the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest. Soon afterwards, however, -he left the county of his birth and lived in London until his death in -1661. His body was brought to Cheadle for burial in the Handforth -Chapel. There is, however, no note of his burial in the parish -registers, and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in -which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a -river over which it was being carried. - -The Puritans determined to put an end to the government of the Church by -bishops, and abolished the Book of Common Prayer from the Church -services, putting in its place a new form of public worship. About -thirty of the clergy in Cheshire who refused to perform the new services -of the Church were turned out of their livings. Children were no longer -to be baptized in fonts but from a basin. Hour-glasses were set up in -the pulpits, from which long political sermons were preached to the -people. - -The Puritan mayor of Chester would not permit Christmas and other -time-honoured festivals of the Church to be kept, and music, dancing, -and games were rigidly put down. - -In 1659 an attempt was made by a number of Cheshire gentry to restore -Charles to the throne. Oliver Cromwell was now dead, and had been -succeeded by his son Richard. But the real power was in the hands of the -soldiers, and many people soon became disgusted with military rule. The -leader of the revolt in Cheshire was Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey. -He had fought on the side of Parliament in the early years of the war, -and was one of the Presbyterian members of Parliament who were turned -out of the House by 'Pride's Purge,' just before the execution of the -king. - -Sir George Booth collected a Royalist force on Rowton Moor, and prepared -to attack Chester. He captured the city and the walls, but failed to -take the castle, whose governor was Colonel Croxton, of Ravenscroft Hall -near Middlewich. Colonel Lambert, however, was summoned with two -regiments from Ireland, and he compelled Booth to retire towards -Northwich. The Royalist force was overtaken at Hartford, and in the -battle which took place near Winnington Bridge on the river Weaver, was -completely routed. - -But the return of the exiled king was not long delayed. Among the -Royalists captured at Nantwich in 1644 was George Monk. After his -release he entered the service of Parliament, and won the esteem of -Cromwell. General Monk now succeeded in persuading Parliament to recall -Charles. Nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in Cheshire. -Church bells rang merrily, maypoles were set up again upon the village -greens, and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops. The long quarrel that had -separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end, and -many a Cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers. -The king had come into his own again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -THE FALL OF THE STUARTS - - -When Charles was restored to the throne the bishops also came back to -their bishoprics. The records of the churches of Chester tell of the -payments made to the ringers for the ringing of the bells when the -citizens joyously welcomed Bishop Walton to the city. A large number of -citizens and mounted soldiers went as far as Nantwich to meet him and -escorted him to the city gates of Chester, where the mayor and -corporation as well as the clergy and gentry of Cheshire received him. -Once more a Christmas was kept in the old time way, and the churches -were decked with holly and evergreens for one of the greatest festivals -of the Church. And truly the bare walls, stripped of everything that was -beautiful, needed some adornment after the ravages and desecrations of -the Civil War. - -But Charles was a foolish king, and spent most of his days in idle and -frivolous pleasures. The people were disappointed with him, for he had -plenty of brains. One of his favourite hobbies was the study of science. -John Wilkins, another Bishop of Chester, was one of a little band of -clever men who helped the king to found the Royal Society for the spread -of knowledge and the study of science. To be a Fellow of the Royal -Society is to this day one of the highest honours that men of science -can obtain. - -The favourite study of John Wilkins was astronomy, and he wrote a book -called the _Discovery of a New World, to prove that there may be another -habitable world in the moon_. Another book of his was called _Mercury; -or the secret and swift Messenger, shewing how a man may privately and -with speed tell his thoughts to friends at any distance_. Thus, had he -lived in a later age, he might perhaps have been the inventor of the -telegraph and telephone. - -Charles secretly favoured the old Catholic religion, and on his -death-bed was received into the Catholic Church. During his reign -another Act of Uniformity was passed, much more severe than the former -one. Sixty ministers of Cheshire churches, who refused to obey the Act, -were turned out of their livings. Among them was Adam Martindale, a -noted Puritan, who was driven from his church at Rostherne. Adam -Martindale wrote the story of his life, with all his trials and -misfortunes, in a book which you may read in many of your public -libraries. - -The Nonconformists were prevented by another Act from holding prayer -meetings within five miles of the town or village where they had held a -living. The gaol at Chester was soon filled with those who were ready to -suffer for the crime of preaching the Gospel in their homes and to their -friends. Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, who had been made Governor of Chester -Castle for his services in the Civil War, sought them out and persecuted -them with great cruelty. - -Still there were many who continued to worship in their own way. For a -long time they held their services secretly in private houses, but, in -1690, the Toleration Act allowed them to build chapels. These they -erected chiefly on the outskirts of towns or in remote villages. During -the later years of the seventeenth century these chapels increased -greatly in number. The Unitarian chapel at Knutsford and the tiny brick -chapel at Dean Row, between the Bollin and the Dean, are among the -earliest of such places of worship in Cheshire. - -Matthew Henry, a learned commentator of the New Testament, whose father -had been turned out of his church at Worthenbury, preached in the chapel -in Trinity Street, Chester. You may still see the seventeenth-century -pulpit from which he addressed his congregation. During the Civil War -the pulpit had become the most important feature of the churches. The -Puritans were in the habit of preaching long political sermons which -they timed with an hour-glass fixed on the wall near the pulpit. At -Shotwick is a pulpit of the kind called a 'three-decker', with a square -box-pew beneath it for the parish clerk. - -As soon as people were permitted to choose their own form of worship -several other religious bodies came into being, each with its own -peculiar teaching and belief, often differing but slightly from each -other, all bent on practising their religion precisely in their own -particular way. Many earnest soldiers in the Parliamentary army of Sir -George Booth, when encamped in the neighbourhood of Knutsford and -Alderley, had held their services in the barn of a farmhouse at Warford. -Their children in after days built the tiny Baptist chapel which still -remains in the village. - -The Quakers were very numerous in the neighbourhood of Stockport and -Wilmslow, and George Fox the founder of their sect, or 'Society of -Friends' as it was called, used often to visit them. Some cottages on -Lindow Moss were once a Quaker chapel, and there is a Quaker -burial-ground in a clump of trees near Mobberley. Many of the -gravestones have seventeenth-century dates upon them. Often the Quakers -were refused burial in the churchyards, and most out-of-the-way places -were chosen for their last resting-place. There are some Quakers' graves -in the woods at Burton in Wirral. - -James the Second, who succeeded his brother Charles, did not try to hide -the fact that he was a Papist. Many people would have preferred the Duke -of Monmouth, a bastard son of Charles the Second, as king. He was known -to be a Protestant, and the people of Cheshire, who were strongly -Protestant, would have welcomed him as they had already welcomed him -once in Charles the Second's reign. - -Three years before James became king, the duke had visited Cheshire and -raised the cry of 'No Popery!' He stayed at Mainwaring House in Bridge -Street, Chester, and supped at the Plume of Feathers Inn. On the -following day the little daughter of the mayor was christened, and the -duke stood godfather, naming her Henrietta. - -The duke then made a triumphal progress through the villages of Wirral. -He stayed at Peel Hall, Bromborough, in order to attend the races at -Wallasey, where he won a prize, which he sent to his little goddaughter -at Chester. Several of the Wirral gentry met in a summer-house at -Bidston, and talked of a rising in his favour. But the country people -did not show so much readiness as had been expected, and all the duke's -doings were secretly reported to the king by Sir Peter Shakerley, the -governor of Chester Castle. Monmouth also stayed at Rock Savage and -Dunham Massey, and witnessed the sports at Gawsworth. Shortly -afterwards, however, he was captured by the king's men at Stafford, and -the plot came to nothing. He was lucky not to lose his head. Charles was -kinder to him than James was when the duke raised the West of England in -1685. - -James was thoroughly hated by the bulk of the people, who grew tired of -the mischievous rule of the Stuarts, and made up their minds to depose -him. They were also determined that never again should a Catholic king -reign over them. James fled to France, and Thomas Cartwright, the Bishop -of Chester, who had made the citizens angry by bringing in again the old -Catholic services of the Church, followed him into exile. - -In the gardens of Gayton Hall are two ancient trees which have been -called William and Mary. William of Orange was the new king who was -invited by the English to succeed James. All who held office in Church -or State were required to take the oath of allegiance to him. Some -refused to do this. They were called non-jurors, and among them were -several of the clergy of Cheshire who had to give up their churches. -James made an effort to regain his lost kingdom, and sailed from France -to Ireland, where he hoped to win many adherents. William assembled his -forces in Wirral, staying at Gayton Hall, the home of William Clegg, -whom he knighted after his visit. - -The 'King's Gap', near Hoylake, reminds us of King William's presence in -Cheshire. On the Lowlands, between Hoylake and Meols, his army lay -encamped, and in the river Dee Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the brave sailor -who rose from 'powder-monkey' to admiral, was waiting with the fleet to -take the troops across to Ireland. Cloudesley Shovel is said to have -received part of his education at the Grammar School of Stockport. - -On the chancel wall of West Kirby Church is a tablet bearing the name of -Baron Johannes Van Zoelen, who died here in 1690. The foreign-looking -name is that of an officer of the Dutch troops of the Duke of Schomberg, -for William employed Dutch and German soldiers to put down James's -rising in Ireland. The soldiers embarked at Hoylake, and a few weeks -later the farmers of Wirral, who had had to feed the army, and who, no -doubt, were glad to see it depart, heard of William's great victory at -the battle of the Boyne. James took refuge again in France. - -Many Cheshire men took part in William's Irish campaign. A regiment was -raised in Cheshire by Sir George Booth, the old Parliamentary leader who -had, after the Civil War, become one of Charles the Second's most -devoted followers and received the title of Lord Delamere for his -services. The regiment was also accompanied by a troop of horse from -Wilmslow and the neighbourhood. - -William was never popular with his subjects. They disliked him because -he was not English. He was cold and silent, and his manners ungracious; -he spoke English with difficulty, and often he seemed anxious to get -back to his own country. But he was devoted to duty and a great soldier, -and he did much for England in checking the power of the French king who -favoured the exiled Stuart. - -William died childless, and was succeeded by Anne, the last Stuart who -sat on the English throne. She had Cheshire blood in her veins, for she -was the daughter of James the Second's wife, Anne Hyde, whose -grandfather, the Earl of Clarendon, was a Hyde of Hyde Hall. - -Queen Anne's children all died young. Before she came to the throne -Parliament had passed an Act of Settlement, by which the crown was -settled on a Protestant, Princess Sophia, granddaughter of James the -First, and her heirs. When Queen Anne died, George, the eldest son of -Sophia, became king. - -The fallen Stuarts made more than one attempt to recover the British -crown. In 1715, when George the First was king, a number of Cheshire -gentlemen, among whom were the Leghs of Legh and Lymm, the Grosvenors of -Eaton, Warrens and Asshetons, and Cholmondeleys met in the hall of the -Asshetons at Ashley to decide whether they should give any help to James -Edward, the 'Old Pretender', James's eldest son, who was raising a -revolt in Scotland. They decided by a majority of one only to remain -loyal to the Protestant King George. - -Thirty years later the inhabitants of East Cheshire saw an army of -rugged Highlanders in bonnets and kilts pass southwards from Stockport -Prince Charles Edward, the 'Young Pretender', had raised his flag in the -Highlands of Scotland and gathered together an army of 'Jacobites', as -the followers of the Stuarts were called. At Manchester the Scots had -been joined by about 200 Lancashire Catholics. But the villagers who -cheered the rebels on the Macclesfield high-road saw them returning -within a week, for they had hardly crossed the hills at Bosley and -descended into the valleys of Derbyshire when the Duke of Cumberland, -commanding an army in the Midlands, scattered them and drove them -pell-mell northwards again. - -In Lyme Hall are some Jacobite wine-glasses, with the White Rose of the -Stuarts stamped on one side, and on the other the Latin word 'fiat', -which expressed the thought that was in the minds of those who used -them: 'May the king come to his own again!' When men were forbidden to -drink the health of the Pretender in public, these 'fiat' glasses were -made by the Jacobites and the toast drunk in silence. - -'Bonnie Prince Charlie' stayed at the house of Sir Peter Davenport in -Macclesfield, and his officers at a house in Jordangate which is now the -George Hotel. Stuart 'Pretenders' were never seen in Cheshire again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. I - - -During the latter part of the seventeenth century the people of Cheshire -began to repair the damage done to the churches, mansions, and public -buildings during the Civil Wars. It was hardly to be expected that the -art of the builder could flourish during that stormy period. Gothic -architecture had reached its greatest glory under the Plantagenet and -Tudor kings, and when the builders of the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries took up their work again they cast aside the aims and ideals -of the Gothic craftsmen and turned to new models and new sources for -their inspiration. - -The changes which were now made were one of the results of the -Renaissance or Great Awakening of the sixteenth century. The men who -visited Italy and brought back with them copies of the works of the old -Greek and Roman writers, which they printed and gave to the world, -brought also the ideas of Italian architects and plans of Italian -buildings, which had been copied from those of ancient Athens and Rome. -Englishmen of the eighteenth century took these as their models. Like -the Roman workmen, they found it easier to _copy_ than to _invent_. - -If you turn back to Chapter VI you will find that the chief feature of -the Roman, which we will now call the Italian or Classic style, are the -rows of pillars ranged along the front and sides of a building. The Town -Hall of Macclesfield, and the group of buildings which now form the -Castle of Chester, are good examples of the style of architecture which -prevailed during the eighteenth century. The windows are sometimes -round-headed, but more often they are rectangular, with low triangles -above them. - -Unfortunately many ancient buildings, which we would gladly have with us -now, disappeared at this time. Some of them, no doubt, were in such a -ruinous state that it was impossible to repair them, but, generally -speaking, little or no pains were taken to restore them to their former -appearance. The people preferred to pull down and destroy and rebuild in -the new Classic style, which rapidly became a craze. - -The greatest loss was that of the mediaeval castle of Chester, which, -with the exception of 'Caesar's Tower', was pulled down in 1788. The -front entrance to the new castle is in the Doric style. Round the -courtyard are barracks and an armoury, the county gaol and the shire -hall with colonnades of Ionic pillars. - -Many fine Elizabethan halls were destroyed to make way for mansions in -the Classic style. Hooton Hall was built on the site of an old 'black -and white' timber house. Poynton, Tabley, Tatton, Ince, and Doddington -Halls were built about the same time. Other houses were altered or -enlarged. The beauty of Adlington Hall was spoilt by the stone front -with its Corinthian columns, which Charles and Hester Legh built. The -appearance of Lyme Hall was completely changed by an Italian architect -named Giacomo Leoni. His work is adorned with figures of the gods of -heathen Rome, Neptune and Venus and Pan. The Leghs of Lyme brought many -treasures from Italy. The stained glass in the east window of Disley -Church was brought by them. - -The roundheaded 'Italian' windows in the tower of Rostherne Church tell -us that they are the work of eighteenth-century builders and -'restorers'. The ugly tower cuts a sorry figure when compared with the -beautiful perpendicular towers of Mobberley, Cheadle, Budworth, Witton, -Alderley, Middlewich, and others in the neighbourhood. The tower of -Great Barrow Church, with urns in the place of pinnacles, and the porch -of Frodsham, are out of keeping with the Gothic character of the rest of -the buildings. - -The eighteenth-century restorers had little taste or sense of beauty. -Within the churches ugly wooden galleries were placed over the aisles, -and the walls, pillars, and pews coated with layers of paint or -whitewash. Even the carved woodwork of the choir stalls of Chester -Cathedral was painted. The open timber roof of Alderley Old Church was -hidden by a flat ceiling of lath and plaster. A portion of the old -timber church at Warburton was repaired with common bricks, and -sometimes whole churches were rebuilt with the same material. - - [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CHESTER CASTLE] - -In place of the handsome Decorated altar tombs, with their effigies of -knights and dames, great tablets of marble brought from Italy were fixed -on the walls. On them were carved skulls and cross-bones, sometimes an -entire skeleton, with funeral urns like those in which the Romans placed -the ashes of their dead. Scrolls with long rambling inscriptions told of -the virtues of the dead. These were often written in Latin, as if the -homely English of the mother tongue was not good enough for the -purpose. - - [Illustration: ROSTHERNE. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOWER] - -The poets of the eighteenth century imitated the style of the poets of -ancient Rome. Their poems are full of the wit and satire found in Horace -and Juvenal. Man, not Nature, was nearly always the subject of their -poems. Two lines of Alexander Pope, the greatest of the -eighteenth-century poets, are carved on the tombstone of Sir John -Chesshyre in Runcorn Church:-- - - A wit's a feather and a chief's a rod: - An honest man's the noblest work of God. - - [Illustration: CHANCEL: FRODSHAM (Eighteenth Century)] - -Sir John Chesshyre was a lawyer, and built the little library near -Halton Castle in 1733 for the books which he left for the use of -Cheshire scholars and students. - -Clubs were formed by the poets and wits and 'men of fashion' of the -eighteenth century. They met in the taverns and coffee-houses of the -towns, and scratched their smart sayings on the window-panes with their -diamond rings. They rather prided themselves on their eccentric habits -and their superiority over other men, who had neither the time nor the -money to waste on frivolous amusements. - -In a little wood near Gawsworth is a lonely grave with a plain flat -stone, beneath which, - - Undisturbed, and hid from Vulgar Eyes, - A Wit, Musician, Poet, Player, lies. - -The grave is that of Samuel Johnson, a dancing master, 'afterwards -ennobled with the grander title of Lord Flame,' as the inscription tells -us, who was buried here at his own desire. - -Neston and Parkgate, twin towns on the southern shore of Wirral, were -visited by many fashionable people in the eighteenth century. They spent -the summer here for the bathing and the fresh breezes that blow from the -Irish Sea and the hills of Wales. It is to be feared that Parkgate was -also the resort of less respectable folk, for in some of the old houses -you may still see the huge holes in which smugglers stored their -unlawful cargoes. It was dangerous work, for the 'King's Yacht', as the -revenue cutter was called, patrolled the waters of the Dee, and the -officers had orders to shoot down all whom they caught in this illegal -traffic. It is from this boat that the 'Yacht Inn' at Chester takes its -name. - -Neston and Parkgate were the starting-points for the Irish mails. The -coaches from London and Liverpool put down their passengers here for -Dublin. One of the most beautiful poems in the English language, the -'Lycidas' of John Milton, was written in memory of Edward King, a friend -of the poet, who was shipwrecked on his way from Ireland to Parkgate. - -The London coaches that brought travellers to Chester and Parkgate -frequently got into difficulties in the low-lying parts near the River -Dee. The roads were very bad, and the coach often had to be hauled out -of the mud by a team of horses borrowed from some neighbouring farm. - -The passengers sometimes found themselves without their purses and their -jewels at the end of their journey. The roads were frequented by -highwaymen--'gentlemen of the road', they called themselves--who held up -the coach and demanded money. With pistols levelled at their heads, the -travellers were generally glad to escape with their lives. - -One of the most famous of these highwaymen was Dick Turpin, whose -escapades, I imagine, are known to most Cheshire boys, though I hope -they have no wish to follow the career of this rascally thief. - - Once it happened in Cheshire, near Dunham I popped - On a horseman alone, whom I speedily stopped; - That I lightened his pockets you'll readily guess-- - Quick work makes Dick Turpin when mounted on Bess. - -The robbery spoken of in these lines was committed on the high-road -between Altrincham and Knutsford, and Turpin rode so fast to the inn at -Hoo Green, where he showed his watch to some Cheshire squires, that he -was never suspected of the crime. This and many other stories of Turpin -are told by Harrison Ainsworth, the novelist, whose father lived at -Rostherne. - -Knutsford claimed a highwayman of its own, one Higgins, who lived on -Knutsford Heath as an ordinary gentleman of means, and was very friendly -with the sporting squires of the neighbourhood. His favourite amusement -was to waylay the ladies who went to the county balls and 'assemblies' -at the George Hotel, and rob them of their diamonds. But he, like most -others of his profession, was found out at last, and paid with his life -the penalty of his crimes. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. II - - -The people of Cheshire were not all thieves and robbers in the -eighteenth century. If the rich and the idle were given to folly and -extravagance, and poorer men also too often lost the little they -possessed through gambling and cock-fighting, the heart of the people -was sound, and only waiting to be stirred to newer life and better -ideals. - -In the latter half of the century a great preacher came to Cheshire, and -stirred deeply the hearts of men by denouncing the follies of the age, -and the lack of religious feeling which had spread over all classes of -society. His name was John Wesley, the founder of the Wesleyan and -Methodist bodies. At first he met with much opposition, and his meetings -were broken up by the mob, but in time the people were struck by his -earnestness and flocked to hear him. The chapel at Chester where he -preached was so crowded that it could not hold all who wished to listen -to him. In his Diary he tells us of his visits to Knutsford, Stockport, -and other Cheshire towns. But Wesley and his followers often found -themselves unable to preach in the churches, so they built for -themselves chapels, little square brick buildings, all over the county. - -Another fervent preacher of the time was Captain Scott, who left the -army to be a missionary among his own countrymen, whom he gathered round -him in the streets or the inn-yards of the villages where he stayed. The -Mill Street Chapel at Congleton is one of the many chapels founded by -him in Southern Cheshire. - -Many Cheshire men were fighting in the wars into which England was drawn -in the eighteenth century. In the reigns of Anne and the three Georges -war succeeded war, and the intervals of peace were few and short. France -and Spain were our enemies, each of whom looked with jealous eyes upon -the growing power of England, and, still more, her vast colonial -empire. From Canada in the West to India in the East battles were fought -on land and on sea to maintain for England the supremacy of the sea and -her colonies. - -Many churches in Cheshire tell the story of Cheshire soldiers and -sailors who distinguished themselves in these wars. In the church of -Pott Shrigley you may see a memorial tablet of Peter Downes, whose -ancestors were foresters of the forest of Macclesfield. Peter Downes -entered the navy and was killed in a fight between the _Leander_, an -English man-of-war, and the French ship _Généreux_. - -Peter Dennis, who was born at Chester and was a scholar at the King's -School, became an Admiral of the Fleet. He was in command of the -battleship _Centurion_ in a battle fought off Cape Finisterre. -Afterwards he was knighted and made commander-in-chief of the -Mediterranean fleet. - -The battleships in which these sailors fought were very different to the -monster ironclads of the present day with which you are familiar. The -eighteenth-century vessels were the old 'wooden walls' of England, big -sailing ships called 'three deckers', with three rows of guns pointing -outwards from their sides. There is a model of one of them, the _Royal -George_, over the inner door of Vernon Park Museum. - -Robert Clive was the son of a Shropshire squire, and was educated at the -little school in the Cheshire village of Allostock. Clive went to India -and became a soldier. The English and French were fighting for the -mastery of India, and it is to Clive's victories that we owe in a great -measure our Indian Empire. - -In the last few years of the eighteenth century the dangers which -threatened England from France were much nearer home. In 1794 King -George the Third was obliged to ask Parliament for a large increase in -our home army. Cheshire raised a regiment of six troops, with Colonel -Leicester, of Tabley Hall, as its commander. - -Shortly afterwards a call for Volunteers was made in Cheshire, as in -other parts of the country, to defend the shores of our own land from -attack. The armies of Napoleon were conquering everywhere, and an -invasion of England was expected. Knutsford Heath presented the same -busy scene that it had done 150 years before, when Lambert's troops were -encamped upon it. For Knutsford was the appointed meeting-place of all -the Cheshire forces--Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers--and the beacon -that was kept in readiness on Alderley Edge was to give the signal. - -The danger was not over for many years, for the war lasted well into the -nineteenth century, ending only when Napoleon and the French were -defeated by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. Duke Street and -Wellington Street in Stockport keep alive the memory of the 'Iron Duke', -Napoleon's conqueror. - -A friend of the Duke of Wellington was Stapleton Cotton, Viscount -Combermere, whose statue stands in front of the gates of Chester Castle. -He was a descendant of the Cotton to whom the Abbey of Combermere was -given when Henry the Eighth plundered the Cheshire monasteries. The Duke -of Wellington frequently stayed at Combermere; on one of his visits he -planted an oak tree which you may still see in the Park. On the tomb of -Stapleton Cotton in Wrenbury Church you may read the names of the many -battles in which this gallant soldier took part. - -The wars of the eighteenth century and the final struggle with Napoleon -would have ruined this country but for a great increase in the wealth of -the people, which made them able to bear the cost. - -To understand the sources of this wealth, and the way in which it was -made, we shall have to go back again to the middle of the eighteenth -century, and tell the story of a great Industrial Revolution, a -revolution without war and bloodshed indeed, but one that brought with -it the greatest changes perhaps that Cheshire had yet seen. What these -changes were, and how they affected the lives of Cheshire men and women, -you will read in the succeeding chapters. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. I - - -The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century laid the foundation -of modern manufacturing England. With remarkable rapidity great -industries came into being, and new methods of making all kinds of -manufactured goods. And the first cause of this revolution was the -discovery of coal, or rather the discovery of what you could do with -coal. For coal was all at once in great demand to provide the power of -steam, and in 1769 James Watt, the discoverer of the power of steam, -showed that the steam engine could be used to drive machinery hitherto -worked by hand. - -Coal was first found in Cheshire about the year 1750. A colliery was -opened at Denhall in Wirral, where coal is worked to this day. In East -Cheshire coal was found by an accident. A farmer near Poynton had to -fetch his water from a considerable distance, and asked his landlord, -Sir George Warren of Poynton Hall, to sink him a well on his land. While -the workmen were boring the well they came across a seam of fine coal -quite near to the surface. Many other collieries have since that time -been started in the same neighbourhood, and now coal is taken out of the -earth nearly all the way from Stockport to Macclesfield. There are pits -at Norbury, Middlewood, and Bakestonedale. The coal-field extends -northwards also, and all along the Tame valley there are pits, and -especially in the neighbourhood of Dukinfield, where some of the -workings reach a depth of over two thousand feet below the surface of -the land. - -The earlier Cheshire canals were made as a result of the discovery of -coal. The Duke of Bridgwater, who owned rich coal-mines at Worsley near -Manchester, made very little profit out of them on account of the -expense of carrying the coal by carriage to the shipping ports. A clever -engineer named James Brindley was the first to suggest to him the -making of a canal by which barges might take the coal to the river -Irwell. This was the first canal made in England, and was finished in -the year 1761. - -The Bridgwater Canal was afterwards extended and carried over the Irwell -by an aqueduct. It enters Cheshire at Stretford, and passing through -Altrincham and Lymm extends a distance of twenty-four miles to Runcorn, -where it descends by a series of locks to the tidal waters of the -Mersey. - - [Illustration: AN OLD CANAL: MARPLE] - -The canal turned out so successful that the manufacturers in the -Potteries of Staffordshire asked Brindley to make a canal across the -Cheshire plain to unite the rivers Trent and Mersey. This was the -beginning of the Grand Trunk Canal, which now winds through the heart of -England and connects the great industrial towns of Lancashire and -Cheshire with the metropolis. - -At Harecastle the canal is carried under the hills that separate -Cheshire from Staffordshire by a tunnel nearly three thousand yards -long. At first the boatmen pushed their barges through the tunnel by -'legging' along the roof. This was such a laborious and troublesome way -that another engineer named Telford, the great road-maker, afterwards -built a second tunnel large enough for horses to tow the barges through -it. - -The Ellesmere Canal connects the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, -and thus cuts off the Wirral peninsula from the rest of the county. When -this canal was being made, layers of fine sand and sea shells were -found, proving that at some not very remote period the estuaries of the -Mersey and the Dee were connected with one another. - -In the east of Cheshire the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canal enters -the county at Dukinfield. One portion goes southward to Macclesfield and -the other crosses the river Goyt at Marple by an aqueduct a hundred feet -above the river. The Shropshire Union Canal connects the Dee and the -Severn; and thus all the great rivers of the north midlands, the Mersey, -Dee, Severn, and Trent, are united with one another by this network of -Cheshire canals. - -The canals proved a blessing not only to the coal owners and -manufacturers, but were also used by the people of the country villages -in order to travel from one part to another. Passenger barges called -'fly-boats' enabled the country women to take their butter and cheese to -the market towns. - -James Brindley was a man of humble birth, and for several years worked -as a labourer on a farm, amusing himself in his spare moments with -making wooden models of machinery with a pocket-knife. He was so clever -that he was often called in by the mill-owners of Macclesfield and -Congleton to repair their machinery. When he was first employed by the -Duke of Bridgwater he was paid only half a crown a day. He was a very -practical man, and gained his knowledge not from books but from his own -experiments. When he was called to the House of Commons to explain his -scheme for carrying a canal over the Mersey, which many people laughed -at as absurd, he took with him a Cheshire cheese which he cut in halves -to represent the arches of the bridge, and made a complete model of his -proposed work which greatly amused his audience, and at the same time -proved that he was well able to overcome his difficulties. - -The rivers also were dredged and made suitable for navigation wherever -possible. An artificial channel was made for the waters of the Dee which -had become choked with silt and sand, and small ships could once more be -towed as far as Chester. The Weaver was made navigable from Winsford to -the Mersey, so that salt, which was taken out of the earth in ever -increasing quantities, could be taken to Runcorn in barges at a much -smaller cost than on wagons. - -Salt is necessary in every home for cooking and other household needs. -But still greater quantities are required for alkalis and other -chemicals, the making of which is the chief occupation of the workpeople -of Runcorn and Weston Point. Thousands of tons are also exported every -year to other countries where salt is scarce. - -Salt has been worked in the towns on or near the Weaver from Roman days. -The earlier way was simply to mine it as we do coal now. Some of the -mines at Northwich cover many acres, and when lit up by electric -coloured lights are very beautiful. The roof of a mine is held up by -columns of salt which are left in position for that purpose, but they -frequently give way and the buildings above them are wrecked. - -The coarser kinds of rock-salt are still taken out in lumps. You may -often see pieces in the Cheshire fields which farmers have put there for -cattle to lick. For salt contains health-giving properties, and -salt-mining is not injurious to health as coal-mining is. Brine baths -have been made at Nantwich for people suffering from certain diseases. - -In the Middle Ages, wells or brine-pits were sunk and the water carried -in leather buckets to the salt-houses. Edward King, a Cheshire -historian, who in the seventeenth century wrote a book called _Vale -Royal_, says that 'at Northwich there was a salt spring on the bank of -the River Dane, from which the brine runneth on the ground in troughs of -wood until it comes to the "wich-houses", where they made salt. Some old -leaden salt-pans may still be seen at Northwich, pieces of charcoal -still sticking to them on the under side, showing that the brine had -been heated over wood fires.' - - [Illustration: THE MILL TOWNS OF N.E. CHESHIRE] - -Modern science has found better and easier ways of making salt. The -white salt which you use daily is still obtained by evaporation. The -brine is first pumped into a reservoir and taken by pipes to large -shallow salt-pans heated by furnaces beneath them. As the water -evaporates the crystals are formed and scraped from the sides and the -bottoms of the pans. You may see specimens of the different kinds of -salt in the Salt Museum at Northwich. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. II - - -In the year 1785 cotton was brought into the Mersey from the United -States of America. Long before that time so-called 'cotton' stuffs had -been made in Cheshire villages. But these fabrics were not really cotton -at all, but a mixture of wool and flax. The flax was brought from -Ireland, and woollen manufacturers tried for a long time to keep it out. -In the parish records of Prestbury you may read of an Act passed in -Charles the Second's reign forbidding any one to be buried in anything -but a woollen shroud. - -At first there were no cotton-mills, such as you see now in the populous -towns of East Cheshire. The raw cotton was given out to poor people, who -spun it and wove it in their own cottage homes. Nearly every cottage -became a small factory, the fathers, mothers, and children all taking -part in the work. The machinery was simple and made of wood. The -spinning was done by the women and children in the house, the weaving -by the men in a weaving-shed of one story built in the yard. - -As time went on, the machinery was improved by the inventions of clever -men, so that one loom would do as much work as several had done -previously. The workpeople did not like the new machines, for often a -number of people were thrown out of work by them, and frequently the new -spinning and weaving-frames of the inventors were wrecked by a furious -mob. - -The earlier and simpler machines, such as the spinning-wheel and the -hand-loom, were worked by hand. But the new discoveries made it possible -for one wheel to turn eighty or a hundred spindles at once by means of -horse-power or a water-wheel, and the hand-loom similarly gave place to -a power-loom. But in remote villages the old-fashioned methods survived, -and even to this day you may still occasionally see a hand-loom at work -in cottages in the highlands of East Cheshire. - -Then great factories began to be built, huge buildings of brick and of -many stories, chiefly on the banks of Cheshire streams, or on the -canals, by which the raw cotton could be brought in barges to the very -doors. You may look down from the churchyard of Mottram into the valley -beneath and count a score of them. Steam was applied, and the whole of -the machinery of the factories was driven by this new force. Great towns -sprang up like mushrooms. Hyde and Stalybridge and Dukinfield, from -being tiny villages, soon became great busy hives of the cotton -industry. - -The cotton had also to be bleached and the calicoes printed, and mills -for the purpose were built along the streams, whose waters provided the -steam-power which worked the machinery of the mills. From Taxal to -Stockport, along the banks of the now polluted Goyt, is an almost -continuous line of great mills, the bleach-works of Whaley Bridge, the -print-works of Furness Vale and Strines, the cotton-mills of Disley, -Marple, and Mellor. The Mellor mills were built as early as 1790 by -Samuel Oldknow, and were at one time in the hands of Peter Arkwright, -who was one of a famous family of inventors, and who made many changes -in the machinery of his works. - -Thus the positions of modern manufacturing towns have not been chosen, -as were those of the towns of the Middle Ages, by their ability to beat -off the attacks of enemies. For war is no longer the principal business -of the inhabitants of Cheshire. The 'cotton' towns have come into being -just in those parts where the conditions are favourable to the cotton -industry. In the first place the climate is damp, owing to the nearness -of the Pennine hills, on which the wet winds from the south-west drop -their moisture; and cotton can only be spun and woven in such a climate, -for a dry climate would make the threads break. Secondly, there is a -plentiful water-supply from the numerous streams that flow from the -hills, and lastly, the towns are close to big coal-fields from which -they may obtain the fuel for the engines that work the machinery of the -mills. - -In the pretty model village of Styal, on the banks of the Bollin, is a -house which is still called by the name of 'Prentice House. Here once -lived a number of young girls and boys, orphans many of them, who worked -in the picturesque ivy-clad building, strangely unlike a mill, at Quarry -Bank. They were 'apprenticed', that is, bound to their master for seven -years. During that time they were well fed and clothed by their -employer, and certain times were set apart for learning to read and -write and sew. On Sunday mornings they walked together to the church at -Wilmslow. The girls were dressed in straw bonnets and plain grey -dresses, the boys in fustian coats and breeches of corduroy. - -They were kindly treated, but the hours in the mill were long. They rose -at five, and their breakfast of porridge and milk was eaten in the mill. -Half an hour was allowed for dinner, and not until half-past eight did -their long day of toil come to an end. At Christmas prizes were given to -those who had been most obedient and industrious during the year. - -The young people of Quarry Bank were on the whole happy in the service -of Samuel Greg their master, but the lot of the apprentices in other -mills was often very different. The harshness and cruelty of some -employers led to the passing of Acts of Parliament which shortened the -hours of labour and fixed severe penalties for ill-treatment. A later -Act forbade altogether the employment of children under a certain age. - - [Illustration: STYAL MILL] - -In the middle of the eighteenth century the silk industry took root in -Cheshire. We first hear of it in Stockport, where a mill was started for -the winding and throwing[3] of silk. John Clayton, of Stockport, built a -mill at Congleton, and the industry spread rapidly to the neighbouring -villages of Sutton, Rainow, and Bollington. - - [3] i.e. twisting the fine threads into yarn. Those who were - engaged in this particular process were called 'throwsters', just - as spinster meant originally one engaged in spinning. - -The first silk-mill in Macclesfield, which is now the chief seat of the -silk industry in Cheshire, was opened by Charles Roe in 1756. Roe Street -is named after him. He made a fortune and built Christ Church. Over the -altar you may see his bust in marble, and over it a figure of Genius -with a cogwheel in her hand. In the museum at West Park are some models -of silk-looms. - -There was a silk-mill at Knutsford, as the name Silk Mill Street tells -us. In Mobberley also nearly every cottage had its spinning-wheel. The -cottagers fetched the raw silk from Macclesfield and took back the spun -yarn to be woven into pieces at the Macclesfield looms. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE - - -After the making of canals came the railways, and the mighty power of -steam, that had wrought such a vast change in the cotton industry, was -to be the moving force of the new invention. - -Late in the summer of 1830 the people who lined the river banks from -Runcorn to Latchford saw a trail of smoke travelling slowly across the -nine arches of Sankey Viaduct and the peaty plains of the Mersey. The -smoke was that of Stephenson's 'Rocket', the steam locomotive that was -drawing one of the first passenger trains in England. - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE. RAILWAYS] - -Cheshire had its 'Rocket' too in those days, the stage coach that left -the 'Black Boy' Inn at Stockport and passed through Cheadle, Lymm, and -Warrington to Liverpool. And the old 'Rocket' was very jealous of its -new namesake, for it was thought that with the coming of the railways -the coaches would be driven off the road. The canal companies also saw -themselves threatened, and did all they could to hinder the spread of -the new way of travelling. - -Some years were to pass before the inhabitants of Cheshire saw railways -laid through their own towns and villages. The farmers of Wirral rubbed -their eyes when the first train seen in Cheshire carried its human -freight along the southern shore of the Mersey. Many of them had -doubtless never seen one before, and not a few of the more ignorant fled -in terror from the puffing, panting thing, which they looked upon as the -invention of the evil one. - -It is hard indeed to think of Cheshire without its railways. Before -their coming, almost the only way of moving from one place to another -was by means of the stage coaches that rattled along the principal -highways, putting down at the nearest wayside inn the passengers who -lived in villages off the main roads. Goods and merchandise were carried -on pack-horses or slow lumbering wagons. - -Some of the most important main lines of English railways now pass -through Cheshire, for the Cheshire plain is the broad gateway that leads -to the busy and populous towns of South Lancashire. Within the space of -half a century the county was covered with a network of lines, and -to-day it is impossible to find a spot that has not a railway passing -within a very few miles of it. - -The earliest railways avoided the hilly districts, and for many years -there were no lines in East Cheshire. The main line of the London and -North Western Railway crosses the southern border of Cheshire where the -hills are low, and picks its way through the Cheshire plain, keeping -closely to the level valley of the Weaver, and leaving the hills of -Delamere and Frodsham on the west. It crosses the Mersey into Lancashire -at Warrington. - -The cotton spinners of Stockport wanted a quick route to London, and so -a branch line was made through Alderley, which joined the main line at -Crewe. Some of the old country towns would not have the railway too -near, so we find Sandbach nearly two miles away from its station. -Another branch westwards left the main line at Crewe for Chester and -Holyhead, to carry the Irish mails; and a third branched off at Preston -Brook for Liverpool, being carried over the Mersey by a big iron bridge -at Runcorn. - -There were only a few houses at Crewe when the railways were made. The -station was in the village of Church Coppenhall, but the shorter and -more convenient name of Crewe was chosen from Crewe Hall. The little -village rapidly became a big town, for it was chosen to be the -head-quarters of the London and North Western Company. Big engine and -carriage works were built, and iron foundries for the making of boilers -and steel rails. It is now one of the most important railway centres in -England, giving employment to many thousand workmen. - -But one line was not enough to carry all the traffic from the great -manufacturing towns to the Midlands and the south of England. Other -railway companies accomplished the difficult task of crossing the -Pennine Hills, and Cheshire was thus brought into touch with Yorkshire -and the north-midland shires. The Midland Railway tunnelled under the -hills at a height of eight hundred feet above sea-level, and descended -rapidly to Stockport by the Goyt valley. The Great Northern enters -Cheshire by the tunnel near Penistone, and follows the Etherow down -Longdendale till it also reaches Stockport. The Staffordshire Railway -from the Potteries burrows through the hills at Harecastle on its way to -Congleton and Macclesfield. All these railways vied with one another in -quickening the speed of their trains, and their rivalry soon caused the -fares for passengers and rates for goods to become cheaper. - -There is one railway which, more than any other, Cheshire boys and girls -may call their own. The Cheshire Line is not one of the great 'trunk' -lines to London, but is confined to South Lancashire and the county from -which it takes its name. This railway crosses the county from Altrincham -to Chester, never more than a few hundred yards from its great ancestor, -the Watling Street. - - [Illustration: RAILWAY VIADUCT OVER GOYT VALLEY] - -The populous towns of North-east Cheshire are also served by branches of -the Great Central and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. The coast -towns of the Dee have their 'Wirral Railway', and through the heart of -Wirral Great Western expresses rush to their terminus at Birkenhead. - -The railways teach us that time is money, and this fact is constantly -brought home to us by seeing new lines made to shorten the distance -between two points, so that men may get to their places of business more -rapidly. The Midland Railway have in the last few years straightened -their line by a short cut through Cheadle Heath, that their express -trains to Manchester may avoid delay at Stockport; and the new London -and North Western line from Wilmslow to Manchester, though it saved less -than three miles, was yet thought worth the cost. - -The railways have brought town and country into closer touch with one -another, and both have gained. Farmers and market gardeners can send -their produce quickly and cheaply to the great markets of Stockport and -Birkenhead. Coals and salt, machinery and manufactured goods, can be -distributed easily from the great towns that produce them. Moreover, -many people whose daily life is spent in the crowded cities are able to -live away from their places of business and, for a portion of the day at -least, breathe the purer air of the country. - -Two residential districts of Cheshire are supported mainly by the -merchants and manufacturers of Manchester and Liverpool. In East -Cheshire, Altrincham and Bowdon, Knutsford, Alderley, Cheadle, and Lymm -are practically suburbs of Manchester. In the Wirral, Hoylake, West -Kirby, and New Brighton owe their present prosperity to the business men -of Birkenhead and Liverpool who have built their homes on the Cheshire -seaboard. - -In all these places you may see the mingling of the old and the new, the -older portions clustering round the parish church, the brand new villas -and mansions of the rich spreading on all sides into the surrounding -country. New towns spring up round the railway stations, as at Alderley -Edge, which is two miles from the older village of Nether Alderley. - -With the railways came also the 'penny post', for letters could now be -carried cheaply and quickly to and from all parts of the country. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY - - -Twenty years before steam locomotives were used to draw passenger trains -over the earliest railways in Cheshire, a steam packet boat had been -built to ply between Liverpool and the Cheshire port of Runcorn. This -boat was called simply 'The Steam Boat', and was the first steamer ever -seen in the River Mersey. The sailing packets were frequently becalmed, -but the new ship could make her voyage in all weathers. - -A number of steam-tugs were built soon afterwards to tow the big -sailing-ships that entered the Mersey to the ports to which they were -bound, and the first steam ferry-boat crossed the Mersey from Liverpool -to Tranmere. In a few years the Cheshire shore of the Mersey was lined -with docks and quays at Birkenhead, Seacombe, Woodside, Tranmere, and -Eastham. At the last-named port Liverpool passengers could get on the -coach for Chester and the midland towns. - -In 1819, the year in which Queen Victoria was born, the Savannah, the -first steamship that crossed the Atlantic, was seen in the River Mersey. -The Savannah took twenty-eight days over the passage, lowering by many -days the record of the fastest sailing-vessels hitherto. This was -thought a great feat in those days, but the huge 'ocean greyhounds' that -the boys and girls of Wirral see riding at anchor off Birkenhead, now -make four or five crossings in the same period of time. - -Just as Crewe owes its rapid rise to the coming of the railways, so -Birkenhead's prosperity dates from the beginnings of steam navigation. -Both of these towns are growths of the nineteenth century. At the -beginning of the century Birkenhead was a small village of less than a -hundred inhabitants. It is now Cheshire's greatest town, and contains a -population of more than 100,000, or, if we include the populous suburbs -which have sprung up on either side of it, nearly twice this number. - - [Illustration: BIRKENHEAD & THE MERSEY] - -The old village clustered round its ruined priory, which is still in the -heart of the modern town. A triangular piece of land, now covered by the -streets of New Brighton, Liscard, Wallasey, and Seacombe, was cut off -from Birkenhead and the rest of Wirral by a broad and swampy river -called Wallasey Pool. Mr. Laird, the founder of the famous shipbuilding -company of that name, bought some land on the edge of the Pool. He saw -that here was a firstrate place for dockyards and wharves, which would -be protected from south-westerly gales by the natural rampart of Bidston -Hill and the high ground of Oxton. - -In a few years Wallasey Pool was turned into a huge basin capable of -holding hundreds of big ocean-going ships. In the 'Great Float', as this -basin is now called, you may see ships of every nation. Twenty pairs of -lockgates connect it with the Mersey, and there are ten miles of quays -with a network of quay railways laid along them. - -The big ship-building yards of Messrs. Cammell and Laird give employment -to many hundreds of the working-men of Birkenhead. Here are built some -of our largest merchant vessels, as well as ships for the British Navy, -chiefly gunboats and torpedo boat destroyers. One of the Lairds was -Birkenhead's first member of Parliament. You may see his statue in front -of the Birkenhead Town Hall. - -Two other men whose names are closely linked with the shipping of the -Mersey will always be remembered by the people of Wirral. William Inman -and Thomas Ismay were the founders of fleets of ocean liners. With a -portion of the wealth that he derived from his business, Inman built -churches for the villages of Upton and Moreton. Ismay lived at Dawpool -Hall, and is buried in the churchyard of Thurstaston. - -The first street-tramway in Europe was laid along the streets of -Birkenhead, from Woodside Ferry to the Park, by an American called -Train. The cars were built at Birkenhead, and drawn by horses; the -length of the line was less than two miles. Now tram routes are spread -all over Eastern Wirral, and are to be found in the streets of all -large towns. But the horses are gone, and the cars are now driven by the -cheaper and more serviceable method of electricity. Our tram-cars are -one of the greatest conveniences in the busy life of a town. - -Prior to the year 1832 Chester was the only Cheshire town which had its -own members of Parliament. The county returned two members, one for the -north division and the other for the south. The big manufacturing towns -which had increased so rapidly in size and population had no -representatives, while numbers of small towns and villages in other -parts of England returned one and sometimes even two members to the -House of Commons. The workers of the busy industrial districts felt that -this was very unfair, and demanded to be allowed to be represented. -After a long struggle Reform Bills were passed, and now Stockport is -allowed to choose two members, and Stalybridge and Birkenhead one each. -The number of county members has also been increased from two to eight, -one from each of eight divisions, to which the names Hyde, Macclesfield, -Altrincham, Knutsford, Crewe, Eddisbury, Northwich, and Wirral have been -given. - -Until the passing of the 'Reform Bills' only those who possessed -property were allowed to vote, the great majority of the people of -Cheshire had no say in the government of the country at all. The Reform -Bill of 1832 gave the vote to many more people, to every man in fact who -paid a rent of ten pounds or more a year for his house. Thus much of the -power which had previously belonged to the rich passed into the hands of -the poorer classes. - -One of the first results of the Reformed Parliament was the passing of a -number of Factory Acts. The cry of the children at work in the mills had -long been heard through the land, and the people were indignant at the -cruelties put upon them by some mill-owners. As early as the year 1802 -Sir Robert Peel, a Lancashire manufacturer, had persuaded Parliament to -pass an Act to improve the condition of the factories. The Reformed -Parliament now made it illegal to employ children under nine years of -age, or to make boys and girls under thirteen work for more than twelve -hours a day. Later Acts have still further shortened the hours of work -for women and children, and in many other respects have made the lot of -all the working classes more tolerable. Manufacturers are now compelled -to keep their factories clean and wholesome, and fit to work in. Factory -inspectors are appointed to see that the laws are carried out, and those -whose lives are spent in dangerous occupations, such as coal-mining or -the making of chemicals, are protected by strict rules which lessen the -danger to life and limb. - -The greatest evil from which the poorer classes suffered in the early -years of the nineteenth century was the high price of bread. This was -due to the heavy duty put on corn imported from foreign countries. In S. -Peter's Square, Stockport, is a statue of Richard Cobden, who for six -years was Stockport's member of Parliament. Cobden saw that the poverty -of the working classes could not be lessened until this corn-tax was -removed. He pleaded eloquently on their behalf, and in the end he was -successful. The growers of corn grumbled, but as Cheshire is not so much -a corn-growing as a pastoral county, the farmers of Cheshire were not -greatly hurt. - -Cobden also persuaded Parliament to take away or to lessen the duties on -imported raw materials, such as cotton, wool, and silk, on which the -prosperity of the Cheshire workers so much depended. The result was that -the manufacturers were able to pay the people who worked in their mills -better wages. Thus, with cheaper bread and wages higher, the lot of the -industrial classes became brighter. Soon also the duties on manufactured -goods brought to Cheshire from abroad were removed, and the system of -Free Trade, under which Cheshire has become rich and prosperous, came -into being. - -Among the leaders of the working classes were some who wanted far -greater changes. In the museum at Vernon Park are some iron pike-heads -taken from these men when they tried to arm the people and urge them to -fight for their 'rights'. The aims of the Chartists, as these reformers -were named, were set forth in a document which they called the People's -Charter. Among other things, they demanded votes for all men, yearly -Parliaments, vote by ballot, and payment of members of Parliament. But -the bulk of the people took alarm, for it was thought that if every man -had a vote, too much power would be put into the hands of the working -classes. The Chartists were tried for causing riots, and many were put -in prison. One of the Chartist leaders was James Stephens, who is buried -in Dukinfield churchyard. - -In 1861 a great disaster befell the cotton trade. In that year civil war -broke out in America between the Northern and the Southern States of the -Union. The Southern States were the seat of the cotton-growing -plantations, which were worked by millions of negro slaves. The English -people had put an end to slavery in their own colonies, and the Northern -States of America wished to do the same. When the Southerners desired to -extend the cotton industry to other new States, the Northern States -refused to allow it, and war broke out. - -The war brought much distress to the cotton workers of Cheshire, for the -ports of the Southerners were blockaded by the warships of their -enemies, and the ships which had brought their cargoes of raw cotton to -the Mersey could do so no longer. The result was a cotton famine. The -looms were idle, and thousands of workpeople were thrown out of -employment in Stockport, Stalybridge, and the other towns and villages -which depended for their daily bread on a constant supply of the raw -material. - -Attempts were made by ships sent from England to run the blockade of the -ports of the Southern States. At Birkenhead a ship called the _Alabama_ -was built in the dockyard of Messrs. Laird for the use of the cotton -planters. The ship entered the harbours in the night-time or during -fogs, and succeeded several times in bringing small supplies of cotton. -She was caught at last, but not before she had destroyed sixty or -seventy vessels of the Northern fleet, and she very nearly brought about -a war between England and America. - -The war lasted four years. Then peace was restored, and the cotton was -once more brought to the starving spinners and weavers of East Cheshire. -During the famine the poor had been supported by sums of money raised in -the large towns of England, and many years passed before the cotton -industry reached its former prosperity. - -The memory of the hard days of the cotton famine has been handed down to -the grandchildren of those who suffered. Within the last few years the -cotton merchants and manufacturers have started an association for -growing cotton in our own English colonies, so that the workers may not -depend entirely on the cotton produced by foreign States. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV - -THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN - - -Many of the changes described in the last three chapters were but -partially accomplished in Cheshire, when a young princess of eighteen -years became Queen of England. The power of steam was known, but the -Cheshire railways were not yet laid, and those who wished to attend the -coronation of Queen Victoria had to use the stage or the family coach -and take a day and a half over the journey. - -Telegraph and telephone were also quite unknown, and the penny post had -not yet come into being. That was to follow in the wake of the railways. -During her reign all our main roads were lined with telegraph wires, and -cables laid at the bottom of the seas sent our messages to the uttermost -parts of the earth. The news of distant events, which formerly took -weeks or even months to reach us, may now be read in our newspapers -within a few hours at most. - -Inventions without number followed the discovery of electricity. The -shops and warehouses of large towns, railway carriages and ocean liners, -and the homes of the well-to-do are lighted with it. Electric launches -flit along the shores of the Mersey. Tram-cars are worked by -electricity, which also sets in motion the dynamos that work the -machinery of mills and workshops. The pressing of an electric button -sets free the big ships when they take the water for the first time in -the dockyards of Birkenhead. - -The wonderful progress made by the engineers of the nineteenth century -is seen in the making of the Manchester Ship Canal, the greater part of -which lies within the county of Cheshire. For many years Manchester's -great ambition was to become a port. The winding and shallow bed of the -inland waters of the Mersey could not be navigated by ocean-going -vessels, and a ship canal was wanted in order that the bales of cotton -might be brought direct from the United States and other cotton-growing -countries to the place where the raw material is distributed. Thus time -would be saved, as well as the expense of unloading at Liverpool and -putting the cargoes on the railways, whose rates were very high. - -It was therefore decided to ask Parliament for powers to make a wide and -deep canal, capable of carrying ships of several thousand tons burden. -The railway and canal companies and the Liverpool merchants who -controlled the navigation of the Mersey were afraid that the trade of -Liverpool would be injured, and opposed the scheme vigorously. But -Parliament was wise enough to see what a boon the canal would be to the -cotton towns and the district through which it was to be laid, and -passed the bill for its making. In the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria -the work was begun. - -Many millions of money were required for such a vast undertaking, and -more millions were asked for as the work went on. After seven years of -perseverance in the face of tremendous difficulties, the canal was -opened by the queen. - -The canal is thirty-five and a half miles long, and, roughly speaking, -two-thirds of it are in Cheshire. The entrance to the canal is at -Eastham, where great locks were built. From Eastham to Runcorn, a -distance of thirteen miles, the canal is tidal and laid along the -foreshore of the Mersey estuary, and protected by an embankment. At -Runcorn 'Gap' the canal and the Mersey, which here becomes very narrow, -are separated by a concrete wall nearly one mile in length. - -The rest of the waterway lies inland. Latchford serves as a port for -Warrington, and the locks here always present a busy scene. At Irlam -locks the canal enters Lancashire, and its waters are at this point -forty feet above sea-level. The canal is fed by the River Irwell, whose -waters flow down the canal from Salford to Irlam. - -The railways are carried over the canal by lofty bridges, which had to -be made very high to allow the masts of ocean ships to pass under them. -Bays or sidings, where ships may pass each other, occur at intervals. -Wharves and docks have been built at many points along the canal, which -some day may be expected to appear one long seaport. - -Ellesmere Port, where the Ellesmere Canal and Ship Canal unite, has -become a thriving place in recent years, and the trade of Runcorn has -also been greatly increased by the canal. Large alkali works have been -built at Weston Point, the most suitable place that could have been -found for them, because they are equally near to the Lancashire -coal-field on the one hand and to the salt beds of Cheshire on the -other. The salt is brought in the form of brine direct from Northwich to -the works by pipes laid underground, a great saving of money, for salt -is heavy and costly to carry. - -Though the cotton industry was the one that was expected to gain most -from the canal, the traffic is by no means confined to this commodity. -Grain and cattle are brought from the United States and from South -America, timber from Canada, and hides from the Argentine, and big -cargoes of bananas, oranges, and apples, pass up the canal. In addition -to this oversea traffic, the canal also has a great share of the -coasting trade of the West of England, of which slates from Carnarvon, -and china clay from Cornwall may be taken as the best examples. - -The triumphs of engineering and mechanical skill have improved our means -of travelling from one place to another. The great engines that are now -turned out from the locomotive sheds at Crewe are as vastly superior to -the Rocket (models of which are now but a curiosity in our museums) as -the twentieth-century motor-cycle is to the velocipede or wooden -'bone-shaker' that your fathers rode. Horse carriages are fast -disappearing and giving place to the motor-car, and hansoms to the -taxicab. The science of aviation is turning the inventive powers of men -into new channels, and 'flying men' are showing to the world that the -conquest of the air is but a matter of time. - -Before the reign of Queen Victoria, few of the children of the poorest -classes were able either to read or write. Such education as these could -receive was given in the Sunday Schools, which Robert Raikes had started -in 1781. The children were hard at work in the mills all the week. -Teachers volunteered for the work, which was carried on in cottages or -disused factories. In 1805, Stockport built the big Sunday School which -still remains, and a hundred thousand children have been grateful for -the simple teaching given to them. - -The Education Bills of Queen Victoria's reign brought knowledge within -the reach of all. Education is cheap for the middle classes, free for -the poor. Schools have been built where none existed before. Money has -been found to help any Cheshire boy or girl to receive the very highest -education, and to open up the way from village school to university. The -municipalities have built their own municipal schools in the chief towns -of Cheshire, and technical schools where you may learn a trade. At the -Agricultural School at Holmes Chapel you may be instructed in the newest -and most scientific ways of farming. - -The people have learnt to study the laws of health, and to understand -the value of light and fresh air. Towns are cleaner and your homes -healthier. Open spaces, parks and playing-fields, brighten the lives of -the children in the towns, and by making them stronger, fit them the -better for the hard work that lies before them. - -Port Sunlight shows how much can be done by those who study the needs of -the working classes. This 'garden city', with its avenues of dainty -cottage villas, is the home of those who work in the big soap-works on -the Mersey. Here everything is done that can make for the comfort and -well-being of the inhabitants. There are schools for the children, and -'institutes' for the young men and women, libraries and reading-rooms, -savings banks to encourage thrift, games, clubs, swimming-baths and -gymnasium for the strong, a hospital for the sick and infirm, ambulance -and fire brigade and a life-saving society, and societies for the study -of literature and science. - -You are not all as fortunate as the dwellers of Port Sunlight. But some -day many of you will perhaps see the slums of great towns cleared away, -and you will take care that sunlight is let into dark places. You will -have learned how foolish it is to overcrowd the towns and herd together -in close and mean streets, and you will have the power to say that these -things ought not to be. - -The Cheshire County Council was created by Queen Victoria. Its members -are elected, and the Council allows large parishes to elect a Parish or -District Council to manage their own local affairs. But Stockport, -Chester, and Birkenhead do not send members to this Council, for their -populations are so big that they are considered as counties in -themselves. The County Council also controls the education of the -county, keeps roads and bridges in repair, directs the cleansing of the -small towns and villages, and provides a pure water-supply. - -New boroughs were made at Crewe, Hyde, and Stalybridge in Queen -Victoria's reign, with a mayor and corporation to direct their affairs. -Macclesfield, you will remember, was a borough in very early times. -Altrincham and Over too, once had their mayors, though they have them no -longer. Their mayors seem to have been men of very humble position, and -to have been looked down upon by their neighbours. You have perhaps -heard of the Cheshire saying: - - The Mayor of Altrincham, - And the Mayor of Over-- - The one is a thatcher, - The other a dauber. - - [Illustration: MODERN GOTHIC: S. MARGARET'S, ALTRINCHAM] - -The work of the borough councils has become very heavy during the last -fifty years. Gas, water, electricity, libraries, education, public -health, baths, markets, and police, have their own special committees to -look after them. The handsome Town Halls of Chester and Stockport, the -latter opened only a few years since by the present King George the -Fifth, had to be built to accommodate the small army of clerks who -assist in the government of a great city. - -The reign of Queen Victoria was not all one of peace. The war with -Russia, and the terrible mutiny of her Indian subjects with its tale of -horrors and its glorious heroism, brought woe to many a home in -Cheshire. The obelisk by the roadside between Aldford and Farndon -reminds us that the soldiers of Cheshire were often called upon to fight -our battles and too often find a grave in distant lands. Colonel -Barnston, of Crewe Hill, to whose memory this monument was set up, -fought at the siege of Sebastopol. In the Indian Mutiny he was wounded -while gallantly leading an assault at the relief of Lucknow, and died of -his wounds at Cawnpore. Numbers of memorial tablets in the Cathedral of -Chester speak of the lives that were cheerfully laid down by Cheshire -men in the service of their queen and country. - -Your fathers will tell you how bonfires were lighted on the beacons and -hill-tops of Cheshire to celebrate the Jubilee or fiftieth year of the -reign of Queen Victoria. Still greater was the rejoicing some ten years -later, when she surpassed in length of reign all previous sovereigns of -England. Nearly every town and village has some memorial of her: a cross -in the village street, a drinking-fountain by the wayside, new bells for -the parish church or a lich-gate for the churchyard, a village 'hall' or -a public recreation ground, these are but a few examples that prove the -love and reverence that Cheshire men and women felt for the great queen -whose only thought was ever for the welfare of her people. - -Yet her last years were saddened by the long and costly war in South -Africa, still unfinished when she died. The call to arms was once more -heard from east to west of Cheshire; from town and country, -'reservists' who had thought to end their days in peace were sent -oversea to defend the South African dominions of the queen. The brave -'Cheshires'--the fathers of some of you were among them--served -throughout the war. A gallant Cheshire officer was one of the first to -win distinction. Lieutenant Congreve, of Burton Hall, was one of three -who volunteered to rescue the guns at the battle of Colenso. He was shot -down in the attempt, but was able to crawl to a sheltered place, and -lived to receive the reward that all soldiers strive to merit--the -Victoria Cross. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV - -FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE - - -Throughout the Middle Ages, until the end of the Wars of the Roses, war -was the chief, almost the only occupation of the leading men of -Cheshire. A few entered the Church, Richard de Vernon, for instance, who -was Rector of 'Stokeport' early in the fourteenth century (his tomb is -in the chancel of Stockport), and William de Montalt, Rector of Neston. -One of the Bebingtons, William de Bebyngton, even became Abbot of S. -Werburgh's Abbey. - -The descendants of the barons who settled in Cheshire in the days of the -Conqueror followed the Norman and Plantagenet kings to the Crusades or -the French wars. Few of them stayed at home for any length of time, and -when they returned, they generally found that some score had to be -settled with the Welshmen, who had been making havoc of their lands -during their absence. So that whether at home or abroad, fighting was -always their chief business. - -Cheshire has been called the 'seed-plot of gentility'. The Cheshire -gentry prided themselves on marrying within their own county. A Cheshire -proverb says: ''Tis better to wed over the mixen than over the moor,' -meaning the moorland that separates Cheshire from her neighbours. The -result of this intermarriage was that the number of great Cheshire names -did not greatly increase, and soon there became - - As many Masseys as asses, - Leghs as fleas, - And Davenports as dogs' tails; - -to quote another Cheshire saying. - -One of the oldest Cheshire families is that of the Wooley-Dods of Edge -Hill, who trace their descent from the Saxon Dot, who was a great man in -Cheshire before the Normans came. The Grosvenors, whose ancestors came -over with the Conqueror, live at Eaton Hall, and own vast estates in -Western Cheshire. The present head of the family is the Duke of -Westminster. The Mainwarings, whose forefathers fought in the Crusades, -are at Peover, and the crest of the felon's head of the Davenports still -survives at Capesthorne, though the Davenports of Marton and Bramhall -are no more. - -Many old families of Cheshire have long since died out. The last of the -Masseys of Puddington (they had lived there since the days of Rufus) -died in the Stuart rising of 1715. There are no Pooles at Poole Hall nor -Venables at Kinderton. The last of the Savages of Rock Savage, whose -tomb is in the Rivers Chapel at Macclesfield, died in the seventeenth -century. - -Dutton village and Dutton Hall bear the name of a famous family that was -allied by marriage with most of the great families of Cheshire. Duttons -live no longer at the Hall, for the last male heir died in the reign of -James the First. They were descended from a squire of Robert Lacy, -Constable of Chester. When Earl Randal was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle -by the Welsh, the Constable and Dutton, his henchman, hastily gathered -together a motley rabble of fiddlers and mountebanks from Chester Fair -and went to his assistance. The Earl was rescued, and from that time -forward to the Duttons was given the charge of all minstrels and -fiddlers in the county. There are Duttons in Chester now; one was a -mayor of the city quite recently. - -Neighbours and kinsmen of the Duttons were the Dones or Donnes of -Utkinton, hereditary foresters of the Forest of Delamere. Many of them -are buried at Tarporley. The name of the last Lady Done is still called -to mind in the neighbourhood where they lived. The Cheshire proverb is -the highest praise that can be given to a young Cheshire housewife, and -'Lady Done' is a pet name for modest and thrifty girls, as 'Little Lord -Derby' is for brave and honourable boys. - -Lancashire claims the Earls of Derby now, but they are descended from -the Stanleys, perhaps the most famous of all Cheshire families, by the -marriage of Sir John Stanley and Isabella, heiress of the Lancashire -Lathoms. The Stanleys settled at Storeton in Wirral in the fourteenth -century. Many men of mark, churchmen and scholars, statesmen and -soldiers, belonged to this family. A Stanley helped to win the battle of -Bosworth for Henry Tudor, and a Stanley led the Cheshire troops in the -famous charge at Flodden Field, - - When shivered was fair Scotland's spear - And broken was her shield. - -One branch of the family settled at Hooton, but the last of this line -lost his estates by gambling and extravagance. The Stanleys of Alderley -received knighthood from James the First; they are Barons of Alderley -now. This family has given a bishop to Norwich and a still more famous -dean to Westminster. The bishop was educated at the Grammar School of -Macclesfield. - -The Egertons are descended from the standard-bearer of Henry the Eighth, -who made him a knight after the 'Battle of the Spurs'. One of them rose -to be Lord Chancellor in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, -and was made Baron Ellesmere. The first Earl Egerton of Tatton was made -a peer by Queen Victoria largely for the help he gave in the making of -the Ship Canal. - -The Jodrells, buried in Taxal Church, were descended from an archer who -served under the Black Prince. Perhaps he cut his bow from the very yew -tree that still stands in the churchyard. One of them fought in the -Peninsular War, but the name has disappeared from this part of Cheshire -now. - -Several Cheshire noblemen sit in the House of Lords to-day, their family -name disguised under the more showy title of a peerage. A Booth became -Lord Delamere at the Restoration, and the Viscounts of Combermere are -the descendants of the Cottons, who helped Henry the Eighth to plunder -the Cheshire monasteries. The Ardernes are represented by the Earl of -Haddington; Lord Newton lives at Lyme Park, the ancient home of the -Leghs, and the Earl of Crewe at Crewe Hall. Lord Ashton of Hyde has only -recently taken a seat in the House of Lords. He was made a baron at the -coronation of King George the Fifth. - -When great industries took root in Cheshire new names appeared, and some -of the most honoured families in Cheshire now are those that have been -closely associated with the workers of the county. We hear a great deal -nowadays of 'the dignity of labour', and we think it no disgrace to rise -to position and power by a life of toil. The Gregs of Styal and the -Brunners of Northwich, the Levers of Wirral, and many others, have -endeared themselves to the people of Cheshire by the example of their -own labours and the pains they have taken to make the lives of those who -live about them and work for them brighter and happier. - -A simple cross in the graveyard of the Unitarian Chapel at Knutsford -bears the name of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. The people of Knutsford -have a warm corner in their hearts for her, for in a way she has made -their town famous for all time. One of the books she wrote--_Cranford_ -she called it--speaks of the people of Knutsford as she knew them in the -earlier days of Queen Victoria. The book tells you much of the quiet -life of a country town before the coming of the railways and the busy -hubbub of the later nineteenth century, and all Cheshire children should -read it. Mrs. Gaskell wrote several other books, all of which show her -sweet sympathy and kindliness towards those whose lives are cast in -lowly surroundings. - -If you have not heard of _Cranford_ you have probably read a book whose -title you know better than the name of the writer. _Alice in Wonderland_ -was written by a man who spent much of his early life in Cheshire. -'Lewis Carroll', though that is not his real name, is the name under -which he wrote the humorous stories that have delighted young people and -old alike. - -John Critchley Prince, the workman poet of Hyde, lived in the days when -the poorly-paid workers of Cheshire were struggling for a better -existence. While working in a factory at Hyde he found time to write -poems which speak of the charms of home, the brotherhood of all mankind, -and the hopes and ambitions of his fellow men. Prince was thriftless and -intemperate, and much of his life was spent in misery, but his talents -were great, and the people of Hyde have done him honour. He is buried in -Hyde churchyard. - -In the chancel of Stockport Parish Church is a tablet to the memory of -John Wainwright, the organist who composed the tune for 'Christians, -awake', the beautiful Christmas hymn 'whose sound is gone out into all -lands where the praise of our Lord is sung', as the inscription runs. -The words of the hymn were written by Byrom, a Manchester man. - -Cheshire produced a famous hymn-writer in Bishop Heber. Reginald Heber -was born in the rectory of Malpas in 1783. He gave himself up to -missionary work in foreign lands, and was made Bishop of Calcutta. 'From -Greenland's icy mountains' and 'Brightest and best of the sons of the -morning' are two of the hymns that came from his pen. - -Charles Kingsley must have loved Cheshire. Though he was not a Cheshire -man by birth, he claimed descent from the Kingsleys of Vale Royal. He -was a great lover of nature, and, while he was Canon of Chester, founded -the Natural History Society in Chester, whose home is in the Grosvenor -Museum, and encouraged the people of Cheshire to take an interest in the -story of their county, and to study the ways of plants and of the wild -creatures of the fields and the forests. His pathetic ballad of the -Sands of Dee, 'O Mary, go and call the cattle home,' will always be a -favourite with the village people of Wirral. - -Tabley Hall was the home of another celebrated naturalist. Here lived -Lord de Tabley, one of the greatest students of Cheshire flowers, and a -lover of all wild living things. His grave is in the churchyard of -Little Peover, and over it trails a bramble, which was his favourite -plant and one of which he made a special study. In the gardens of Tabley -Hall is a bramble-bed, still tended carefully, which he laid out from -the choicest briars he could find. - -Lord de Tabley was a poet as well as a lover of flowers and birds. -Perhaps you will some day read his poems, and be charmed by his -descriptive pictures of the ways of his feathered friends, the -'starlings mustering on their evening tree', the 'swallows beating low -before a hint of rain', the 'plaintive plovers', and the 'wide-winged -screaming swift'. - -Lord de Tabley's example is one which all Cheshire boys and girls should -learn to copy. Those who are proud of their county will not do anything -to make it less beautiful. Like him, they will cherish and protect the -plants and birds and all the wild creatures that have been put into -their keeping; for such things are the common heritage of the people of -Cheshire, and, once destroyed, can never be replaced. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI - -CONCLUSION - - -We have traced the story of Cheshire from prehistoric times. For long -ages the story was one of war and bloodshed, of conquest and defeat, of -the coming and the passing of many nations, each in turn yielding to a -more powerful foe. Cheshire has seen more of the strife of nations than -most counties of England. Her position on the map of the British Isles -has willed that this should be. - -When the latest struggle for the possession of our country was ended, -and the Normans lorded it over the conquered Saxons, we saw Cheshire -made into a bulwark to keep in check the nations that surrounded her -on north and west. For 200 years this was her mission. She was a kingdom -within a kingdom, with an earl or viceroy to rule over her, and a -Parliament and laws of her own. More centuries passed by before a Tudor -king permitted her to take her place in that greater English Parliament -and to help to frame laws under which she, along with the rest of -England, should be governed. - - [Illustration: DEE BRIDGE AND MILLS: CHESTER] - -But Cheshire was not denied the greatest of all good gifts. We saw the -lamp of Christianity burn brightly from Hildeburgh's Isle to Chadkirk, -and some of the earliest Gospel teachers were sent by the very Welsh and -Irish nations over which Cheshire was afterwards set as sentinel and -watch-dog. Feebly the light sometimes glimmered in days of stress and -storm, but it never went out; and after the Tudor monarch had shaken off -the shackles of Rome, and the minds of men had been stirred by a great -awakening, its early brightness was restored in a purified religion that -gave freedom of conscience to all men. - -Then came the horrors of civil war, when Cheshire men fought for the -liberty to believe what they thought to be right, and rose in their -wrath at the unlawful misdeeds of the Stuart kings, when patriots rose -in defence of the ancient liberties that are the inheritance of all -Englishmen. This was the last blood shed in Cheshire. - -In the last hundred years the people of Cheshire have seen the face of -Cheshire greatly changed. They have helped to create great industries, -and they have witnessed the wonderful discoveries of the power of steam -and electricity, and all the conveniences and comforts of modern life -that have followed in their train. In ways too numerous to speak of, -their lives have been made brighter and happier. - -The Princes of Wales are the Earls of Chester still. King Edward the -Seventh, when he was Prince of Wales, came to Chester and opened the new -Town Hall. The citizens of Chester knew him well, for he was often a -guest at Eaton Hall, the home of the Grosvenors, the descendants of the -Conqueror's 'mighty huntsman'. William the Norman harried Cheshire with -the sword, and the people of Cheshire fled before him. King Edward -brought not a sword but peace in his hand, and the people loved him, for -he was one of the world's great peace-makers. - -In one of the earliest chapters of this book you have read of the -'making of Cheshire'. We have brought the story of Cheshire down to the -present day, but Cheshire is not yet 'made'. Many and wonderful changes -there have been since our ancestors shot wild beasts with their flinty -arrow-heads, and devoured raw flesh in the pits and caverns of Alderley -Edge. The people of Cheshire, who have struggled through long centuries -to win for themselves light and liberty, have never turned their faces -backwards. With steadfast purpose and unfaltering steps they march -forward on the way of progress. - -The 'making' still goes on; and there is plenty of work to do for the -Cheshire boys and girls of to-day, that they may help to make their -county a better place to live in than they found it. - - Enough, if something from our hands have power - To live, and act, and serve the future hour. - -The great families of Cheshire whose names recur so often in these pages -were proud of the mottoes written beneath their crests and coats of -arms. The words inscribed on the village cross which the boys and girls -of Eastham pass on their way to school, are the best mottoes that all -Cheshire school-children can take for their own: - - 'Fear God. Honour the King. Work while it is yet day.' - -And the day is very short. As the lines on a tombstone in Little Peover -churchyard remind us: - - A little rule, a little sway, - A sunbeam in a winter's day, - Is all the greatest of us have - Between the cradle and the grave. - - - - - - INDEX - - - Acton, 126. - Adlington, 141, 161. - Aethelfrith, 44. - Aethelred, 50. - Agricola, 36-8. - _Alabama_, the, 203. - Alderley Edge, 15, 18, 25, 42. - Aldford, 20, 61. - Alfred the Great, 51. - Almshouses, 147. - Altrincham, 88, 208. - Anne, Queen, 171. - Anselm, 64. - Archery, 110. - Architecture, Saxon, 50; - Norman, 65-71; - Early English, 81-6; - Decorated, 101-4; - Perpendicular, 120-2; - Elizabethan, 137-42; - Eighteenth-Century, 173-6. - Arden Hall, 142. - Armada, Spanish, 134. - Astbury, 45, 104. - Aston, Sir Thomas, 156. - Athelstan, 55. - - Baguley, 106. - Baldwin, Archbishop, 79. - Barnston, Colonel, 210. - Barrows, 27. - Barthomley, 162. - Bebington, 71, 104, 147. - Beeston Castle, 61, 160. - Beeston, Sir George, 134. - Benedictines, 64. - Birkenhead, 12, 198-200. - Birkenhead, Priory, 71; - Shipping, 200. - Black Death, 112. - Booth, Sir George, 157, 166, 171. - Boulder clay, 20. - Bradshaw, John, 163. - Bramhall, 106. - Branks, 149. - Brasses, 115. - Brereton Hall, 141. - Brereton, Sir William, 153, 155-60, 165. - Bridgwater Canal, 184. - Bridgwater, Duke of, 183. - Brindley, James, 183, 185. - British remains, 27. - Brocmael, 43. - Bromborough, 56. - Bronze Age, 28. - Broxton Hills, 27. - Bruera, 86. - Bucton Castle, 27. - Budworth, Great, 119, 162, 164. - Bunbury, 108, 134. - Bunter Sandstone, 18. - Burial urns, 27, 34. - Byron, Sir Nicholas, 157. - - Caesar, Julius, 29. - Calveley, Sir Hugh, 108. - Canals of Cheshire, 183-5, 205. - Carboniferous Rocks, 24. - Carroll, Lewis, 215. - Ceawlin, 43. - Celts, 26-8. - Chad, 48. - Chadkirk, 48. - Charles I, 153, 158. - Charles II, 164-6. - Charters, 78, 88. - Chartists, 202. - Cheshire, Canals, 183-5, 205; - Meres, 15; - Plain, 10; - Rivers, 12-14; - Railways, 192-7. - Chesshyre, Sir John, 177. - Chester, Battle of, 44; - Castle, 55, 62, 96, 174; - Caleyards, 65; - Cathedral, 130; - Customs of, 62; - King's School, 133, 152; - Plays, 90-1; - Phoenix Tower, 89, 158; - Roman city of, 36-8; - Rows, 112; - S. John's Church, 50, 66, 81, 160; - S. Mary's on the Hill, 160; - S. Olaf, 57; - S. Oswald, 47; - S. Werburgh's Abbey, 64, 72, 83; - Siege of, 158-60; - Situation of, 10; - Trade, 55, 144; - Walls, 37, 96; - Water Tower, 98. - Chests, Church, 124. - Christianity, Introduction of, 47-51. - Christleton, 20. - Chronicle, Old English, 54. - Circles, Stone, 28. - Cistercians, 73. - Civil War, 153-66. - Clive, Robert, 181. - Clulow Cross, 25, 28. - Cnut, 57. - Coaches, 178. - Coal measures, 22. - Coal-fields, 183. - Cobden, Richard, 202. - Combermere, Abbey of, 73. - Combermere, Viscount, 182. - Congleton, 88, 148. - Congreve, Lieutenant, 211. - Connought, Major, 162. - Constable's Sands, 74. - Conversion of the English, 47-8. - Cotton famine, 203; - manufacture, 188. - Cotton, Stapleton, 182. - County Council, 208. - Crewe, 195, 208. - Crewe, Sir Randolph, 152. - Crosses, 48. - Crusades, 79. - - Danes, Invasion of, 57. - Davenport, Peter, 162. - Davenport, Vivian, 74. - Dean Row, 168. - Decorated Architecture, 101-4. - Dee Mills, 77, 98. - Dee, River, 12. - Delamere, Forest of, 15, 27, 74. - Dennis, Peter, 181. - Derby, Earls of, 213. - de Tabley, Lord, 216. - Deva, 30. - Dissolution of the Monasteries, 129-33. - Domesday Book, 62-4. - Done, John, 76. - Downes, Peter, 181. - Drayton, Michael, 135. - Dukinfield, 151, 183. - Dunham Massey, 62. - Duttons, 212. - - Earls of Chester, 59, 74-81. - Early English Architecture, 81-7. - Eastham, 205. - Eaton Hall, 59. - Eaton, Samuel, 151. - Ecberght, 44. - Eddisbury, 20, 54. - Edgar, 56. - Edward the Elder, 54. - Edward I, 93-8. - Edward III, 96. - Edward VI, 130. - Edward VII, 218. - Edwin, Earl, 59. - Eleanor, Queen, 94. - Elizabeth, Queen, 134-50. - Elizabethan Houses, 137. - Ellesmere Canal, 206. - Erratics, 20. - Estuaries, 14. - Ethelfleda, 53-5. - Etherow, River, 12. - - Factory Acts, 201. - Faddiley, 43. - Farndon, 48, 159. - Fitton, Mary, 143. - Flagstones, 23. - Flashes, 15. - Flint implements, 25. - Forest, submerged, 23. - Forests of Cheshire, 74. - Friars, Coming of the, 99. - Frodsham, 65, 96, 174. - - - Gaskell, Mrs., 213. - Gawsworth, 120, 143, 178. - George I, 172. - George V, 210. - Gherbod, 58. - Gilds, 88-91. - Glacial Drift, 20. - Goyt, River, 12, 22, 189. - Grappenhall, 79. - Greg, Samuel, 190. - Grosvenors, the, 60, 218. - - Halton Castle, 61. - Handforth Hall, 141. - Handley, 121. - Harecastle, 185. - Harold, King, 58. - Harrison, Thomas, 164. - Hastein, 51. - Heber, Bishop, 215. - Henry I, 76. - Henry II, 80. - Henry III, 87. - Henry IV, 109, 114. - Henry V, 114. - Henry VII, 117. - Henry VIII, 125-30, 146. - Henry, Matthew, 168. - High Legh, 20. - Hotspur, 110. - Hoylake, 170. - Hugh, Earl, 59-73. - Hugh Kyvelioc, 77. - Hyde, 208. - Hyde, Anne, 171. - - Industrial Revolution, 183-92. - Ingemund, 53. - Inman, William, 200. - Irish Wars, 143. - Ismay, Thomas, 200. - Italian architecture, 146, 173-6. - - Jacobites, 172. - James I, 150, 152. - James II, 169-70. - John the Scot, 87. - Johnson, Samuel, 178. - - Kelsborrow, 27. - Kentigern, 47. - Keuper Sandstone, 18. - King, Edward, 186. - Kingsley, Charles, 215. - Kirby, West, 53. - Knights Hospitallers, 79. - Knights Templars, 79. - Knutsford, 164, 182, 192. - - Labyrinthodont, 18. - Laird, Thomas, 200. - Lambert, General, 164. - Latchford, 206. - Leghs, the, 108, 143, 161, 174. - Leicester, Sir Peter, 161. - Leofric, 57. - Limestone rocks, 23. - Llewellyn, 95. - Longdendale, 12. - Lyme, 77, 146, 172. - Lymm, 18. - - Macclesfield, Church, 94, 108, 120; - Forest, 74; - School, 133. - Maiden Castle, 27. - Malpas, 124. - Mancunium, 36. - Margaret, Queen, 115. - Marian persecution, 132. - Marling, 98. - Marsh, William, 132. - Martindale, Adam, 168. - Mary, Queen, 132. - Mary, Queen of Scots, 150. - Massey, Hamon de, 71. - Melandra Castle, 36. - Merchant Guilds, 88. - Meres, 15. - Mersey, River, 12. - Middlewich, Roman station of, 34; - Battle of, 156. - Midsummer Games, 151. - Millstone Grit, 23. - Mobberley, 63, 127. - Monk, George, 166. - Monmouth, Duke of, 169. - Moreton Hall, Little, 137. - Mountain Limestone, 23, 24. - Murage, 96. - Mural paintings, 122. - - Nantwich, 89, 92. - Nantwich, Battle of, 157. - Neolithic Age, 26. - Neston, 87, 178. - Nigel of Halton, 61. - Norman abbeys, 64, 71-3; - architecture, 65-71; - castles, 61; - churches, 65; - conquest, 58. - Normans, Coming of the, 58. - Norse settlements, 52. - Northwich, 19, 32, 157, 188. - Norton Priory, 129. - - Ordericus Vitalis, 60. - Oswald, 47. - Over, 48. - - Palaeolithic Age, 25. - Palatine, County, 59. - Parish registers, 125. - Parkgate, 178. - Peada, 48. - Penda, 48. - Peover, Little, 106. - Permian rocks, 22. - Perpendicular Architecture, 120-2. - Picts, 43. - Placenames, 45, 52. - Plegmund, Archbishop, 52. - Plemstall, 52. - Port Sunlight, 207. - Prestbury, 69, 75. - Pretenders, Stuart, 172. - Prince, John Critchley, 215. - Prynne, William, 152. - Pulton Abbey, 73. - Puritans, 150, 165. - - Quakers, 169. - Quarry Bank, 190. - - Railways, 192-7. - Randal Hignet, 91. - Randle Blundeville, Earl, 78-81. - Randle II, Earl, 76. - Randle Meschines, Earl, 76. - Ranulf Higden, 101. - Reformation, 128-33. - Renaissance, 173. - Restoration, 166. - Richard, Earl, 76. - Richard I, 80. - Richard II, 109. - Richard III, 117. - Rivers of Cheshire, 12-14. - Roe, Charles, 192. - Roger de Montalt, 87. - Roman altars, 35; - bricks, 40; - buildings, 38; - capitals, 39; - coins, 41; - forts, 36; - hypocausts, 39; - pottery, 41; - roads, 30; - tombstones, 34. - Romans, Coming of the, 29. - Roses, Wars of the, 115. - Rostherne, 174. - Rowton Moor, 158, 166. - Runcorn, 18, 54, 186. - Runes, 45. - Rupert, Prince, 157. - Rushbearing, 147. - - Salt, 18, 186. - Samian ware, 41. - Sandbach, 64; - battle of, 164; - crosses, 48. - Sandstone, New Red, 16-18. - Saxons, Coming of the, 43. - Scandinavians, 51-3. - Scott, Captain, 180. - Seven Lows, 27. - Shakerley, Sir Geoffrey, 159. - Ship Canal, 12, 205-6. - Ship money, 153. - Shocklach, 68, 123. - Shotwick, 15, 68, 95. - Silk manufacture, 192. - Simon de Montfort, 92. - Simon of Whitchurch, 92. - Simon Ripley, 122. - Speed, John, 135. - Stalybridge, 208. - Stanlaw, 73. - Stanley Palace, 146. - Stanleys of Cheshire, 99, 112,117, 164, 213. - Steam, Introduction of, 189. - Stephen, King, 76. - Stockport, 12, 32, 88, 104, 202, 210. - Stocks, 149. - Stone Age, 25. - Storeton, 18. - Stretford, 32. - Styal, 190. - Sunday Schools, 207. - - Tame, River, 12. - Tarporley, 155. - Tarvin, 20, 157. - Thelwall, 54. - Thingwall, 52. - Thornton Heath, 71. - Timber Houses, 137-41. - Tramways, 200. - Turpin, Dick, 179. - - Vale Royal, 93, 129. - van Zoelen, Baron, 171. - Veratinum, 41. - Victoria, Queen, 204-11. - - Wainwright, John, 215. - Wakes, 147. - Wales, Conquest of, 94. - Wallasey, 14, 70, 169. - Walton, Bishop, 167. - Warburton, 105. - Warford, 169. - Warren, Sir George, 183. - Watling Street, 12, 32. - Weaver, River, 14, 19, 186. - Wellington, Duke of, 182. - Werburga, Saint, 50. - Wesley, John, 180. - West Kirby, 53, 171. - Wilderspool, 32. - Wilkins, John, 167. - William the Conqueror, 58. - William Rufus, 75. - William III, 170. - Wilmslow, 115. - Wirral, 9, 22, 52, 197. - Witton, 133. - Woodchurch, 69, 147. - - Yoredale rocks, 23. - - -Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M.A. - - - - - Some Oxford Books - on - HISTORY - - -_General._ - -THE TEACHING OF HISTORY, by C. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Cheshire - -Author: Charles E. Kelsey - -Release Date: June 6, 2013 [EBook #42887] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHESHIRE *** - - - - -Produced by floofles, sp1nd and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE. ROADS] - - - - - OXFORD COUNTY HISTORIES - - CHESHIRE - - BY CHARLES E. KELSEY, M.A. - - - WITH TEN MAPS AND FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS - - - OXFORD - AT THE CLARENDON PRESS - 1911 - - - HENRY FROWDE, M.A. - PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD - LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK - TORONTO AND MELBOURNE - - - - -PREFACE - - -The aim of the present volume in the Oxford Series of County Histories -for Schools is to assist the study of the progress of the English people -by an examination of local antiquities, visits to ancient sites and -buildings, and suggestions of big national movements from local -incident. An attempt is made to foster the powers of observation in -children by showing them how to connect various styles of architecture, -for instance, with successive stages in the story of their county, and -to construct from familiar objects the broad outlines of national -history. Thus it is hoped that sooner or later the teaching of history -may become, to some extent, an _out-of-school_ subject and take its -place side by side with outdoor Nature-study and Practical Geography in -the curriculum of our schools. - -In rural districts this end is obviously more easily attainable than in -large industrial centres. In the latter the expense of moving classes of -children from their schools to visit a site some miles distant would be -no doubt considerable; but is it too visionary to hope that before long -a motor-bus, capable of carrying a class of thirty or forty boys and -girls, will be deemed by Educational Committees a necessary part of -their 'apparatus'? - -Apart from the educative value of such work there would, as the children -grow up, arise a body of public opinion which could give valuable help -in saving historic sites and buildings from loss or destruction, and -preventing the removal of antiquities from their natural home. Cheshire -has suffered perhaps more than her share of both these evils, and looks -with sorrowful eyes at many of her treasures housed in the museums of -towns beyond her borders. - -All students of Cheshire history owe much to Ormerod's great work. But -his history is largely genealogical, and personally I wish to -acknowledge a greater debt to the labours and transactions of local -societies, particularly the Chester Archaeological Society and the -Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society. Many learned members of -these two bodies have made most important contributions to our knowledge -of ancient and mediaeval Cheshire within the most recent years. Among -other works consulted I may mention the _Palatine Note Book_, _Cheshire -Notes and Queries_, and Morris's _Diocesan History of Chester_. I have -received kindly assistance from several Cheshire clergymen, and to all -who have given me permission to take photographs within their churches I -express my thanks. - -The maps, drawings, and photographs are original, with few exceptions. I -am indebted to the Council of the Chester Archaeological Society, and -the Grosvenor Museum for the loan of the block of a Roman tombstone from -a photograph by Mr. R. Newstead, and to Mr. Alfred Newstead, Curator of -the Museum, for photographs of the Runic stone and Roman altar. - -The Rev. J. F. Tristram, of the Hulme Grammar School, read the two -geological chapters and made valuable suggestions. To the Clarendon -Press I am grateful for much kind help and criticism. - - THE HULME GRAMMAR SCHOOL, - MANCHESTER, - _July, 1911_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - I. POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE 9 - II. THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (1) 16 - III. THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (_continued_) (2) 21 - IV. EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE 25 - V. THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE (1) 29 - VI. THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE (2) 36 - VII. SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE 43 - VIII. THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE 47 - IX. THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN 51 - X. THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE 58 - XI. THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE 64 - XII. THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE 74 - XIII. THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 81 - XIV. GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE 87 - XV. EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE 92 - XVI. THE COMING OF THE FRIARS 99 - XVII. A DEPOSED KING 107 - XVIII. THE RIVAL ROSES 114 - XIX. CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES 118 - XX. THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING 128 - XXI. ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE (1) 134 - XXII. ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE (2) 143 - XXIII. THE RULE OF THE STUARTS 150 - XXIV. CIVIL WAR: (1) THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH 153 - XXV. CIVIL WAR: (2) A MEMORABLE SIEGE 158 - XXVI. CIVIL WAR: (3) THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION 163 - XXVII. THE FALL OF THE STUARTS 167 - XXVIII. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1) 173 - XXIX. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (2) 180 - XXX. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (1) 183 - XXXI. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (2) 188 - XXXII. THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE 192 - XXXIII. PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 198 - XXXIV. THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN 204 - XXXV. FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE 211 - XXXVI. CONCLUSION 216 - - INDEX 220 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE - - -Few English counties owe more of their history to their geographical -position and surroundings, and to the character of their natural -features, than Cheshire. Not only in the past have the rocks and rivers -of Cheshire helped to make history, but even to-day they have a very -direct bearing upon the fortunes of Cheshire men and women. How many of -us reflect, as our eyes travel over the plain to the distant hills, that -on the wise and orderly arrangement of mountain and valley, forest and -winding stream, our very existence and means of livelihood depend? Truly -Nature has other work to do than merely create picturesque landscapes. - -Cheshire is situated in the north-west of England, washed partly by the -Irish Sea, and guarded as it were on its eastern and western sides by -two great ramparts of hill country, that on the east formed by the -southern spurs of the Pennine Chain, while the Welsh hills of Flint and -Denbigh are the natural frontier on the west. - -The western boundary, however, which has been frequently changed, now -follows roughly the Valley of the Dee. A semicircle of hills of lesser -height fringes the county on the south, and the river Mersey divides it -from its northern neighbour, Lancashire. - -In the north-west of the county a rectangular stretch of country known -as Wirral is washed by two great estuaries and by the Irish Sea, and a -wedge of moorland in the north-east penetrates into the heart of the -Pennines. Here the hills reach their greatest height, Black Hill the -highest point in Cheshire being just under 2,000 feet above sea-level. -The low-lying lands enclosed by this amphitheatre of hills form the -Cheshire Plain, broken only by ridges or terraces of low sandstone -hills running north and south. - -A glance at a map of the British Isles will show you that Cheshire lies -in the very heart of the three kingdoms. Its geographical position has -thus made it a meeting-place of nations, and you will see in later -chapters that all the peoples that have helped to make our national -history have in turn realized the importance of its position, and have -fought desperately for its possession. Briton and Roman, Angle and Saxon -and Dane, Welsh and Norman have all left some mark of their presence in -the county, and from these many elements is derived the blood that flows -in the veins of nearly all Cheshire boys and girls of to-day. - -Now look at the map opposite. The shaded portions represent land over -300, 600, or 1,000 feet above sea-level. In the south, the eastern and -western uplands slope gradually down towards the bit of white which -touches the centre of the bottom of the map and forms what is known as -the Cheshire Gap. Through this gap the Midlands lie open to the -north-west and to the Cheshire Plain, and over these lower heights -naturally passed the great highway from London to the Irish Sea. -Chester, built on a rocky plateau at the head of the tidal waters of the -Dee and protected on its western side by a natural bend of the same -river, was clearly a position of great importance for guarding alike the -coast road into North Wales and the roads to the north of England; and -there is no doubt that it was held as a fortified post long before the -Romans built the Roman city of Deva. - -For many centuries this stronghold was one of the chief military -outposts and frontier towns of England, not often free from war's -alarms, and the sentinels on her walls and watch-towers ever on the -look-out for the approach of some new enemy. Chester became the 'base' -or head-quarters from which all military campaigns in the north-west, in -Wales or in Ireland were carried out, united with the metropolis by the -great road that passed through the heart of England, along which armies -could march without any difficult hills to cross and hardly a river of -any great size to bridge. In later and more peaceful times, for the -same geographical reasons, the London and North-Western Railway, the -lineal descendant of the ancient 'Watling Street', laid its lines on -nearly the same ground as the old highway, and is thus the easiest as -well as the most direct of all routes from London to the north-west. - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE CONTOUR MAP] - -With the exception of the Dee, which rises near Lake Bala in Wales, the -rivers of Cheshire have their sources in the eastern or southern -uplands. For eight months of the year moisture-laden winds blow from the -sea across the Cheshire Plain and deposit their rains upon the hills. In -the hilly country of the north-east, where the rainfall is greatest, the -water is gathered and stored in a number of reservoirs in Longdendale; -and the moist climate is the chief reason why this district is the seat -of the cotton industry, for cotton threads become brittle in a dry -atmosphere. In the valleys of the Tame and Goyt the abundance of fresh -running water from the hills formerly caused many mills for the -bleaching, dyeing and printing of calicoes to be erected on or near the -streams. Nowadays, however, owing to the greater supply of water brought -by pipes from a distance, mills are erected principally on the outskirts -of the great towns and nearer the centres of population. Hence in the -villages of the Goyt it is no uncommon sight to see the tottering walls -of mills that have been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin and -decay. - -The combined waters of the Etherow, Tame, and Goyt form the Mersey at -Stockport. Only the left bank of this river is in Cheshire. Moreover, -for a large part of its course it has been 'canalized', so that it no -longer flows between its natural banks, but down the artificial channel -of the Manchester Ship Canal. The estuary of the Mersey, which is three -to four miles across at its widest point, narrows at Birkenhead to a -width of barely three-quarters of a mile. At this point the river is -kept open to the largest vessels afloat by constant dredging. Here in -the docks you may see ships of all nations, and generally one or more of -our huge ocean greyhounds riding at anchor in mid-river or awaiting -but the turn of the tide to take out their cargoes of human lives to -distant lands. - - [Illustration: SOURCES OF RIVERS IN E. CHESHIRE] - -The Weaver, on the other hand, is wholly a Cheshire river, rising in the -Peckforton Hills in the south-west of the county. The Mersey and the -Weaver receive a number of tributaries, of which the Bollin and the Dane -are the most important, from the eastern highlands, - - the high-crowned Shutlingslawe - ... with those proud hills whence rove - The lovely sister brooks the silvery Dane and Dove, - Clear Dove that makes to Trent, the other to the West. - -At Northwich the Weaver becomes navigable as far as the Mersey. - -The rivers flow mainly in a westerly or north-westerly direction. -Spreading evenly over the plain in almost parallel lines, they serve to -drain and fertilize the land, which thus affords the finest pasturage -for cattle. Dairy-farming and stock-raising have therefore become the -principal occupation of the inhabitants of the Cheshire midlands; and on -market days the piles of the famous Cheshire cheese are generally the -first thing we notice in the open market-places of our country towns. - -The most noticeable feature of the county are the two estuaries of the -Dee and the Mersey. The tract enclosed between them is for the most part -flat, Heswall Hill, the highest point, being little more than 300 feet -in height, and the lowest parts have to be protected from the inroads of -the sea by long embankments. Several portions were in fact, at one time -separated from the mainland, like Hilbre Isle at the present day, as is -shown by the names Wallasey, 'isle of the Welsh or strangers,' and Ince -'an island'. In the Middle Ages, owing to the importance of Chester, the -Dee was the principal outlet for the trade of the north-west, as Bristol -was for the south-west of England. In those days Liverpool was but an -insignificant town, and the Mersey was known as the 'Creek of Chester'. -But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the shipping trade of the -Dee declined owing to the great accumulation of sand and silt in the -channel. When vessels could no longer unload or ship their merchandise -under the walls of Chester a quay was formed at Shotwick, some six miles -along the northern shore of the estuary. In this neighbourhood over two -thousand acres of land have been recovered from the sea that once flowed -over them. Navigation was partially restored as far as Chester for small -vessels by a new artificial channel, but since the rise of the cotton -and other great industries in South Lancashire Liverpool and Birkenhead -have replaced Chester and become the second port in the kingdom. - -Cheshire also possesses a miniature 'Lake District'. Between the Bollin -and the Weaver are scattered many lakelets or 'meres'. They are -particularly numerous in the salt districts, where they are due to the -pumping of brine which has been going on for ages, and caused the -sinking down of the overlying rocks. In the neighbourhood of Northwich -the sheets of water thus formed are called 'flashes'. - -The county still contains much 'forest', that is, uncultivated land. The -hilly country of the east consists mostly of bleak and barren moorland, -affording but poor pasturage for sheep and used mainly for the -preservation of game. Such names as Wildboarclough, Wolf's Edge, Cat's -Tor, Eagle's Crag, and many others, show clearly the wild and desolate -character of this district. Extensive woods are found in the valleys and -'cloughs' of the Etherow and Goyt. Delamere was once a deer forest -extending as far as Nantwich, but in the last hundred years the greater -part of it has been cultivated. Many towns and villages still retain -their 'common' land, often bright with patches of broom and gorse, while -the numerous and extensive parks of the great landowners are justly -noted for their fine forest trees. - -To many of you the natural features described in this chapter must be a -familiar sight. Some of you have perhaps stood by the beacon on Alderley -Edge or by the sham ruins on the summit of Mow Cop, and viewed wide -stretches of the Cheshire Plain. Others have looked down from the -Frodsham Hills upon the estuary of the Mersey mapped out at their feet, -or from the walls of Chester have gazed upon the purple hills of Wales. -But the surface of the county suffered many changes before it assumed -its present aspect, and we must now see what story the stones have to -tell us of bygone ages when Cheshire was yet in the making. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE. I - -THE NEWER ROCKS - - There rolls the deep where grew the tree: - O earth, what changes hast thou seen! - There, where the long street roars, hath been - The stillness of the central sea. - - -Nearly every Cheshire boy has visited at some time or another a quarry -in the neighbourhood of the town or village where he dwells. He will -probably have noticed that beneath the two or three feet of soil at the -top of the quarry the rocks are arranged in beds or 'strata' piled one -upon another in horizontal rows, or sometimes sloping in parallel lines -towards the bottom of the quarry. When and how were these beds of rock -formed and laid down? - -If our quarry is in the central or western parts of Cheshire we shall -find that the rocks are of a reddish colour, generally hard and gritty, -but sometimes so soft that pieces may be crushed into fragments with the -fingers. These rocks are known as the New Red sandstones, and are -largely used for building purposes. Chester Cathedral and a great number -of Cheshire churches have been built of this material; and the hillsides -where the rocks crop out above the soil often glow with a rich warm red -in the evening sunlight. You may see them best perhaps in the railway -cuttings in the neighbourhood of Frodsham and Chester, or in the great -quarries at Storeton-in-Wirral and Runcorn. - - [Illustration: GEOLOGICAL MAP] - -These beds of sandstone are really wide stretches of the sandy shores of -an ancient sea, which have been pressed into a solid substance by the -weight of other layers of rock deposited over them in later ages. Thus -they belong to a group of what are called 'water-laid' rocks. We know -that seas once flowed over them because some of the beds show the -ripple-marks that we see so often in the sands when walking by the -sea-shore. A fearful looking monster, with the equally terrible name of -labyrinthodont, in appearance rather like a gigantic frog, has left his -'footprints in the sands' in the rocks near Lymm and Weston. You will -probably not be able to find these footprints, but in the museums at -Manchester and Warrington you may see them on large slabs of sandstone -rock. How would you like to meet one of these reptiles to-day, wallowing -in the mud on the shores of some Cheshire mere? On the same slabs you -will see suncracks which tell us of the baking of sand and mud in the -sun's rays when the tide has gone down. - -The lower layers of the New Red Sandstone are of a paler colour, light -brown or almost white. To these the name of 'Bunter' has been given to -distinguish them from the upper and therefore later deposits known as -'Keuper' sandstone. The Bunter beds are found chiefly in the west of the -county, and in Wirral, where you may see the Keuper rocks of Storeton -Hill sticking up above the layers of Bunter stone that surround and -underlie them. - -The greater part of the surface of Cheshire consists of these rocks. -Alderley Edge and Helsby Hill, the hills of Delamere and Peckforton are -composed of it, and it crops out often in our village streets. The steps -of the village cross at Lymm are cut out of a piece of rock which sticks -out in the middle of the road. - -In the sandstone beds at Northwich, Winsford, and Middlewich are layers -of rock salt from which we obtain our salt for food and other domestic -uses. The salt was formed at a time when the sea was gradually -disappearing from the surface of Cheshire leaving inland salt lakes, -which, becoming dried up, deposited beds of salt crystals. These, like -the sandstone, became pressed into a solid condition by the weight of -other layers. Where the salt has been taken out of the earth the upper -layers have sunk from time to time. At Northwich the land is continually -sinking, and you may see houses and chimneys cracked and twisted out of -their proper shape as if they had been visited by an earthquake. Often -the hollows where the land has sunk have become filled with water and -produced the numerous meres or small lakes dotted about the county. In -the valley of the Weaver they are locally known as 'flashes'. - - [Illustration: STRIATED BOULDER (ERRATIC): HIGH LEGH] - -When, in the course of time, the red sandstone formed the dry land of -Cheshire, it became covered by a great ice-sheet which extended over -Britain even as far south as the Thames valley. Beneath this covering of -ice the rocks were crushed and ground to atoms by the movement of the -ice-sheet over them. This formed beds of a substance called -boulder-clay, containing lumps of rock which must have been brought by -the ice great distances, for they are of a kind found only in the north -of England or in Scotland. Some of these 'boulders' are of great size. -Several have been placed in Vernon Park, Stockport, and in the West -Park, Macclesfield, you may see one that was dug up in the neighbourhood -of the town. It weighs about thirty tons. On Eddisbury Hill is a mass of -rock, ten feet long, of a kind found only on Skiddaw in the Lake -District, and in the narrow lane behind the 'Wizard' Inn on Alderley -Edge is a lump of granite from Eskdale, so that these rocks have been -brought by the ice a distance of a hundred miles. Such blocks and -boulders are called 'erratics', because they have wandered so far from -their original home. Another proof of the existence of the ice-sheet may -be seen in the scratchings and marks (called 'striae') on pebbles and -rocks found in these beds. In the lane outside the church at High Legh -are a number of large boulders which still show the lines of furrows and -scratchings made on their surface by the movement of the ice over them. - -The boulder-clay has been worn away by the action of water and weather -from a great part of Cheshire, but in the west of the county large -patches may be seen in the low-lying districts. You may observe the beds -most clearly in the cliffs of boulder-clay on the estuary of the Dee -between Heswall and West Kirby. In the neighbourhood of Chester, many of -the villages--Tarvin, Christleton, Aldford, Saighton, and Barrow, for -instance--are built on sandstone knolls and ridges which stick up -through the boulder-clay, for the sandstone is drier and healthier than -the clay to live upon, and the wells, especially those in the Bunter -beds, provide the purest water. - -As the ice-sheet melted and the glaciers or ice-rivers retreated -northwards when the climate became warmer, beds of sand, gravel, and -stones were spread over the Cheshire plain. These are called drift beds. -The stones and pebbles are rounded by the streams of melted ice and -snow which flowed from the mouths of the ice-rivers. Upon the beds of -drift lies the surface soil in which grow the crops and grass, the -herbage and the woods of to-day; and it is in the drift, as you will see -in a later chapter, that traces of the earliest inhabitants of Cheshire -are to be found. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (_cont._). II - -THE OLDER ROCKS - - -Let us now visit some quarries in East Cheshire. We shall find -considerable difficulty in reaching some of them. It will be necessary -to get permission from the owners of the quarries, put on a special suit -of clothes, enter an iron cage, and descend many hundred feet perhaps -into the depths of the earth's surface until we find ourselves--in a -coal-mine! - - [Illustration: SECTION OF ROCKS FROM KNUTSFORD TO BUXTON] - -Unlike the New Red Sandstones, which are found for the most part in flat -horizontal beds, the coal beds slope downwards from east to west. This -is due to the uplifting of the East Cheshire hills, which we shall -presently explain. When this uplift took place, the coal beds, which -were originally flat, became raised in the east and equally lowered in -the west. When the sea flowed over them they became covered by sandy -deposits of such a thickness that in the greater part of Cheshire the -coal cannot be reached. The earliest sands laid down formed what are -called the Permian rocks, and the later layers the New Red Sandstone -series mentioned in the last chapter. The Permian rocks may be well seen -at Stockport, in the river beds of the Tame and the Goyt which have cut -their way through them. In the strip of country between Stockport and -Macclesfield, and again on the south-eastern borders of Cheshire, the -upturned edges of the coal beds have been left exposed so that the coal -is near the surface and can be easily extracted. - -Coal consists of the vegetable remains of forest trees and their -undergrowth. If you look at a lump of coal you will see that it has been -pressed down into thin layers like the leaves of a book. When these -layers are split apart there are often found the fossil remains of -leaves and roots of trees, fronds of ferns, seed-cones and stems of -plants which grew in the forests. Some of these, particularly the ferns, -are often of great beauty. You may see a number of these 'coal pictures' -in the Vernon Park Museum at Stockport. Here too you will find portions -of the actual trunks of trees that have been dug up just where they -stood when the seas flowed over them. - -You may learn even to distinguish different varieties of these forest -trees, just as you are able to distinguish the oak and the beech and the -elm of to-day. Latin names such as Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, and -Salisburia have been given to them. The most beautiful of all is a -Maidenhair Tree-fern. The Calamites was a huge 'Horse-tail' plant of -which you may find small varieties to-day on banks and in hedgerows. - -On the coast of Wirral, between Meols and New Brighton, are the remains -of a forest which has only in very recent years been covered by the sea. -Boys who live in this neighbourhood may have heard their parents tell of -the stumps of tree-trunks sticking out through the sands when the tide -was low. This shows that the land is continually undergoing changes, at -one time being raised above the seas, at another time sinking beneath -the waves. - -The beds or 'seams' of coal vary in thickness from a thin film to -several yards, and are separated from one another by layers of hard -clays and flagstones. From the flagstone beds are obtained the square -slabs with which the pavements of our towns and cities are laid. In many -of the quarries near the Cheshire coal-field you may watch the workmen -cutting and shaping these stones. - -The beds of clays and seams of coal make up what are called the 'Coal -Measures'. These in their turn rest upon a foundation of hard rock, -harder than any we have yet examined, called Millstone Grit or -Gritstone. Boys who live in the hilly parts of East Cheshire are very -familiar with it, for very probably the houses in which they live and -the churches and chapels where they worship have been built of this -stone. It is composed of coarse sand and grit, and, like the red -sandstone, is a waterlaid deposit several thousand feet in thickness. -The Pennine Hills, on the borderland of Cheshire and Derbyshire, are -covered with Millstone Grit, which has been thrust upwards by the -crumpling and arching of the rocks beneath it. - -Below the Gritstone are still older rocks of a different character -called the Limestone series. The uppermost beds contain layers of a -sandy substance called Yoredale sandstones. Mixed with them are layers -of shale, a dark bluish grey clay that crumbles into thin fragments when -crushed with the hand, and thin seams of limestone and, occasionally, of -coal. These are the oldest rocks that are found anywhere in Cheshire. -You may see them in the hills east of Macclesfield and Congleton and the -higher parts of Longdendale. Below these beds is a mass of Mountain -Limestone which has been forced upwards into an arch by tremendous -pressure of rocks from either side, and has lifted up the Gritstone -above to a height of nearly two thousand feet. In this way the -highlands of East Cheshire, and indeed the whole of the Pennine Chain, -have been formed. The Mountain Limestone, which consists almost entirely -of animal remains, especially shells and corals, extends right under the -highest hills of Cheshire, and comes to light in the cliffs of the -beautiful dales of Derbyshire. Only at one spot, a quarry near Astbury, -does it appear at the surface in Cheshire. - -The Coal Measures, Millstone Grit, Yoredale sandstones, and Mountain -Limestone make up what geologists call the Carboniferous or Coal-bearing -series, so called because in England our chief supplies of coal are -obtained from this group of rocks. - -But we should have to dig deeper even than the Mountain Limestone before -we could reach the original surface of the earth in Cheshire. Long ages -ago, ages so distant that not even the most learned men of science can -reckon them, our earth was a globe of fiery molten rock. As the surface -gradually cooled it became wrinkled, as a baked apple will when taken -from an oven. Water collected in the hollows into which fragments of -rock were washed down from the ridges, and thus the waters were raised -and formed into seas and lakes. But we shall not find any of these rocks -in Cheshire, though you may see them in great masses in the mountains of -Cumberland and Wales, where they have been forced upwards by the violent -movements always at work in the interior of the earth. It is of these -molten rocks that the mass of stone which was brought by the ice from -Cumberland and left on Eddisbury Hill is composed. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE - - -A few years ago some workmen digging on the high ground of Alderley Edge -came across a number of flint stones, which from their shape and the -marks of chipping upon them had clearly been fashioned by the hand of -man. Some of the flints were shaped like a knife blade with a sharp edge -on their entire length, and others of a more or less oval shape had a -keen edge on one of their curves. The former were the knives with which -the earliest men of Cheshire cut the flesh of animals for food; the -latter were the scrapers with which they removed the flesh from the -bones or from the hides that provided them with clothing. - -Flints, however, are not naturally found in any of the Cheshire rocks; -they must be sought for in the districts where chalk hills abound. -Clearly therefore these men must have brought their tools and weapons -with them when they first came into Cheshire from the east or from the -south. Afterwards, no doubt, they bargained for them, giving skins and -furs in exchange. - -Men first made their homes in Cheshire when the glaciers of the Great -Ice Age retreated northwards and the climate became more suitable for -human habitation. A flint arrow-head found during some excavations at -Clulow Cross near Wincle, tells us that men lived then by hunting, -depending for their food on the flesh of wild beasts. They lived in -caves or in holes dug in the ground. The roughly-chipped stone axe in -the Grosvenor Museum was made by these men. - -The Flint men, or men of the Old Stone Age, probably came originally -from the mainland of Europe to which Britain at that time was joined, -the North Sea and English Channel being then dry land. The reindeer, -the mammoth, the wild ox, and packs of hungry wolves and hyenas roamed -over Cheshire in those days. - -These Flint men were succeeded by other races of New Stone men who found -that they could manufacture their necessary tools out of the boulders -embedded in the drift and boulder-clay. The men who dug up the knives -and scrapers of Alderley found near Mottram Common a heap of small -boulders carefully placed in a pit dug in the ground and clearly -selected for some useful purpose. For out of these stones were to be cut -and shaped stone hammer-heads with which they learned to crush copper -ore and axe-heads to cut down trees. Some of the hammer-heads themselves -have been found in this locality, and they are made of a stone similar -to that of the unbroken boulders. The stone 'celt' or axe-head in Vernon -Park Museum shows that they were improving in their skill and -workmanship, for their tools were no longer chipped into their required -shape but ground with hard mill-stones and afterwards smoothed and -polished. Afterwards, as you may see from the specimen in the Grosvenor -Museum, which has a hole cut through it, the New Stone men learned how -to fit handles to their axe-heads. - -In the course of time these primitive dwellers learned to tame and train -animals for their service and use. They were protected from attack by -wild beasts by circles of piled stones or raised earth covered with -turf. Traces of these circles have in recent years been found at -Alderley Edge, but they have been mostly levelled for agricultural -purposes. - -They also taught themselves the art of pottery, making rough jars and -urns of sun-dried clay and sand, jars wherein to store their water, and -urns in which to place the remains of their dead. One of these urns, dug -up at Stretton, may be seen in the Warrington Museum. - -The Stone men were succeeded by tribes of an entirely different race -called Celts. The Celts drove out the earlier inhabitants from their -Cheshire homes, compelling them to seek refuge in Wales and Ireland. -They came not all at once but in successive waves, the earliest arrivals -being the Goidelic or Gaelic Celts, who in their turn were ousted by -the Brythonic Celts, from whom the name of Briton is derived. These are -the ancestors of the Welsh nation. - -The Brythons, or Britons as we may now call them, were a more -intelligent and civilized race than any that had hitherto dwelt in the -land. They were a pastoral people, and brought with them great herds of -cattle, as well as horses and dogs. They could spin and sew, making -their spindles and needles of bone or horn, and grew corn, which they -ground with hand-mills. - -But the Britons must have been continually fighting against fresh -incoming tribes, for on some of the hill-tops of Cheshire you may see -the camps and earthworks which they made for their defence and refuge in -time of war. Suitable positions were chosen, with one side guarded by -precipitous cliffs if possible, the whole being enclosed except on the -steep side by a raised rampart of earth and a ditch. These earthworks -are circular or oval with gaps on either side for entrances. At Bucton -Castle, high above Mossley and the Tame Valley, at Kelsborrow Castle in -Delamere Forest, and Maiden Castle in the Broxton Hills, British -encampments may still be seen. - -The Britons were very particular about the burial of their dead. Over -the graves of their chiefs they erected great round 'barrows'. Many of -these barrows, or, to give them their Latin name, 'tumuli,' may be seen -to-day, and several of them have been opened and examined. In a field -near Oakmere, not far from the high-road that passes through Delamere -Forest, is a cluster of barrows called the 'Seven Lows' which clearly -mark an early settlement of considerable importance. They vary in size -from fifteen to thirty yards in diameter. One of them, when opened, was -found to contain an urn with charred human remains within it. The urn -was inverted, the better to support the weight of soil above it, and was -set in the middle of a floored space over which was a thin layer of -charcoal. This seems to show that a funeral pyre was erected on which -the body was first burnt, the remains being then gathered and placed in -the urn. The barrow was erected over the urn by piling stones and -covering them with soil and turf. Burial urns have been found at Castle -Hill Cob and Glead Hill Cob in Delamere Forest, and at Twemlow where -there is a group of five tumuli. - -In the hilly district of East Cheshire, where rocks are plentiful, the -burial grounds were marked by circles of upright stones. There are some -remains of such circles on the moorland near Clulow Cross. Among the -burnt bones in a barrow at this spot were found a flint[1] knife and -arrow-head, for it was believed that the dead man would require his -tools and weapons after death just as in his lifetime. For the same -reason often the wives and slaves of a chief were sacrificed or cremated -at his death to serve and wait upon him in another world. The barrows -were also used by the tribes as a place of assembly for their religious -rites, when prayers and human victims were offered to their gods and to -the spirits of their dead leaders, who, as they believed, would continue -to watch over them and help them in battle. - - [1] Flint weapons no doubt continued to be used, especially in - remote and hilly districts, even after the arrival of the Celts. - -The Brythonic Celts came to Britain between 1,000 B.C. and 500 B.C., and -were acquainted with the use and manufacture of bronze implements. Hence -the period during which they arrived and lived in Britain is called the -Bronze Age. The bronze 'celt' in the Grosvenor Museum was found in the -camp at Kelsborrow, and when the railway was cut at Wilmslow an urn -containing bones and a bronze dagger was dug up. The urn and dagger are -now in the museum at Peel Park, Salford. - -The river valleys and the lowlands of Cheshire were in those days swampy -and unhealthy, so the Britons lived as much as possible in the higher -parts, which were also more suitable for agricultural pursuits. On the -crests or slopes of hills were tracks or ridgeways for pack-horses, -leading from one settlement to another. On Werneth Low, Eddisbury Hill, -and Alderley Edge, these ancient ridgeways may still be traced. When men -went down to the rivers to fish they carried on their backs light -coracles of plaited reeds covered with skin, such as the fishermen -still use on the Dee between Farndon and Bangor where the water is too -rapid or shallow for boats. - -Roman writers have left us descriptions of the Britons who lived in the -centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ; from them we learn -that, although the British tribes were mainly occupied in fighting -against one another, a certain amount of trade was carried on with -travellers and merchants from other lands, and that they dwelt in -'towns' or collections of wattled huts surrounded by a stockade and -ditch. From the numerous fragments of British pottery that have been -unearthed in the neighbourhood of Chester, we gather that there was a -British town of considerable importance on the site of the later city, -and traders from the Mediterranean, who visited this country, may well -have moored their vessels in the tidal waters of the Dee. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. I - - -In the previous chapters all that we know of Cheshire and its people has -been learned from unwritten records, 'stories in stones', and from such -scanty remains as have been brought to light by excavation and careful -examination of the soil. From this time onwards our knowledge will be -much more extensive and sure, for we shall have _written_ records left -by men who lived in the times of which they wrote. - -Fifty-four years before the birth of Christ the British inhabitants of -Cheshire must have heard of the landing on the southern shores of -Britain of the drilled and disciplined soldiers of one of the greatest -generals that ever lived. Julius Caesar, who first led the Roman eagles -into Britain, has given us in his 'Commentaries' a description of the -Britain of his day and of its inhabitants. Some of the fierce hill-men -of East Cheshire may possibly have fought against him, for he tells us -that the British tribes ceased making war on one another, and united -themselves under a single leader called Cassivellaunus to resist the -invaders. After a decisive victory--at least, according to his own -account--Caesar returned with his legions to the Continent, and ninety -years passed by before the Romans came again, this time to make a long -stay of nearly four hundred years. - -About the year A.D. 50 the Roman axe might be heard hewing a road -through the dense forests which in those days almost surrounded the city -of Chester. A Roman governor, Ostorius Scapula, was busy in the -neighbouring county of Shropshire making war on the sturdy Welsh-Britons -of the borderland of Wales, and fortifying the city which he built under -the shadow of the Wrekin. From this point, slowly but surely, the Roman -soldiers made their way through forest and foe to Chester, or Deva as it -was then called. This was the chief town of a tribe called the Cornavii, -a pastoral people occupying the present county of Cheshire, except the -hilly districts of the north-east, where the Brigantes, a more warlike -tribe than the Cornavii, had their homes. - -The Romans did not, however, capture Chester without a struggle. The -city was well protected on its western and southern sides by the river -Dee, whose waters spread over the Roodee right up to where the walls of -the city now stand. Only from the east could the place be attacked, and -the highest points of Delamere Forest and the Peckforton Hills are still -marked by the British encampments and earthworks where the Britons made -their last stand, and by green earth-mounds or 'tumuli' where the dead -bodies of their leaders were buried. - -If you take up an Ordnance Map you will often find a length of road -running quite straight for some miles. Such roads will nearly always -prove to have been the work of the Romans, for the Romans made their -roads direct from point to point, like modern railways, their chief -object being to enable troops to march rapidly from one military station -to another. Two straight pieces of Roman road enter the city of Chester, -one on the south and the other on the east. - - [Illustration: ROMAN ROADS IN CHESHIRE] - -The Romans were skilful engineers and did their work very thoroughly, -clearing the forest land as they advanced, and draining marshes or -laying stone causeways across them. Bridges were built, though not every -bridge now called Roman was the work of the Romans. The 'Roman bridge' -near Marple was not built until many centuries after the last Romans had -left Cheshire, but it may well mark the spot where, according to -tradition, a Roman bridge had once stood. - -More often, where the roads crossed rivers, fords were marked by stakes, -and the bed of the river carefully laid with stones. In the Museum at -Vernon Park is a paving-stone taken from the Mersey at Stockport where -probably the Roman road crossed the river. The Roman roads were paved -throughout, except where they were hewn out of the solid rock. - -The road through Delamere Forest was part of the 'Watling Street' which -went in an almost straight line from Deva to Manchester, called by the -Romans Mancunium. Stretford is the place where the Roman 'street' -crossed the Mersey. The modern high-road from Chester to Manchester for -nearly its entire length keeps very close to the line of the ancient -Watling Street, only departing from the older road to avoid hills. At -such points the straight track of the Roman road can still be traced in -the fields and woodland. Often in the neighbourhood of Tarvin and -Kelsall has the pickaxe or the spade of the labourer struck against the -Roman paving-stones. - -When an excavation was made at Organsdale, midway between the villages -of Kelsall and Delamere, a portion of the Roman Watling Street, cut in -the solid sandstone, was discovered, still showing the wheel-ruts worn -on the surface by Roman and British carts. In other parts of the forest, -when the crops are in, you may see lines of raised earth and gravel -where the ancient road was laid along an embankment. - -At Northwich, which the Romans called Salinae or the 'saltworks', a -second road, which entered Cheshire at Wilderspool near Warrington, -crossed Watling Street at right angles and ran in a perfectly straight -line to Middlewich or 'Condate'. This road was called by the Saxons Kind -or King Street, and was continued southwards to Nantwich. - - [Illustration: TOMBSTONE TO CAECILIUS AVITUS (GROSVENOR MUSEUM)] - -The Grosvenor Museum at Chester contains a large collection of stones -with figures and inscriptions carved upon them, and other objects from -which we may learn a great deal about the Roman conquerors. The -inscriptions, which are of course in Latin, the language of the Romans, -show that Chester was an important garrison town, and the head-quarters -of the Twentieth Legion. A legion, or division, of the Roman army -contained about five thousand men. - -A number of these relics are tombstones of the legionary soldiers who -were stationed here. You may distinguish them by the opening words DIS -MANIBUS, or shortly D.M., which practically means in English, 'To the -memory of.' The inscriptions then give the name of the soldier and his -native place, his age, and the name of the 'century' or company to which -he belonged. Women accompanied the legion, as you may see from a -tombstone of a centurion and his wife. Another stone of which a picture -is given, shows the ordinary dress, the tunic and belt of a Roman -soldier. In most of the inscriptions on these stones are the letters VV, -which are the initials of the words 'Valeria Victrix', the victorious -Valerian, by which name the Twentieth Legion was known. The badge of the -legion was a boar, and this also appears on many of the stones and tiles -of the buildings put up by the soldiers of this legion. - -These tombstones were discovered in the year 1883 inside the base of the -north wall of the city of Chester while the wall was being repaired. It -is probable therefore that there had been a cemetery outside the city -wall at this point, from which the stones were taken during its -construction. - -The bodies of the Romans were burnt after death, and the ashes placed in -urns of earthenware not unlike those of the Britons. Roman burial urns -have been discovered on Winnington Hill near Northwich and at Boughton. -You may see them in the Chester Museum. - -Here also are a number of Roman altars dedicated, as their inscriptions -show, to the Roman gods Jupiter, Mars, Minerva, &c. On one of them you -can easily make out the words DEO MARTI CONSERV, which mean 'To the god -Mars the Preserver'. The lower portion, which has been broken off, -contained the name of the soldier who dedicated it. Another altar is -dedicated to the 'Genius', or guardian spirit, of the century. On the -sides of the altars are rough carvings of the axe and the knife, the jug -and the dish, used in sacrificial ceremonies. - - [Illustration: ALTAR: GENIO (GROSVENOR MUSEUM)] - -A third group of stones are called centurial stones. These, like our -modern foundation or memorial stones, were built into a portion of wall -or building and gave the name of the 'century' of soldiers by whom the -work was constructed. - -At first the Romans were hard taskmasters. Heavy tribute was demanded -from the conquered Britons, who complained loudly of the miseries of -bondage, and of the insults and injuries put upon them. Gangs of British -slaves were forced to work in cornfield and quarry under the whips of -their Roman rulers, or compelled to fight with one another or with wild -beasts 'to make a Roman holiday'. Rebellions were frequent, and were put -down by the Roman officers with great cruelty; and for many years it -was only the superior arms and military science of the Roman legions -that made it possible to keep in subjection a discontented people. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. II - -A piece of leaden water-piping discovered in Eastgate Street, Chester, -bears the name of Julius Agricola. Agricola was made Governor of Britain -in A.D. 78. Tacitus, a Roman historian, who married Agricola's daughter, -wrote a life of his father-in-law and a narrative of his work in -Britain. From his writings we learn that Agricola first turned his -attention to the fierce tribe of the Brigantes who inhabited the hilly -districts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and North-East Cheshire. - -Agricola made the preparations for his expedition at Chester, which -became his head-quarters, and built the fortified outposts of Mancunium -on the Irwell and Melandra on the Derbyshire bank of the River Etherow, -connecting them with one another with new roads. Both Mancunium and -Melandra have been excavated in recent years, and at the latter you may -see the foundations of portions of the wall laid bare, and the base of -one of the principal gateways leading into the fort. - -A Roman camp was usually square, with the corners slightly rounded, as -has been proved by the excavations at Melandra and by the piece of Roman -wall lately discovered at Chester, which shows a distinct curve towards -the Pepper Gate. Roads crossed the camp at right angles. The wall or -'vallum' was protected when necessary by a fosse or ditch, but Agricola -chose his positions with such care that one side at least was usually -already guarded by the waters of some stream. Watch-towers were placed -at the corners and on either side of the gateways. - -Chester still preserves the shape and plan of the Roman fortress. Its -four main streets, which are hewn out of the sandstone on which the -city is built, cross each other at right angles. The Welsh called it -Caer Lleon or Lleon Vawr--the 'Camp of the Legion'. The present walls -are not, however, the work of the Romans, though here and there they -have been proved to have been built on the foundations of the Roman -walls. The lowest courses of the North Wall near the Deanery Field, when -excavated, were found to be faced with massive stones of Roman masonry, -with a Roman 'plinth' running along the base. The stones fit very -closely together and no mortar was used. The inside of the wall was -filled with rubble. - -From time to time portions of Roman wall have been found in other parts -of the city. One big piece is in the cellars of Dickson's seed -warehouse. When the foundations of the offices of the National Telephone -Company in John Street were being excavated a year or two ago, a fine -piece of Roman wall was unearthed. The builders have left it standing -where they found it, and you may now see it in the basement of the -building, protected from future harm by an iron grid. - -On the Roodee is a portion of Roman masonry of finely jointed stones -which is thought to have been the quay of the Roman city. - -In the middle of a Roman fortress was the Praetorium or general's -quarters. Traces of such a building are to be seen in the camp at -Melandra, and at Chester the foundations of a large edifice discovered -in Northgate Street may possibly be a portion of a similar building. - -Inscriptions show us that another legion, called the Legio Secunda, was -stationed at Chester for several years. When Britain was more or less -pacified and required fewer troops this legion was recalled and sent to -the Roman provinces on the Danube. - -Tacitus tells us that Agricola spread civilization among the Britons, -sent the sons of chieftains to Rome to be educated, and even in time -taught the Britons to adopt Roman habits and dress and to speak the -Latin tongue. But he would not at first let them join the Roman legions -in Britain; those who wished to fight for the Roman emperors were sent -abroad to the Roman provinces on the Rhine or the Danube. - -The soldiers of subject races were not for many years after their -conquest allowed by the Romans to fight in their own country. The -tombstones mentioned in the previous chapter prove this, for not one of -them bears the name of any British soldier. A bronze tablet dug up at -Malpas, on which is engraved a decree of the Emperor Trajan, shows that -the soldiers who fought in the Roman army in Britain were not all -Romans, or even Italians, for it speaks of Thracians, Dalmatians, -Spaniards, and men of other nations conquered by Rome. - -For seven years Agricola was a wise and a humane ruler. He removed many -of the burdens put upon the Britons by previous governors, and it was -chiefly due to him that the Romans were able to make their rule -acceptable to the Britons. In time Britons became proud of the name of -Roman citizens. - -We have seen from the character of the remains that Chester was -peculiarly a military city. Thus it differed greatly from many of the -Roman cities of southern Britain, which lost their military character as -the tide of war rolled northwards and westwards. These cities soon -became busy centres of trade and civic life, with all the conveniences -and luxuries of Italian towns. They had their temples and their basilica -or town hall, theatres and public baths, palaces and colonnades of -shops, and handsome villas of Roman officials. But life at Chester, with -the continual arrival and departure of troops and stores, must have been -hard and monotonous, with the din of warfare probably never far distant. -The Welsh were never really subdued by the Romans. - -Yet even at Chester there were buildings of importance, as we can see -from the broken fragments of pillars in the little garden by the Water -Tower, and in the basements of Vernon's Toy Bazaar and other shops in -Chester. - -These pillars were made to support the porches and colonnades with which -the fronts and sometimes the sides also of Roman buildings were adorned. -No doubt you have noticed them in pictures you have seen of ancient -Rome. In a later chapter you will learn that the Englishmen of the -eighteenth century copied the Roman or Italian style of architecture in -their churches, town halls, and other public buildings, and from the -buildings then made you can get some idea of those of a Roman town. - -The pillars were of three different patterns or 'orders', and by -observing carefully their differences you will be able to tell at a -glance to which particular order a modern building belongs. The capitals -of the Doric and Ionic pillars are much simpler in design than those of -the Corinthian, which were often of a very ornamental nature. - - [Illustration: ROMAN CAPITALS: DORIC, IONIC, AND CORINTHIAN] - -The Romans felt the cold and damp of the British climate, so different -from that of their own warm and sunny land. Many of their houses and -public buildings were warmed by 'hypocausts' or heating chambers, and -every city had its public baths with rooms heated by hot air. In Bridge -Street is a hypocaust remaining just where the Romans left it. The -pillars which you see in the illustration are those of another hypocaust -found many years ago in Bridge Street. - -The pillars were set up in rows on a solid foundation, being fixed in -their places by cement. On the top of these a second floor of cement and -bricks, several inches thick, was laid. The space between the two floors -was heated by hot air, introduced through an opening in the side wall -communicating with a furnace or oven. In their own country the bath was -an important event in the everyday life of the Romans. - - [Illustration: REMAINS OF HYPOCAUST, CHESTER] - -The floors of Roman buildings were paved with tiny blocks of brick -called 'tesserae', three to four inches long and one inch wide. A piece -of flooring in the Grosvenor Museum shows that the bricks were laid on a -bed of cement or concrete in 'herring-bone' pattern, that is, with the -bricks at right angles to one another. A large number of tiles used in -roofing have been found all over the city; on many of these you will -see the stamp LEG XX VV of the Twentieth Legion. There was a tile -factory at Holt on the Dee where also many of these tiles bearing the -same stamp have recently been found. - -The Romans taught the Britons many useful trades. 'Veratinum' or -Wilderspool became under the Romans quite a busy manufacturing town, the -forerunner of a modern Warrington or Wigan. The site of the ancient -Roman town has been carefully dug over. Traces have been found of many -pits, hearths, furnaces, and ovens for the manufacture of glass and -pottery, a bronze foundry, and an iron smelting furnace, and an -enameller's workshop. In the museums at Warrington and at Stockport are -many fragments of pottery found here. Most of it is of a rough brown-red -ware, called 'rough-cast', of which the commoner utensils, water-jugs -and bowls and funeral urns, were made. A more ornamental kind is called -'Samian', and is of a darker colour, highly glazed and decorated with -embossed figures of men and animals. Many articles of iron, knives, -padlocks, keys, nails, found on the same spot show that Veratinum was -the Birmingham of the Roman occupation. - -Roman coins have been dug up in large numbers at Chester and other sites -along the Roman roads. Many of them are to be seen in Chester Town Hall -and in our museums. Nearly all the emperors of the first four centuries -are represented upon them. Several emperors came to Britain, and we may -be sure that in their tours of inspection they paid visits to the -important garrison city of the 'great legion'. - -Some of these coins bear the name of Constantine, the first Christian -emperor, who was born at York, and whose mother was perhaps a lady of -British birth. There is unfortunately nothing to show that there was any -Christian church in Roman Cheshire, though many of the Roman soldiers -must have been familiar with the Christian faith. Romans who became -Christians were allowed to worship in the basilica, which in after days, -as we shall see, became the model upon which Christian churches were -built. - -On a house near the East Gate of Chester are carved these words: 'The -fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.' This is the translation of an -inscription on a Roman coin found when the workmen were digging the -foundations of the building. The coins of the Emperor Magnentius show -the monogram of the first two letters of Christ. - -The Roman rule lasted for 370 years. During this period they had -transformed a desolate and barren land, inhabited by a people that were -almost savages, into a fertile and prosperous province; Britannia Felix -the Romans themselves called it. Large tracts of forest land were -cleared and brought under cultivation. Britain became one of the chief -granaries of Rome. In the museums you may see the Roman querns or -handmills with which they ground their corn. - -The Romans worked the copper mines on Alderley Edge; stone hammer-heads -with which the Britons crushed the ore for their Roman masters have been -found there. A 'pig' of lead weighing over a hundredweight, dug up in -the Roodee, shows that lead mines were extensively worked. The lead was -brought to Chester from the mines of Denbighshire and was part of the -tribute paid by the Britons to the Roman emperors. Salt, a scarce -commodity in many countries, was obtained, as at the present day, from -the salt beds of Northwich. - -At the end of the fourth century the Roman empire was overrun by hordes -of barbarians from Northern Europe. The Romans, weakened by luxury and -wealth, were unable to beat back the ruthless invaders. Legion after -legion was summoned from the distant parts of the empire for the defence -of the imperial city itself. About the year A.D. 380 the 'Conquering -Legion' marched out for the last time through the city gates of Chester, -and by 410 no Roman soldiers were left in Britain. - -With sorrow and despair the Britons watched the last soldiers depart. -Their own fighting-men were far away in distant lands, and they knew -that without the protection of the Roman legions on whom they had so -long relied, they were left a defenceless prey of the foes that were -threatening them on all sides. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE - - -As the Romans retreated southwards, tribes of Picts, a fierce race -inhabiting the northern parts of Britain followed in their wake -plundering and destroying the cities built by the Romans, and everywhere -falling upon the defenceless Britons. We know little of the doings of -this terrible time, for with the departure of the Romans there descended -upon Britain a veil of darkness that was not to be lifted for 150 years. - -In the latter part of the fifth century the tide of Pictish invasion was -rolled back by other races who landed on our southern and eastern -coasts. These were the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, the rude forefathers -of the English people, who left their homes in Northern Germany to make -new settlements and found kingdoms in our country. You will read -elsewhere of the long and gradual conquest of England by these barbarian -invaders. 'Field by field, town by town, forest by forest, the land was -won' from the British inhabitants. - -According to the story usually told, though I am obliged to admit that -we have very strong evidence for it, it was not until the year 584 A.D. -that any of them reached the part of the country that is now Cheshire. -By that time the West Saxons, one of the most powerful of these tribes, -had fought their way from the English Channel to the River Severn and -Shropshire, where they destroyed the great Roman city of Uriconium. -Under their leader Ceawlin they appear to have made an attempt to reach -Chester, but were met near Nantwich at a spot called Fethanleagh, now -probably the modern village of Faddiley, by Brocmael, Prince of Powys or -mid-Wales. The Saxons were routed and retired quickly to the South. -Chester was saved for a time and became the capital of the Welsh kingdom -of Gwynedd. - -Thirty years later, however, a greater than Ceawlin appeared before the -walls of the Roman city. The Angles, who had founded on our -north-eastern shores the powerful kingdom of Northumbria, crossed the -Pennine Hills under their leader and king Aethelfrith, and descended -upon Cheshire. Once more Brocmael put himself at the head of the Britons -and Welsh. We are told by Bede, the earliest of our English historians, -who wrote in the succeeding century, that 1,200 monks from a great -monastery at Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee accompanied Brocmael after a fast -of three days to the battlefield to offer up prayers for victory. -Aethelfrith watched the wild gestures of the monks and bade his -followers slay them first of all. 'Bear they arms or no,' he said, 'they -fight against us when they cry against us to their God.' Brocmael left -them to their fate and fled from the battle, which ended in the utter -defeat of the Britons. - -The victory of Aethelfrith was followed by the capture of Chester, and -Cheshire became a portion of a kingdom that stretched from the Tweed to -the Dee. But the most important result of the 'Battle of Chester' was -that the northern Welsh Britons or 'Cumbrian' Welsh were now completely -cut off from their kinsmen in Wales. Everywhere the conquered Britons -were driven northwards and westwards to the mountains of Cumberland or -Wales, and the Britons as a united nation ceased to exist. - -For forty years Cheshire was ruled by Northumbrian kings, but during the -latter part of this period another kingdom was gathering strength in the -Midlands of England. This was the kingdom of Mercia or the Marchland. -The Mercian Penda defeated the Northumbrian king and added Cheshire to -the lands over which he ruled. Mercia and Cheshire were frequently -raided by the Welsh, and it was to keep them out that Offa, greatest of -the Mercian kings, built his famous 'Dyke' from Chester to South Wales, -many portions of which you may trace to this day. - -Mercia in turn was conquered by the kings of Wessex, one of whom, -Ecberght, is usually styled the first king of all England. Ecberght and -his West Saxons overran Cheshire and captured the city of Chester in -the year 828. Thus did three kingdoms strive for the possession of -Cheshire, which from its central position must have been the scene of -many an unrecorded fight. - -Numbers of Cheshire villages show by their names their Anglo-Saxon -origin. Davenham, Frodsham, and Warmingham speak to us of the 'hams' or -homesteads that the Saxons made for themselves in their newly won lands. -Bebington, Bollington, and Congleton take their names from the 'tun', -the enclosure or hedge of a farm or village; Prestbury, Marbury, and -Astbury from the 'burh' or fortified house of the headman of a tribe. - - [Illustration: RUNIC STONE, UPTON] - -Goostree is perhaps the 'God's tree' where the land was parcelled out -among the villagers and punishment meted to wrong-doers; Thurstaston, or -the tun of Thor's stone, the place of sacrifice to their heathen god -Thor. - -The ash tree gives its name to several Cheshire villages, Ashton, -Ashley, Astbury, for instance. This fact tells us that the tree was held -in great veneration by the Angles and Saxons. Even to this day the tree -is thought to possess the power of bringing good or evil. A -superstitious Cheshire labourer will not, if he can help it, cut down an -ash tree for fear it should bring him misfortune, and churn staves made -of ash are used by farmers' wives to prevent the butter from being -bewitched. - -It is in fact from the Angles and Saxons that we have inherited the -priceless possession of our English tongue. The oldest traces of our -language in a written form in Cheshire may be seen in the Grosvenor -Museum at Chester. Here on a plaster cast is an inscription written in -strange letters, 'Runes' or 'mysteries' as they are called. This cast is -a copy of an inscribed stone discovered at Upton-in-Wirral when the old -church was pulled down. The stones of this building had previously been -taken from the ancient ruined church at Overchurch. Learned scholars -examined the stone carefully and made out these words: FOLCAE AREARDON -BEC[UN]. [GI]BIDDATH FOR ATHELMUND. The meaning is 'Folk reared tomb, -bid (i.e. pray) for Athelmund'. You can see that the words are English, -though their form has changed considerably during the 1,200 years or -more that have gone by since the runes were carved. - -Fierce and bloodthirsty were these early ancestors of ours, 'hateful -alike to God and men,' as Gildas, a Welsh monk, described them. Yet even -they were taught in time to abandon their strange gods and turn to the -worship of Christ, and through the land in town and village uprose a -cross of wood or stone, the outward symbol of a new and better faith. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE - - -During the latter years of the Roman occupation there must have been -many among the Roman soldiers stationed in Cheshire who had heard the -message of the Gospel, and, following the example of their emperors, -professed the faith of Christ. But, as we have before stated, there is -no proof that a Christian church existed in Cheshire in those days, -though tradition says that where the cathedral church of Chester now -stands there was a church dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul, which had -previously been a temple of Apollo. - -In Wales and Ireland the Church flourished greatly through the troublous -period of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. We are told that Kentigern, the -first bishop of Glasgow, on his return to Wales landed in Wirral and -founded a church there. In the previous chapter we have seen that at -Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee there was a monastery of great importance, -which after the victory of Aethelfrith of Northumbria was razed to the -ground. - -Yet it was from Northumbria that Christianity was destined to be brought -and preached to the Angles and Saxons of Cheshire. Oswald, the son of -the heathen Aethelfrith, had during his exile in Scotland been converted -by Celtic missionaries. During the reign of this 'most Christian king, a -man dearly beloved of God, and fenced with the faith of Christ', -missionaries from Scotland 'began with great and fervent devotion to -preach the word of faith to those provinces which King Oswald governed, -baptising all such as believed. Therefore churches were builded in -places convenient: the people rejoicing assembled together to hear the -word of God,' The ancient churches dedicated to S. Oswald at Chester, -Malpas, Brereton, Peover, Bidston, and Worleston, are proof of the great -part played by King Oswald in the conversion of Cheshire and of the -high repute in which he was held as a champion of Christianity. - -The tiny hamlet of Chadkirk near Marple suggests to us a famous -missionary who lived at a time when Cheshire had become part of the -kingdom of Mercia. This was Ceadda or Chad, who was sent by the Irish -saint Colomba to preach the gospel to the people of Mercia, and became -in later times the patron saint of the bishopric of Mercia, founded by -King Offa. Chad, who like Oswald had received Christianity from the -Celtic missionaries of North Britain, continued the good work of the -Northumbrian missionaries. At the village of Over were formerly two -stone crosses which may well mark the spots where Chad preached to the -Saxons of Cheshire, baptizing the converts in the river Weaver that -flows hard by. The old church of Over is dedicated to him, as are also -the churches of Farndon and Wybunbury. It is worthy of note that all the -Cheshire churches named after him were built on the banks of streams, -which leads us to suppose that S. Chad, like S. John the Baptist by the -banks of Jordan, chose places where his preaching might be immediately -followed by the ceremony of baptism. - -At Sandbach are two stone crosses which are thought to be closely -connected with the conversion of Cheshire. The story goes that Peada, -son of Penda the heathen king of Mercia, wished to marry the Christian -daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria. To win the maiden the young man -consented to forsake his old religion and become a Christian; whereupon -the crosses were set up to commemorate his conversion and marriage. - -If you look carefully at the Sandbach crosses you will see that the -Angles of Mercia had reached a very high level of art in sculptured -stones. Carved upon them are several scenes in the life of our Lord, the -Nativity in the stable at Bethlehem with the ox and the ass kneeling -before the infant Christ, the Crucifixion with S. Mary and Apostles -below, Christ carrying the Cross, and Christ in glory with S. Peter on -His right hand bearing the keys of heaven. - -Few crosses were, however, carved so elaborately as these Sandbach -crosses. The majority were doubtless of wood, set up in the middle of -the open space round which clustered the huts and wattled dwellings of -the inhabitants. Others consisted of a plain stone shaft set upright in -the ground or on a base of stone steps, sometimes rudely adorned with -scroll-work such as you may see on the fragments of a cross preserved in -the churchyard of Prestbury. Most of them have perished, broken into -fragments where they fell, or have been used for repairs to damaged -buildings. Many were wantonly destroyed in the seventeenth century -during the Civil War. - - [Illustration: ANGLIAN CROSSES AT SANDBACH] - -Crosses were set up by the wayside at the junction of important highways -or in towns at the crossing of the principal streets, as at Chester. -Here in the open air the monks would gather round them bands of -listeners, and preach the Word of God. Afterwards close to the cross was -erected an edifice of wood or wattles in which the services of the -Church were held, and in still later times these wooden churches would -be replaced by stone buildings. Nowhere, however, in Cheshire are there -any churches or even portions of churches remaining which can be said to -have been built by our early Saxon forefathers. - -The church of S. John's, Chester, is said to have been founded by King -Aethelred of Mercia in the year 689. An ancient legend states that -Aethelred 'was admonished to erect a church on the spot where he should -find a white hind'. In the church you may see fragments of an ancient -wall-painting or 'fresco' on one of the pillars of the nave which -illustrates this story. A church certainly did exist here in very early -times, for we read that in later days Leofric, Earl of Mercia, -_repaired_ and enriched the church of S. John's, which may mean that the -earlier wooden church had fallen into decay, and a more substantial -building of stone was erected in its place. - -The house of the Mercian Penda produced yet another name closely -connected with the story of the Cross in Cheshire. Werburga, a -great-granddaughter of Penda, succeeded her mother as head of several -great abbeys. She died at Trentham in Staffordshire towards the end of -the seventh century, and two hundred years later, when the Danes (of -whom you will read more in the next chapter) were harrying the land, her -body was removed to Chester for safe keeping, and placed in the church -of S. Peter and S. Paul which had been re-dedicated to S. Werburga and -S. Oswald. For many centuries crowds of devout pilgrims made their way -to Chester to offer prayers and gifts at S. Werburga's shrine. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN - - -With the capture of Chester (Chap. VII) Ecberght's conquest of Mercia -was complete. Northumbria, Kent, and East Anglia also submitted to him. -But neither Ecberght nor the kings that came after him were to be -allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace, for a new and terrible enemy -now appeared on our shores. - -In the ninth century, the coasts of Britain were ravaged by the Northmen -or Vikings, those - - Wild sea-wandering lords - Who sailed in a snake-prowed galley with a terror of twenty swords. - -The word Vikings or 'wickings' means creek-men, from a Scandinavian word -'wick', 'a creek'. These Scandinavian and Danish sea-pirates left their -homes in the bays and fiords of North-West Europe, and made raids upon -Britain and the neighbouring lands more at first from greed of plunder -than with any idea of conquest. Large numbers of Danes landed on our -eastern coasts and ravaged the midlands. Under their leader Hasting or -Hastein, they seized and occupied the city of Chester. We can imagine -the hasty flight of the monks, for the abbeys and churches were always -the first objects of attack by these heathen invaders. You will read -elsewhere how King Alfred finally saved the greater part of England -from the Danes and converted their leaders to Christianity. - -The little village of Plemstall (or Plegmundstall), near Chester, -reminds us of Plegmund, a Saxon hermit, who took refuge here to escape -the Danes. Plegmund had been a friend and tutor of King Alfred. When -Alfred's work was done, and peace made with the Danes, he called -Plegmund from his lonely retreat in the marshes of the Gowy to be -Archbishop of Canterbury. - -Meanwhile, the Scandinavians had sailed round the north and west coasts -of Scotland, plundering the rich monasteries that had been built by S. -Patrick and his followers, and making new homes for themselves in the -Isle of Man and in Ireland. Towards the end of the ninth century they -crossed into Wales and sailed up the Dee to the walls of Chester, drawn -thither perhaps by the report of the wealth of the great church that had -been built on the banks of the river. But they found only a deserted -city in ruins, and retired to the shores of Wirral, where they settled -and tilled the land, and devoted themselves to the more peaceful -pursuits of agriculture. - -In the Wirral peninsula many of the names of the villages still show -their Scandinavian origin. Thus Shotwick means the south wick or creek. -This village stands at the edge of a strip of land that has been -recovered from the sea. In early times, boats could run along the creek -right up to the rising ground where now stands the village church. - -An interesting name survives in the little hamlet of Thingwall, situated -almost in the centre of the Wirral. Thingwall is the field where the -'thing', that is the tribe, assembled to divide the land and to dispense -justice. You will recognize the same word in the town of Dingwall in the -North of Scotland, and at the present day 'thing' is the Norwegian and -Danish name for Parliament. - -The ending '-by' in the villages Kirby, Irby, Raby, Frankby, and Helsby, -is the Danish name for a township, and we see the word in our modern -word 'by-laws', that is town laws. You will not find this ending in the -names of villages in any other parts of Cheshire. - - [Illustration: NORSE HOG-BACK, WEST KIRBY] - -In the museum in the old school-house by the churchyard at West Kirby -you may see a stone, which, from its shape, antiquaries call a -'hog-back'. The hog-back was a tombstone or grave-slab that marked the -burial-place of some Scandinavian chief. The carved ornamentation as -well as its shape is like that of other similar stones that have been -found in the parts of Britain where the Northmen settled. The stone -gives you some idea of the homes from which these pirates came, for the -carved oval shapes represent little wooden tiles; and the interlaced -lines are the wattles or osiers of which their huts were made. The -heathen Scandinavian liked his place of burial to be as much like home -as possible, which may be taken as a proof that he did not think that -his soul would perish along with his body. In the same museum is another -stone with a head shaped like a wheel, which is also the work of the -Vikings. - -We are, fortunately, able to tell almost the exact time at which the -settlements in the Wirral were made. We read in an old chronicle that in -the year 900 A.D. Alfred's daughter Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, -granted lands in Wirral to one Ingimund who had been driven out of -Ireland. This lady, Ethelfleda, fortified Chester and rebuilt the walls -which had lain in ruins since the departure of the Romans. Perhaps -Ingimund and his followers had already become Christians during their -stay in Ireland. If they had not, we may be sure that Ethelfleda did as -her father had done in his treaty with the Danes, and insisted on their -becoming Christians in return for being allowed to settle in Cheshire. - -It was in the reign of Alfred that many English counties or shires first -received their modern names. Cheshire or Chester-shire, like -Staffordshire and Warwickshire, took its name from the chief city or -fortress which dominated the district and protected it from the ravages -of the Danes. - -Alfred also ordered an English history to be written, in which the chief -events of each year were recorded. This Old English Chronicle, as it is -called, was kept up in the reigns of the successors of Alfred, and is -the principal source of our knowledge of England under the Anglo-Saxon -kings. - -The Chronicle tells us that, in order to prevent any fresh landing of -Danes, Ethelfleda built a castle or 'burh' at Runcorn at the head of the -estuary of the Mersey. The very site of her castle has now disappeared, -for 'Castle Rock', upon which it was built, was destroyed when the Ship -Canal was made. - -Another fortress was erected by Ethelfleda on Eddisbury Hill, the -highest point of Delamere Forest, where, probably, there was a large -camp in British times. Her brother Edward, who succeeded Alfred as King -of England, also fortified Thelwall on the Mersey, as an inscription on -the gable of an inn at Thelwall tells us. For the next twenty years he -carried on a vigorous war against the Danes of the 'Five Boroughs', -Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Stamford, and Lincoln. But in many parts -Saxon and Dane had already settled down side by side, the Danes -abandoned the worship of their heathen gods Odin and Thor, and received -the Gospel of Christ, and in the next century a Danish king was -destined to rule over all the land and to advance greatly the cause of -Christianity. - -Edward's work was done when he received the homage of the chief kings of -Britain, and made the royal house of Wessex supreme. In the year 924, as -you may read in the English Chronicle, 'then chose him for father and -lord the King of Scots ... and all those who dwell in Northumbria -whether English or Danes, and also the King of the Strathclyde Welsh.' - -Chester appears to have rapidly risen in importance, largely no doubt -owing to its central position, and to have become a great and populous -city. The walls were extended beyond the limits of the ancient Roman -city, and a new fortress built where the present 'Castle' of Chester now -stands, to guard the road over the river. - -Henceforth, the city was kept in a state of defence by a custom which -bound every 'hide' in the shire to provide a man at the town-reeve's -call to keep its walls and bridge in repair. A considerable trade with -the seaports of Ireland followed, largely it is to be feared in -connexion with the slave traffic, and the city became a favourite resort -of the English kings. Coins were minted here in the reign of Athelstan. - -Athelstan must often have been in Cheshire, for this favourite grandson -of King Alfred was brought up by the Lady of Mercia, and no doubt -learned from her the ways of a strong and wise ruler. When Athelstan -became king he was attacked by the King of the Scots and the Danes of -Ireland. A great battle was fought, perhaps on Cheshire soil, and the -English Chronicle breaks out into a wonderful song of victory. - - Athelstan King - Lord among Earls, - He with his brother, - Gained a lifelong - Glory in battle, - Slew with the sword-edge, - There by Brunanburh ... - - * * * * * - - Bow'd the spoiler, - Bent the Scotsman, - Fell the ship-crews - Doom'd to the death. - All the field with blood of the fighters - Flow'd, from when first the great - Sun-star of morningtide, - Lamp of the Lord God - Lord Everlasting - Glode over earth till the glorious creature - Sank to his setting. - -Brunanburh has been thought by some writers of history to be the village -of Bromborough in Wirral. We cannot be sure of this, but some day -perhaps the land will give up its secret, when some labourer's spade -shall dig up the javelins and the war-knives of the defeated Northmen. - -'Edgar's field' is supposed to mark the site of the palace of one of the -greatest of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of England. It is related that in the -year 973, Edgar the 'Peacewinner' visited Chester, and received there -the submission of many tributary kings. He assembled an imposing fleet -of ships on the Dee, and was rowed from his palace to the minster of S. -John's by six under-kings, the King of Scots, the King of Cumberland, -the King of Man, and three Welsh princes, he himself taking the helm as -being their head-king. 'Those who come after me', he said, 'may indeed -call themselves kings, since I have had such honour.' - -Guided by his chief adviser, the good Archbishop Dunstan, Edgar also did -much to increase the power and influence of the Church. He gave a -charter in 958 to the church of S. Werburga, and endowed it richly with -lands. The English Chronicle thus speaks of him: - - He upreared God's glory - and loved God's law - and bettered the public peace - more than the kings - who were before him - within man's memory. - - God also him helped - that kings and earls - gladly to him bowed - and were submissive - to all that he willed. - -In Edgar's reign we first hear of the division of the shire into -'hundreds' for the trial and punishment of evildoers. Why this name was -chosen is not quite clear, but the Hundred probably denoted a collection -of a hundred homesteads or hamlets. The Hundred had its 'moot' or -assembly of freemen, held near some sacred spot or conspicuous landmark. -In Cheshire some of them, Bucklow for instance, took their names from -the ancient 'lows' or burial-places. - -Early in the eleventh century fresh invasions of Danes took place, and -in 1016 Cnut Dane became King of England. Cheshire formed a portion of a -great earldom, embracing the whole of Mercia and governed by Earl -Leofric. Cnut, who during his reign visited Rome and had there learnt -much about church building, was a generous friend to the churches, -rebuilding those that had suffered in the wars and erecting many new -ones. The church of S. Olave or Olaf, in the south-eastern part of the -city of Chester, probably owes its foundation to him, for the name shows -that there was a Danish settlement in the city. The city itself was -governed at this time, like other Danish cities, by twelve 'lagmen' or -lawmen who presided over its law-courts. - -Leofric, not to be outdone by his master Cnut, almost entirely rebuilt -the church of S. Werburga in 1057, and if we may judge from the -memorials of his work which he has left in other cities of his earldom, -much of the new church was probably built of stone. It is doubtful -whether he lived to see the completion of his work. In any case, before -many years had passed, the church was again enlarged on a still grander -scale and by a greater race of church builders than any that had gone -before them. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE - - -In the early months of the year A.D. 1070 the Saxons of Cheshire fled -before the approach of an army of discontented and almost mutinous -troops who had cut their way through the deep snowdrifts of the Pennine -Hills. But neither the severity of the weather nor the hardships of the -march seemed to have any effect upon the stern and indomitable Norman -warrior at their head, who, like the Vikings whose blood flowed in his -veins, set an example of energy and endurance to his half-starved -fainting followers. - -William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, had landed in England three and -a half years previously, and defeated the English King Harold at the -battle of Senlac. But the real 'conquest' was yet to come; and after -swift visits to the west and north of England William crossed the hills -that lay between York and Cheshire and made a dash upon Chester, the one -great city of free England that had not yet bowed to the might of the -Norman invader. - -There were at this time in Chester many English, the wife of Harold -among them, who had fled thither after the defeat of Senlac, prepared on -William's approach to cross the seas to Ireland. In the next century -Gerald 'the Welshman' related the legend that Harold himself was not -killed at the battle of Senlac, but escaped, and, after many wanderings, -took refuge in a hermit's cell near the minster of S. John's, where he -remained until his death. The story was no doubt invented by those who -were unwilling to believe that an English king had been defeated by a -foreigner. - -William captured the city and received the submission of Edric the -Forester and other Saxon leaders. Chester was put in charge of a Flemish -noble called Gherbod, who, however, in the following year returned to -his native land. Then, leaving a trail of fire and sword through -mid-Cheshire, William marched southwards to Salisbury Plain, where he -held a grand review of all his followers and distributed to them their -rewards. You will not see him again in Cheshire. No part of the country -ever needed a second visit from the 'Conqueror'. - -The English who had borne arms against William were treated as rebels -and deprived of their lands and possessions, which were parcelled out -among the Normans. A parcel of land thus granted was called a manor. All -the landowners, including those English who were allowed to keep their -estates, were compelled to take the oath of fealty to King William in -person. In this way William broke up the great earldoms which had been -created by the Danish king Cnut. - -Cheshire, however, in which the Saxon Earl Edwin, Harold's -brother-in-law, owned vast estates, was from the first treated in a very -special manner. Owing to its position on the border of Wales, William -saw that it was very necessary to place a strong military power in this -part of England to protect his newly-won kingdom from invasion from the -west. So he bestowed the county upon his own favourite nephew Hugh -d'Avranches, surnamed Lupus or 'the Wolf', and his heirs, giving him the -title of Earl of Chester. The earl's duty was to repel any attacks that -might be made by the Welsh, and permission was given him even to extend -his earldom, if possible, beyond the Welsh border. Royal rights were -granted to him over all land within the earldom, which was held by him -'as freely by the sword as the king held England by the Crown'. For this -reason Cheshire was called a County Palatine, that is, a county whose -ruler exercises all the powers of an independent prince, save only that -he owns allegiance to his overlord the king. And the sword, the 'sword -of dignity', as it was called, was no light one. You may see it if ever -you visit the British Museum, a mighty two-edged weapon four feet long, -with its inscription in Latin engraved beneath the hilt, 'Hugo comes -Cestriae,' Hugh Count of Chester. - -In the quadrangle of Eaton Hall is an equestrian statue of Hugh Lupus, -an ancestor of the Dukes of Westminster, whose family derives its name -of Grosvenor from Robert the 'gros veneur' or great huntsman of the -Conqueror and nephew of 'the Wolf'. - -An old engraving gives us a picture of the royal state with which Earl -Hugh was surrounded. He is represented sitting on a raised throne and -presiding over his council or parliament, which consisted of the four -chief abbots and the four greatest barons of Cheshire. Behind a barrier -at the lower end of the council-chamber a crowd of humble people are -gathered, bearing petitions or grievances for the earl's hearing and -consideration. For the earl possessed power of life or death over all -offenders, could pardon treason and murder within his own domain, and -give protection or 'sanctuary' to criminals, who, however, paid heavy -fines for this privilege. He also raised taxes, appointed all the judges -and justices of the peace in the earldom, and created his own barons, -who were themselves permitted to hold baronial courts for the trial and -punishment of evildoers. Gilbert de Venables, the Baron of Kinderton, -and his successors held courts at their castle near Middlewich until -late in the sixteenth century, when all these courts were swept away. - -Ordericus Vitalis, a Norman monk who wrote in the early part of the -twelfth century, says that Earl Hugh 'was very prodigal, and carried not -so much a family as an army along with him. He daily wasted his estate, -and delighted more in falcons and huntsmen than in tillers of the soil. -He was much given to his appetite, whereby in time he grew so fat that -he could scarcely crawl.' He was also a lover of minstrelsy and romance, -and invited the best narrators of great deeds to live with him and spur -on to rivalry the young nobles whom he delighted to gather round him at -his court. - -The mass of the English people became dependent on their Norman masters. -The latter had learned the use of the lance and the longbow, and the -fame of their mailclad mounted knights had spread through all Europe. -They kept the English down by building strong castles in their midst. At -Aldford, Shocklach, Doddleston, and Malpas on the Welsh borderland, -where castles were naturally more numerous, little remains to be seen -at the present day but the green mounds on which were erected the keeps -or donjons of the Norman lords. Round the tree-clad hummock at -Aldford--'Blob's Hill' the village folk call it--the moat that -surrounded the Norman castle yet remains, now dry and carpeted in -springtime with primroses, whose waters must often have been dyed with -the blood of Norman, Saxon, and Welshman. - -The Norman castles were of great strength, though not always built of -stone. Many were built on the sites of British encampments or Saxon -'burhs', in which case the old wooden stockade was doubtless allowed to -remain. The central fortress or keep, a square, or sometimes circular, -building with walls of immense thickness, was surrounded by an inner -ward or courtyard in which cattle and provisions could be gathered in -case of attack, and where, on a raised mound in the centre, the baron -held his court. Round this ward were grouped the domestic apartments, -the stables, and the quarters of servants and retainers. Beyond these -buildings was a second or outer ward, the whole being enclosed by walls -with projecting towers at intervals. The castles of the plain were -further protected, as at Aldford, by a deep ditch or moat crossed by a -drawbridge leading to the principal entrance. The keep was the last -place of refuge when the defenders were driven from the walls, and -frequently contained a well of water. In the keep at Beeston Castle is a -well over three hundred feet deep, to which water was perhaps at one -time drawn from Beeston Brook or some other neighbouring stream. - -On the summit of Halton Hill you may still see a portion of the outer -wall of the castle built by Nigel, Baron of Halton and cousin of Earl -Hugh. He was the chief of all the Cheshire barons, was constable of the -city of Chester, and led the Cheshire army, when required, against the -Welsh. Thirty-seven manors, among them those of Congleton, Great Barrow, -Raby and Sale in the county of Cheshire, were included in his -possessions. Other barons created by the Earl of Chester were William of -Nantwich, Vernon of Shipbroke, Fitzhugh of Malpas, Venables of -Kinderton, Hamon Massi of Dunham, Nicholas of Stockport, and Robert of -Montalt or Mold. The last-named shows that the county of Flint was at -that time part of the earldom. The name of the Norman baron was often -added to that of the Saxon village where he dwelt, as in the case of -Dunham Massey, Minshull Vernon. - -The earl himself resided at Chester, where large additions were made to -the stronghold of Ethelfleda, but probably his castle was built largely -of timber, for no stone of it remains, and a hundred and fifty years -later Henry the Third ordered the stockade with which the castle ward -was enclosed to be removed and replaced by a wall of stone. On the -eastern side of the castle was erected a great shire hall where the earl -held his parliament, and an exchequer court where the dues and taxes -were paid to him. - -What these dues and taxes were we may learn from the Great Survey called -Domesday Book, which was made by King William's orders, and completed -about the year 1087. The chief object of the Survey was to find out what -the country was worth, and how much the people could afford to pay in -taxes. The book, which is carefully preserved at the British Museum, is -the most valuable record we possess of the state of England under its -first Norman king. Domesday Book was written in Latin, but translations -have been made by scholars, and may be seen in many of our free -libraries. In the 'Customs of Chester' we are told that the city paid in -rent forty-five pounds and three bundles of marten skins, a third of -which went to the earl and two-thirds to the king. The skins were -imported from Ireland, and show that the Irish pirates of former days -had given place to peaceful traders. The king also claimed two-thirds of -the produce of the brine pits at Nantwich, Northwich, and Middlewich, -the last-named being farmed 'for twenty-five shillings and two cartloads -of salt'. The value of every manor, with the number of 'hides' of arable -land, the extent of meadow land and of woodland, was faithfully -recorded. 'There was not one single yard of land, nor even one ox, one -cow, one swine that was left out.' - -Some Saxon villages had little left to record after the Conqueror's -visit, so that you may learn from Domesday something of the severity -with which William's conquest had been accomplished. Prestbury and many -other Saxon villages are not even mentioned. When Earl Hugh received the -city of Chester it was worth only thirty pounds, 'for it had been -greatly wasted; there were two hundred and five houses less there than -there had been in the time of King Edward' (the Confessor). - -From Domesday we can learn the names of the Saxon freemen who were -allowed to keep their lands. Marton was held by the Saxon Godfric, -probably in return for some service rendered to the invaders, or because -he had at least not taken arms against them; Butley was divided between -the Saxon Ulric and Robert, son of Hugh Lupus. The manor of Brereton was -retained by the Breretons, whose descendants play a great part in the -later history of Cheshire. But such cases are few and far between, and -by far the greater part of the county passed into new hands. - -The story of Mobberley may be taken as a good example of what happened -in most cases to the old English landowners. The very name of the -village brings to our eyes scenes of old English life as the Normans -found it, for Motburlege, as the name is written in Domesday, is the -open space (lege) by the fortified house (burh) where the assembly of -the people was held (mote). 'The same Bigot' (thus Domesday runs)' -_holds_ Motburlege. Dot _held_ it and was a freeman.... The value in -King Edward's time was twelve shillings, now only five shillings.' Such -is the simple story, repeated again and again in the great survey. Dot -was a Saxon lord of sixteen villages, including Cholmondeley, Bickerton, -Shocklach, Grappenhall, Peover, and Dodcot, to the last of which he gave -his own name. Thus, even as Dot's own forefathers had driven out the -Celtic tribesmen who pastured their flocks on the neighbouring commons, -so now it was Dot's turn to be thrust from his ancestral home at -Mobberley and seek a refuge perhaps among the very people whom he had -displaced. - -Bigot received more than one manor. Domesday tells us that he held -Sandbach also. Over the entrance of Sandbach Town Hall you may see his -statuette, placed there to remind you of the days when Cheshire lands -passed from the hands of the English to their Norman conquerors. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE - - -Among the friends of Earl Hugh who visited him at his castle at Chester -was Anselm the great churchman, who afterwards became Archbishop of -Canterbury. Anselm was at the time prior of the Abbey of Bec, which was -close to Avranches, the earl's own Norman home. Now if there was one -thing on which the Normans justly prided themselves, it was the founding -and building of churches, and the heart of Earl Hugh was set on building -in his own city of Chester a monastery that should rival in splendour -those of his native country. Perhaps, too, the Norman lords thought that -by devoting a portion of their wealth to the service of God they could -win salvation for their souls and atone for the shortcomings and -misdeeds of their stormy lives. So the Cheshire earl sent for his former -friend Anselm to come and aid him in his scheme, and the result of his -visit was that in 1093 the clergy of S. Werburgh's were turned out of -their homes, and the church itself pulled down, and in its place was -erected a monastery of Benedictine monks who were brought over from Bee, -Anselm's chaplain, Richard, being made the first abbot. - -The monks were men who lived a life of prayer, fasting, and study apart -from the world. None might ever leave the precincts of the monastery -without permission. The Benedictines received their name from Saint -Benedict, who lived in the sixth century, and drew up rules for the -daily life and conduct of the monks of the Order. They all slept in the -same dormitory, and all took their meals together in a common room -called a refectory. In the refectory at Chester you may see a lector's -pulpit from which portions of the Scriptures were read aloud to the -monks as they sat at their meals. They gave all their private -possessions to the monastery, and had to obey their superior in all -matters. Every hour of the day and night had its allotted duties of -work, study, or religious services. High up in the wall in one of the -oldest parts of Chester Cathedral is a row of tiny arches, and behind -them a narrow passage, along which the monks went from their -sleeping-chamber to the early morning services in the abbey church. - -To some of the monks was given the work of gardening, agriculture, and -even building. The name of Caleyards at Chester still speaks to us of -the kitchen-garden which the monks tended. Others made copies of -illuminated 'missals' or books of Church services, or wrote histories -and the annals of the abbey to which they were attached. The Chronicles -of S. Werburgh were kept and added to yearly by the monks of Chester; -though the original has been lost, a copy of it, made by a later scribe, -has happily been preserved. - -The most important part of the monastery was of course the church. The -Norman churches were built of stone, and, as they took many years to -build, very few of the founders lived to see the completion of their -work. Probably only the foundations and portions of the walls of the -church of Earl Hugh Lupus were finished during his lifetime. The work of -the Norman builders may be recognized by the round-headed arches, -doorways and windows which they copied from the Roman buildings. The -Roman basilica or hall of justice, in which the earliest Christians were -permitted to worship, was taken as a model for Christian churches. The -capital of a Norman pillar in Frodsham Church proves that they had -studied the architecture of the Romans, for it has the Ionic 'volute' or -spiral scroll on each of its four faces. If you look for the round -arches in the Cathedral of Chester you will be able to make out the -portions which remain of the church built by Earl Hugh and by the -abbots who completed his plans after his death. - -You will see from the Norman church of S. John's at Chester that the -churches were built in the form of a cross with four great semicircular -arches to support a central tower. Similar arches on massive circular -columns separate the nave from the two aisles. An examination of these -columns reveals the fact that the building of the nave was commenced -from both ends at once in order to make more rapid progress with the -work, for the mouldings of the capitals of the outer columns is the -same, but differ from those of the inner ones. Moreover, the masonry of -the latter is more finely jointed than that of the earlier end columns. -This shows that the Normans improved in the quality of their work as -they went on. In the north transept of Chester Cathedral, which is part -of the first Norman church, the stones in the lower parts have wider -joints and are less carefully fitted than those above them. - -The choir and aisles generally ended in a semicircular 'apse'. A -semicircle of dark blue stones set in the floor of the north aisle in -the Cathedral of Chester marks the apse of an aisle of Earl Hugh's -church. - -The village churches were of course not built on the same scale of -grandeur as the churches of S. John and S. Werburgh. Nearly everywhere -the Norman 'lords of the manor' rebuilt the rude and humble churches of -wood and stone that had served the needs of the Saxons before them. But -little remains in Cheshire of these Norman churches, save here and there -a doorway or a window or a capital, that has escaped destruction or the -ravages of time. The Norman architects and builders were few in number, -and must have employed many Saxon workmen in the task of rebuilding. The -latter, as you have already learned, were no mean masons and sculptors, -and the carving of the mouldings and capitals of the doorways of the -village churches was doubtless in many cases done by them. The 'chevron' -or zigzag moulding, and the spirals carved on the face of capitals could -easily be cut with an axe, for the Saxons were not yet acquainted with -the use of the Norman chisel. At Shotwick and Shocklach you may see -doorways, which, from the simplicity of their mouldings, are probably -the work of Saxons, performed under the eye of their Norman masters. - - [Illustration: NORMAN ARCHES, S. JOHN'S. CHESTER] - -Towards the end of the eleventh century the clever Norman masons, who -loved to invent new patterns and vary their work, introduced other forms -of ornamentation such as the 'billet' and 'lozenge' and 'scollop' in -their mouldings, and adorned the capitals and even the pillars with rich -carving. Carved pillars may be seen in the Norman arcade in the -cloisters at Chester. - - [Illustration: CLOISTERS, CHESTER: PORTION OF FIRST NORMAN ABBEY OF S. - WERBURGH] - -The head of a Norman doorway is sometimes filled with a semicircular -stone called a tympanum, usually covered with a carved picture of some -scriptural subject. The tympanum over the door of the Norman chapel at -Prestbury represents Christ seated in glory. - - [Illustration: NORMAN DOORWAY WITH TYMPANUM, PRESTBURY] - -The Norman windows, like the doorways, were round-headed. The tiny -window in the chancel at Woodchurch shows us that they were often mere -slits on the outer face of the wall, widening considerably towards the -inner face in order that the light entering through the narrow opening -might be diffused as much as possible. Very few Norman windows have been -allowed to remain in Cheshire, for nearly all have been replaced by -larger ones of a different style at a later date when more light was -needed. - - [Illustration: NORMAN WINDOW, WOODCHURCH, SHOWING WIDE SPLAY INSIDE] - -The font is sometimes the sole remaining portion of the older Norman -church in which it once stood. In the modern church of Wallasey is an -ancient font, which by the arcade of semicircular arches carved upon it -is evidently the work of the Norman builders, and belonged to the Norman -church that formerly stood on the site of the present building. The font -of similar pattern at Grappenhall was dug up during a restoration three -feet below the floor of the present church, where it had lain for -centuries, and there are Norman fonts at Eastham, Bebington, and Burton. -In addition to those already spoken of, the churches of Bebington, -Bruera, Frodsham, Church Lawton, and Barthomley contain portions of -Norman work in some shape or form. - - [Illustration: NORMAN FONT AT WALLASEY] - -The Norman style of architecture is rarely copied nowadays in the -building of churches, being considered too massive and sombre as well as -costly. Boys who live in Wirral should, however, walk to the village of -Thornton Heath, where they may see a new church built entirely in this -style, with every detail copied faithfully from famous old Norman -churches. - -Other Norman barons were not slow to follow the example of their -overlord the Earl of Chester. In 1150 Hamon de Massey, Baron of Dunham -Massey, built a priory at Birkenhead for sixteen Benedictine monks. The -tolls from a ferry across the Mersey were granted to them for their -support, the charges being 'for a horseman two-pence, for a man on foot -one farthing, a halfpenny for a footman on market days, and a penny when -he had goods or produce with him'. The name of 'Monks Brow' still marks -the landing-place of the ferry on the Cheshire side of the estuary. The -monks were also freed from attendance at the 'Hundred' Court of the -Wirral. The manors of Tranmere, Bebington, Saughall Massey, and -Claughton were also given to the priory, and the priors sat in the -council or parliament of the Earls of Chester. The ruined refectory is -the only portion of the priory now remaining. - -The Abbey of S. Werburgh received grants of land from Earl Hugh's barons -as well as a large number of churches and manors from the earl himself. -In the course of time one-fourth of the entire city of Chester became -the property of the abbey. The abbot also had the right of taking the -tolls at the annual fair held at Chester at the Feast of S. Werburgh. -The fair lasted for three days, during which time even criminals might -visit the city to make their purchases without danger of arrest. - - [Illustration: ARMS OF THE SEE OF CHESTER] - -Chester had in fact rapidly become the chief seat of trade in the -north-west of England, and when the Conqueror ordered the sees of the -bishoprics to be removed from thinly populated centres to the large -towns, Peter, the first Norman bishop of Lichfield, left Lichfield 'a -sordid and desert place' and came to Chester, 'a city of renown,' making -the church of S. John his cathedral. Chester did not, however, keep this -honour long, for Peter's successor removed to the rich monastery of -Coventry. Hence it is that you find three mitres on the arms of the -bishopric of Chester. - -Earl Hugh Lupus died in the second year of the reign of Henry the First. -Three days before his death he had put on the cowl and robe of a -Benedictine monk and entered his own monastery at Chester. He was buried -in the abbey cemetery, and his only son Richard, a boy of seven years of -age, inherited the earldom. - -The Abbey of Combermere was founded for another brotherhood of monks -called Cistercians. Their 'rule' was even more strict than that of the -Benedictines. They wore neither boots nor cowl, and for a portion of the -year were allowed but one meal a day; nor were they permitted even to -speak to one another. In 1178, John, Baron of Halton, to secure the -safety of body and soul previous to making a pilgrimage to Palestine, -built a Cistercian abbey at Stanlaw, a dreary spot on the shore of the -Mersey estuary, and a third house of the same Order was founded at -Pulton on the Dee by Robert Pincerna, butler to Earl Randle II. Stanlaw -was almost wholly destroyed by a huge tidal wave which swept up the -Mersey, and the monks were removed to Whalley on the banks of the -Lancashire Calder. The monks, doubtless, were not sorry for the change, -for by the end of the twelfth century the majority of them had grown -tired of the simple life, and, becoming more luxurious in their way of -living, preferred to build their homes in delectable river valleys, -where they could fish the streams to their hearts' content. - -Pulton Abbey was not more fortunate, and was much too near to the Welsh -to be a comfortable place to live in. The Welsh visits were so frequent -and unpleasant that the monastery was abandoned and the monks placed in -a fine new abbey at Dieulacresse in Staffordshire. - -The monks who kept the abbey records were not always very particular -about the truth of the events they relate. They were very superstitious, -and ready to believe any story that would increase the fame of their -founders, or of their patron saints, to whom they ascribed the power of -performing miracles. The story is told that when Earl Richard was making -a pilgrimage to the holy well of S. Winifred in Flintshire he was -attacked by a band of Welsh insurgents and compelled to take refuge in -a neighbouring monastery. He prayed for aid to S. Werburgh, who is said -to have instantly parted the waters of the Dee by making new sandbanks, -over which the Constable of Chester marched troops to the relief of his -lord. These banks were long after known as the Constable's sands. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE - - -In the western porch beneath the tower of Prestbury Church are a number -of fragments of broken grave-slabs of the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries. On nearly all is carved a cross, the head of which is usually -enclosed within a circle, the ends of the limbs of the cross consisting -of a triple lily, the favourite emblem of the Norman sculptors. One only -of these fragments tells us over whose remains the slab was placed. An -inscription, in which the letters VIVYN D are clearly seen, tells us -that this fragment formed part of the tombstone of Vivian Davenport, -Chief Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield. Hunting was the favourite -sport of the Normans, and in Cheshire, as elsewhere, large tracts of -forest land were enclosed for the protection of deer and game, and the -amusement of the Norman knights. The Conqueror himself set the example -by making the New Forest in the south of England, and shortly afterwards -the Earl of Cheshire enclosed the Forests of Mara or Delamere in the -west and Macclesfield in the eastern part of the county. - -The forest laws were very strict. William the Conqueror did not indeed -punish offenders with death, but he ordained that 'whoso slew hart or -hind man should blind him, that none should touch the harts or the -wild-boars, and he made the hare go free. So mightily did he love the -high deer as though he were their father. His rich men bewailed it and -the poor murmured at it, but he was so stark he recked not of them all.' -The forest laws of Rufus were far more severe, and caused fierce hatred -among his poorer subjects. The forests became the haunt of robbers and -outlaws, who clothed themselves in suits of 'Lincoln green', the better -to escape being seen in the greenwood. Foresters were appointed, whose -duty it was to hunt out these lawless and rebellious men, as well as to -preserve the game of the forest. - - [Illustration: Latin Cross, prob. c. 1180 - Norman Floriated Cross, c. 1200 - Double Floriated Cross on Grave-slab of Vivian Davenport, c. 1240 - - GRAVE-SLABS AT PRESTBURY] - -Hugh Lupus made John Done of Utkinton and his heirs Chief Bowbearer and -Forester of his Forest of Delamere. The Dones had the right to kill deer -and game, take swarms of wild bees, the fallen trees, and such small -game as 'foxes, hares, weasels, and other like vermin'; their badge of -office was a black bugle horn tipped with gold. Their hunting-seat or -'Chamber in the Forest' was served by ten keepers and two woodsmen. Some -of their descendants were buried at Tarporley, and on one of the tombs -you may see the badge of the bugle carved. - -Earl Richard, the successor of 'the Wolf', married Matilda, niece of -King Henry I and a daughter of Stephen of Blois. He was drowned with his -wife on his return from France when the ill-fated White Ship went down -in 1119. - -The next earl was Randle of Meschines. He was one of King Henry the -First's chief fighting-men, and led the van at the Battle of Tinchebrai -against the king's elder brother Robert. - -His son, Randle the Second, played a great part in the civil war of King -Stephen's reign. Stephen was quite unable to curb his barons as his -predecessors had done, and the Earl of Chester was unruly and ambitious. -In addition to his Earldom of Cheshire, he had succeeded to vast estates -in Lincoln and the Midlands. His power and influence was so great that -he ruled over an extent of country hardly smaller than the ancient -Earldom of Mercia. Stephen refused to add the city of Carlisle to the -already numerous possessions of the earl, who in anger declared himself -on the side of Stephen's rival Matilda when she took up arms, and became -one of Stephen's most bitter and active enemies. - -The king took Randle prisoner by a stratagem, and the monks of Pulton -Abbey were commanded to pray for the earl's safety. When at length he -was set free, the earl in a moment of gratitude gave the monks -permission to fish the waters of the Dee, and freed them from the toll -which they were accustomed to pay for grinding their corn in the Dee -Mills at Chester. Under the Norman rule the use of handmills, such as -the Saxons had used, was strictly forbidden, and everybody had to send -his corn to be ground in the mill belonging to his lord. - -When the Welsh heard of the earl's captivity they took advantage of his -absence and ravaged the county of Cheshire, but were defeated in a -battle at Nantwich in 1146 by Robert of Montalt. - -Randle died in the same year as King Stephen, and was succeeded by Hugh -Kyvelioc. This second Earl Hugh enclosed large stretches of forest-land -in East Cheshire, and gave the chief forestership to Richard Davenport. -It is Richard's grandson Vivian whose grave-slab we have seen in the -church at Prestbury. - -To Vivian Davenport's office was also joined the office of Hereditary -Grand Serjeant of the Hundred of Macclesfield. The Grand Serjeant -received twelve pounds six shillings and eightpence a year, and a fee of -two shillings and a salmon for the capture of a master-robber, and one -shilling for a common thief. Human life was held cheap in those days. -The robbers when caught were beheaded, and their heads sent to Chester, -where they were publicly shown as a warning to others. Descendants of -the Davenports live now at Capesthorne, and their peculiar crest, a -robber's head with a rope round the neck, recalls the gruesome duties of -their ancestors. - -A portion of the Forest was held by the Venables in return for providing -thirty-three huntsmen on hunting days. The Downes of Taxal held their -land more cheaply on the northern limits of the Forest, which is now -Lyme Park, 'by the blast of a horn on Midsummer Day and one pepper-corn -yearly.' Near Overton is a spot still called Gallows Yard, where the -Downes had power to execute robbers and criminals. In Lyme Park you may -see to this day the red deer that are descended from their wild -ancestors of Macclesfield Forest. - -When Hugh Kyvelioc was Earl of Chester, Henry the Second ruled England -and the greater part of France. He also received at Chester the homage -of the King of Scotland. But in the later years of his reign he found -it hard to keep together the widely scattered parts of his empire. -Rebellions were frequent, and his wife, his sons, and his barons all -took up arms against him. Among his discontented barons none was more -unruly than Hugh Kyvelioc, who stirred up Brittany against Henry, but he -was captured in battle and brought to England. In the great rising of -1173 Geoffrey of Costantin, one of Henry's sons, held the castle of -Stockport against the king. Not a stone of this castle is to be seen -now, but it stood in the highest part of the town near the Parish -Church. - -After Hugh Lupus, the greatest of the Earls of Chester was Randle the -Third, or Randle Blundeville. Like his predecessors, he was constantly -engaged in fighting against the Welsh, on one occasion being besieged in -Rhuddlan Castle until he was relieved by a rabble of vagabonds hastily -gathered from Chester Fair. This Randle was earl for over fifty years, -and was high in favour with three successive kings of England whom he -steadfastly supported. Henry the Second gave him in marriage his own -daughter-in-law, Constance, the widow of his son Geoffrey. The English -historian, Matthew Paris, says that the earl carried the crown at the -coronation of Richard the First, and he was present at the signing of -the Great Charter by King John, whose side he took in the quarrel with -the barons. - -The earl ruled Cheshire wisely, favouring especially the towns in his -earldom. To Chester, Macclesfield, and Stockport he gave charters by -which these towns were freed from certain payments and duties, and were -permitted to govern themselves under a mayor of their own choosing. In -the new Town Hall of Stockport is a stained glass window commemorating -the earl's grant to his baron Sir Robert de Stokeport of the town's -first charter of freedom. - -His gifts to the Church and the founding of abbeys won for him the title -of the 'Good' earl. He did not neglect the poor, for he built and -endowed the hospital of S. John, near the North Gate of Chester, for the -support of thirteen poor people, with three chaplains to minister to -their religious needs. At Boughton, outside the city walls, he founded a -hospital for lepers, whose terrible disease was brought to this country -by travellers returning from Eastern lands. - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries men's minds were deeply stirred -by the hardships and cruelties put upon pilgrims to the Holy Land. Men -of every Christian land and race joined in the Crusades or Holy Wars to -win back Jerusalem, which had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, -enemies of the Christian faith. Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, came -to Chester and preached from the High Cross the duty of all Christian -men to rescue the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre from the power of the -unbelievers. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he did not preach in vain. -Men of all classes dedicated their lives or their wealth to the service -of the Cross. King and baron, soldier and priest, rich and poor alike -put on the sign of the Cross, and sailed to the Holy Land, where they -vied with one another in deeds of chivalry and valour. - -Randle Blundeville joined the Crusades in 1219, and set out with a -number of other English knights for Jerusalem. He distinguished himself -greatly in Egypt, and when he returned the fame of his brave deeds made -him a popular hero, and his adventures were recited or sung in many a -stirring ballad. - -The stone effigy of Sir William Boydell in Grappenhall Church will give -you some idea of a crusading warrior. He is clad in chain armour with a -plain surcoat. His legs are crossed, a sign perhaps that he had taken -the vows of the Cross, and his head rests on his helmet. A shield is on -his left shoulder, by his left side a sword. - -Many Crusaders bound themselves by sacred vows and joined different -'Orders' or companies to which the names Knights Templars, Knights -Hospitallers, or Knights of Saint John, and so on, were given. The -last-named founded a house where the brethren of the Order might live in -their old age at Fulshaw, near Wilmslow. - -When Randle returned to Cheshire he built in the heart of his earldom -the strong castle of Beeston, on the summit of Beeston Rock, from whose -walls he could survey nearly every portion of the county over which he -ruled. He entertained Henry the Second at Chester Castle when Henry made -an expedition against the Welsh, the troops encamping on Saltney -marshes. Henry the Second had high views of the duties of kingship, and -was always busily occupied at home or in his continental dominions. But -Cheshire saw little or nothing of his son Richard, greatest of all -Crusaders, for he spent the greater part of his reign seeking adventures -abroad, and left his people to take care of themselves. - - [Illustration: EFFIGY OF CRUSADER: GRAPPENHALL] - -Earl Randle lived long enough to see the boy king Henry the Third -dismiss his guardians and rule on his own account. Almost his last act -was to refuse to allow the clergy of Cheshire to pay the tenth part of -their incomes to the pope to aid him in his private wars. In 1232 he -died, and was buried with his forefathers in the Abbey Church of -Chester. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY - - -The greatest churches which the Normans planned were on such a scale -that they could not be finished in the lives of their designers. The -work was carried on more or less continuously by the builders and -architects who came after them. But, as time went on, various -improvements were made in the art of building, and new fashions came -into being, and the original plans had often to be altered to meet the -growing needs of the day, or to allow the newest features of style to be -introduced. - -The interior of S. John's Church, Chester, will show you some of the -changes of style which were taking place in the early part of the -thirteenth century. The two rows of _pointed_ arches over the circular -headed arches of the nave tell us that by the time the massive Norman -piers and arches were finished, an entirely different form of arch was -coming into fashion. - -The pointed arch was first used when Norman and Saxon had settled down -peaceably side by side. From the fusing of the two nations, the English -people grew in strength and power. Norman baron and Saxon peasant had -combined to wrest from a wicked king the Great Charter of freedom for -the English people. Hence the new style is appropriately called Early -English. - -The work of church building had often been interrupted. During the civil -war of Stephen's reign, the building of churches was almost at a -standstill; the Crusades, by drawing large numbers of people from the -country, also checked the progress of the work. The raids of the Welsh -often destroyed a half-built Cheshire church. But from the time of Magna -Charta the erection of sacred buildings went forward apace, and was -continued with even greater zeal and activity through the long reign of -Henry the Third. - - [Illustration: RUINS OF S. JOHN'S, CHESTER - Change from Norman round arch to pointed arch] - -The pointed arch was the principal feature of the new style, which is, -therefore, sometimes called the Pointed style. But we must look -carefully at the shape and details before we can be quite sure that an -arch belongs to this period of building. - -The arch must be tall and narrow, the columns on which they rest, round -and slender, often grouped together in clusters of three or more. Often -the columns consist of slender shafts united on one base and under one -capital. The mouldings of the arch, base and capital must be deeply cut -and grooved. The pointed arches of S. John's have all these -characteristic features. The lower of the two rows of pointed arches is -called the triforium or blind story, that is, without windows, for it is -built within the slope of the roof over the side aisles of the church. -The upper row is the clerestory, containing many window lights. A -triforium is only to be seen in the very largest churches. In the ruined -portion of S. John's you may see round and pointed arches side by side. - -The arches of the nave at Prestbury belong to this period. The columns -are very much more slender than the massive columns of S. John's. You -will notice that the capital of one of the columns is covered with -carved foliage which could only have been done with a chisel. Deep -under-cutting is a feature of the Early English style, and shows that -the English masons had improved greatly in their skill. - -Early English windows, like the arches, are long, narrow, and pointed. -From their shape they are called lancets. Sometimes two or more lancets -are grouped together side by side under a single 'dripstone' or hood. At -the east end of the Chapter-house at Chester is a window consisting of -five lancets. - -Several portions of Chester Cathedral, or rather the Abbey of S. -Werburgh as it was still called, were built during this period. In the -north aisle of the choir you may see the point where we pass from the -massive Norman masonry to the lighter and more graceful Early English. -The piscina or basin built in the wall is the place where you must look -for the change. - -At the end of the twelfth century the church of Hugh Lupus was already -in ruins. Earl Randle was in the Holy Land, and, during his absence, the -Welsh were more than usually troublesome. In the early years of the -thirteenth century large sums of money were given to the abbey, and the -abbots began building in the new style. When Hugh Grylle was abbot, the -Chapter-house, in which the business of the abbey was transacted, was -built. The number of monks also increased to such an extent that a new -and larger refectory was needed. - - [Illustration: BOSS FROM RUINS OF S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER - Left of the boss is a strip of dog-tooth moulding] - -This refectory and the vestibule or entrance hall leading to it contain -the most beautiful examples of Early English work to be found in -Cheshire, and boys and girls who live in or near Chester should study -them carefully. In the refectory is the stone pulpit referred to in a -previous chapter, with a staircase and arcade of Early English arches -leading to it. The wall above the arches is pierced with a row of -'quatrefoil' openings, with deeply cut mouldings. - - [Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH DOORWAY, CHESTER] - -In the hollows of the Early English mouldings we sometimes see an -ornament pointed like a dog's tooth. You will see it in the moulding -round a circular opening over the doorway of the vestibule in -the cloisters of the Cathedral. Another ornament which the -thirteenth-century masons invented and put into their work was the -'cusp', a projection made by the meeting of two curves placed end to -end. If you put two cusps into the head of a pointed arch you will find -that you have made a trefoil-headed arch. The triforium arches in the -choir of the cathedral are all of this description. Quatrefoils are made -by arranging four cusps within a circle. - -Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Abbot Simon of Whitchurch -built the Lady Chapel east of the choir. The windows of this chapel are -all lancets, those at the side being arranged in groups of three, while -the east window contains five lights. The Lady Chapel looks very new -now. It has, in fact, been almost entirely rebuilt since Abbot Simon's -day. The mediaeval builders of Cheshire did not select their -building-stone very carefully. You will see from the cloisters how the -red sandstone has weathered and crumbled to ruin. - -The walls of Early English buildings were not so thick as those built by -the Normans, and required to be supported on the exterior by buttresses -which projected further from the walls than the flat Norman buttresses. -You will find Early English buttresses at Audlem and Prestbury. - -Many houses in Chester are built over crypts or underground cellars, -which were made during the reign of Henry the Third, and consequently -show some of the features we have been describing. The oldest of these -crypts is under a shop in Bridge Street. It is lighted by a triple -lancet window having deep splays. The door of the staircase leading to -it has a trefoiled head, and the vaulted stone roof is groined and -ribbed like the roof of the cloisters of the cathedral. The roofs of -Early English churches were groined in the same way, but with wood -instead of stone. - -Many Cheshire churches were, no doubt, rebuilt or repaired in the new -style. At Bruera there is a pointed doorway under a semicircular arch. -Bruera was one of the many churches bestowed on the Abbey of S. Werburgh -by Norman lords. A grant of a manor or a church was often made when a -baron or some member of his family entered the abbey as a monk of the -brotherhood. - -Their descendants did not always approve of these gifts. In the -Chronicle of S. Werburgh, we read that in 1258 Roger de Montalt, Chief -Justice of Chester, tried to recover the churches of Bruera, Coddington, -and Neston, which the lord of Montalt had given to the abbey in the days -of Earl Hugh. Roger entered Neston Church with a body of armed men, and -turned out the monks who had been sent from the abbey to perform the -services, and gave the living to his nephew Ralph. The Chronicle speaks -of the misfortunes that befell Roger as a warning to other would-be -robbers of the Church. His eldest son died within fifteen days, and -Roger himself 'died in poverty within two years, the common people being -ignorant of the place of his burial'. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE - - -Earl Randle 'the Good' had no son to succeed him, and when he died the -earldom passed to his nephew John the Scot, the son of Randle's eldest -sister. John married the daughter of Llewellyn the Prince of Wales, so -that peace was secured for a time between the Welsh and the earl's -subjects. He did not live to enjoy his earldom long, however, and he too -died without an heir. His wife was suspected of causing his death by -poison. - -Henry the Third was at this time King of England. He had looked with -anxious eyes upon the growing power of the Earls of Chester. Now that a -suitable opportunity presented itself, the king decided to take the -earldom into his own hands, his excuse being that he was unwilling that -so fair an inheritance should be divided 'among distaffs', meaning the -sisters of John the Scot. So he gave them each a portion of land and a -husband, and appointed John de Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, as custodian -of Cheshire. - -A few years later Henry bestowed the earldom on his son Edward, and from -that time down to the present day the title of Earl of Chester has -belonged to the son and heir of the reigning monarch. The present -Prince of Wales is also Earl of Chester. One of Edward's first acts was -to confirm to the barons and the people of Cheshire all the liberties -and privileges which Randle had formerly granted them. - -Some of these 'liberties' are set forth in the Charter which John the -Scot gave to the people of Chester: 'Know that I have conceded and by -this my present charter confirmed to all my citizens of Chester that no -merchant should buy or sell any kind of merchandise which has come to -the city of Chester by sea or by land, except these my citizens of -Chester themselves and their heirs, or in accordance with their will, -and except in the established fairs, that is on S. John the Baptist's -day and at the feast of S. Michael. Likewise I have conceded and by this -my present charter confirmed to my citizens of Chester, to have and to -hold their guild merchant, as freely as they held it in the time of my -uncle, Lord Randle, Earl of Chester.' - -Similar charters were given to other Cheshire towns. Earl Randle, who -was one of those who saw King John sign the Great Charter, gave to his -baron, Sir Robert de Stokeport, a charter for his town of Stockport, -with permission to hold markets and fairs, receiving in return the -market dues and tolls. Hamon de Massey gave a charter for a weekly -market to the inhabitants of Altrincham. Congleton received its charter -in the reign of Edward the First from Henry de Lacy, whose statue you -may see on the front of Congleton Town Hall. Macclesfield boasts of -charters received from Randle Blundeville and from Edward the First, -though by the latter the citizens were compelled to grind their corn at -the king's mill and bake their bread in the king's oven, paying a toll -of one shilling each for this privilege. - -In the thirteenth century the merchants and traders of a town formed -themselves into guilds, which drew up sets of rules for the regulation -and protection of their trade and industries. The merchants met at fixed -times in their guild-hall, where they elected the officers of the guild, -an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, and an usher, and where they -transacted the business of the guild. By these laws no merchant could -buy or sell goods in the town unless he was a member of the guild. All -the members subscribed to the guild, and if one of their number fell -into poverty, or was unable to work and provide for himself, he received -a sum of money every year from the common chest. - -The little schoolroom in the churchyard of Nantwich was the old Guild -Hall. The guilds became very rich in time, and bought property and built -homes for poor people who had belonged to the guild, and schools where -their children might be taught. - -The workmen also who worked for the merchants wanted their own guilds, -and craft guilds were formed by the different trades of a city, each of -the guilds receiving a charter of its own. Several charters of this kind -may be seen in the muniment room of the Chester Town Hall. - -In mediaeval towns those who were engaged in a particular trade lived -near to one another in the same street, to which they often gave the -name of their industry. The name of Shoemakers' Row still survives at -Chester to tell us where the shoemakers' shops were to be found. Newgate -Street was formerly Fleshmonger Lane, and was the chief place of -business of the butchers. The Skinners lived in 'Castle Drive', and a -portion of Bridge Street known as Mercers' Row was given over to the -mercers, drapers, and haberdashers. The trade guilds were formed in the -same way as the merchant guilds. Each had its own officers and -meeting-place. The Phoenix Tower takes its name from the crest of one of -the city guilds, which used the tower as its council-chamber. - -While the merchant guild looked after the interests of the trades, the -town itself was governed by a mayor and aldermen, who were responsible -for the good behaviour of the inhabitants. They also fixed the prices at -which food and other necessaries of life were to be sold, and had the -control of all markets and fairs. Commonhall Street takes its name from -the old Common Hall in which the mayor and aldermen of the city met for -their deliberations. The old hall has long since disappeared. The mayor -and the magistrates administered justice in the Penthouse or Pentice, -which used to stand close to S. Peter's Church in the centre of the -city. - -During the two great fairs of the city of Chester a large white glove -was suspended from the tower of S. Peter's as the symbol of welcome to -all strangers to bring their wares into the city for sale. In the church -of S. John's is an ancient grave-slab with glove and scissors carved -upon it. The slab once covered the remains of a glover; glove-making has -always been one of the chief industries of Chester. Another slab shows -by the hammer and horseshoe engraved upon it that it belonged to the -tomb of a smith. - - [Illustration: TOMBSTONE OF A GLOVER, S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER] - -One of the privileges of the Shoemakers' Guild was that of providing the -ball for the annual game of football played on the Roodee on Easter -Monday. The mayor and all the city guilds came to watch the game, which -unfortunately did not always end happily, for we read that 'great strife -did arise', and many of the players were haled away to be dealt with by -the Mayor at the Pentice court. The saddlers provided a silver bell as a -prize for the winner of a horse-race on the Roodee. - -But the greatest event of the year in mediaeval Chester was the -performance of scenes from the Scriptures--mystery plays, as they were -called--at the Festival of Whitsuntide. The city guilds bore the whole -of the expense and chose the players to perform them, each guild being -responsible for one scene. Thus the painters and glaziers performed the -Shepherds' Watch and the Angels' Hymn; the vintners acted the part of -the Wise Men of the East; the butchers the Story of the Temptation; the -glovers the Raising of Lazarus. Scenes from the Old Testament were -included, the linen drapers performing the story of Balaam and the Ass, -and the watermen of the Dee, appropriately enough, the story of the -Flood. - -The plays were put into English verse by Randal Hignet, a monk of S. -Werburgh's, and no doubt were originally performed by the monks as a -means of instructing the people in the outlines of the Christian faith. -As the abbey church was found to be unsuitable they were performed -publicly in the streets, in order 'to exhort', as a clerk of the Pentice -said, 'the minds of the common people to good devotion as well as for -the common weal and prosperity of the city.' - -Twenty-five scenes in all were played, and the performance lasted for -three days. On the first day the people saw scenes representing the -Creation of the World, the Banishment from the Garden of Eden, the Birth -of Christ and the Vision of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Wise -Men; on the second day the Passion and Resurrection of Christ; and on -the third day stories illustrating the founding of the Christian Church, -the Lives of the Saints, and the final Advent of Christ and the Day of -Judgement. - -The plays were performed on movable stages fitted with wheels. The -stages consisted of two stories, the upper one being left open for the -plays, the lower one covered with curtains that it might serve as a -dressing-room. The first performance took place at the Abbey Gate. The -stages then passed one by one to the Water Gate, where a second -performance was given. The plays were acted for the third and last time -in Bridge Street. - -People crowded into Chester from all the country round on these -occasions, for the pope granted one thousand days of pardon to all who -witnessed the plays. The abbey also grew in wealth, for every one was -expected to visit the Abbey Church and lay some offering at S. -Werburgh's shrine. To provide a passage for the crowds of pilgrims, side -aisles were built round the choirs of famous churches, and behind the -high altar a vacant space left where the shrines of saints were placed. - -The Cheshire towns which grew in importance during the thirteenth -century as a result of the great increase in trade were situated on or -near the great roads of Cheshire, which were still, in the main, the old -roads laid by the Romans. Their position was generally one of great -strength, having been chosen in early times in order that men might be -able to beat off the attacks of enemies. Chester was, as you have -already seen, guarded on two sides by a bend of the river Dee, and was -the meeting-place of Roman roads. Northwich on the Watling Street, -Middlewich on Kind Street, and Stockport were all built at a point where -two rivers meet. Runcorn, Lymm, and Altrincham are on sandstone heights -protected on the north by the Mersey; Macclesfield is astride the main -road in East Cheshire, and Nantwich on the highway into Wales. It was -only by means of the roads that commerce between the towns could be kept -open. The 'Welsh Row' of Nantwich recalls the days when the principal -trade of the town was with the wool-weavers of Wales, a trade that was -too often interrupted by the fierce outbreaks on the border. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE - - -Simon of Whitchurch received the Abbey of S. Werburgh from the hands of -another and a greater Simon, the powerful Earl of Leicester, who was -engaged in a grim struggle with the king on account of the king's -extravagance and misgovernment, and the rule of foreign favourites. Both -Henry and his son Edward were, in fact, at this very time prisoners of -the earl, for the battle of Lewes, which ended so disastrously for the -king, had just been fought. In the same year Earl Simon summoned the -famous Parliament in which knights from the shires, and citizens from -the boroughs, sat side by side with the nobles and bishops. - -Edward had not long received the Earldom of Chester from his father when -the Barons' War broke out. Simon de Montfort made an alliance with -Llewellyn the Welsh prince, and Chester, expecting an attack, was put -into a state of defence. Abbot Simon could hardly have commenced -building his beautiful Lady Chapel when he saw his church desecrated and -turned into barracks by Sir William de la Zouche, the Chief Justice of -Chester. - -After the defeat of Henry and Edward at Lewes they were compelled to -hand over to Earl Simon the Earldom of Chester, and Henry de Montfort, -Simon's eldest son, came to Chester and received in his father's name -the homage and oath of fealty of the citizens. Lucas de Taney was left -in charge of the city. - -Edward afterwards escaped from the custody of Earl Simon, and James de -Audley seized the castle of Beeston on his behalf. He also besieged -Lucas de Taney in the castle of Chester for ten weeks, but did not -succeed in taking it on account of the excellent defence made by the -garrison. De Taney surrendered when he heard of the death of Simon de -Montfort at Evesham, where Edward won a great victory. The chief of the -surviving barons were brought as prisoners to Beeston Castle. - -But the great prize for which de Montfort fought and laid down his life -was won. When Edward came to the throne he learned from the mistakes -made by his father, chose his ministers wisely, and gave his people good -laws. His reign saw the growth of a full and free parliament, in which -all classes of free men were represented. Cheshire did not, however, -send any members, but being under the personal eye of the king had still -a separate government of its own as well as its own judges and -law-courts. - -Vale Royal reminds us of the great Plantagenet king, whose motto was -'Keep Troth' and who for thirty-five years did all he could to win the -love of his people. Before Edward became king he went on Crusade to the -Holy Land, where he distinguished himself by recovering the holy city of -Nazareth from the Saracens. On his return he narrowly escaped shipwreck. -In his peril he invoked the aid of the Virgin Mary, and vowed that if he -were saved he would build a monastery in her honour on his return to his -own country. The Chronicle tells us that 'the vessel straightway -righted itself and was miraculously brought safe into port; the sailors -disembarked, the Prince landing last of all, and immediately the vessel -broke in pieces, and every fragment of the wreck vanished under the -water'. - -Edward 'kept his troth' and built a home for one hundred monks of the -Cistercian Order at Darnhall. Four years later he laid the foundation -stone of a stately Abbey at Vale Royal, in the very heart of Cheshire. -Queen Eleanor and a great company of nobles accompanied him. We may not -now hear the Angelus tolling its summons to evening prayer, nor see -jolly monks fishing the streams of the Weaver, but in the last few -months the foundations of the Abbey church where they chanted the mass -have been discovered. - -The abbey took more than fifty years to build, and it was not until the -reign of the third Edward that the monks were able to move from their -temporary lodgings to the new and spacious building. The abbey received -valuable lands in the neighbourhood of Over, Darnhall, and Weaverham, of -which villages the abbot became lord. By the ancient 'customs' of the -manor of Darnhall the villagers were required to attend at the manorial, -now the abbot's court; the abbot had power of life and death over all -his tenants, who had also to grind all their corn at the abbot's mill; -at the death of any native the abbot took all his horses, cattle, and -pigs, and half of his standing and gathered corn. - -Cheshire saw a good deal of Edward the First in the earlier half of his -reign. In the year after the ceremonies at Vale Royal we find him at -Macclesfield, when he began to build the parish church of S. Michael. - -He was the first English king to take in hand the conquest of Wales -seriously. In the reign of Henry the Third the Welsh had taken advantage -of the king's troubles with his barons, and waged a murderous warfare on -the Cheshire border. They advanced as far as Nantwich, and James de -Audley, who owned a large part of the barony of Nantwich, saw his -castles burnt, woods felled, and cattle destroyed. Preparations were -made for a big expedition into Wales, and Prince Edward summoned the -knights and barons of Cheshire to Shotwick Castle on the banks of the -Dee. A grassy knoll, where once stood the castle keep, is all that is -left of the scene of the gathering. - - [Illustration: CHESTER WALL. Roman below; Edwardian above] - -Chester, from its position at the very gates of North Wales, was the -natural meeting-place for the troops, and the starting-point of Edward's -expedition against Llewellyn. Soon after his accession he summoned the -Welsh princes to do homage to him. This they refused to do, and the king -prepared for war. Llewellyn's brother David for a long time fought on -the side of the English, and received the manor of Frodsham as his -reward. - -Edward's first task, however, was to strengthen the defences of Chester -so that it might resist all attacks. The enemy frequently came close up -to the walls of the city, and raided especially the suburb of Handbridge -on the opposite shore of the Dee, naming it Treboeth or 'Burnt Town', a -name that tells its own tale. - -Edward was a great castle-builder, as many of you have learnt from -pictures you have seen of his Welsh castles. The Norman castle of -Chester had been constructed largely of wood. Edward now rebuilt it of -stone, and greatly enlarged it by adding an outer ward or 'bailey'. He -surrounded the whole fortress with 'curtain' walls flanked with towers -and protected with a deep ditch. He also set to work to rebuild the -walls of the city. - -The ancient Roman walls had long since crumbled to their foundations, -though here and there a mass of masonry remained standing, and the Roman -east gate was still in its place. The stones of which the walls had been -built had provided building-material for many centuries. On the east -side from the Pepper Gate to the Phoenix Tower Edward built his wall on -or near the foundations of the Roman wall, portions of which you may -still see on this side of the city. For the most part, however, the new -walls were built outside the older ones, and the area enclosed was much -greater than that of the Roman town. - -The walls were strengthened by a number of watch towers, some of which -were not completed until the time of his grandson Edward the Third, when -Bonewaldeston's Tower and the Water Tower were built. A wall-tax called -'murage' was levied on the inhabitants of Cheshire for keeping the walls -in repair. The citizens of Chester were also made to build a bridge over -the Dee. Edward's chief engineer was named Richard, and in return for -his services he received for a number of years the Dee Mills, so that -for the time being he was the 'Miller of the Dee'. - - [Illustration: WATER TOWER AND CURTAIN WALL, CHESTER] - -After some years of hard fighting the conquest of the Welsh was -complete. At Rhuddlan Castle, on the borders of the ancient palatine -earldom, Edward gave to the conquered Welsh a settled government and a -system of law-courts similar to that which he had already set up for the -English. He returned to Chester to celebrate the peace that he had made, -and accompanied by his queen, with great pomp and ceremony attended mass -and a service of thanksgiving in the Abbey of S. Werburgh. - -The river Dee washed the walls of the Water Tower, and great iron rings, -to which the barges were moored, were fixed in the Tower walls. The -ships brought wines from Gascony and cloth from Flanders, whither the -monks of Vale Royal and Combermere sent the wool of the flocks that -pastured on their meadows. Some of the Flemish weavers left their own -country and settled on the shores of the Mersey near Birkenhead. - -In nearly every field in the pastoral parts of Cheshire are to be found -one or more small round pools, often fringed with willows and reeds. You -know them well, for you have been to them often to watch the tadpoles -and the minnows. But you have not wondered why they are there, and why -there are so many of them. Yet they have something to tell of the -wool-raising in the days of the three Edwards. For they are marl-pits, -and many of them were dug first when the first Edward was king; the -marl, which is a great fertilizer, being taken out of the earth and -spread over the grass-lands on which the flocks were pastured. The -farmers do not use it now, for new and easier ways of enriching the soil -have been found. - -The marl-diggers, or 'marlers' as they were called, had their own -particular feast-day once a year, when they claimed toll of every -passer-by, and in the evening sang their marling songs in the village -ale-house. - - When shut the pit, the labour o'er, - He whom we work for opes his door - And gies to us of drink galore, - For this was always Marler's law. - Who-whoop who-whoop wo-o-o-o-o. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE COMING OF THE FRIARS - - -Three streets in Chester in the neighbourhood of the Church of S. Martin -bear the names of Grey Friars, Black Friars, and White Friars -respectively. During the thirteenth century numbers of begging friars, -clad in simple grey or black or white tunics, came to Chester and -settled in the poorest quarters of the city. Like the early disciples of -Christ, whose lives of poverty they sought to imitate, they carried with -them neither gold nor silver, and walked unshod, begging their food and -shelter as they journeyed from town to town. - -Their simple teaching appealed to the poor, who soon began to look upon -them as their best friends. For they brought the Gospel of Christ to -them in their streets, and tended the sick and the aged amid their -squalid homes. They were forbidden by the rules of their Orders to -receive either money or lands. - -The first to arrive in Chester were the Dominicans or Black Friars, who -settled near the Watergate when Randle Blundeville was earl. The old -palace of the Stanleys formed part of the home of the Black Friars. They -were followed a few years later by the Franciscans or Grey Friars who -also lived by the Watergate, near the spot on which the Linen Hall was -afterwards erected, and in the reign of Edward the First the White -Friars or Carmelites took up their abode in the neighbourhood of White -Friars Street. - -Unlike the monks, the friars had at first no fixed homes of their own, -and preached at wooden crosses set up at the street corners. Afterwards, -with the alms they received from the people and the legacies from rich -men who admired their devout lives, each of the different Orders of -friars built for themselves a permanent dwelling-place or friary, to -which a church in time was added. - -The Church of the Carmelites must have been one of great beauty. Some of -the glazed coloured tiles which formed the pavement of the building may -be seen in the Grosvenor Museum. Excavations have been made at the spot -where the tiles were found, and three feet lower down the workmen came -across broken columns and bases of a large Roman building. Mediaeval -Chester was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman city. A doorway in -an old house called 'The Friars' was part of the Carmelite Friary. - -The friars studied medicine and devoted themselves particularly to the -care of lepers. They also built schools for the children of the poor. -The Dominicans were also skilful engineers, and Edward the First -employed them in making wells and laying water-pipes in the city. - -Unfortunately some of the friars did not live up to their early vows of -poverty, and the rules which S. Francis and S. Dominic had drawn up for -them. When wealth poured in upon them they became jealous of one -another, and quarrels and disturbances frequently arose between them. -The Records of Chester tell of many violent acts on the part of the -Dominicans and Carmelites, the latter of whom, armed with cudgels, were -wont to roam in the night time through the city to the terror of the -inhabitants. - -The monks of the thirteenth century had also become idle and luxurious. -They had, as you have already read, become great landowners, and -received the manorial dues from the manors which belonged to them. The -Abbots of Vale Royal ruled with a rod of iron. The poor people rebelled, -and fights between them and the monks were frequent. They laid their -complaints before the king, and good Queen Philippa interceded for them -as she did for the burghers of Calais, but the abbot was generally able -to prove his 'rights', and the people obtained little satisfaction. The -wealth of the monasteries was also greatly increased by the cultivation -of crops and the sale of their wool. But the richer they became, the -more they neglected their spiritual duties. The poor could no longer -look to them for their spiritual teaching or for charity and good -works, and so gladly turned to the friars who for a time ministered to -their needs so well. - -Monks and friars alike were bitterly attacked in Edward the Third's -reign in a poem written by William Langland. In this poem, which is -called 'The Vision of Piers Plowman', the poet speaks of the ignorance -and sloth of the monks, one of whom is made to confess that he cannot -even chant the Lord's Prayer. - - I cannot the Pater Noster as the priest it syngethe, - But I can Rimes of Robin Hood and of Randall of Chestre. - -A few exceptions there were to the general rule. In his quiet retreat in -the Abbey of S. Werburgh, Ranulf Higden wrote a work called -'Polychronicon', which contained a history of the world from the -Creation to his own day, with geographical descriptions of the different -countries of the world, and the favourite mediaeval legends of Babylon -and Rome. The book is valuable because it is one of the earliest pieces -of literature written in the language of mixed Norman and Saxon which is -our mother tongue to-day. When printing was invented in the fifteenth -century, the Polychronicon was one of the books printed by Caxton the -first English printer. - -Many of the churches in Cheshire show us that the masons and builders of -Edward the Third's long reign made great progress in their art. - -We have seen how the thirteenth-century workmen learned to group a -number of lancets together under one hood, and to shape the lancet heads -like a clover leaf by the addition of cusps. In the fourteenth century -the space above a row of lancet or trefoil-headed lights was filled in -with a number of geometrical figures such as circles and foils. Hence -the name of Geometrical or Decorated has been given to the work of this -period. The large east windows of many of our Cheshire churches are made -up in this way. The patterns of flowing lines thus produced are called -'bar tracery'. There are Decorated windows in the aisles of the choir -and south transept of Chester Cathedral. - - [Illustration: NORTH-WEST VIEW OF NANTWICH CHURCH] - -Windows and arches were now made wider than in the previous century. The -builders of the Pointed period sought after height; those of the -Decorated period aimed rather at breadth and openness. - - [Illustration: GEOMETRICAL WINDOW, SOUTH TRANSEPT, CHESTER CATHEDRAL] - -The fourteenth-century masons studied nature carefully, and put masses -of carved fruit or flowers or leaves in the capitals of their columns. -The arches of the nave of Chester Cathedral prove this fact. - -A favourite ornament of the Decorated period is the crocket, a -projecting bunch of foliage added to pinnacles, the hoods of arches, and -the canopies of niches and tombs. Another device is the ball-flower -carved in the mouldings. The ball-flower is as sure a sign of Decorated -mouldings as the dog-tooth was in those of the Early English period. - - [Illustration: ALTAR TOMBS, MACCLESFIELD] - -The choir of Stockport Parish Church is a beautiful example of the -Decorated style, and the greater portions of Macclesfield, Nantwich, and -Prestbury Parish Churches belong to the same period. In many other -churches you will find some detail, generally a window or a doorway or -an altar tomb, which will show you some of the features of this style. - -In the Early English and Decorated periods a spire was sometimes added -to the tower, as at Astbury and Bebington. The spire grew out of the -pyramid-shaped roof with which the towers of Norman churches were -covered. - -In the low-lying portions of the Cheshire plain, where stone was scarce -but timber plentiful, the framework of a church was often built of wood. -In the village of Warburton, on the banks of the Mersey, is a -fourteenth-century wooden church, which served as the chapel of a priory -that was established here by the Normans. The name itself -('Werburgh-ton') speaks to us of S. Werburgh, the patron saint of the -Abbey of Chester, and a field by the river is still called the Abbey -Croft; the stone coffins within the church once contained the bones of -monks who lived here. - - [Illustration: INTERIOR OF WARBURTON TIMBER CHURCH. FOURTEENTH CENTURY] - -The arches within are made of rough-hewn timber, rudely shaped with the -axe. Lantern pegs of buck-horn from the deer that once roamed the -woodlands of Dunham Massey are fixed on the oak pillars; the roof is -supported by stout cross-beams. The brick tower has been added at a -later day, and the south wall built when the timbers on that side of the -church collapsed. The timber churches of Lower Peover and Marton belong -to the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. -Marton Church was the burial-place of the Davenports, who lived at -Marton Hall. - - [Illustration: THE OLD PRIEST'S HOUSE, PRESTBURY] - -The Davenports had a more splendid home at Bramhall, the oldest portions -of which were built when Edward the Third was king. The great hall at -Baguley was built about the same time. The massive upright posts are -cut from timber more than two feet square, and the spaces between them -filled with wickerwork and plaster. The open roof is supported by a -mighty 'tie-beam' and two uprights called 'queen-posts'[2]. The windows -are tall and the lights narrow, and separated from one another by oak -mullions. - - [2] Sometimes the roof was held up by a single 'king-post' in - place of two queen-posts. The 'king-post' reached from the centre - of the tie-beam to the point of the roof. - -Surely the men who built it had hearts of oak. The building reflects the -rugged character of the men of the days when 'knights were bold' and -'might was right'. In this hall we can picture old Sir William Baggiley -feasting with his family and his retainers, when the summons came from -his king to follow him to the French wars. - -His effigy still rests in the hall that he himself perhaps built. It is -broken and battered, but enough remains to show us that the knights who -fought for Edward and the Black Prince had changed the fashion of their -war dress since the Crusades. A hood of mail still protects the head and -neck, but the suit of mail has given way to plates of steel riveted or -hooked together, so that the whole body is cased in armour. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -A DEPOSED KING - - -When Edward the First completed his conquest of North Wales, and the -Welsh chiefs swore fealty at Chester to the first English Prince of -Wales, the fighting squires of Cheshire found themselves without any -occupation. Edward the Third, ambitious of recovering the French -dominions of the Norman and Angevin Kings of England, provided the -Cheshire men with a fresh field of adventures, with far greater -opportunities of performing deeds of valour and satisfying their thirst -for warfare. - -A number of Cheshire knights followed the king and the Black Prince to -France. The French Chronicler, Froissart, tells us that Sir James Audley -and his four Cheshire squires 'fought always in the chief of the battle' -at Poitiers. One of the four squires was Sir John Delves, who built the -old tower of Doddington Castle, near Audlem. In Barthomley Church is a -monument to Sir Robert Fulleshurst, who also was one of the dauntless -four. - -In the chancel of Bunbury Church is the tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley, who, -by his bold deeds, won for himself the title of the 'Cheshire Hero'. -Over the doorway of the inn at Handley you may see the sign of the three -calves, the ancient coat of arms of the Calveleys. Sir Hugh was the -leader of a famous band of soldiers called the 'Companions', who gave -their services for pay to any leader who required them, and were the -terror of the country people of France for many years. Edward made him -the Governor of Calais, from whence he sacked the seaport of Boulogne, -and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. Indeed, many of his -exploits are anything but deeds of glory. - -When Sir Hugh Calveley returned in his old age to his home in Cheshire, -wishing to atone, perhaps, for his ruthless acts, he founded a college -at Bunbury for a master, two chaplains, and two choristers. Their chief -duty, no doubt, was to pray for the repose of the soul of their -benefactor. - -Cheshire knights and Welshmen fought side by side at Poitiers. When the -Black Prince returned to England he gave the Dee Mills for life to Sir -Howell y Fwyall. - -An inscription on the wall of the Parish Church of Macclesfield tells us -that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd King Edward the Third and the Black Prince -his sonne in all their warres in France, and was at the Battell of -Cressie, and hadd Lyme given him for that service'. The descendants of -the Leghs still live at Lyme Hall, near Disley, where a life-size -portrait of the Black Prince hangs in the entrance hall. Sir Perkin -married the daughter of Sir Thomas d'Anyers, who received a handsome -reward for rescuing the Royal Standard at Crecy from the French. His -body lies beneath the d'Anyers monument in Grappenhall Church. - -The same inscription at Macclesfield tells us that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd -King Richard the Second, and left him not in his troubles, but was taken -with him and beheaded at Chester'. - -Cheshire was very loyal to the unfortunate Richard, who styled himself -Prince of Cheshire, and showed great favour to the ancient earldom. The -victory of Crecy was due to the English archers, and among them none -were more famous than those of Cheshire. On their return from the wars, -Richard's faithful bowmen became his body-guard, and could always be -relied upon whenever he wished to strike a blow at his enemies. 'Sleep -in peace, Dickon,' they would say to him, 'we will take care of thee, -and if thou hadst married the daughter of Sir Perkin of Legh, thou -mightest have defied all the lords in England.' - -Cheshire men got a very bad name, for they were cruel and bloodthirsty, -given to lawless deeds and inspiring terror wherever they appeared. They -were safe in Cheshire, for the county was governed directly by the king, -and did not yet send representatives to Parliament. The House of Commons -itself was overawed by a force of 2,000 Cheshire archers, commanded by -seven Cheshire esquires. When the Commons rose against the misgovernment -of the king, the unpunished robberies and evil deeds of the Cheshire men -were one of the causes of complaint. The bowmen all wore the badge of -the White Hart, Richard's own device. There are at the present day many -inns in the villages of Cheshire that bear the sign of the White Hart, a -reminiscence of the days of Richard and his Cheshire guards. - -The enemies of Richard were determined to depose him, and put in his -place Henry of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt. Richard banished Henry, -and deprived him of his estates and possessions. When Henry landed with -a small force at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, in the year 1399, he was joined -by many of the northern lords, chief among whom was the powerful Earl of -Northumberland and his son, Harry 'Hotspur'. Richard surrendered to his -cousin at Flint, and was brought to Chester 'on a sorry hack not worth a -couple of pounds'. He was confined in the tower over the gateway of the -Castle at Chester before being removed to Pontefract, where he probably -met a violent death, though it was given out that he died of starvation. -Perkin a Legh was executed for his loyalty to Richard, and his head -fixed on a pole on the highest tower of Chester Castle. - -The Cheshire archers struck one more blow in Richard's defence. Hotspur -had been made Justice of Cheshire and North Wales by Henry the Fourth, -to keep down the turbulent Cheshire men and the Welsh insurgents. He -suddenly changed sides, and joined Earl Mortimer and Owen Glendower of -Wales in their revolt against the new king. - -Hotspur gave out that Richard was yet alive at Sandiway, and the chief -barons of Cheshire, the Venables and the Vernons, and the archers of -Macclesfield and Delamere flocked to his standard. The Mayor of Chester -went too, and the parsons of Pulford, Davenham, Rostherne and other -villages, each with his own following. Though they were afterwards told -that Richard was really dead, they were quite content to avenge him, and -the army decked with the badge of the White Hart marched from Cheshire -to join the Welsh leader. - -King Henry met them near Shrewsbury, where a fierce battle took place. -The Cheshire archers fought with great bravery, and even routed a -portion of the king's army. But they were gradually overcome by the more -numerous royal forces, and Henry's victory was complete. Hotspur himself -was killed, and among the slain were 'the most part of the knights and -squires of the county of Chester'. After the battle, the baron of -Kinderton, Sir Richard Venables, was executed, and his estates given to -his brother, a supporter of the king. - -The ancient yew-trees in many of the churchyards of Cheshire will remind -you of the sturdy bowmen who overthrew the mail-clad mounted men of -France at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers. The big yew in the -churchyard of Farndon must have been of great age, even in the days -when Richard's archers cut their bows from its tough and pliant boughs. - - The bow was made in England, in England, - Of true wood, of yew wood, the wood of English bows: - So men who are free - Love the old yew tree - And the land where the yew tree grows. - -In order to encourage archery among workmen and labourers, Richard -forbade the playing of football, tennis, and the like, under penalty of -fine or imprisonment. Among the town-laws of Chester was one which -compelled all children of six years old and upwards to be taught the use -of the bow and arrow, both 'for the avoiding of idleness' and for -service 'in the ancient defence of the kingdom'. Every Easter Monday the -two sheriffs chose teams of archers, and shot a match on the Roodee, the -prize being a breakfast or dinner of calves' heads and bacon, in which -the Mayor and Aldermen also took part. When a man of any well-to-do -family married in Chester, he was expected to give a silver arrow in the -following year as a prize for archery. - -Some of the knights who returned from the French wars found their old -homes burnt or destroyed by marauding Welshmen during their absence. The -castles which they built for their protection were built of stone, and -portions strongly fortified. The massive tower or keep of Doddington is -crowned with a battlement and four square corner turrets; the windows -are mere slits in the walls. Brimstage Tower in Wirral was built in 1398 -by Sir Hugh de Hulse. The parapet or gallery is 'machicolated', that is -to say it projects beyond the walls of the tower, so that molten metal -might be poured through holes in the parapet upon an attacking force -below. - -The more famous Storeton Hall was built about the same time, though -little remains now to show its former splendour. From Storeton came the -powerful Cheshire House of Stanley. In the reign of Edward the Third, -Sir Philip de Bamville was master-forester of Wirral, which at the time -was covered with an extensive forest, so that an old rime said - - From Blacon Point to Hilbre - Squirrels in search of food - Might jump straight from tree to tree, - So thick the forest stood. - -Sir Philip was being entertained by John Stanley. In the evening, when -the festivities were at their height, young William Stanley ran away -with Joan de Bamville, Sir Philip's only child. Through forest and over -moorland they spurred their horses, and stayed not till the wide -Cheshire plain lay between them and their homes. At Astbury Church they -were wedded, and after the old knight's death, the Stanleys succeeded to -the forestership and the estates that went with it. - -Scarcely any churches were built in Cheshire in the latter part of the -fourteenth century, though the chancel of West Kirby was put up in the -reign of Richard the Second. The carved heads on one of the window-hoods -are those of Richard and his queen. Labourers were very scarce, owing to -the ravages of the terrible calamity known as the Black Death, and the -men who returned from the wars had no fancy for doing the work of the -mason and the builder. Men refused to work; wages and the price of bread -rose so high that a limit had to be set to them by law. Even so great a -person as the Abbot of S. Werburgh was fined because his steward charged -too big a price for the abbey corn. - -When the next century dawned and the land had rest for a while under the -Lancastrian king, churches were no longer built in the Decorated style -of the fourteenth century. Another style of church-building prevailed. - -The curious Chester 'Rows' were originally built during the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries, though they have been altered and rebuilt many -times since then. There is nothing quite like them in any other English -city. The 'Rows', or galleries, run continuously for most of the length -of the four principal streets over the shops on the street level, as if -the front rooms on the first floor of all the houses had been taken -out and a thoroughfare made through them. At the ends of the Rows, and -at street corners, you may descend by a staircase to the pavement below. - - [Illustration: CHESTER ROWS, WATERGATE STREET] - -No one can be quite sure how the Rows came to be built on this plan. -Some people have thought that they were copied from the porticoes or -colonnades of shops in Roman towns. Others, again, say that they were -intended to serve as barricades in the street fighting which often took -place when the Welsh attacked the city. Probably, however, neither of -these explanations is correct. - -Many old houses in Chester show that they were at first built with -outside flights of stone steps leading from the street to the first -floor. Under the steps was an entrance to a cellar or storeroom. At some -time or other the steps were removed, except at the ends of the streets, -and a footway laid along the tops of the cellars. The upper stories were -then brought forward, and, resting on columns of wood, made level with -the street fronts of the basement. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE RIVAL ROSES - - -Henry the Fourth belongs partly to Cheshire, for a Duke of Lancaster had -married the heiress of the Lacys, who were descended from Nigel, Baron -of Halton and Constable of Chester. John of Gaunt, the king's father, -was a frequent visitor at Halton Castle, which he used as a -hunting-lodge. - -The French wars broke out again in the reign of Henry the Fifth. Once -more the loyal Leghs and other Cheshire knights followed their king. In -fact the king's body-guard was composed of Cheshire men, among them -being Richard de Mobberley, Ranulf de Chelford, and William de Mere. -Piers Legh, the grandson of Perkin Legh, fell at Agincourt, as you may -read on the brass plate in Macclesfield Church. In the same church is -the altar-tomb of another hero of Agincourt, Sir John Savage, who was -knighted after the battle. - -Henry was stricken down at the very moment of his triumph, and a baby -king succeeded to the throne of England. The royal uncles, who acted as -guardians, quarrelled with one another, and in a few years the English -were compelled to leave France. Foreign wars were followed by strife in -our own country. The Wars of the Roses lasted for the greater part of -the second half of the fifteenth century. - -Queen Margaret, the 'outlandish woman' as her Yorkist enemies called -her, was in Chester in the year 1459. The king was ill, and the queen -conducted the wars herself, and summoned the fighting-men of Cheshire to -rally to her side. The people of Cheshire were not greatly excited over -the wars, which were mainly blood-feuds of powerful nobles. The trading -classes and the artisans of the towns took little part in the fighting, -but the sturdy Cheshire yeomen followed the squires, who ranged -themselves on the one side or the other. Members of the same family -often found themselves opposed to one another. - -A sixteenth-century poet, describing the battle of Blore Heath, which -took place just over the southern border of Cheshire, says: - - There Dutton Dutton kills, a Done doth kill a Done, - A Booth a Booth, and Legh by Legh is overthrown; - A Venables against a Venables doth stand, - A Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand. - -The Red Rose was badly beaten in this battle, in which Lord Audley and -two thousand Cheshire men were killed. - -One of the Booths who fought in the Wars of the Roses is buried beneath -the chancel floor of Wilmslow Church. Set in a marble slab which covers -the grave is a brass plate with figures of Sir Robert de Bothe and Douce -Venables his wife. Similar 'brasses' were common enough in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the monuments of those families -who could afford them. They represent, for the most part, knights and -priests. Few are left now, for numbers were stripped from their places -during the Great Rebellion. Portions of the brass at Wilmslow have been -destroyed or lost, for the figures were at one time set in a handsome -canopy of brass, and the whole surrounded by an inscription, only a -fragment of which remains. - - [Illustration: BRASS OF ROBERT DE BOTHE AND DOUCE VENABLES] - -The brass shows us the costume of a knight and lady of the fifteenth -century. The knight is in plate armour, which, since its first -appearance in the Edwardian wars, had become more and more elaborate and -highly ornamental. If you study this brass and the effigies on the -Savage monuments at Macclesfield you will be able to recognize in other -churches the warriors who fought in the battles of the fifteenth -century. - -Douce Venables was only nine years of age when she was married by her -parents to the twelve-year-old husband whom they chose for her. -Throughout the Middle Ages child-marriages were frequently arranged in -order to make secure the estates which the children were to inherit, and -save them from the greediness of the kings. The sovereign claimed the -right of wardship over all heirs and heiresses who were left orphans in -early life, and took a large sum of money out of their estates when he -gave them away in marriage. If they did not then marry according to his -wishes they had to pay a further sum. We may be sure the kings made all -they could from this source, for wars were expensive and the kings were -always short of ready money. - -The people of Cheshire were glad when the Wars of the Roses were over. -The Roses were united when Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, married -Elizabeth the heiress of Edward the Fourth and of the House of York. On -the porch of Gawsworth Church is a carved corbel consisting of a rose, -within whose petals appear two faces. This is the Tudor Rose, a symbol -of the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York. The porch was -therefore built shortly after the wars were ended. - -The Cheshire Stanleys helped Henry Tudor to win the crown of Richard the -Third on the field of Bosworth, the last battle of the rival Roses. When -Richard saw the redcoats and the harts' heads of the Stanley followers -ranged on the side of his enemies, he knew that he was doomed. - - The Stanley strokes they are so strong, there may no man their blows - abide. - -It was Sir William Stanley who picked up the crown which had fallen from -King Richard's head when he was struck down, and taking Henry aside, set -it on his head. - -Macclesfield suffered severely in this battle. Among the corporation -records of Macclesfield is preserved a letter to King Henry the Seventh, -praying that the town might not lose its charter because it could not -make up the necessary number of aldermen, owing to the heavy slaughter -of the townsmen at Bosworth. - -Lord Derby, the head of the House of Stanley, arranged the new king's -marriage with the Lady Elizabeth, and Sir William Stanley was for a time -high in favour with the king. But one day he asked for too great a -reward--nothing less than the Earldom of Chester, and the suspicious -king chopped off his head. Thus were men often requited for their -services. - -Notwithstanding the squabbles and jealousies of rival kings and princes, -the people as a whole were progressing along more peaceful ways. Trade -was flourishing, and the class of well-to-do merchants becoming yearly -more numerous and important. Wealthy aldermen imitated the good example -of King Henry the Sixth, founder of many schools and colleges. Edmund -Shaw, of Stockport, founded in 1487 a Free School at Stockport for the -children of the burgesses. The master of the school was to be a priest, -'a discrete man, and conning in grammer and able of connyng to teche -gramer.' The art of printing had just been discovered, and now that -books were likely to be within the reach of all, it was necessary first -of all to teach Cheshire boys how to read and understand their own -language. - -The century, that opened with war and bloodshed, closed in peace such as -Cheshire had hardly ever before experienced. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES - - -Many of the largest and finest churches in Cheshire were built during -the Wars of the Roses, and in the reigns of the early Tudors. This fact -shows us more than anything else perhaps that the wars did not greatly -interfere with the progress and prosperity of the inhabitants of -Cheshire. During this period the churches of Mottram, Malpas, Great -Budworth, Nantwich, Astbury, Grappenhall, Tarvin, Bunbury, Wilmslow, -Witton, Gawsworth, and many others were built or completed. - - [Illustration: ASTBURY, WEST FRONT. PERPENDICULAR] - -If you study any of these churches carefully you will see that the style -was once again changing. Probably the first thing you will note will be -the change in the patterns of the windows. The mullions which divide -the lights are carried right up to the crown of the windows instead of -branching off to right or left in flowing curves. This is the chief -feature from which the new style has received the name of Perpendicular. - -The Perpendicular builders of the latter half of the fifteenth and the -first half of the sixteenth centuries found their windows growing to -such a size that they had to strengthen them with cross-bars called -transoms. Thus the windows, as in the west front of Astbury and the -south transept of Chester Cathedral, for instance, present the -appearance of a number of rectangles placed side by side and piled one -above another. The crown of the windows are also now flattened until -they hardly appear to be pointed at all. - -The clerestories of the Perpendicular churches were filled with rows of -windows until the whole length of the wall was almost continuous glass, -as at Malpas and Astbury. When Bibles and Church services began to be -printed more light was needed, for people went to church to read as well -as to listen. - -The doorways, like the windows, have changed with the times. The heads -are flattened and covered with a square moulded hood. The corner spaces -between the arch and the hood are called spandrels, and are generally -filled in with carved foliage or shields. At the sides are often niches -for the images of saints, or moulded panels. The door of the Rivers -Chapel at Macclesfield is a beautiful specimen of Perpendicular -architecture. - -The walls of Perpendicular churches are generally surmounted by a -parapet which runs round the whole length of a church, as at Malpas. -Sometimes the stone work of the parapet is pierced with panel-shaped -slits or ornamented with rows of quatrefoils. Panels appear on the -buttresses of Gawsworth Church. - -But the great glory of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century churches are -the tall and massive square towers. These are built in stages separated -from one another by a narrow projecting course of stones or by bands of -quatrefoils. The name of the builder often appears on the tower. Round -the tower of Mobberley Church runs a Latin inscription bearing the -names of John Talbot and Margaret his wife, the patrons of the church, -and Richard Plat the master-mason. On the towers of Macclesfield and -Gawsworth Churches are carved rows of shields bearing the arms of -different lords of the manor. Like the body of the church, the tower is -generally crowned with an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the four -corners. - - [Illustration: PERPENDICULAR TOWER, HANDLEY. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] - -In the carved foliage of one of the capitals in the nave of Chester -Cathedral are the letters S. R. They are the initials of Abbot Simon -Ripley, one of the greatest of fifteenth-century builders in Cheshire. -He rebuilt the upper parts of the nave and south transept of the Abbey -Church, and planned the central tower, which was finished by the next -abbot. Simon Ripley also built the old tower and gateway at Saighton -Grange, which had been the residence of the Abbots of S. Werburgh ever -since the time of Hugh Lupus. - -Many of the village churches of Cheshire were built on the sites of -former churches, and often a portion of the older building remains to -prove this. The Norman font at Grappenhall and the little Norman window -at Woodchurch are all that is left to prove that churches existed here -before the present buildings were erected. In such churches you can -often trace the successive buildings and rebuildings, alterations and -additions that have been made from time to time. A single church may -indeed show the chief features of all the styles from the time of the -Conqueror to the Civil War. At Prestbury you may see a Norman doorway in -the little chapel in the churchyard; in the chancel of the church is a -window of pure Early English, and in the nave a pillar of the same -period. There are Decorated windows in the aisles, and a Perpendicular -window at the east end. - -The Cheshire churches are beautiful still; they must have been even more -beautiful in the sixteenth century, before the Puritans of the -Reformation and the Civil War in their mistaken zeal destroyed almost -everything of beauty within and without that could be destroyed. On the -walls of the interior were often painted pictures of Bible stories such -as the Creation, the Crucifixion, or the Resurrection of our Lord. When -the plaster was stripped from the walls of Gawsworth Church some of -these wall-paintings were discovered. Drawings were made from them, -which you may see in the Free Library of Macclesfield. On the wall of -the nave of Mobberley Church some of these paintings still remain, but -their meaning is not very clear. - -The chancel was divided from the nave by a screen of carved oak, with a -long narrow gallery above it called a rood-loft, from the rood or cross -which was placed in the centre of the gallery. The crosses have gone, -but at Mobberley you may see the ancient screen, with an inscription, -and the date 1500 carved upon it. - - [Illustration: SHOCKLACH: CROSS AND NORMAN DOOR] - -Throughout the Middle Ages it was the custom for the lord of the manor -to reserve some portion of the church for his own use, or to add to the -building a chantry or chapel where his own chantry priest might pray -daily for the salvation of his soul. These chapels are generally at the -eastern ends of the aisles. You will know them by the handsome monuments -which were raised over the graves of the founders, for these chapels -were used as the burial-place of the founders and their families. The -Calveleys had a private chapel at Bunbury, the Mainwarings at Over -Peover, the Dones at Tarporley, the Troutbecks in S. Mary's, Chester, -and the Cholmondeleys at Malpas. - -The church porches are on the south side of the church. They are -generally large, for portions of the baptismal service were read there, -and the font is therefore close to the door within the church. In the -corner of the porch at Woodchurch you will see a little stone basin or -'stoup' in which holy water was placed for the use of those entering the -church. At Malpas there is a little room above the porch called a -'parvise'; this was used as a priest's room. Over the door of the porch -are niches for the images of the saints to whom the church is dedicated. - -In the churchyard near the south porch, which was nearly always the -principal entrance to the church, you will generally see a cross or -stump of a cross and steps representing a Calvary. From these steps the -friars used to preach to the people when they travelled through the -Cheshire towns and villages. - -In many of the old churches of Cheshire you will see a stout oak chest, -often black with age, and strongly bound with bands and clasps of iron. -These chests were made to hold the deeds of gift of land and money made -by rich patrons. Beneath the tower of Wilmslow Church is an ancient -chest that was carved out of a solid block of wood. Some of you have -perhaps tried to raise the heavy lid of the chest at Little Peover, but -it is as much as a strong man may do. An old legend says that the maid -who can lift it is indeed worthy to become a Cheshire farmer's wife. In -the museum at Warrington is preserved the old parish chest of -Grappenhall. It is the oldest chest in the county. It is of the rudest -description, consisting merely of a tree trunk, seven feet long, chopped -smooth with an axe, sawn into two portions and hollowed. - - [Illustration: PORCH WITH PARVISE: MALPAS] - -In these chests were also placed the churchwardens' accounts of -expenses, as well as the registers of births, deaths, and marriages -which Henry the Eighth in 1538 commanded to be kept in every parish. -These ancient records are valuable now, and preserved with great care -for from them we can glean much information about the lives of our -forefathers. Many of them have been copied and published by scholars, -and may be read by you in your libraries. Many Cheshire parish registers -date from the times of the Tudors, but a large number were lost or -destroyed during the Civil Wars. - -Churchwardens' accounts help us to picture in our minds the interior of -a mediaeval church. We read of payments made 'for timber bought to make -the pulpit', 'for mending of the Bible book and for the covering of the -same', for strewing rushes on the floor of the church to keep it warm, -and 'for a chain to the Bible'. There are chained Bibles still at -Bunbury, Backford, and Burton. A printed Bible cost a lot of money, and -chains were necessary to prevent it being stolen. - -There were no comfortable cushioned seats for those who worshipped in -mediaeval churches. Wooden or stone benches were ranged along the walls, -and 'kneeling places' were made for those who could afford to pay for -them. In Acton Church the old stone bench running all round the walls of -the nave and chancel still remains. - -In the choir there were stone seats, called 'sedilia', for the priests. -They are set in the wall on the south side of the chancel, and are -generally covered, as at Stockport and Mobberley, with a canopy of Early -English or Decorated tracery. - -In the churches which were closely connected with an abbey or monastery, -wooden stalls were made for the monks. These are often beautifully -carved, and covered with handsome canopies of wooden tracery and -pinnacles. The choir stalls of Nantwich are said to have been brought -from the Abbey of Vale Royal. - -The carved oak stalls in Chester Cathedral are thought by many people to -be the handsomest in England. Many of them still remain as they were in -King Henry the Eighth's days, freed now from the coat of white paint -with which stupid workmen covered them at a later time. The heavy seats -are fitted with hinges, so that they may be raised. On the under side -are quaint carvings of birds and dragons and unicorns, kings, knights -and seraphs, illustrating ancient legends such as Richard Coeur de -Lion pulling the heart out of a lion, or Scriptural subjects and stories -from the lives of the saints. - - [Illustration: Sedilia at Mobberley] - -All Cheshire boys and girls should learn to read and understand the -stories of the Cheshire churches, for in them is bound up the story of -Cheshire men and women of many ages. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING - - -On one of the walls of the Parish Church of Macclesfield is a small -brass plate, a few inches square. It is called a 'Pardon brass', and -represents the Pope bowing before Christ, while Roger Legh and his six -sons are in the act of prayer. Beneath the figures is the inscription: -'The pardon for saying of five paternosters, five aves and a creed, is -twenty-six thousand years and twenty-six days of pardon.' We are not -told how much money Roger Legh paid the Pope for obtaining pardon for -his misdeeds, but it was a good round sum, I imagine. - -During the Middle Ages the doctrine grew up that sins committed by one -man might be atoned for by the prayers or penance performed by others, -together with a sum of money, which varied according to the crime. The -price of pardon for robbery was twelve shillings, for murder only seven -shillings and sixpence, and for perjury nine shillings. By the sixteenth -century people began to have an uneasy feeling that the sale of -'indulgences', as these pardons were called, was wrong, and preachers -rose up everywhere to denounce the system. - -This was only one of many evils which was bringing the Church into ill -repute. Reformers, like Martin Luther, showed that the Church believed -many things which did not agree with the teaching of the Bible. -Moreover, churchmen filled all the principal offices of state, and used -their position as a means of amassing great wealth, a portion of which -passed into the hands of the Pope, who was the recognized head of the -Church and whom the clergy were bound to obey. As the clergy would not -reform the Church themselves, the king and his lay ministers decided to -do it for them by Act of Parliament. King Henry the Eighth declared -himself head of the English Church, which, from this time, became -separated from the Church of Rome. - -The king then turned his attention to the monasteries, which had grown -wealthy at the expense of the people. The monks themselves had grown -lazy and careless of their duties, and many of them were living evil -lives. The king decided to turn out the monks and do away with the -monasteries altogether. - -In the year 1536 the king's officers appeared in Cheshire. The first to -suffer was the Abbot of Norton Priory, who resisted stoutly and summoned -all his tenants to his assistance. The king's men were compelled to take -refuge in a tower, but managed to send a message to Sir Piers Dutton, -Sheriff of Chester, by whose aid the abbot was captured and conveyed to -Halton Castle. The priory was sold, and the revenues, plate, and jewels -confiscated to the king. - -Vale Royal fared no better. In this case, at any rate, the monks -deserved their fate. They had long been the terror of the neighbourhood, -and were the friends of the robbers and cut-throats of Delamere Forest. -Abbot and monks were expelled from the abbey, which was handed over to -Sir Thomas Holcroft. The Holcroft crest was a raven, and superstitious -people saw in the fall of Vale Royal the fulfilment of a prophecy of a -Cheshire 'wise man' named Nixon, who said that the abbey would one day -be destroyed and become a raven's nest. - -The Cistercian Abbeys of Combermere and Darnhall, and the Priories at -Mobberley and Birkenhead, were treated in similar fashion, and their -wealth and estates divided between the neighbouring gentry and the king. - -The Abbot of S. Werburgh was the most powerful man in Cheshire, but he -could not save his abbey from the greedy hands of the king's officials. -The wealth of this abbey was reckoned at more than a thousand pounds, a -large sum in those days, equal to a sum at least ten times as great at -the present time. The abbots lived in their fortified manor-houses at -Saighton and Ince, where they kept great state, and supported large -numbers of retainers and dependants. They held a court at Chester, and -frequent quarrels arose between them and the Mayor of Chester as to the -extent of their powers and jurisdiction. - -The people of Chester were probably not sorry to see the abbot stripped -of his power. He did not, like the Abbot of Norton, show violence to the -royal officers, but fell in quietly with their wishes. For this he -received his reward, and returned to Chester within two years, no longer -as abbot, but as dean of a new cathedral. - -Many of the bishoprics of England covered such a vast extent of country -that Henry decided to spend a portion of the wealth which he had taken -from the monasteries, in creating six new bishoprics. Chester was one of -them, and the Abbey of S. Werburgh became the cathedral church of the -new bishopric, a portion of the new buildings being set apart as a -palace for the newly made Bishops of Chester. The first bishop was John -Bird, a Carmelite friar. - -Henry did not go as far in his reformation of the English Church as many -people wished. There were many who 'protested' against practices in the -Roman Church which they thought wrong, such as the worship of images or -of the relics of saints, to which the people were encouraged by the -clergy to pray for help. The Protestants, as the extreme reformers were -called, increased in number daily, and in the reign of Edward the Sixth -got the upper hand. They did away with the old Latin services of the -Church, which the greater part of the poorer classes did not understand, -and wrote a Book of Common Prayer in the English tongue. By an Act of -Uniformity, all the clergy were called upon to use this Prayer Book in -their churches. - -During Edward's reign, the rich jewelled vestments of the priests, the -church plate and crucifixes, and even the church bells, were swept away -and sold for the benefit of the king. Many of our village crosses were -wantonly destroyed during this period. The beautiful Sandbach crosses -were thrown down and broken in fragments. Most of the pieces were -recovered at a later day, and the crosses set up again, but they will -for ever remain a proof of the careless destruction of works of art by -which the period of the Reformation was marked. - - [Illustration: CHESTER CATHEDRAL (before Restoration)] - -When Queen Mary came to the throne she restored the old religion of -Rome. A memorial obelisk on Gallows Hill, Boughton, reminds us of the -dark days when Protestants were persecuted with blind and bitter hatred -by their Catholic enemies, and even suffered death for their beliefs. On -Gallows Hill, George Marsh was burnt at the stake for teaching the -doctrines of the reformed faith. He was tried in the Lady Chapel of the -cathedral, and condemned to death. The citizens of Chester, who had -shown themselves sympathetic to the reformers, were filled with horror, -and, led by one of the sheriffs, tried to rescue him, but failed in the -attempt. The bones of the martyr were collected and laid in the -burial-ground of S. Giles. The sheriff was forced to flee to the -continent until better times. He returned in the more tolerant days of -Queen Elizabeth, and became mayor of the city. - -A settlement was brought about in Queen Elizabeth's reign, which -satisfied all but the extreme men on either side. She was the more -inclined to the Protestant cause inasmuch as she hated the Catholic King -Philip of Spain, who called her 'the heretic queen', and whose spies -were to be found all over England. When the struggle with Spain was near -at hand, Protestants and Catholics forgot their quarrels in face of a -common danger, and the queen had no more loyal subjects than the great -Catholic families of Cheshire. Rowland Stanley, of Hooton-in-Wirral, -gave a large sum of money for improving the defence of the sea-coast, -for it was thought that Philip might land troops in Wirral. - -The Reformation was only part of a great awakening of peoples all over -Western and Central Europe. Scholars studied and brought from Italy -copies of the books of the ancient Greek and Roman writers. The -invention of printing helped the spread of learning, and the Tudor -monarchs encouraged the building of schools and colleges in order that -all classes might have the benefit of a better education. Over the porch -of the King's School, Chester, is a statue of King Henry the Eighth. He -was the founder of the school, which for a long time was carried on in -the ancient refectory of the abbey. - -Some of the wealth taken from the abbeys and monasteries was devoted to -the foundation of schools. The Grammar School at Macclesfield was -endowed in the reign of Edward the Sixth. At Bunbury, Thomas Aldersey, a -haberdasher of London, founded a school, the chantry and college of Sir -Hugh Calveley having been dissolved at the same time as the abbeys. - -Sir John Deane, son of Laurence Deane, of Davenham, gave some property -which had been in the possession of monks for the building of a free -Grammar School at Northwich, 'forasmuch as God's glory, His honour and -the public weal is advanced and maintained by no means more than by -virtuous education and bringing up of youth under such as be learned and -virtuous school-masters.' - -'God's glory' was indeed not the least of the things that Cheshire boys -of the sixteenth century were taught to observe. In the statutes of the -founder of Witton Grammar School it is laid down 'that the scholars -shall thrice a day serve God within the school, rendering Him thanks for -His goodness done to them, craving His special grace that they may -profit in learning to His honour and glory'. - -In the reign of Henry the Eighth the voice of the people of Cheshire was -heard for the first time in the Parliament of the English people at -Westminster. Hitherto, the miniature Parliament of the Norman and royal -Earls of Chester had been considered sufficient for them. Henry now -summoned two knights of the county and two burgesses from the city of -Chester to take their place side by side with the chosen representatives -of the other English shires and boroughs in the national assembly. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. I - - -The chief event with which all boys, I imagine, connect the name of -Queen Elizabeth is the defeat of the Great Armada sent against these -shores by the King of Spain. Doubtless on that summer night in the year -1588 there were watchers by the beacon on Alderley Edge who saw the -'Wrekin's crest of fire' flashing its message northwards. There was no -telegraph in those days, and yet in an hour or two at most the news of -the approach of an enemy was carried by beacon fires from the Channel to -the Cheviots. Cheshire indeed produced no Drake or Hawkins; but Sir -George Beeston, whose tomb you may see in Bunbury Church, commanded the -ship Dreadnought, one of the four ships that broke through the Spanish -line and took an active part in the pursuit and destruction of the -Spanish vessels. - -A few years later Sir Uryan Legh of Adlington Hall accompanied Lord -Howard and Raleigh and the Earl of Essex on an expedition to Cadiz, when -they destroyed the ships in the harbour and for a second time 'singed -the King of Spain's beard'. The town itself was taken by storm, and for -his bravery on this occasion Sir Uryan Legh was knighted. The Leghs were -always to the fore when there was any fighting to be done. A canopied -arch in Prestbury Church marks his last resting-place, but the tomb -itself has long since disappeared. - -One result of the expeditions of Drake and Raleigh was that Englishmen -were inspired with a passion for travel, whether abroad or at home, -partly for the sake of adventure and the pursuit of wealth, partly out -of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. The voyages of the great -navigators, 'itineraries' or diaries of travel, and histories of our own -country and its people were written at this period. These books show -clearly in their pages how intensely proud the Englishmen of Elizabeth's -day were of their country and their queen and her brave seamen, who by -their victories over Spain raised England to the first position among -the nations of the world. - -Michael Drayton wrote a long poem called 'Polyolbion', in which four -hundred lines are taken up with a description of Cheshire, which he -calls the - - thrice happy Shire, confined so to be - twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee. - -He speaks of Chester as - - th' imaginary work of some huge Giant's hand: - which if such ever were, Tradition tells not who. - -The book was illustrated by a number of curious maps, adorned with -quaint figures of men and women representing the rivers, hills, forests, -and castled towns. - -John Speed was born at Farndon on the Dee, and wrote a book called the -_Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain_, which contained the earliest -set of maps published in England. - -Cophurst, an old house near Sutton Downes in the Forest of Macclesfield, -is thought to have been the birthplace of the chronicler Raphael -Holinshed, who wrote a History of England and dedicated it to William -Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great minister of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare -used this book for the plots of some of his plays. - -The triumphs of Francis Drake were celebrated in a long Latin poem by -Thomas Newton of Butley, who placed the small brass tablet on the wall -near the pulpit in Prestbury Church to the memory of his parents. Newton -was for some time the head master of Macclesfield Grammar School. -Another Elizabethan poet was Geoffrey Whitney, who was born at Nantwich. - -An inscription on an old house at Nantwich, bearing the date 1584, shows -that Elizabeth returned the affections of her people and did all she -could for them. The verse reads thus:-- - - God grant our royal Queen - In England long to reign; - For she hath put her helping hand - To build this town again. - - [Illustration: MAP OF CHESHIRE. From Drayton's 'Polyolbion'] - -Nantwich had been almost totally destroyed by fire in the previous year. -The risk of fire was always very great, owing to the fact that nearly -all the houses of the Middle Ages were built of timber and thatched with -straw. - -The black and white timbered halls are the glory of Cheshire. Let us pay -a visit to-day to Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton, perhaps the most -beautiful of them all. The people who live here are proud of their home, -and on certain days of the week allow you to examine at your leisure -many of the rooms in the old house, which remains in almost the same -condition as when the Moretons removed to a new and more spacious house -of brick hard by. - -The framework of the house is all of wood, good solid English oak, and -black with age. The spaces between the beams and props are filled with -plaster and painted white. The principal beams which support the -building are of course upright, firmly laid on a foundation of stone. -Within the squares of this framework other beams are set in sloping -parallel lines, forming patterns of chevron or diamond, or arranged in -rows of quatrefoils and arcades of trefoil-headed arches. The upper -stories and the gables of the roof project beyond the ground floor of -the building, which is thus kept dry. - -We cross the moat by a substantial stone bridge, and enter through a -gateway whose massive oaken lintel and side-posts are covered with rich -carving, and find ourselves in a square paved courtyard. Within the -gateway is a stone horse-block. - -Facing us are two deep bay-windows formed of five sides of an octagon. -Over them you may read the carved inscription: 'God is al in al things. -This window whire made by William Moreton in the yeare of oure Lorde -MDLIX.' The building of the home was regarded by our Elizabethan -forefathers as an almost sacred work, to be carried out with hardly less -reverence than the building of a church. - -A second gateway forms the entrance to the dining-hall on the one hand -and the kitchen on the other. The walls of the dining-room are lined -with wainscoting of panelled oak; the open timbered roof is held up by a -strong central beam; the windows are filled with countless tiny panes of -glass, with bright patches of red and orange and blue where the -coat-of-arms and crest of the Moretons are painted upon them. - - [Illustration: LITTLE MORETON HALL] - -In the kitchen are marks of the growing comfort and luxuries of -Elizabethan days--the rows of pewter plates bearing the Moreton arms, -and a great spice-chest where the fragrant spices of the East, brought -home by travellers, were stored, as well as the sweet herbs, the sage -and rosemary, lavender and thyme, from the herb-garden of the Hall. In -the open fireplace, ten feet wide, an ox might well be roasted; the -smoke from the log-fire was carried upwards from the roof by a -chimney-stack of brick. - -Over the 'screen' or passage that divides the dining-hall and the -kitchen is a musicians' gallery, where the players of the viol and the -harp made music while the squire and his lady supped in the early -evening. - -To the left of the gatehouse through which we first entered is the -chapel, where the chaplain read the daily prayers to the assembled -family. A narrow spiral staircase fixed upon a central newel post leads -to a long gallery at the very top of the house, running the whole length -of one side of the courtyard. This was the ballroom, where Elizabeth -herself may perhaps have danced, as tradition says she did, for we know -that she was fond of visiting her people in their own homes. - -Few sixteenth-century houses were without a secret chamber. Little -Moreton Hall contains two such rooms, cunningly concealed in a corner of -the house. They are entered by sliding panels from an apartment over the -kitchen, and the fugitive could escape his pursuers by an underground -passage leading underneath the moat to the open field beyond. - -At opposite corners of the moat are two green circular mounds, on which -probably once stood two watch-towers to guard the house against attack. -A large number of the old halls of Cheshire were at one time moated for -their protection, though in many cases the moats have been filled up, -now that they are no longer necessary. Peel Hall in Etchells, Irby, -Swinyard Hall, Twemlow, Marthall, and Allostock Hall still retain -portions of their original moats. - - [Illustration: THE GALLERY, LITTLE MORETON HALL] - -Handforth Hall was built, as the inscription over the entrance door -tells us, 'in the year of our Lord God MCCCCCLXII by Uryan Brereton -Knight.' The Tudor builders were not ashamed to put their names to their -work. Within the Hall is a wide oak staircase with a wonderfully carved -balustrade, one of the most beautiful pieces of Tudor woodwork in -Cheshire. Sir Uryan's daughter married Thomas Legh of Adlington, who -built the timber portions of Adlington Hall in 1581. - -As you have already seen in a previous chapter, some of the timber -houses of Cheshire belong to a period much earlier than the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. Just as they reached their highest pitch of beauty and -richness under the Tudors a new style of domestic architecture was -coming in. Bricks, which had been very seldom used since the days of the -Romans, were again employed. The bricks were much larger than those used -by the Romans; in fact they were precisely similar to those of the -present day. They were not, however, laid as they are now, but in the -style called 'English bond', in which one 'course' or row shows all the -long faces and the next one all the short ends. - -These brick mansions were larger and more spacious than the old wooden -ones, and built for comfort rather than defence. They were set in the -midst of broad parks, and surrounded by terraced lawns and gardens -enclosed by walls of clipped yew-trees. Sometimes ornamental fish-ponds, -such as you may see at Gawsworth, were laid out in front of the house; -avenues of limes and Spanish chestnuts imported from abroad were planted -along the roadway leading to the principal entrance. Their general -shape, out of compliment to Queen Elizabeth, was that of the letter E. -Brereton Hall is a good example of this 'Tudor' style. It was built in -1586, the first stone being laid, so it is said, by the queen herself. - -In the eastern parts of Cheshire, where stone is abundant, houses -similar in design were built of this material instead of brick. Arden -Hall, near Stockport, is now in ruins, but enough remains to show the -chief characteristics of an Elizabethan mansion; the turret with -circular stone staircase, the wings with gabled ends, and the bay -windows carried up to the roof. Other Elizabethan houses are Marple -Hall, Poole Hall, Carden Hall in the Broxton Hills, Dorfold Hall, and -Burton Hall in Wirral. - - [Illustration: TUDOR MONUMENTS IN GAWSWORTH CHURCH - The central figure is that of Mary Fitton] - -In Gawsworth Church are a number of monuments of members of the Fitton -family, who lived at the Old Hall at Gawsworth. Mary Fitton was one of -Elizabeth's maids-of-honour, and used to take part in plays for the -amusement of the queen; and it is not at all unlikely that she was a -friend of Shakespeare. It is indeed supposed that she is the 'dark lady' -of whom the poet speaks in his sonnets. From an examination of these -Fitton monuments you can learn what the costume at the end of the -sixteenth century was like. Lady Alice Fitton is surrounded by the -kneeling figures of her two sons and two daughters, the former in plate -armour, the latter wearing the familiar head-dress and ruff which are -such distinctive features in the dress of Tudor ladies. The figures are -carved in alabaster, and have clearly at one time been painted in bright -colours. The picture of Mary Fitton will help you to recognize the Tudor -monuments which are to be seen in many Cheshire churches. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. II - - -Many attempts were made by the Tudor sovereigns to conquer the Irish. -From time to time expeditions were sent across the sea, and the troops -embarked at various points on the Cheshire coast. The fighting Leghs of -Adlington raised a troop of Cheshire soldiers, and Thomas and Ralph Legh -fell in battle against the Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill. A Cheshire -knight, Sir Edward Fitton, of Gawsworth, was made Governor of Connaught. - -In the later years of Elizabeth's reign a constant stream of ill-clad -and ill-paid soldiers marched through Cheshire on their way to the wars. -The soldiers had to be supplied with food and quarters by the towns and -villages through which they passed, and the cost of billeting the men -in the houses on their arrival at Chester fell very hard on the city -merchants, who were soon brought to great distress. The soldiers were -generally put on board ship at Parkgate, for the channel of the Dee had -become so choked up with sand that only the smallest vessels could reach -Chester. - -The leader of one of the expeditions was the Earl of Essex, who was a -frequent visitor at Lyme Park, where he hunted the stag with his host, -Sir Piers Legh. - -The wars with Spain ruined the oversea trade of Chester, consisting at -this time largely in the export of tanned leather to the French ports of -Rochelle and Bordeaux. In the year 1598, Thomas Fletcher, the Mayor of -Chester, wrote to Lord Burghley that he 'had found the poor city to be -generally very weak and much decayed, especially in the chiefest parts -thereof (the merchants) who have been heretofore the most able to do her -Majesty service'. For eight months there had not been 'one ship nor -small bark laden into any foreign place'. The queen had, some years -previously, given the merchants license to export 10,000 'dickers' (that -is, bundles of ten) of tanned calf-skins within a certain time, but -owing to the wars they were unable to get them away within the given -period, and the merchants asked for the time to be extended. - -An old gabled house in Watergate Street, with its pious superscription -'God's Providence is mine inheritance', reminds us of a more dreadful -scourge than war which visited Chester, and indeed the whole of -Cheshire, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This was the -terrible plague, which attacked rich and poor alike, and stopped the -trade of the city so much that, as one writer says, 'grass did grow a -foot high at the Cross'. Houses that were infected with the disease were -marked with a cross, that none might go near; no merchandise was allowed -to enter the city until it had been unpacked and aired outside the -walls. Death came suddenly, or within a few hours at most; and often 'to -those that merrily dined it gave a sorrowful supper'. God's Providence -House received its name from the fact that its inmates alone of all -the neighbourhood escaped the disease. - - [Illustration: STANLEY PALACE, CHESTER (showing influence of - Renaissance)] - -The Courts could not be held in the plague-stricken city; the Exchequer -Court was removed to Tarvin, and the Assizes were held at Nantwich. The -annual fairs were abandoned to prevent the spread of the disease. -Numbers of victims were carried out from the city and hastily buried in -the 'Barrow Field'. Other Cheshire towns suffered severely. On the -hills, near Macclesfield, are many gravestones of the victims of the -plague; two gravestones near the Bowstones on Disley Moor tell the same -tale. - -Some of the English nobles had residences in Chester. The city gates -were confided to noble families for safe keeping. The East Gate was -guarded by the ancestors of Lord Crewe. The 'Bear and Billet' Inn in -Bridge Street belonged to the Earls of Shrewsbury, who were Sergeants of -the Bridge Gate. The Earls of Derby had charge of the Watergate. The -North Gate, however, the most important entrance to the city, was -entrusted to the mayor and the citizens. - -A narrow court in Watergate Street leads to the Stanley Palace of the -Earls of Derby; the gardens extended down to the river-side. The -architecture is very similar to that of the old timber halls described -in the last chapter, but the row of round-headed panels tells us that -people were beginning to imitate in their timber decorations the -round-headed arches of the Italian style. - -As early as the reign of Henry the Seventh, English architects were -beginning to study the remains of ancient buildings in Rome, and Italian -architects were brought over to England. Henry the Eighth invited a -builder named John of Padua, who designed the north side of Lyme Hall. -The Italians despised the Pointed styles of English architecture, -calling it contemptuously 'Gothic', from the name of the barbarian -Goths, who overran the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries. - -Many of the Cheshire gentry left their homes in the towns to live in new -houses in the country. The old hall of the Sandbach family is now the -principal inn of the town of Sandbach; the ancient home of the Ardernes -in Great Underbank, Stockport, is now a bank; and the house built at -Nantwich by 'Richarde and Marjery Churche' has been turned into a -ladies' school. The Mainwarings lived in a fine house in Watergate -Street, Chester, until a number of little shops were allowed to block up -the front of their home. The Wilbrahams moved from Nantwich to the -spacious Elizabethan hall at Dorfold. - -When the monasteries were destroyed, a large number of people were -thrown out of work, especially in the country districts. The distress -was so great in Queen Elizabeth's reign that Parliament passed a 'poor -law', by which the inhabitants of every parish were compelled to pay -taxes for the support of their own poor. - -This did not, however, prevent rich and charitable men from devoting a -portion of their wealth to the building of hospitals and almshouses, -where the aged poor could live in comfort. In Commonhall Street, -Chester, are the old almshouses founded by Sir Thomas Smith in 1532, and -there are almshouses at Acton, Little Budworth, Macclesfield, Nantwich, -Tarporley, Sandbach, and Stockport, though some of these were built in -later reigns. Nantwich was particularly favoured by benefactors, and -possesses four separate sets of almshouses. - -Sometimes sums of money were left to be spent on providing bread for -those who were unable to work. In the churches at Little Peover, -Mottram, and Woodchurch, you will see some wooden shelves fixed on the -wall near the porch. On these were placed the loaves which were -distributed after the Sunday services. At Bebington and Woodchurch sums -of money were given by a family of the name of Goodacre for the purchase -of bullocks to draw the ploughs of the poor peasants of Wirral. - -Certain days of the year were set apart as public holidays. Every parish -had its 'wakes' or festival of the dedication of the parish church. -These were held on the feast-day of the saint after whom the church was -named. Another festival was that of the 'rush-bearing'. In a former -chapter you have read of the rushes that were spread on the floors of -churches. They were gathered from the fringe of a stream or mere, and -tied into bundles and placed on the rush-cart, which was gaily decked -with ribbons and flowers. A procession was then formed of the villagers, -who accompanied the cart to the church, where a special service was -held. There are still rush-bearing services at Farndon, Aldford, and -Forest Chapel, but in many villages the merry-making too often ended in -disorder and drunkenness, and the custom has been allowed to die out. - -An Elizabethan writer tells us that the people of Nantwich visited the -brine pits on Ascension Day and decked them with flowers and garlands. -Then they offered hymns and prayers of thanksgiving for the blessing of -the brine, on which the prosperity of their town depended. - -May-day was the favourite holiday of the people. The maypole was set up -on the village green, where the Queen of the May was crowned, and -morris-dancers danced to the fiddle and horn-pipe, as they do to this -day at Lymm, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel, and many other Cheshire villages. -Sometimes there were wrestling matches, and combat with sword and -quarterstaff. At Gawsworth are the remains of a tilting-ground where -such encounters took place. The long terraced banks of earth on which -the spectators sat may still be seen. - -The good people of Chester were particularly fond of shows and pageants, -and processions. On Midsummer Day the mayor and aldermen of the city -marched with banners through the streets to S. Oswald's Church. With -them went 'four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, an ass and a dragon, -and six hobby horses'. The giants were made of pasteboard and repainted -every year, and 'dosed with arsenic to keep the rats from eating them'. - -Some of their amusements were, however, of a more degrading kind. The -High Cross of Chester, from which the friars and Wyclif's 'poor priests' -had preached in former days, now became the scene of brutal pastimes. -For at this spot bulls were baited in the bull-ring when a mayor -finished his year of office, the mayor himself paying the expenses. - -The Bear's Head and White Bear Inn at Congleton remind us that the -natives of Congleton were so fond of bear-baiting, that a local proverb -says that they 'sold their Church Bible to buy a new bear'. Few towns or -villages were without a cock-pit, for cock-fighting was a favourite -amusement of all classes. Happily, these degrading sports are now -forbidden by law, and we do not regret their disappearance. - - [Illustration: Cross and Stocks, Warburton] - -Little mercy was shown to those who were guilty of brawling or breaches -of the peace. Often by the lichgate of a Cheshire churchyard, or near -the village cross, you will see the remains of the wooden stocks in -which drunkards were placed and exposed to the jeers and gibes of the -passers-by. In the museums at Chester, Stockport, and Macclesfield, you -will see a still more barbarous form of punishment. The scolding or -brawling woman was compelled to have her head encased in a 'brank' or -skeleton helmet of iron, with a spiked iron piece pressing on the -tongue. A chain was attached to the woman's waist, and she was led -through the town. - -Another instrument of punishment is to be seen in the Museum at West -Park, Macclesfield. It is a girdle or cage, consisting of a number of -iron hoops fastened together by chains which were placed round the body -of a woman, who was then tied to a plank called a 'ducking-stool', and -dipped in a pond. There was also an iron strait-jacket at Macclesfield -for drunkards and lunatics. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE RULE OF THE STUARTS - - -In the 'Stag Parlour' of Lyme Hall is a framed piece of needlework done -by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, when she stayed at Lyme. When she was -deposed by her Scottish subjects she threw herself on the mercy of Queen -Elizabeth, who permitted her to live in England. But plots were made -against the life of Elizabeth, and Mary was suspected of having a hand -in them, and in the end Mary had to pay the penalty of death. - -Mary was a Catholic, but her son James, who succeeded to the English -throne on the death of Elizabeth, had been brought up among the Scottish -reformers. The extreme English reformers, or Puritans as they were now -called, hoped therefore that the king would be friendly to their wishes. -The Puritans were disappointed, but James agreed to one of their -demands, and said that he would have a new translation of the Bible -made. The Authorized Version of the Bible which is read in all Cheshire -churches and chapels to-day is the one noble work due to the first -Stuart king. - -The Puritans were so named because they wished to 'purify' the Church of -certain forms and ceremonies, such as the use of the surplice, and the -sign of the cross at baptism, and even the ring in the marriage service. -They also objected to the rule of bishops, and wished the Church to be -governed by councils of elders or 'presbyters' after the manner of the -Presbyterian Church of Scotland. - -During the reign of Elizabeth many Puritan clergymen had refused to -perform the services of the Church in the way ordered by the Prayer -Book. They were driven out of the Church, and formed separate -congregations of their own. Hence they received the name of -Independents, and they were the earliest of the Nonconformist -dissenters. - -Many Independents suffered so severely at the hands of King James and -his archbishop, that they determined to leave the country and settle in -new homes across the sea. They gave the name of New England to their -colony in America, and thus became the founders of our American -possessions. Among the exiles was Samuel Eaton, a Wirral clergyman. He -returned in the reign of Charles the First, and became a minister in the -chapel attached to Dukinfield Hall, which thus became one of the -earliest places of worship for the Independents in Cheshire. The ancient -chapel now forms a portion of the modern Nonconformist church of -Dukinfield. - -The Catholics were not more pleased with James than the Puritans were. -They were compelled to attend the new services of the Protestant Church. -Those who refused to do so were called 'recusants'. The Bishop of Chester -was ordered by James to hunt out all the Popish recusants in Cheshire -and bring them to trial. The secret hiding-places built in the walls of -many Cheshire halls must often have sheltered these fugitive priests, -for many great families in Cheshire, such as the Stanleys of Hooton and -the Masseys of Puddington, were strongly Catholic. - -Chester was Protestant, and a Puritan Mayor of Chester stopped the -Midsummer show, and broke up the pasteboard giants, and abolished the -bull-ring; for the Puritans disliked shows and processions and sports of -all kinds, and even such harmless pastimes as the May-day dances. - -The Midsummer revels were, however, revived, and held with great pomp -when King James paid a visit to Chester in 1617. His arms are carved in -a panel under one of the front windows of Bishop Lloyd's house. One of -the Fitton family was mayor on this occasion, and the king's sword was -borne by a Stanley. James rode to the minster, where he heard one of the -scholars of the King's School read a Latin address of welcome. 'After -the said oration he went into the choir, and there, in a seat made for -the king at the higher end of the choir, he heard an anthem sung. And -after certain prayers the king went from thence to the Pentice, where a -sumptuous banquet was prepared at the city's cost: which being ended, -the king departed to the Vale Royal: and at his departure the order of -knighthood was offered to the mayor, but he refused the same.' The sale -of knighthoods and baronetcies was one of King James's ways of raising -money, and the Mayor of Chester was not the only one who declined the -honour. - -A zealous Puritan named William Prynne wrote against the performance of -stage plays, dancing, and other amusements. Some things that he said -were thought to refer to the Queen of Charles the First, and he was -tried by the Star Chamber and ordered to pay a fine of £5,000 and to -have his ears slit. There was a branch of the Court of Star Chamber at -Chester, but it was abolished in Charles the First's reign. In one of -the rooms of Leasowe Castle are some oak panels brought from the Star -Chamber at Westminster. - -William Prynne passed through Chester on his way to his prison in -Carnarvon Castle. The Puritans turned out to welcome and cheer him in -the streets, but their leaders were punished by fines and imprisonment -for so doing. - -Neither James nor Charles got on well with their Parliaments. The Tudor -monarchs had for the most part understood the people, and the people in -their turn allowed them to have their own way. But the Stuarts began to -claim powers which the people would not permit. When Parliament refused -to grant money they asked for, the Stuart kings tried to raise money by -means which the people thought illegal. Charles borrowed large sums of -money without the consent of Parliament. Sir Randolph Crewe, of Crewe -Hall, was one of the judges who thought that this was wrong, and he was -dismissed from his office by the king. - -Charles also tried to impose a tax called Ship Money, a tax which had in -former times been levied on the counties on the seaboard for the support -of the navy. Now the king proposed that inland counties also should -contribute for this purpose. Sir William Brereton, a Cheshire knight, -objected strongly to the hateful tax, and was very angry with the people -of Chester for rating some land of his near Chester, called the Nunnery -Fields, for the payment of the money. - -It is not surprising that trouble should arise between Parliament and a -king who refused to obey the wishes of the people over whom he ruled. -The Stuarts believed in the theory known as the Divine right of kings, -that is, that kings are made by God alone, and that from Him alone they -receive their power. But from the time of the great awakening the people -had begun to think for themselves, and the result of this was that they -were now determined that the king should carry out the will of the -nation through the mouth of its Parliament. - -Moreover, Charles was suspected of being a Catholic; at any rate he had -married a Catholic wife, and Parliament was not in a mood to permit a -return to the unhappy state of affairs of Queen Mary's reign. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. I - -THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH - - -Charles proclaimed war on Parliament in the year 1642, and both sides -prepared at once for the struggle. Roughly speaking, London and the -south-eastern counties were on the side of Parliament, for they were the -chief centres of trade in the seventeenth century, and felt most keenly -the evils of bad government. The great modern industrial towns of the -northern counties of England were in most cases as yet mere villages. - - [Illustration: THE CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE] - -The king's supporters were drawn chiefly from the north and west. They -were called Royalists or Cavaliers, while the Parliamentarians were -nicknamed Roundheads because they wore their hair cut short, after the -manner of the Puritans, and disdained the flowing curls which were -fashionable at the time. But although the country was thus roughly -divided into two opposing factions, supporters both of king and of -parliament were to be found in nearly every town and village. Indeed it -sometimes happened that members of a single family found themselves on -different sides in the war. The Breretons of Brereton Hall were stout -royalists, but their cousins of Handforth were, as you will see, the -most determined opponents of the king. - -The towns of Cheshire, with the exception of Chester, were largely on -the side of Parliament, while most, but not all, of the great landowners -and their numerous retainers fought for the king. The county was -represented in the Long Parliament by Sir William Brereton, the son of -William Brereton of Handforth Hall. - -Brereton was an ardent Puritan, and at the first signs of approaching -war he put himself at the head of the Parliamentary party in Cheshire, -calling upon all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty -to join him at Tarporley, and soon after was appointed by Parliament -itself as commander of the Cheshire forces. His career was very nearly -cut short at the very beginning of the struggle, for he brought about a -riot in Chester by causing the drum to be beaten publicly in the streets -for Parliament. He was brought to the Pentice but released, and with -difficulty saved from the fury of the citizens, who in later days -complained bitterly that the mayor had preserved the life of one who was -to be the author of so much disaster to themselves. - -In Tarporley Church you may see a helmet and breastplate that were dug -up in the neighbourhood. They were probably worn by some soldier who -fought in one of the earliest battles of the civil war in Cheshire. The -first fighting took place in the southern parts of the county. In -February, 1642, Brereton was attacked at Tarporley by the king's troops -who had marched out from Chester. Entrenchments were thrown up near the -church, but the severest fighting was at the neighbouring hamlet of -Tiverton, where both sides lost heavily. The Royalist troops retired to -Chester and the Parliamentarians to Nantwich, which Brereton made his -head-quarters. From these two places the two parties 'contended which -should most prevail upon the affections of the county to declare for -them and join them'. - -Brereton's task was the capture of the important city of Chester, in -order to prevent assistance reaching the king from Ireland. To this end -he placed troops on the principal roads leading to the city. The roads -from the south were watched by the Nantwich forces, who captured and -occupied Beeston Castle. On the north Warrington Bridge was seized to -prevent help coming from Lancashire or from Scotland, which remained -loyal to Charles. Norton Priory and the Norman castle of Halton, already -in ruins, were fortified and held by the Roundheads. A strong force was -posted at Northwich which commanded the main road through the forest of -Delamere, thus completing a chain of garrisons along the valley of the -Weaver from Nantwich to the Mersey. On the Welsh side the border castles -of Holt on the Dee and Hawarden in the county of Flint were attacked and -occupied by the Parliamentarians, who thus prevented the arrival of -reinforcements from the west. - -In 1643 Brereton won his first great victory by defeating Sir Thomas -Aston, the Royalist leader, at Middlewich, capturing two cannon, four -barrels of powder, four hundred soldiers, and arms for five hundred men. -Sir Thomas Aston marched out from Chester with a strong force of -Royalists one Sunday morning in March. Brereton was at Northwich at the -time, and word was sent to him that the king's forces were at Middlewich -and taking up a strong position there. The Roundheads hurried -southwards, but had not sufficient ammunition to take the town. A fresh -supply was sent for, and on Monday afternoon Sir Thomas Aston found -himself between two fires, for troops from Nantwich also arrived on the -scene. - -The Royalists were driven into the narrow streets of the town, where the -cavalry were penned like sheep and quite useless. The foot-soldiers fled -into the church, where they laid down their arms or were slain. The -church steeples, like the keeps of the Norman castles, were usually the -last places of refuge for the defenders of a town, and many of them -suffered great damage in consequence during the war. Aston escaped with -a remnant of his cavalry, leaving the infantry to their fate. He laid -the blame for his defeat upon his Welsh allies, who were sent to line -the hedges of the roads by which the Roundheads advanced, but who threw -away their arms and fled at the first approach of the enemy. - -Brereton's victory at Middlewich was complete, but some months -afterwards Sir Thomas Aston had his revenge and turned the tables on his -enemy. He was reinforced by troops from Ireland, by whose aid he was -able to drive the Parliamentarian general out of Middlewich. - -The Royalists now appeared to be getting the upper hand, and they -actually laid siege to Nantwich, which was defended by Sir George Booth -during the temporary absence of Brereton. The besiegers were commanded -by Sir Nicholas Byron, the governor of Chester, and an ancestor of the -poet Byron. Brereton returned with Sir Thomas Fairfax, one of the -greatest of Cromwell's lieutenants, and compelled the Royalists to raise -the siege. Thus the fortunes of war inclined now to one side, now to the -other, and the towns continually changed hands. The strong Parliamentary -garrison at Northwich was attacked by Aston, at first without success, -but later in the year Brereton was badly defeated here by his determined -enemy, and the town held by the Royalist troops. - -The event which had most effect on the war in Cheshire was Brereton's -victory in August, 1644, at Tarvin on the road from Chester to -Northwich. Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, nephews of the king, were -attempting to reach Chester with a relieving column. Brereton attacked -and routed them and posted himself astride the main road. Tarvin Church -still shows traces of the fighting here, for a bullet is buried deep in -a brass plate in the chancel. After this success Brereton advanced his -head-quarters to Christleton, only two miles from the gates of Chester. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. II - -A MEMORABLE SIEGE - - -In 1645 word was brought to Chester that the king himself was coming, -and the drooping spirits of the Royalists revived. Charles entered the -city with about three hundred followers who had escaped from the battle -of Naseby, where the main Royalist army had been cut to pieces by -Cromwell's Ironsides. During his short visit to Chester the king was the -guest of Sir Francis Gamull at his home, still called Gamull House, in -Bridge Street. - -Many of you have read the inscription on the Phoenix Tower on the walls -of Chester-- - - 'King Charles - stood on this tower - September 27th, 1645, and saw - His Army defeated - on Rowton Moor.' - -Rowton Moor is no longer moorland. A village now stands on the -battlefield where the last hopes of the loyal inhabitants of Chester -were destroyed. The defeated army consisted of the remnants of the -Royalist cavalry under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was trying to cut his -way through the enemy to reinforce the garrison of Chester. The -Royalists were almost successful, and a sortie was made by the troops -within the city to join hands with Langdale, but the Puritan General -Poyntz, following closely on the heels of the Royalist horse, threw -them into hopeless confusion and drove them helter-skelter in all -directions. During the battle Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, whose tomb is in -the Shakerley Chapel at Little Peover, carried dispatches to the king, -ferrying himself across the river Dee in a tub. Some matchlocks and -firelocks used in this battle have been found on the Heath, and are now -in the Chester Museum. - -This defeat was almost the final blow received by the king in his -struggle with Parliament. On the following day Charles fled into Wales -by an undefended road, asking only that the city might hold out for -eight days longer to enable him to make good his escape. In a tiny -window in Farndon Church are some pieces of ancient painted glass, with -portraits of several of the Cheshire esquires who attended Charles -during his stay in Chester. - -The cordon was now drawn tighter round the doomed city, and a regular -blockade followed to starve the citizens into surrender. When the -Cromwellian troops who had been battering Lathom House in Lancashire -arrived and took up a position on the north side of the walls, the city -was completely surrounded. Dodleston Hall, to the south-west of the -city, was occupied by Brereton to prevent any further escapes into -Wales. The Roundheads made a floating bridge across the river Dee, which -was, however, destroyed by fireships which were turned adrift and were -carried up the river by a strong spring tide. Scaling-ladders were fixed -on the walls, but the Royalists dragged them up into the city in the -night-time. - -The inhabitants were determined not to give in without a struggle. Even -women took a share in the work of defence, carrying baskets of earth to -fill up the breaches made by a night attack upon the city walls. The -city was well protected by the river Dee on its western and southern -sides; a semicircle of mud earthworks was made round the north and east -of the city. Many large houses in the neighbourhood were burnt by the -Royalists to prevent their being used by the enemy. The suburb of -Boughton, with its hall, was entirely destroyed, fighting taking place -almost daily in this quarter. The Royalists also made breaches in the -Dee Bridge. - -When the outworks were carried by the Parliamentarian troops, all S. -John's parish lay at their mercy. The Roundheads turned the church into -a fortress, and planted a battery of guns on the tower, from which they -battered the city walls. In a glass case at the west end of the church -you may see a cannon ball that was fired from the walls and long -afterwards found embedded in the church tower. - -The walls were also fiercely bombarded from Brewers Hall on the opposite -side of the Dee, though a battery of guns placed on the summit of -Morgan's Mount kept the besiegers at bay on the north. The Water Tower -at the north-west corner of the city bears the marks of some well-aimed -shots from the guns of Cromwell's men. - -Within the city the hardships were very severe. Fires were frequent, -especially in the night-time. Cold and bleak December days increased the -suffering, and, worst of all, food was getting scarce, and the pinch of -hunger began to be felt. At length the inhabitants were reduced to -eating the flesh of horses and dogs, and still Sir Nicholas Byron held -out, waiting daily for the help that never came. Famine did its work at -last, and after a siege of eighteen weeks the city surrendered to -Brereton on February 3, 1646. - -One of the conditions of surrender was that the victorious troops should -not do any damage to the city. The fragment of the High Cross, now in -the Grosvenor Museum, shows that in this respect the soldiers of -Cromwell did not keep their word. Sir Francis Gamull, the mayor, -bargained with the Roundheads that the tombs of his family should not be -harmed, and this explains the fact that the Gamull monuments in S. -Mary's-on-the-Hill are almost the only relics of the kind in Chester -that escaped destruction. - -The events of the war were published every week in the Mercurius Aulicus -or 'Court Mercury,' a forerunner of the modern newspaper. In the Free -Library at Birkenhead are preserved some sheets of this paper, on one of -which is related the story of the capture and recapture of Beeston -Castle. After its occupation by the Parliamentary troops a daring -assault was made upon the castle by Captain Sandford and a party of -eight Royalists, who scaled the steep rock on which the castle is built -and called upon the defenders to surrender. Captain Steel, the Puritan -commander, was tried for cowardice in yielding to so small a force, and -condemned to be shot. After the battle of Rowton Moor the castle endured -a seven weeks' siege, and surrendered in November, 1645. Shortly -afterwards Parliament ordered the castle to be dismantled, and it has -been in ruins ever since. Several of the officers who were killed at -Beeston are buried at Tarporley. - -Many of the Cheshire halls, which were held mainly by Royalists, -suffered severely for their loyalty to the king. Crewe Hall was taken by -the Roundheads, retaken by Byron, and finally garrisoned by the soldiers -of Brereton. Huxley Hall was occupied by Colonel Croxton during the -siege of Chester. Puddington Hall, in Wirral, the ancient home of the -Masseys, whose owner, Sir William Massey, remained in Chester till its -fall, was destroyed by fire. - -Adlington Hall, the home of the loyal Leghs, endured a fortnight's -siege, at the end of which time its gallant garrison of one hundred and -fifty men was compelled to surrender and permitted to depart. The marks -of cannon shot used in the bombardment may still be seen upon the -massive oak doors of the courtyard. Wythenshaw Hall was held by -Royalists, but Colonel Dukinfield, a friend and neighbour of Sir William -Brereton, compelled a surrender after a short siege. Cannon balls have -been found in the grounds of the hall. - -Vale Royal, the private residence of the Cholmondeleys since Henry the -Eighth turned out its abbot and monks, was plundered and partly burnt by -the soldiers of General Lambert's army. Sir Peter Leycester, of Tabley -Hall, fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians and was sent to -prison. During his captivity he first planned his famous book of the -History and Antiquities of Cheshire. - -The lot of the unhappy Cheshire squire was indeed pitiable. Royalists -and Roundheads were equally unwelcome guests, treating their host with -scant ceremony, ransacking his house and helping themselves freely to -everything that might be of any service to them. Let Peter Davenport, -the squire of Bramhall, tell in his own words the story of his woes: 'On -New Year's Day, 1643, came Captain Sankey (a Parliamentary officer) with -two or three troopers to Bramhall, and went into my stable and took out -my horses, above twenty in all, and afterwards searched my house for -arms again and took my fowling-piece, stocking-piece, and drum, with -divers other things. Next day, after they were gone, came Prince -Rupert's army, by whom I lost better than a hundred pounds in linen and -other goods, besides the rifling and pulling to pieces of my house. By -whom I lost eight horses, and they ate me threescore bushels of oats.' -Poor Peter was not yet at the end of his troubles, for when the war was -over he had to pay five hundred pounds in order to buy back his own -property, for the estates of the Royalists were confiscated by -Parliament and sold back to their owners for large sums of money. - -The empty niches over the porches of many Cheshire churches tell their -own tale of the damage done by the Cromwellian troops. Sculptured images -were everywhere broken in fragments, lead was stripped from the fonts -and roofs to be turned into bullets. The pipes were taken from the organ -of Budworth Church, and the stained glass windows of Tarvin destroyed by -the Puritan fanatic, John Bruen. The sacred buildings themselves were -used throughout the war as barracks, fortresses, stables, or prisons. - -The destruction of property and of works of art that can never be -replaced was indeed largely the work of the Roundheads; but it was the -Royalists who perpetrated the blackest deed in this long tale of civil -strife. In the winter of 1643 Lord Byron's troopers were plundering the -villages of South Cheshire, burning farms and homesteads, and driving -the country people before them. One of his officers, Major Connought, -entered the village of Barthomley, and many of the panic-stricken -inhabitants took refuge in the tower of the church. Connought and his -brutal followers broke up the pews, gathered together the mats and -rushes strewn upon the floor, and made a bonfire at the entrance to the -tower. Forced from their place of refuge by fire and smoke, the -unfortunate villagers were stabbed and hacked to death as they came out -one by one. This was their Christmastide, the season of peace and good -fellowship and brotherly love, and men, blind with the lust of blood, -were cutting the throats of their brothers as if they were sheep in the -shambles. Happily, such scenes as this were rare, even in those dark -years. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. III - -THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION - - -The story is told that a schoolboy, wandering among the tombstones in -the churchyard of Macclesfield, scratched these strange lines on one of -the grave-slabs: - - My brother Harry must heir the land; - My brother Frank must be at his command; - While I, poor Jack, shall do that - Which all the world will wonder at. - -'Poor Jack' was John Bradshaw, whose name is the first on the list of -those who signed the warrant for the execution of the king. On January -1, 1649, Parliament decided that Charles should be tried before a High -Court of Justice, and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, Bradshaw, -the president of the Court, pronounced the death sentence in Westminster -Hall. - -John Bradshaw, the 'regicide', was born at Wibbersley Hall, near Disley. -In the register of the Parish Church of Stockport is the record of his -baptism: 'December, 1602, John, the son of Henry Bradshaw, of Marple, -baptised the tenth. Traitor.' The word 'Traitor' has been added by -another hand, no doubt that of some ardent Royalist. - -He was educated at Bunbury School by Edward Burghall, a notable -Cheshire Puritan, who was afterwards made vicar of Acton, and wrote a -Diary (or copied someone else's Diary) of the Civil War in Cheshire. -Bradshaw also probably spent a short time at the Grammar School at -Macclesfield. He became Mayor of Congleton and Chief Justice of -Cheshire. - -The name of Major-General Thomas Harrison, a native of Nantwich, also -appears on the list of those who signed the death-warrant of the king. - -Memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most -devoted of his followers. In the Stag Parlour at Lyme Hall are some -chairs, said to be covered with portions of the cloak that Charles wore -at the time of his death. Here also are a pair of embroidered gloves -that belonged to the king, and a dagger with his name 'Carolus' engraved -upon it. - -The war was continued by his son, Charles the Second. James Stanley, -Earl of Derby, was made commander of the Royalist forces in Cheshire. In -the year 1651 Knutsford Heath was a scene of bustling activity. Here -were encamped the forces of General Lambert, one of Cromwell's most -trusted lieutenants, consisting of 9,000 horse and 4,000 foot. He was -waiting for the Royalist army, which was marching southwards from -Scotland under the command of Charles himself and General Leslie. -Lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at Warrington to prevent the -passage of the king's army, but arrived too late. Skirmishes took place -at Budworth and High Legh, and Lambert was compelled to retreat to -Knutsford, while the Royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field -of Worcester. - -A few days later, the people of Sandbach were setting up the stalls and -spreading their wares in the market-place for the September Fair. A cry -was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town. They were all -that was left of Leslie's Scottish Cavaliers. Weary of war, their horses -jaded and lame, they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their -homes again in safety. But the townspeople, remembering perhaps the -massacre of Barthomley, were not minded to let them off easily. The -foremost troopers, who alone were armed, were allowed to pass through -the town. Then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and -cudgelled them. Many were wounded and captured, and placed in the town -prison, where perhaps they were not sorry to rest. Others escaped into -the open fields. 'Scotch Commons', as the scene of the encounter is -still called, reminds us of this last event of the Civil War in -Cheshire. The struggle was ended. Charles was an exile, and Cromwell -ruled over the land. - -One of Cromwell's Acts decreed that all who had any communication with -Charles the Second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the -State. The Earl of Derby, who escaped from the rout at Worcester, but -was captured at Nantwich, was tried under this Act and condemned to -death. He escaped from his prison in the castle at Chester, and lay -concealed for a time, it is said, in a secret chamber in the Stanley -Palace near the Water Gate. The 'Martyr Earl' was, however, recaptured -on the banks of the Dee, and beheaded at Bolton. - -Brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the Parliamentary cause with -the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest. Soon afterwards, however, -he left the county of his birth and lived in London until his death in -1661. His body was brought to Cheadle for burial in the Handforth -Chapel. There is, however, no note of his burial in the parish -registers, and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in -which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a -river over which it was being carried. - -The Puritans determined to put an end to the government of the Church by -bishops, and abolished the Book of Common Prayer from the Church -services, putting in its place a new form of public worship. About -thirty of the clergy in Cheshire who refused to perform the new services -of the Church were turned out of their livings. Children were no longer -to be baptized in fonts but from a basin. Hour-glasses were set up in -the pulpits, from which long political sermons were preached to the -people. - -The Puritan mayor of Chester would not permit Christmas and other -time-honoured festivals of the Church to be kept, and music, dancing, -and games were rigidly put down. - -In 1659 an attempt was made by a number of Cheshire gentry to restore -Charles to the throne. Oliver Cromwell was now dead, and had been -succeeded by his son Richard. But the real power was in the hands of the -soldiers, and many people soon became disgusted with military rule. The -leader of the revolt in Cheshire was Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey. -He had fought on the side of Parliament in the early years of the war, -and was one of the Presbyterian members of Parliament who were turned -out of the House by 'Pride's Purge,' just before the execution of the -king. - -Sir George Booth collected a Royalist force on Rowton Moor, and prepared -to attack Chester. He captured the city and the walls, but failed to -take the castle, whose governor was Colonel Croxton, of Ravenscroft Hall -near Middlewich. Colonel Lambert, however, was summoned with two -regiments from Ireland, and he compelled Booth to retire towards -Northwich. The Royalist force was overtaken at Hartford, and in the -battle which took place near Winnington Bridge on the river Weaver, was -completely routed. - -But the return of the exiled king was not long delayed. Among the -Royalists captured at Nantwich in 1644 was George Monk. After his -release he entered the service of Parliament, and won the esteem of -Cromwell. General Monk now succeeded in persuading Parliament to recall -Charles. Nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in Cheshire. -Church bells rang merrily, maypoles were set up again upon the village -greens, and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops. The long quarrel that had -separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end, and -many a Cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers. -The king had come into his own again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -THE FALL OF THE STUARTS - - -When Charles was restored to the throne the bishops also came back to -their bishoprics. The records of the churches of Chester tell of the -payments made to the ringers for the ringing of the bells when the -citizens joyously welcomed Bishop Walton to the city. A large number of -citizens and mounted soldiers went as far as Nantwich to meet him and -escorted him to the city gates of Chester, where the mayor and -corporation as well as the clergy and gentry of Cheshire received him. -Once more a Christmas was kept in the old time way, and the churches -were decked with holly and evergreens for one of the greatest festivals -of the Church. And truly the bare walls, stripped of everything that was -beautiful, needed some adornment after the ravages and desecrations of -the Civil War. - -But Charles was a foolish king, and spent most of his days in idle and -frivolous pleasures. The people were disappointed with him, for he had -plenty of brains. One of his favourite hobbies was the study of science. -John Wilkins, another Bishop of Chester, was one of a little band of -clever men who helped the king to found the Royal Society for the spread -of knowledge and the study of science. To be a Fellow of the Royal -Society is to this day one of the highest honours that men of science -can obtain. - -The favourite study of John Wilkins was astronomy, and he wrote a book -called the _Discovery of a New World, to prove that there may be another -habitable world in the moon_. Another book of his was called _Mercury; -or the secret and swift Messenger, shewing how a man may privately and -with speed tell his thoughts to friends at any distance_. Thus, had he -lived in a later age, he might perhaps have been the inventor of the -telegraph and telephone. - -Charles secretly favoured the old Catholic religion, and on his -death-bed was received into the Catholic Church. During his reign -another Act of Uniformity was passed, much more severe than the former -one. Sixty ministers of Cheshire churches, who refused to obey the Act, -were turned out of their livings. Among them was Adam Martindale, a -noted Puritan, who was driven from his church at Rostherne. Adam -Martindale wrote the story of his life, with all his trials and -misfortunes, in a book which you may read in many of your public -libraries. - -The Nonconformists were prevented by another Act from holding prayer -meetings within five miles of the town or village where they had held a -living. The gaol at Chester was soon filled with those who were ready to -suffer for the crime of preaching the Gospel in their homes and to their -friends. Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, who had been made Governor of Chester -Castle for his services in the Civil War, sought them out and persecuted -them with great cruelty. - -Still there were many who continued to worship in their own way. For a -long time they held their services secretly in private houses, but, in -1690, the Toleration Act allowed them to build chapels. These they -erected chiefly on the outskirts of towns or in remote villages. During -the later years of the seventeenth century these chapels increased -greatly in number. The Unitarian chapel at Knutsford and the tiny brick -chapel at Dean Row, between the Bollin and the Dean, are among the -earliest of such places of worship in Cheshire. - -Matthew Henry, a learned commentator of the New Testament, whose father -had been turned out of his church at Worthenbury, preached in the chapel -in Trinity Street, Chester. You may still see the seventeenth-century -pulpit from which he addressed his congregation. During the Civil War -the pulpit had become the most important feature of the churches. The -Puritans were in the habit of preaching long political sermons which -they timed with an hour-glass fixed on the wall near the pulpit. At -Shotwick is a pulpit of the kind called a 'three-decker', with a square -box-pew beneath it for the parish clerk. - -As soon as people were permitted to choose their own form of worship -several other religious bodies came into being, each with its own -peculiar teaching and belief, often differing but slightly from each -other, all bent on practising their religion precisely in their own -particular way. Many earnest soldiers in the Parliamentary army of Sir -George Booth, when encamped in the neighbourhood of Knutsford and -Alderley, had held their services in the barn of a farmhouse at Warford. -Their children in after days built the tiny Baptist chapel which still -remains in the village. - -The Quakers were very numerous in the neighbourhood of Stockport and -Wilmslow, and George Fox the founder of their sect, or 'Society of -Friends' as it was called, used often to visit them. Some cottages on -Lindow Moss were once a Quaker chapel, and there is a Quaker -burial-ground in a clump of trees near Mobberley. Many of the -gravestones have seventeenth-century dates upon them. Often the Quakers -were refused burial in the churchyards, and most out-of-the-way places -were chosen for their last resting-place. There are some Quakers' graves -in the woods at Burton in Wirral. - -James the Second, who succeeded his brother Charles, did not try to hide -the fact that he was a Papist. Many people would have preferred the Duke -of Monmouth, a bastard son of Charles the Second, as king. He was known -to be a Protestant, and the people of Cheshire, who were strongly -Protestant, would have welcomed him as they had already welcomed him -once in Charles the Second's reign. - -Three years before James became king, the duke had visited Cheshire and -raised the cry of 'No Popery!' He stayed at Mainwaring House in Bridge -Street, Chester, and supped at the Plume of Feathers Inn. On the -following day the little daughter of the mayor was christened, and the -duke stood godfather, naming her Henrietta. - -The duke then made a triumphal progress through the villages of Wirral. -He stayed at Peel Hall, Bromborough, in order to attend the races at -Wallasey, where he won a prize, which he sent to his little goddaughter -at Chester. Several of the Wirral gentry met in a summer-house at -Bidston, and talked of a rising in his favour. But the country people -did not show so much readiness as had been expected, and all the duke's -doings were secretly reported to the king by Sir Peter Shakerley, the -governor of Chester Castle. Monmouth also stayed at Rock Savage and -Dunham Massey, and witnessed the sports at Gawsworth. Shortly -afterwards, however, he was captured by the king's men at Stafford, and -the plot came to nothing. He was lucky not to lose his head. Charles was -kinder to him than James was when the duke raised the West of England in -1685. - -James was thoroughly hated by the bulk of the people, who grew tired of -the mischievous rule of the Stuarts, and made up their minds to depose -him. They were also determined that never again should a Catholic king -reign over them. James fled to France, and Thomas Cartwright, the Bishop -of Chester, who had made the citizens angry by bringing in again the old -Catholic services of the Church, followed him into exile. - -In the gardens of Gayton Hall are two ancient trees which have been -called William and Mary. William of Orange was the new king who was -invited by the English to succeed James. All who held office in Church -or State were required to take the oath of allegiance to him. Some -refused to do this. They were called non-jurors, and among them were -several of the clergy of Cheshire who had to give up their churches. -James made an effort to regain his lost kingdom, and sailed from France -to Ireland, where he hoped to win many adherents. William assembled his -forces in Wirral, staying at Gayton Hall, the home of William Clegg, -whom he knighted after his visit. - -The 'King's Gap', near Hoylake, reminds us of King William's presence in -Cheshire. On the Lowlands, between Hoylake and Meols, his army lay -encamped, and in the river Dee Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the brave sailor -who rose from 'powder-monkey' to admiral, was waiting with the fleet to -take the troops across to Ireland. Cloudesley Shovel is said to have -received part of his education at the Grammar School of Stockport. - -On the chancel wall of West Kirby Church is a tablet bearing the name of -Baron Johannes Van Zoelen, who died here in 1690. The foreign-looking -name is that of an officer of the Dutch troops of the Duke of Schomberg, -for William employed Dutch and German soldiers to put down James's -rising in Ireland. The soldiers embarked at Hoylake, and a few weeks -later the farmers of Wirral, who had had to feed the army, and who, no -doubt, were glad to see it depart, heard of William's great victory at -the battle of the Boyne. James took refuge again in France. - -Many Cheshire men took part in William's Irish campaign. A regiment was -raised in Cheshire by Sir George Booth, the old Parliamentary leader who -had, after the Civil War, become one of Charles the Second's most -devoted followers and received the title of Lord Delamere for his -services. The regiment was also accompanied by a troop of horse from -Wilmslow and the neighbourhood. - -William was never popular with his subjects. They disliked him because -he was not English. He was cold and silent, and his manners ungracious; -he spoke English with difficulty, and often he seemed anxious to get -back to his own country. But he was devoted to duty and a great soldier, -and he did much for England in checking the power of the French king who -favoured the exiled Stuart. - -William died childless, and was succeeded by Anne, the last Stuart who -sat on the English throne. She had Cheshire blood in her veins, for she -was the daughter of James the Second's wife, Anne Hyde, whose -grandfather, the Earl of Clarendon, was a Hyde of Hyde Hall. - -Queen Anne's children all died young. Before she came to the throne -Parliament had passed an Act of Settlement, by which the crown was -settled on a Protestant, Princess Sophia, granddaughter of James the -First, and her heirs. When Queen Anne died, George, the eldest son of -Sophia, became king. - -The fallen Stuarts made more than one attempt to recover the British -crown. In 1715, when George the First was king, a number of Cheshire -gentlemen, among whom were the Leghs of Legh and Lymm, the Grosvenors of -Eaton, Warrens and Asshetons, and Cholmondeleys met in the hall of the -Asshetons at Ashley to decide whether they should give any help to James -Edward, the 'Old Pretender', James's eldest son, who was raising a -revolt in Scotland. They decided by a majority of one only to remain -loyal to the Protestant King George. - -Thirty years later the inhabitants of East Cheshire saw an army of -rugged Highlanders in bonnets and kilts pass southwards from Stockport -Prince Charles Edward, the 'Young Pretender', had raised his flag in the -Highlands of Scotland and gathered together an army of 'Jacobites', as -the followers of the Stuarts were called. At Manchester the Scots had -been joined by about 200 Lancashire Catholics. But the villagers who -cheered the rebels on the Macclesfield high-road saw them returning -within a week, for they had hardly crossed the hills at Bosley and -descended into the valleys of Derbyshire when the Duke of Cumberland, -commanding an army in the Midlands, scattered them and drove them -pell-mell northwards again. - -In Lyme Hall are some Jacobite wine-glasses, with the White Rose of the -Stuarts stamped on one side, and on the other the Latin word 'fiat', -which expressed the thought that was in the minds of those who used -them: 'May the king come to his own again!' When men were forbidden to -drink the health of the Pretender in public, these 'fiat' glasses were -made by the Jacobites and the toast drunk in silence. - -'Bonnie Prince Charlie' stayed at the house of Sir Peter Davenport in -Macclesfield, and his officers at a house in Jordangate which is now the -George Hotel. Stuart 'Pretenders' were never seen in Cheshire again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. I - - -During the latter part of the seventeenth century the people of Cheshire -began to repair the damage done to the churches, mansions, and public -buildings during the Civil Wars. It was hardly to be expected that the -art of the builder could flourish during that stormy period. Gothic -architecture had reached its greatest glory under the Plantagenet and -Tudor kings, and when the builders of the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries took up their work again they cast aside the aims and ideals -of the Gothic craftsmen and turned to new models and new sources for -their inspiration. - -The changes which were now made were one of the results of the -Renaissance or Great Awakening of the sixteenth century. The men who -visited Italy and brought back with them copies of the works of the old -Greek and Roman writers, which they printed and gave to the world, -brought also the ideas of Italian architects and plans of Italian -buildings, which had been copied from those of ancient Athens and Rome. -Englishmen of the eighteenth century took these as their models. Like -the Roman workmen, they found it easier to _copy_ than to _invent_. - -If you turn back to Chapter VI you will find that the chief feature of -the Roman, which we will now call the Italian or Classic style, are the -rows of pillars ranged along the front and sides of a building. The Town -Hall of Macclesfield, and the group of buildings which now form the -Castle of Chester, are good examples of the style of architecture which -prevailed during the eighteenth century. The windows are sometimes -round-headed, but more often they are rectangular, with low triangles -above them. - -Unfortunately many ancient buildings, which we would gladly have with us -now, disappeared at this time. Some of them, no doubt, were in such a -ruinous state that it was impossible to repair them, but, generally -speaking, little or no pains were taken to restore them to their former -appearance. The people preferred to pull down and destroy and rebuild in -the new Classic style, which rapidly became a craze. - -The greatest loss was that of the mediaeval castle of Chester, which, -with the exception of 'Caesar's Tower', was pulled down in 1788. The -front entrance to the new castle is in the Doric style. Round the -courtyard are barracks and an armoury, the county gaol and the shire -hall with colonnades of Ionic pillars. - -Many fine Elizabethan halls were destroyed to make way for mansions in -the Classic style. Hooton Hall was built on the site of an old 'black -and white' timber house. Poynton, Tabley, Tatton, Ince, and Doddington -Halls were built about the same time. Other houses were altered or -enlarged. The beauty of Adlington Hall was spoilt by the stone front -with its Corinthian columns, which Charles and Hester Legh built. The -appearance of Lyme Hall was completely changed by an Italian architect -named Giacomo Leoni. His work is adorned with figures of the gods of -heathen Rome, Neptune and Venus and Pan. The Leghs of Lyme brought many -treasures from Italy. The stained glass in the east window of Disley -Church was brought by them. - -The roundheaded 'Italian' windows in the tower of Rostherne Church tell -us that they are the work of eighteenth-century builders and -'restorers'. The ugly tower cuts a sorry figure when compared with the -beautiful perpendicular towers of Mobberley, Cheadle, Budworth, Witton, -Alderley, Middlewich, and others in the neighbourhood. The tower of -Great Barrow Church, with urns in the place of pinnacles, and the porch -of Frodsham, are out of keeping with the Gothic character of the rest of -the buildings. - -The eighteenth-century restorers had little taste or sense of beauty. -Within the churches ugly wooden galleries were placed over the aisles, -and the walls, pillars, and pews coated with layers of paint or -whitewash. Even the carved woodwork of the choir stalls of Chester -Cathedral was painted. The open timber roof of Alderley Old Church was -hidden by a flat ceiling of lath and plaster. A portion of the old -timber church at Warburton was repaired with common bricks, and -sometimes whole churches were rebuilt with the same material. - - [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CHESTER CASTLE] - -In place of the handsome Decorated altar tombs, with their effigies of -knights and dames, great tablets of marble brought from Italy were fixed -on the walls. On them were carved skulls and cross-bones, sometimes an -entire skeleton, with funeral urns like those in which the Romans placed -the ashes of their dead. Scrolls with long rambling inscriptions told of -the virtues of the dead. These were often written in Latin, as if the -homely English of the mother tongue was not good enough for the -purpose. - - [Illustration: ROSTHERNE. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOWER] - -The poets of the eighteenth century imitated the style of the poets of -ancient Rome. Their poems are full of the wit and satire found in Horace -and Juvenal. Man, not Nature, was nearly always the subject of their -poems. Two lines of Alexander Pope, the greatest of the -eighteenth-century poets, are carved on the tombstone of Sir John -Chesshyre in Runcorn Church:-- - - A wit's a feather and a chief's a rod: - An honest man's the noblest work of God. - - [Illustration: CHANCEL: FRODSHAM (Eighteenth Century)] - -Sir John Chesshyre was a lawyer, and built the little library near -Halton Castle in 1733 for the books which he left for the use of -Cheshire scholars and students. - -Clubs were formed by the poets and wits and 'men of fashion' of the -eighteenth century. They met in the taverns and coffee-houses of the -towns, and scratched their smart sayings on the window-panes with their -diamond rings. They rather prided themselves on their eccentric habits -and their superiority over other men, who had neither the time nor the -money to waste on frivolous amusements. - -In a little wood near Gawsworth is a lonely grave with a plain flat -stone, beneath which, - - Undisturbed, and hid from Vulgar Eyes, - A Wit, Musician, Poet, Player, lies. - -The grave is that of Samuel Johnson, a dancing master, 'afterwards -ennobled with the grander title of Lord Flame,' as the inscription tells -us, who was buried here at his own desire. - -Neston and Parkgate, twin towns on the southern shore of Wirral, were -visited by many fashionable people in the eighteenth century. They spent -the summer here for the bathing and the fresh breezes that blow from the -Irish Sea and the hills of Wales. It is to be feared that Parkgate was -also the resort of less respectable folk, for in some of the old houses -you may still see the huge holes in which smugglers stored their -unlawful cargoes. It was dangerous work, for the 'King's Yacht', as the -revenue cutter was called, patrolled the waters of the Dee, and the -officers had orders to shoot down all whom they caught in this illegal -traffic. It is from this boat that the 'Yacht Inn' at Chester takes its -name. - -Neston and Parkgate were the starting-points for the Irish mails. The -coaches from London and Liverpool put down their passengers here for -Dublin. One of the most beautiful poems in the English language, the -'Lycidas' of John Milton, was written in memory of Edward King, a friend -of the poet, who was shipwrecked on his way from Ireland to Parkgate. - -The London coaches that brought travellers to Chester and Parkgate -frequently got into difficulties in the low-lying parts near the River -Dee. The roads were very bad, and the coach often had to be hauled out -of the mud by a team of horses borrowed from some neighbouring farm. - -The passengers sometimes found themselves without their purses and their -jewels at the end of their journey. The roads were frequented by -highwaymen--'gentlemen of the road', they called themselves--who held up -the coach and demanded money. With pistols levelled at their heads, the -travellers were generally glad to escape with their lives. - -One of the most famous of these highwaymen was Dick Turpin, whose -escapades, I imagine, are known to most Cheshire boys, though I hope -they have no wish to follow the career of this rascally thief. - - Once it happened in Cheshire, near Dunham I popped - On a horseman alone, whom I speedily stopped; - That I lightened his pockets you'll readily guess-- - Quick work makes Dick Turpin when mounted on Bess. - -The robbery spoken of in these lines was committed on the high-road -between Altrincham and Knutsford, and Turpin rode so fast to the inn at -Hoo Green, where he showed his watch to some Cheshire squires, that he -was never suspected of the crime. This and many other stories of Turpin -are told by Harrison Ainsworth, the novelist, whose father lived at -Rostherne. - -Knutsford claimed a highwayman of its own, one Higgins, who lived on -Knutsford Heath as an ordinary gentleman of means, and was very friendly -with the sporting squires of the neighbourhood. His favourite amusement -was to waylay the ladies who went to the county balls and 'assemblies' -at the George Hotel, and rob them of their diamonds. But he, like most -others of his profession, was found out at last, and paid with his life -the penalty of his crimes. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. II - - -The people of Cheshire were not all thieves and robbers in the -eighteenth century. If the rich and the idle were given to folly and -extravagance, and poorer men also too often lost the little they -possessed through gambling and cock-fighting, the heart of the people -was sound, and only waiting to be stirred to newer life and better -ideals. - -In the latter half of the century a great preacher came to Cheshire, and -stirred deeply the hearts of men by denouncing the follies of the age, -and the lack of religious feeling which had spread over all classes of -society. His name was John Wesley, the founder of the Wesleyan and -Methodist bodies. At first he met with much opposition, and his meetings -were broken up by the mob, but in time the people were struck by his -earnestness and flocked to hear him. The chapel at Chester where he -preached was so crowded that it could not hold all who wished to listen -to him. In his Diary he tells us of his visits to Knutsford, Stockport, -and other Cheshire towns. But Wesley and his followers often found -themselves unable to preach in the churches, so they built for -themselves chapels, little square brick buildings, all over the county. - -Another fervent preacher of the time was Captain Scott, who left the -army to be a missionary among his own countrymen, whom he gathered round -him in the streets or the inn-yards of the villages where he stayed. The -Mill Street Chapel at Congleton is one of the many chapels founded by -him in Southern Cheshire. - -Many Cheshire men were fighting in the wars into which England was drawn -in the eighteenth century. In the reigns of Anne and the three Georges -war succeeded war, and the intervals of peace were few and short. France -and Spain were our enemies, each of whom looked with jealous eyes upon -the growing power of England, and, still more, her vast colonial -empire. From Canada in the West to India in the East battles were fought -on land and on sea to maintain for England the supremacy of the sea and -her colonies. - -Many churches in Cheshire tell the story of Cheshire soldiers and -sailors who distinguished themselves in these wars. In the church of -Pott Shrigley you may see a memorial tablet of Peter Downes, whose -ancestors were foresters of the forest of Macclesfield. Peter Downes -entered the navy and was killed in a fight between the _Leander_, an -English man-of-war, and the French ship _Généreux_. - -Peter Dennis, who was born at Chester and was a scholar at the King's -School, became an Admiral of the Fleet. He was in command of the -battleship _Centurion_ in a battle fought off Cape Finisterre. -Afterwards he was knighted and made commander-in-chief of the -Mediterranean fleet. - -The battleships in which these sailors fought were very different to the -monster ironclads of the present day with which you are familiar. The -eighteenth-century vessels were the old 'wooden walls' of England, big -sailing ships called 'three deckers', with three rows of guns pointing -outwards from their sides. There is a model of one of them, the _Royal -George_, over the inner door of Vernon Park Museum. - -Robert Clive was the son of a Shropshire squire, and was educated at the -little school in the Cheshire village of Allostock. Clive went to India -and became a soldier. The English and French were fighting for the -mastery of India, and it is to Clive's victories that we owe in a great -measure our Indian Empire. - -In the last few years of the eighteenth century the dangers which -threatened England from France were much nearer home. In 1794 King -George the Third was obliged to ask Parliament for a large increase in -our home army. Cheshire raised a regiment of six troops, with Colonel -Leicester, of Tabley Hall, as its commander. - -Shortly afterwards a call for Volunteers was made in Cheshire, as in -other parts of the country, to defend the shores of our own land from -attack. The armies of Napoleon were conquering everywhere, and an -invasion of England was expected. Knutsford Heath presented the same -busy scene that it had done 150 years before, when Lambert's troops were -encamped upon it. For Knutsford was the appointed meeting-place of all -the Cheshire forces--Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers--and the beacon -that was kept in readiness on Alderley Edge was to give the signal. - -The danger was not over for many years, for the war lasted well into the -nineteenth century, ending only when Napoleon and the French were -defeated by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. Duke Street and -Wellington Street in Stockport keep alive the memory of the 'Iron Duke', -Napoleon's conqueror. - -A friend of the Duke of Wellington was Stapleton Cotton, Viscount -Combermere, whose statue stands in front of the gates of Chester Castle. -He was a descendant of the Cotton to whom the Abbey of Combermere was -given when Henry the Eighth plundered the Cheshire monasteries. The Duke -of Wellington frequently stayed at Combermere; on one of his visits he -planted an oak tree which you may still see in the Park. On the tomb of -Stapleton Cotton in Wrenbury Church you may read the names of the many -battles in which this gallant soldier took part. - -The wars of the eighteenth century and the final struggle with Napoleon -would have ruined this country but for a great increase in the wealth of -the people, which made them able to bear the cost. - -To understand the sources of this wealth, and the way in which it was -made, we shall have to go back again to the middle of the eighteenth -century, and tell the story of a great Industrial Revolution, a -revolution without war and bloodshed indeed, but one that brought with -it the greatest changes perhaps that Cheshire had yet seen. What these -changes were, and how they affected the lives of Cheshire men and women, -you will read in the succeeding chapters. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. I - - -The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century laid the foundation -of modern manufacturing England. With remarkable rapidity great -industries came into being, and new methods of making all kinds of -manufactured goods. And the first cause of this revolution was the -discovery of coal, or rather the discovery of what you could do with -coal. For coal was all at once in great demand to provide the power of -steam, and in 1769 James Watt, the discoverer of the power of steam, -showed that the steam engine could be used to drive machinery hitherto -worked by hand. - -Coal was first found in Cheshire about the year 1750. A colliery was -opened at Denhall in Wirral, where coal is worked to this day. In East -Cheshire coal was found by an accident. A farmer near Poynton had to -fetch his water from a considerable distance, and asked his landlord, -Sir George Warren of Poynton Hall, to sink him a well on his land. While -the workmen were boring the well they came across a seam of fine coal -quite near to the surface. Many other collieries have since that time -been started in the same neighbourhood, and now coal is taken out of the -earth nearly all the way from Stockport to Macclesfield. There are pits -at Norbury, Middlewood, and Bakestonedale. The coal-field extends -northwards also, and all along the Tame valley there are pits, and -especially in the neighbourhood of Dukinfield, where some of the -workings reach a depth of over two thousand feet below the surface of -the land. - -The earlier Cheshire canals were made as a result of the discovery of -coal. The Duke of Bridgwater, who owned rich coal-mines at Worsley near -Manchester, made very little profit out of them on account of the -expense of carrying the coal by carriage to the shipping ports. A clever -engineer named James Brindley was the first to suggest to him the -making of a canal by which barges might take the coal to the river -Irwell. This was the first canal made in England, and was finished in -the year 1761. - -The Bridgwater Canal was afterwards extended and carried over the Irwell -by an aqueduct. It enters Cheshire at Stretford, and passing through -Altrincham and Lymm extends a distance of twenty-four miles to Runcorn, -where it descends by a series of locks to the tidal waters of the -Mersey. - - [Illustration: AN OLD CANAL: MARPLE] - -The canal turned out so successful that the manufacturers in the -Potteries of Staffordshire asked Brindley to make a canal across the -Cheshire plain to unite the rivers Trent and Mersey. This was the -beginning of the Grand Trunk Canal, which now winds through the heart of -England and connects the great industrial towns of Lancashire and -Cheshire with the metropolis. - -At Harecastle the canal is carried under the hills that separate -Cheshire from Staffordshire by a tunnel nearly three thousand yards -long. At first the boatmen pushed their barges through the tunnel by -'legging' along the roof. This was such a laborious and troublesome way -that another engineer named Telford, the great road-maker, afterwards -built a second tunnel large enough for horses to tow the barges through -it. - -The Ellesmere Canal connects the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, -and thus cuts off the Wirral peninsula from the rest of the county. When -this canal was being made, layers of fine sand and sea shells were -found, proving that at some not very remote period the estuaries of the -Mersey and the Dee were connected with one another. - -In the east of Cheshire the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canal enters -the county at Dukinfield. One portion goes southward to Macclesfield and -the other crosses the river Goyt at Marple by an aqueduct a hundred feet -above the river. The Shropshire Union Canal connects the Dee and the -Severn; and thus all the great rivers of the north midlands, the Mersey, -Dee, Severn, and Trent, are united with one another by this network of -Cheshire canals. - -The canals proved a blessing not only to the coal owners and -manufacturers, but were also used by the people of the country villages -in order to travel from one part to another. Passenger barges called -'fly-boats' enabled the country women to take their butter and cheese to -the market towns. - -James Brindley was a man of humble birth, and for several years worked -as a labourer on a farm, amusing himself in his spare moments with -making wooden models of machinery with a pocket-knife. He was so clever -that he was often called in by the mill-owners of Macclesfield and -Congleton to repair their machinery. When he was first employed by the -Duke of Bridgwater he was paid only half a crown a day. He was a very -practical man, and gained his knowledge not from books but from his own -experiments. When he was called to the House of Commons to explain his -scheme for carrying a canal over the Mersey, which many people laughed -at as absurd, he took with him a Cheshire cheese which he cut in halves -to represent the arches of the bridge, and made a complete model of his -proposed work which greatly amused his audience, and at the same time -proved that he was well able to overcome his difficulties. - -The rivers also were dredged and made suitable for navigation wherever -possible. An artificial channel was made for the waters of the Dee which -had become choked with silt and sand, and small ships could once more be -towed as far as Chester. The Weaver was made navigable from Winsford to -the Mersey, so that salt, which was taken out of the earth in ever -increasing quantities, could be taken to Runcorn in barges at a much -smaller cost than on wagons. - -Salt is necessary in every home for cooking and other household needs. -But still greater quantities are required for alkalis and other -chemicals, the making of which is the chief occupation of the workpeople -of Runcorn and Weston Point. Thousands of tons are also exported every -year to other countries where salt is scarce. - -Salt has been worked in the towns on or near the Weaver from Roman days. -The earlier way was simply to mine it as we do coal now. Some of the -mines at Northwich cover many acres, and when lit up by electric -coloured lights are very beautiful. The roof of a mine is held up by -columns of salt which are left in position for that purpose, but they -frequently give way and the buildings above them are wrecked. - -The coarser kinds of rock-salt are still taken out in lumps. You may -often see pieces in the Cheshire fields which farmers have put there for -cattle to lick. For salt contains health-giving properties, and -salt-mining is not injurious to health as coal-mining is. Brine baths -have been made at Nantwich for people suffering from certain diseases. - -In the Middle Ages, wells or brine-pits were sunk and the water carried -in leather buckets to the salt-houses. Edward King, a Cheshire -historian, who in the seventeenth century wrote a book called _Vale -Royal_, says that 'at Northwich there was a salt spring on the bank of -the River Dane, from which the brine runneth on the ground in troughs of -wood until it comes to the "wich-houses", where they made salt. Some old -leaden salt-pans may still be seen at Northwich, pieces of charcoal -still sticking to them on the under side, showing that the brine had -been heated over wood fires.' - - [Illustration: THE MILL TOWNS OF N.E. CHESHIRE] - -Modern science has found better and easier ways of making salt. The -white salt which you use daily is still obtained by evaporation. The -brine is first pumped into a reservoir and taken by pipes to large -shallow salt-pans heated by furnaces beneath them. As the water -evaporates the crystals are formed and scraped from the sides and the -bottoms of the pans. You may see specimens of the different kinds of -salt in the Salt Museum at Northwich. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. II - - -In the year 1785 cotton was brought into the Mersey from the United -States of America. Long before that time so-called 'cotton' stuffs had -been made in Cheshire villages. But these fabrics were not really cotton -at all, but a mixture of wool and flax. The flax was brought from -Ireland, and woollen manufacturers tried for a long time to keep it out. -In the parish records of Prestbury you may read of an Act passed in -Charles the Second's reign forbidding any one to be buried in anything -but a woollen shroud. - -At first there were no cotton-mills, such as you see now in the populous -towns of East Cheshire. The raw cotton was given out to poor people, who -spun it and wove it in their own cottage homes. Nearly every cottage -became a small factory, the fathers, mothers, and children all taking -part in the work. The machinery was simple and made of wood. The -spinning was done by the women and children in the house, the weaving -by the men in a weaving-shed of one story built in the yard. - -As time went on, the machinery was improved by the inventions of clever -men, so that one loom would do as much work as several had done -previously. The workpeople did not like the new machines, for often a -number of people were thrown out of work by them, and frequently the new -spinning and weaving-frames of the inventors were wrecked by a furious -mob. - -The earlier and simpler machines, such as the spinning-wheel and the -hand-loom, were worked by hand. But the new discoveries made it possible -for one wheel to turn eighty or a hundred spindles at once by means of -horse-power or a water-wheel, and the hand-loom similarly gave place to -a power-loom. But in remote villages the old-fashioned methods survived, -and even to this day you may still occasionally see a hand-loom at work -in cottages in the highlands of East Cheshire. - -Then great factories began to be built, huge buildings of brick and of -many stories, chiefly on the banks of Cheshire streams, or on the -canals, by which the raw cotton could be brought in barges to the very -doors. You may look down from the churchyard of Mottram into the valley -beneath and count a score of them. Steam was applied, and the whole of -the machinery of the factories was driven by this new force. Great towns -sprang up like mushrooms. Hyde and Stalybridge and Dukinfield, from -being tiny villages, soon became great busy hives of the cotton -industry. - -The cotton had also to be bleached and the calicoes printed, and mills -for the purpose were built along the streams, whose waters provided the -steam-power which worked the machinery of the mills. From Taxal to -Stockport, along the banks of the now polluted Goyt, is an almost -continuous line of great mills, the bleach-works of Whaley Bridge, the -print-works of Furness Vale and Strines, the cotton-mills of Disley, -Marple, and Mellor. The Mellor mills were built as early as 1790 by -Samuel Oldknow, and were at one time in the hands of Peter Arkwright, -who was one of a famous family of inventors, and who made many changes -in the machinery of his works. - -Thus the positions of modern manufacturing towns have not been chosen, -as were those of the towns of the Middle Ages, by their ability to beat -off the attacks of enemies. For war is no longer the principal business -of the inhabitants of Cheshire. The 'cotton' towns have come into being -just in those parts where the conditions are favourable to the cotton -industry. In the first place the climate is damp, owing to the nearness -of the Pennine hills, on which the wet winds from the south-west drop -their moisture; and cotton can only be spun and woven in such a climate, -for a dry climate would make the threads break. Secondly, there is a -plentiful water-supply from the numerous streams that flow from the -hills, and lastly, the towns are close to big coal-fields from which -they may obtain the fuel for the engines that work the machinery of the -mills. - -In the pretty model village of Styal, on the banks of the Bollin, is a -house which is still called by the name of 'Prentice House. Here once -lived a number of young girls and boys, orphans many of them, who worked -in the picturesque ivy-clad building, strangely unlike a mill, at Quarry -Bank. They were 'apprenticed', that is, bound to their master for seven -years. During that time they were well fed and clothed by their -employer, and certain times were set apart for learning to read and -write and sew. On Sunday mornings they walked together to the church at -Wilmslow. The girls were dressed in straw bonnets and plain grey -dresses, the boys in fustian coats and breeches of corduroy. - -They were kindly treated, but the hours in the mill were long. They rose -at five, and their breakfast of porridge and milk was eaten in the mill. -Half an hour was allowed for dinner, and not until half-past eight did -their long day of toil come to an end. At Christmas prizes were given to -those who had been most obedient and industrious during the year. - -The young people of Quarry Bank were on the whole happy in the service -of Samuel Greg their master, but the lot of the apprentices in other -mills was often very different. The harshness and cruelty of some -employers led to the passing of Acts of Parliament which shortened the -hours of labour and fixed severe penalties for ill-treatment. A later -Act forbade altogether the employment of children under a certain age. - - [Illustration: STYAL MILL] - -In the middle of the eighteenth century the silk industry took root in -Cheshire. We first hear of it in Stockport, where a mill was started for -the winding and throwing[3] of silk. John Clayton, of Stockport, built a -mill at Congleton, and the industry spread rapidly to the neighbouring -villages of Sutton, Rainow, and Bollington. - - [3] i.e. twisting the fine threads into yarn. Those who were - engaged in this particular process were called 'throwsters', just - as spinster meant originally one engaged in spinning. - -The first silk-mill in Macclesfield, which is now the chief seat of the -silk industry in Cheshire, was opened by Charles Roe in 1756. Roe Street -is named after him. He made a fortune and built Christ Church. Over the -altar you may see his bust in marble, and over it a figure of Genius -with a cogwheel in her hand. In the museum at West Park are some models -of silk-looms. - -There was a silk-mill at Knutsford, as the name Silk Mill Street tells -us. In Mobberley also nearly every cottage had its spinning-wheel. The -cottagers fetched the raw silk from Macclesfield and took back the spun -yarn to be woven into pieces at the Macclesfield looms. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE - - -After the making of canals came the railways, and the mighty power of -steam, that had wrought such a vast change in the cotton industry, was -to be the moving force of the new invention. - -Late in the summer of 1830 the people who lined the river banks from -Runcorn to Latchford saw a trail of smoke travelling slowly across the -nine arches of Sankey Viaduct and the peaty plains of the Mersey. The -smoke was that of Stephenson's 'Rocket', the steam locomotive that was -drawing one of the first passenger trains in England. - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE. RAILWAYS] - -Cheshire had its 'Rocket' too in those days, the stage coach that left -the 'Black Boy' Inn at Stockport and passed through Cheadle, Lymm, and -Warrington to Liverpool. And the old 'Rocket' was very jealous of its -new namesake, for it was thought that with the coming of the railways -the coaches would be driven off the road. The canal companies also saw -themselves threatened, and did all they could to hinder the spread of -the new way of travelling. - -Some years were to pass before the inhabitants of Cheshire saw railways -laid through their own towns and villages. The farmers of Wirral rubbed -their eyes when the first train seen in Cheshire carried its human -freight along the southern shore of the Mersey. Many of them had -doubtless never seen one before, and not a few of the more ignorant fled -in terror from the puffing, panting thing, which they looked upon as the -invention of the evil one. - -It is hard indeed to think of Cheshire without its railways. Before -their coming, almost the only way of moving from one place to another -was by means of the stage coaches that rattled along the principal -highways, putting down at the nearest wayside inn the passengers who -lived in villages off the main roads. Goods and merchandise were carried -on pack-horses or slow lumbering wagons. - -Some of the most important main lines of English railways now pass -through Cheshire, for the Cheshire plain is the broad gateway that leads -to the busy and populous towns of South Lancashire. Within the space of -half a century the county was covered with a network of lines, and -to-day it is impossible to find a spot that has not a railway passing -within a very few miles of it. - -The earliest railways avoided the hilly districts, and for many years -there were no lines in East Cheshire. The main line of the London and -North Western Railway crosses the southern border of Cheshire where the -hills are low, and picks its way through the Cheshire plain, keeping -closely to the level valley of the Weaver, and leaving the hills of -Delamere and Frodsham on the west. It crosses the Mersey into Lancashire -at Warrington. - -The cotton spinners of Stockport wanted a quick route to London, and so -a branch line was made through Alderley, which joined the main line at -Crewe. Some of the old country towns would not have the railway too -near, so we find Sandbach nearly two miles away from its station. -Another branch westwards left the main line at Crewe for Chester and -Holyhead, to carry the Irish mails; and a third branched off at Preston -Brook for Liverpool, being carried over the Mersey by a big iron bridge -at Runcorn. - -There were only a few houses at Crewe when the railways were made. The -station was in the village of Church Coppenhall, but the shorter and -more convenient name of Crewe was chosen from Crewe Hall. The little -village rapidly became a big town, for it was chosen to be the -head-quarters of the London and North Western Company. Big engine and -carriage works were built, and iron foundries for the making of boilers -and steel rails. It is now one of the most important railway centres in -England, giving employment to many thousand workmen. - -But one line was not enough to carry all the traffic from the great -manufacturing towns to the Midlands and the south of England. Other -railway companies accomplished the difficult task of crossing the -Pennine Hills, and Cheshire was thus brought into touch with Yorkshire -and the north-midland shires. The Midland Railway tunnelled under the -hills at a height of eight hundred feet above sea-level, and descended -rapidly to Stockport by the Goyt valley. The Great Northern enters -Cheshire by the tunnel near Penistone, and follows the Etherow down -Longdendale till it also reaches Stockport. The Staffordshire Railway -from the Potteries burrows through the hills at Harecastle on its way to -Congleton and Macclesfield. All these railways vied with one another in -quickening the speed of their trains, and their rivalry soon caused the -fares for passengers and rates for goods to become cheaper. - -There is one railway which, more than any other, Cheshire boys and girls -may call their own. The Cheshire Line is not one of the great 'trunk' -lines to London, but is confined to South Lancashire and the county from -which it takes its name. This railway crosses the county from Altrincham -to Chester, never more than a few hundred yards from its great ancestor, -the Watling Street. - - [Illustration: RAILWAY VIADUCT OVER GOYT VALLEY] - -The populous towns of North-east Cheshire are also served by branches of -the Great Central and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. The coast -towns of the Dee have their 'Wirral Railway', and through the heart of -Wirral Great Western expresses rush to their terminus at Birkenhead. - -The railways teach us that time is money, and this fact is constantly -brought home to us by seeing new lines made to shorten the distance -between two points, so that men may get to their places of business more -rapidly. The Midland Railway have in the last few years straightened -their line by a short cut through Cheadle Heath, that their express -trains to Manchester may avoid delay at Stockport; and the new London -and North Western line from Wilmslow to Manchester, though it saved less -than three miles, was yet thought worth the cost. - -The railways have brought town and country into closer touch with one -another, and both have gained. Farmers and market gardeners can send -their produce quickly and cheaply to the great markets of Stockport and -Birkenhead. Coals and salt, machinery and manufactured goods, can be -distributed easily from the great towns that produce them. Moreover, -many people whose daily life is spent in the crowded cities are able to -live away from their places of business and, for a portion of the day at -least, breathe the purer air of the country. - -Two residential districts of Cheshire are supported mainly by the -merchants and manufacturers of Manchester and Liverpool. In East -Cheshire, Altrincham and Bowdon, Knutsford, Alderley, Cheadle, and Lymm -are practically suburbs of Manchester. In the Wirral, Hoylake, West -Kirby, and New Brighton owe their present prosperity to the business men -of Birkenhead and Liverpool who have built their homes on the Cheshire -seaboard. - -In all these places you may see the mingling of the old and the new, the -older portions clustering round the parish church, the brand new villas -and mansions of the rich spreading on all sides into the surrounding -country. New towns spring up round the railway stations, as at Alderley -Edge, which is two miles from the older village of Nether Alderley. - -With the railways came also the 'penny post', for letters could now be -carried cheaply and quickly to and from all parts of the country. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY - - -Twenty years before steam locomotives were used to draw passenger trains -over the earliest railways in Cheshire, a steam packet boat had been -built to ply between Liverpool and the Cheshire port of Runcorn. This -boat was called simply 'The Steam Boat', and was the first steamer ever -seen in the River Mersey. The sailing packets were frequently becalmed, -but the new ship could make her voyage in all weathers. - -A number of steam-tugs were built soon afterwards to tow the big -sailing-ships that entered the Mersey to the ports to which they were -bound, and the first steam ferry-boat crossed the Mersey from Liverpool -to Tranmere. In a few years the Cheshire shore of the Mersey was lined -with docks and quays at Birkenhead, Seacombe, Woodside, Tranmere, and -Eastham. At the last-named port Liverpool passengers could get on the -coach for Chester and the midland towns. - -In 1819, the year in which Queen Victoria was born, the Savannah, the -first steamship that crossed the Atlantic, was seen in the River Mersey. -The Savannah took twenty-eight days over the passage, lowering by many -days the record of the fastest sailing-vessels hitherto. This was -thought a great feat in those days, but the huge 'ocean greyhounds' that -the boys and girls of Wirral see riding at anchor off Birkenhead, now -make four or five crossings in the same period of time. - -Just as Crewe owes its rapid rise to the coming of the railways, so -Birkenhead's prosperity dates from the beginnings of steam navigation. -Both of these towns are growths of the nineteenth century. At the -beginning of the century Birkenhead was a small village of less than a -hundred inhabitants. It is now Cheshire's greatest town, and contains a -population of more than 100,000, or, if we include the populous suburbs -which have sprung up on either side of it, nearly twice this number. - - [Illustration: BIRKENHEAD & THE MERSEY] - -The old village clustered round its ruined priory, which is still in the -heart of the modern town. A triangular piece of land, now covered by the -streets of New Brighton, Liscard, Wallasey, and Seacombe, was cut off -from Birkenhead and the rest of Wirral by a broad and swampy river -called Wallasey Pool. Mr. Laird, the founder of the famous shipbuilding -company of that name, bought some land on the edge of the Pool. He saw -that here was a firstrate place for dockyards and wharves, which would -be protected from south-westerly gales by the natural rampart of Bidston -Hill and the high ground of Oxton. - -In a few years Wallasey Pool was turned into a huge basin capable of -holding hundreds of big ocean-going ships. In the 'Great Float', as this -basin is now called, you may see ships of every nation. Twenty pairs of -lockgates connect it with the Mersey, and there are ten miles of quays -with a network of quay railways laid along them. - -The big ship-building yards of Messrs. Cammell and Laird give employment -to many hundreds of the working-men of Birkenhead. Here are built some -of our largest merchant vessels, as well as ships for the British Navy, -chiefly gunboats and torpedo boat destroyers. One of the Lairds was -Birkenhead's first member of Parliament. You may see his statue in front -of the Birkenhead Town Hall. - -Two other men whose names are closely linked with the shipping of the -Mersey will always be remembered by the people of Wirral. William Inman -and Thomas Ismay were the founders of fleets of ocean liners. With a -portion of the wealth that he derived from his business, Inman built -churches for the villages of Upton and Moreton. Ismay lived at Dawpool -Hall, and is buried in the churchyard of Thurstaston. - -The first street-tramway in Europe was laid along the streets of -Birkenhead, from Woodside Ferry to the Park, by an American called -Train. The cars were built at Birkenhead, and drawn by horses; the -length of the line was less than two miles. Now tram routes are spread -all over Eastern Wirral, and are to be found in the streets of all -large towns. But the horses are gone, and the cars are now driven by the -cheaper and more serviceable method of electricity. Our tram-cars are -one of the greatest conveniences in the busy life of a town. - -Prior to the year 1832 Chester was the only Cheshire town which had its -own members of Parliament. The county returned two members, one for the -north division and the other for the south. The big manufacturing towns -which had increased so rapidly in size and population had no -representatives, while numbers of small towns and villages in other -parts of England returned one and sometimes even two members to the -House of Commons. The workers of the busy industrial districts felt that -this was very unfair, and demanded to be allowed to be represented. -After a long struggle Reform Bills were passed, and now Stockport is -allowed to choose two members, and Stalybridge and Birkenhead one each. -The number of county members has also been increased from two to eight, -one from each of eight divisions, to which the names Hyde, Macclesfield, -Altrincham, Knutsford, Crewe, Eddisbury, Northwich, and Wirral have been -given. - -Until the passing of the 'Reform Bills' only those who possessed -property were allowed to vote, the great majority of the people of -Cheshire had no say in the government of the country at all. The Reform -Bill of 1832 gave the vote to many more people, to every man in fact who -paid a rent of ten pounds or more a year for his house. Thus much of the -power which had previously belonged to the rich passed into the hands of -the poorer classes. - -One of the first results of the Reformed Parliament was the passing of a -number of Factory Acts. The cry of the children at work in the mills had -long been heard through the land, and the people were indignant at the -cruelties put upon them by some mill-owners. As early as the year 1802 -Sir Robert Peel, a Lancashire manufacturer, had persuaded Parliament to -pass an Act to improve the condition of the factories. The Reformed -Parliament now made it illegal to employ children under nine years of -age, or to make boys and girls under thirteen work for more than twelve -hours a day. Later Acts have still further shortened the hours of work -for women and children, and in many other respects have made the lot of -all the working classes more tolerable. Manufacturers are now compelled -to keep their factories clean and wholesome, and fit to work in. Factory -inspectors are appointed to see that the laws are carried out, and those -whose lives are spent in dangerous occupations, such as coal-mining or -the making of chemicals, are protected by strict rules which lessen the -danger to life and limb. - -The greatest evil from which the poorer classes suffered in the early -years of the nineteenth century was the high price of bread. This was -due to the heavy duty put on corn imported from foreign countries. In S. -Peter's Square, Stockport, is a statue of Richard Cobden, who for six -years was Stockport's member of Parliament. Cobden saw that the poverty -of the working classes could not be lessened until this corn-tax was -removed. He pleaded eloquently on their behalf, and in the end he was -successful. The growers of corn grumbled, but as Cheshire is not so much -a corn-growing as a pastoral county, the farmers of Cheshire were not -greatly hurt. - -Cobden also persuaded Parliament to take away or to lessen the duties on -imported raw materials, such as cotton, wool, and silk, on which the -prosperity of the Cheshire workers so much depended. The result was that -the manufacturers were able to pay the people who worked in their mills -better wages. Thus, with cheaper bread and wages higher, the lot of the -industrial classes became brighter. Soon also the duties on manufactured -goods brought to Cheshire from abroad were removed, and the system of -Free Trade, under which Cheshire has become rich and prosperous, came -into being. - -Among the leaders of the working classes were some who wanted far -greater changes. In the museum at Vernon Park are some iron pike-heads -taken from these men when they tried to arm the people and urge them to -fight for their 'rights'. The aims of the Chartists, as these reformers -were named, were set forth in a document which they called the People's -Charter. Among other things, they demanded votes for all men, yearly -Parliaments, vote by ballot, and payment of members of Parliament. But -the bulk of the people took alarm, for it was thought that if every man -had a vote, too much power would be put into the hands of the working -classes. The Chartists were tried for causing riots, and many were put -in prison. One of the Chartist leaders was James Stephens, who is buried -in Dukinfield churchyard. - -In 1861 a great disaster befell the cotton trade. In that year civil war -broke out in America between the Northern and the Southern States of the -Union. The Southern States were the seat of the cotton-growing -plantations, which were worked by millions of negro slaves. The English -people had put an end to slavery in their own colonies, and the Northern -States of America wished to do the same. When the Southerners desired to -extend the cotton industry to other new States, the Northern States -refused to allow it, and war broke out. - -The war brought much distress to the cotton workers of Cheshire, for the -ports of the Southerners were blockaded by the warships of their -enemies, and the ships which had brought their cargoes of raw cotton to -the Mersey could do so no longer. The result was a cotton famine. The -looms were idle, and thousands of workpeople were thrown out of -employment in Stockport, Stalybridge, and the other towns and villages -which depended for their daily bread on a constant supply of the raw -material. - -Attempts were made by ships sent from England to run the blockade of the -ports of the Southern States. At Birkenhead a ship called the _Alabama_ -was built in the dockyard of Messrs. Laird for the use of the cotton -planters. The ship entered the harbours in the night-time or during -fogs, and succeeded several times in bringing small supplies of cotton. -She was caught at last, but not before she had destroyed sixty or -seventy vessels of the Northern fleet, and she very nearly brought about -a war between England and America. - -The war lasted four years. Then peace was restored, and the cotton was -once more brought to the starving spinners and weavers of East Cheshire. -During the famine the poor had been supported by sums of money raised in -the large towns of England, and many years passed before the cotton -industry reached its former prosperity. - -The memory of the hard days of the cotton famine has been handed down to -the grandchildren of those who suffered. Within the last few years the -cotton merchants and manufacturers have started an association for -growing cotton in our own English colonies, so that the workers may not -depend entirely on the cotton produced by foreign States. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV - -THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN - - -Many of the changes described in the last three chapters were but -partially accomplished in Cheshire, when a young princess of eighteen -years became Queen of England. The power of steam was known, but the -Cheshire railways were not yet laid, and those who wished to attend the -coronation of Queen Victoria had to use the stage or the family coach -and take a day and a half over the journey. - -Telegraph and telephone were also quite unknown, and the penny post had -not yet come into being. That was to follow in the wake of the railways. -During her reign all our main roads were lined with telegraph wires, and -cables laid at the bottom of the seas sent our messages to the uttermost -parts of the earth. The news of distant events, which formerly took -weeks or even months to reach us, may now be read in our newspapers -within a few hours at most. - -Inventions without number followed the discovery of electricity. The -shops and warehouses of large towns, railway carriages and ocean liners, -and the homes of the well-to-do are lighted with it. Electric launches -flit along the shores of the Mersey. Tram-cars are worked by -electricity, which also sets in motion the dynamos that work the -machinery of mills and workshops. The pressing of an electric button -sets free the big ships when they take the water for the first time in -the dockyards of Birkenhead. - -The wonderful progress made by the engineers of the nineteenth century -is seen in the making of the Manchester Ship Canal, the greater part of -which lies within the county of Cheshire. For many years Manchester's -great ambition was to become a port. The winding and shallow bed of the -inland waters of the Mersey could not be navigated by ocean-going -vessels, and a ship canal was wanted in order that the bales of cotton -might be brought direct from the United States and other cotton-growing -countries to the place where the raw material is distributed. Thus time -would be saved, as well as the expense of unloading at Liverpool and -putting the cargoes on the railways, whose rates were very high. - -It was therefore decided to ask Parliament for powers to make a wide and -deep canal, capable of carrying ships of several thousand tons burden. -The railway and canal companies and the Liverpool merchants who -controlled the navigation of the Mersey were afraid that the trade of -Liverpool would be injured, and opposed the scheme vigorously. But -Parliament was wise enough to see what a boon the canal would be to the -cotton towns and the district through which it was to be laid, and -passed the bill for its making. In the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria -the work was begun. - -Many millions of money were required for such a vast undertaking, and -more millions were asked for as the work went on. After seven years of -perseverance in the face of tremendous difficulties, the canal was -opened by the queen. - -The canal is thirty-five and a half miles long, and, roughly speaking, -two-thirds of it are in Cheshire. The entrance to the canal is at -Eastham, where great locks were built. From Eastham to Runcorn, a -distance of thirteen miles, the canal is tidal and laid along the -foreshore of the Mersey estuary, and protected by an embankment. At -Runcorn 'Gap' the canal and the Mersey, which here becomes very narrow, -are separated by a concrete wall nearly one mile in length. - -The rest of the waterway lies inland. Latchford serves as a port for -Warrington, and the locks here always present a busy scene. At Irlam -locks the canal enters Lancashire, and its waters are at this point -forty feet above sea-level. The canal is fed by the River Irwell, whose -waters flow down the canal from Salford to Irlam. - -The railways are carried over the canal by lofty bridges, which had to -be made very high to allow the masts of ocean ships to pass under them. -Bays or sidings, where ships may pass each other, occur at intervals. -Wharves and docks have been built at many points along the canal, which -some day may be expected to appear one long seaport. - -Ellesmere Port, where the Ellesmere Canal and Ship Canal unite, has -become a thriving place in recent years, and the trade of Runcorn has -also been greatly increased by the canal. Large alkali works have been -built at Weston Point, the most suitable place that could have been -found for them, because they are equally near to the Lancashire -coal-field on the one hand and to the salt beds of Cheshire on the -other. The salt is brought in the form of brine direct from Northwich to -the works by pipes laid underground, a great saving of money, for salt -is heavy and costly to carry. - -Though the cotton industry was the one that was expected to gain most -from the canal, the traffic is by no means confined to this commodity. -Grain and cattle are brought from the United States and from South -America, timber from Canada, and hides from the Argentine, and big -cargoes of bananas, oranges, and apples, pass up the canal. In addition -to this oversea traffic, the canal also has a great share of the -coasting trade of the West of England, of which slates from Carnarvon, -and china clay from Cornwall may be taken as the best examples. - -The triumphs of engineering and mechanical skill have improved our means -of travelling from one place to another. The great engines that are now -turned out from the locomotive sheds at Crewe are as vastly superior to -the Rocket (models of which are now but a curiosity in our museums) as -the twentieth-century motor-cycle is to the velocipede or wooden -'bone-shaker' that your fathers rode. Horse carriages are fast -disappearing and giving place to the motor-car, and hansoms to the -taxicab. The science of aviation is turning the inventive powers of men -into new channels, and 'flying men' are showing to the world that the -conquest of the air is but a matter of time. - -Before the reign of Queen Victoria, few of the children of the poorest -classes were able either to read or write. Such education as these could -receive was given in the Sunday Schools, which Robert Raikes had started -in 1781. The children were hard at work in the mills all the week. -Teachers volunteered for the work, which was carried on in cottages or -disused factories. In 1805, Stockport built the big Sunday School which -still remains, and a hundred thousand children have been grateful for -the simple teaching given to them. - -The Education Bills of Queen Victoria's reign brought knowledge within -the reach of all. Education is cheap for the middle classes, free for -the poor. Schools have been built where none existed before. Money has -been found to help any Cheshire boy or girl to receive the very highest -education, and to open up the way from village school to university. The -municipalities have built their own municipal schools in the chief towns -of Cheshire, and technical schools where you may learn a trade. At the -Agricultural School at Holmes Chapel you may be instructed in the newest -and most scientific ways of farming. - -The people have learnt to study the laws of health, and to understand -the value of light and fresh air. Towns are cleaner and your homes -healthier. Open spaces, parks and playing-fields, brighten the lives of -the children in the towns, and by making them stronger, fit them the -better for the hard work that lies before them. - -Port Sunlight shows how much can be done by those who study the needs of -the working classes. This 'garden city', with its avenues of dainty -cottage villas, is the home of those who work in the big soap-works on -the Mersey. Here everything is done that can make for the comfort and -well-being of the inhabitants. There are schools for the children, and -'institutes' for the young men and women, libraries and reading-rooms, -savings banks to encourage thrift, games, clubs, swimming-baths and -gymnasium for the strong, a hospital for the sick and infirm, ambulance -and fire brigade and a life-saving society, and societies for the study -of literature and science. - -You are not all as fortunate as the dwellers of Port Sunlight. But some -day many of you will perhaps see the slums of great towns cleared away, -and you will take care that sunlight is let into dark places. You will -have learned how foolish it is to overcrowd the towns and herd together -in close and mean streets, and you will have the power to say that these -things ought not to be. - -The Cheshire County Council was created by Queen Victoria. Its members -are elected, and the Council allows large parishes to elect a Parish or -District Council to manage their own local affairs. But Stockport, -Chester, and Birkenhead do not send members to this Council, for their -populations are so big that they are considered as counties in -themselves. The County Council also controls the education of the -county, keeps roads and bridges in repair, directs the cleansing of the -small towns and villages, and provides a pure water-supply. - -New boroughs were made at Crewe, Hyde, and Stalybridge in Queen -Victoria's reign, with a mayor and corporation to direct their affairs. -Macclesfield, you will remember, was a borough in very early times. -Altrincham and Over too, once had their mayors, though they have them no -longer. Their mayors seem to have been men of very humble position, and -to have been looked down upon by their neighbours. You have perhaps -heard of the Cheshire saying: - - The Mayor of Altrincham, - And the Mayor of Over-- - The one is a thatcher, - The other a dauber. - - [Illustration: MODERN GOTHIC: S. MARGARET'S, ALTRINCHAM] - -The work of the borough councils has become very heavy during the last -fifty years. Gas, water, electricity, libraries, education, public -health, baths, markets, and police, have their own special committees to -look after them. The handsome Town Halls of Chester and Stockport, the -latter opened only a few years since by the present King George the -Fifth, had to be built to accommodate the small army of clerks who -assist in the government of a great city. - -The reign of Queen Victoria was not all one of peace. The war with -Russia, and the terrible mutiny of her Indian subjects with its tale of -horrors and its glorious heroism, brought woe to many a home in -Cheshire. The obelisk by the roadside between Aldford and Farndon -reminds us that the soldiers of Cheshire were often called upon to fight -our battles and too often find a grave in distant lands. Colonel -Barnston, of Crewe Hill, to whose memory this monument was set up, -fought at the siege of Sebastopol. In the Indian Mutiny he was wounded -while gallantly leading an assault at the relief of Lucknow, and died of -his wounds at Cawnpore. Numbers of memorial tablets in the Cathedral of -Chester speak of the lives that were cheerfully laid down by Cheshire -men in the service of their queen and country. - -Your fathers will tell you how bonfires were lighted on the beacons and -hill-tops of Cheshire to celebrate the Jubilee or fiftieth year of the -reign of Queen Victoria. Still greater was the rejoicing some ten years -later, when she surpassed in length of reign all previous sovereigns of -England. Nearly every town and village has some memorial of her: a cross -in the village street, a drinking-fountain by the wayside, new bells for -the parish church or a lich-gate for the churchyard, a village 'hall' or -a public recreation ground, these are but a few examples that prove the -love and reverence that Cheshire men and women felt for the great queen -whose only thought was ever for the welfare of her people. - -Yet her last years were saddened by the long and costly war in South -Africa, still unfinished when she died. The call to arms was once more -heard from east to west of Cheshire; from town and country, -'reservists' who had thought to end their days in peace were sent -oversea to defend the South African dominions of the queen. The brave -'Cheshires'--the fathers of some of you were among them--served -throughout the war. A gallant Cheshire officer was one of the first to -win distinction. Lieutenant Congreve, of Burton Hall, was one of three -who volunteered to rescue the guns at the battle of Colenso. He was shot -down in the attempt, but was able to crawl to a sheltered place, and -lived to receive the reward that all soldiers strive to merit--the -Victoria Cross. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV - -FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE - - -Throughout the Middle Ages, until the end of the Wars of the Roses, war -was the chief, almost the only occupation of the leading men of -Cheshire. A few entered the Church, Richard de Vernon, for instance, who -was Rector of 'Stokeport' early in the fourteenth century (his tomb is -in the chancel of Stockport), and William de Montalt, Rector of Neston. -One of the Bebingtons, William de Bebyngton, even became Abbot of S. -Werburgh's Abbey. - -The descendants of the barons who settled in Cheshire in the days of the -Conqueror followed the Norman and Plantagenet kings to the Crusades or -the French wars. Few of them stayed at home for any length of time, and -when they returned, they generally found that some score had to be -settled with the Welshmen, who had been making havoc of their lands -during their absence. So that whether at home or abroad, fighting was -always their chief business. - -Cheshire has been called the 'seed-plot of gentility'. The Cheshire -gentry prided themselves on marrying within their own county. A Cheshire -proverb says: ''Tis better to wed over the mixen than over the moor,' -meaning the moorland that separates Cheshire from her neighbours. The -result of this intermarriage was that the number of great Cheshire names -did not greatly increase, and soon there became - - As many Masseys as asses, - Leghs as fleas, - And Davenports as dogs' tails; - -to quote another Cheshire saying. - -One of the oldest Cheshire families is that of the Wooley-Dods of Edge -Hill, who trace their descent from the Saxon Dot, who was a great man in -Cheshire before the Normans came. The Grosvenors, whose ancestors came -over with the Conqueror, live at Eaton Hall, and own vast estates in -Western Cheshire. The present head of the family is the Duke of -Westminster. The Mainwarings, whose forefathers fought in the Crusades, -are at Peover, and the crest of the felon's head of the Davenports still -survives at Capesthorne, though the Davenports of Marton and Bramhall -are no more. - -Many old families of Cheshire have long since died out. The last of the -Masseys of Puddington (they had lived there since the days of Rufus) -died in the Stuart rising of 1715. There are no Pooles at Poole Hall nor -Venables at Kinderton. The last of the Savages of Rock Savage, whose -tomb is in the Rivers Chapel at Macclesfield, died in the seventeenth -century. - -Dutton village and Dutton Hall bear the name of a famous family that was -allied by marriage with most of the great families of Cheshire. Duttons -live no longer at the Hall, for the last male heir died in the reign of -James the First. They were descended from a squire of Robert Lacy, -Constable of Chester. When Earl Randal was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle -by the Welsh, the Constable and Dutton, his henchman, hastily gathered -together a motley rabble of fiddlers and mountebanks from Chester Fair -and went to his assistance. The Earl was rescued, and from that time -forward to the Duttons was given the charge of all minstrels and -fiddlers in the county. There are Duttons in Chester now; one was a -mayor of the city quite recently. - -Neighbours and kinsmen of the Duttons were the Dones or Donnes of -Utkinton, hereditary foresters of the Forest of Delamere. Many of them -are buried at Tarporley. The name of the last Lady Done is still called -to mind in the neighbourhood where they lived. The Cheshire proverb is -the highest praise that can be given to a young Cheshire housewife, and -'Lady Done' is a pet name for modest and thrifty girls, as 'Little Lord -Derby' is for brave and honourable boys. - -Lancashire claims the Earls of Derby now, but they are descended from -the Stanleys, perhaps the most famous of all Cheshire families, by the -marriage of Sir John Stanley and Isabella, heiress of the Lancashire -Lathoms. The Stanleys settled at Storeton in Wirral in the fourteenth -century. Many men of mark, churchmen and scholars, statesmen and -soldiers, belonged to this family. A Stanley helped to win the battle of -Bosworth for Henry Tudor, and a Stanley led the Cheshire troops in the -famous charge at Flodden Field, - - When shivered was fair Scotland's spear - And broken was her shield. - -One branch of the family settled at Hooton, but the last of this line -lost his estates by gambling and extravagance. The Stanleys of Alderley -received knighthood from James the First; they are Barons of Alderley -now. This family has given a bishop to Norwich and a still more famous -dean to Westminster. The bishop was educated at the Grammar School of -Macclesfield. - -The Egertons are descended from the standard-bearer of Henry the Eighth, -who made him a knight after the 'Battle of the Spurs'. One of them rose -to be Lord Chancellor in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, -and was made Baron Ellesmere. The first Earl Egerton of Tatton was made -a peer by Queen Victoria largely for the help he gave in the making of -the Ship Canal. - -The Jodrells, buried in Taxal Church, were descended from an archer who -served under the Black Prince. Perhaps he cut his bow from the very yew -tree that still stands in the churchyard. One of them fought in the -Peninsular War, but the name has disappeared from this part of Cheshire -now. - -Several Cheshire noblemen sit in the House of Lords to-day, their family -name disguised under the more showy title of a peerage. A Booth became -Lord Delamere at the Restoration, and the Viscounts of Combermere are -the descendants of the Cottons, who helped Henry the Eighth to plunder -the Cheshire monasteries. The Ardernes are represented by the Earl of -Haddington; Lord Newton lives at Lyme Park, the ancient home of the -Leghs, and the Earl of Crewe at Crewe Hall. Lord Ashton of Hyde has only -recently taken a seat in the House of Lords. He was made a baron at the -coronation of King George the Fifth. - -When great industries took root in Cheshire new names appeared, and some -of the most honoured families in Cheshire now are those that have been -closely associated with the workers of the county. We hear a great deal -nowadays of 'the dignity of labour', and we think it no disgrace to rise -to position and power by a life of toil. The Gregs of Styal and the -Brunners of Northwich, the Levers of Wirral, and many others, have -endeared themselves to the people of Cheshire by the example of their -own labours and the pains they have taken to make the lives of those who -live about them and work for them brighter and happier. - -A simple cross in the graveyard of the Unitarian Chapel at Knutsford -bears the name of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. The people of Knutsford -have a warm corner in their hearts for her, for in a way she has made -their town famous for all time. One of the books she wrote--_Cranford_ -she called it--speaks of the people of Knutsford as she knew them in the -earlier days of Queen Victoria. The book tells you much of the quiet -life of a country town before the coming of the railways and the busy -hubbub of the later nineteenth century, and all Cheshire children should -read it. Mrs. Gaskell wrote several other books, all of which show her -sweet sympathy and kindliness towards those whose lives are cast in -lowly surroundings. - -If you have not heard of _Cranford_ you have probably read a book whose -title you know better than the name of the writer. _Alice in Wonderland_ -was written by a man who spent much of his early life in Cheshire. -'Lewis Carroll', though that is not his real name, is the name under -which he wrote the humorous stories that have delighted young people and -old alike. - -John Critchley Prince, the workman poet of Hyde, lived in the days when -the poorly-paid workers of Cheshire were struggling for a better -existence. While working in a factory at Hyde he found time to write -poems which speak of the charms of home, the brotherhood of all mankind, -and the hopes and ambitions of his fellow men. Prince was thriftless and -intemperate, and much of his life was spent in misery, but his talents -were great, and the people of Hyde have done him honour. He is buried in -Hyde churchyard. - -In the chancel of Stockport Parish Church is a tablet to the memory of -John Wainwright, the organist who composed the tune for 'Christians, -awake', the beautiful Christmas hymn 'whose sound is gone out into all -lands where the praise of our Lord is sung', as the inscription runs. -The words of the hymn were written by Byrom, a Manchester man. - -Cheshire produced a famous hymn-writer in Bishop Heber. Reginald Heber -was born in the rectory of Malpas in 1783. He gave himself up to -missionary work in foreign lands, and was made Bishop of Calcutta. 'From -Greenland's icy mountains' and 'Brightest and best of the sons of the -morning' are two of the hymns that came from his pen. - -Charles Kingsley must have loved Cheshire. Though he was not a Cheshire -man by birth, he claimed descent from the Kingsleys of Vale Royal. He -was a great lover of nature, and, while he was Canon of Chester, founded -the Natural History Society in Chester, whose home is in the Grosvenor -Museum, and encouraged the people of Cheshire to take an interest in the -story of their county, and to study the ways of plants and of the wild -creatures of the fields and the forests. His pathetic ballad of the -Sands of Dee, 'O Mary, go and call the cattle home,' will always be a -favourite with the village people of Wirral. - -Tabley Hall was the home of another celebrated naturalist. Here lived -Lord de Tabley, one of the greatest students of Cheshire flowers, and a -lover of all wild living things. His grave is in the churchyard of -Little Peover, and over it trails a bramble, which was his favourite -plant and one of which he made a special study. In the gardens of Tabley -Hall is a bramble-bed, still tended carefully, which he laid out from -the choicest briars he could find. - -Lord de Tabley was a poet as well as a lover of flowers and birds. -Perhaps you will some day read his poems, and be charmed by his -descriptive pictures of the ways of his feathered friends, the -'starlings mustering on their evening tree', the 'swallows beating low -before a hint of rain', the 'plaintive plovers', and the 'wide-winged -screaming swift'. - -Lord de Tabley's example is one which all Cheshire boys and girls should -learn to copy. Those who are proud of their county will not do anything -to make it less beautiful. Like him, they will cherish and protect the -plants and birds and all the wild creatures that have been put into -their keeping; for such things are the common heritage of the people of -Cheshire, and, once destroyed, can never be replaced. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI - -CONCLUSION - - -We have traced the story of Cheshire from prehistoric times. For long -ages the story was one of war and bloodshed, of conquest and defeat, of -the coming and the passing of many nations, each in turn yielding to a -more powerful foe. Cheshire has seen more of the strife of nations than -most counties of England. Her position on the map of the British Isles -has willed that this should be. - -When the latest struggle for the possession of our country was ended, -and the Normans lorded it over the conquered Saxons, we saw Cheshire -made into a bulwark to keep in check the nations that surrounded her -on north and west. For 200 years this was her mission. She was a kingdom -within a kingdom, with an earl or viceroy to rule over her, and a -Parliament and laws of her own. More centuries passed by before a Tudor -king permitted her to take her place in that greater English Parliament -and to help to frame laws under which she, along with the rest of -England, should be governed. - - [Illustration: DEE BRIDGE AND MILLS: CHESTER] - -But Cheshire was not denied the greatest of all good gifts. We saw the -lamp of Christianity burn brightly from Hildeburgh's Isle to Chadkirk, -and some of the earliest Gospel teachers were sent by the very Welsh and -Irish nations over which Cheshire was afterwards set as sentinel and -watch-dog. Feebly the light sometimes glimmered in days of stress and -storm, but it never went out; and after the Tudor monarch had shaken off -the shackles of Rome, and the minds of men had been stirred by a great -awakening, its early brightness was restored in a purified religion that -gave freedom of conscience to all men. - -Then came the horrors of civil war, when Cheshire men fought for the -liberty to believe what they thought to be right, and rose in their -wrath at the unlawful misdeeds of the Stuart kings, when patriots rose -in defence of the ancient liberties that are the inheritance of all -Englishmen. This was the last blood shed in Cheshire. - -In the last hundred years the people of Cheshire have seen the face of -Cheshire greatly changed. They have helped to create great industries, -and they have witnessed the wonderful discoveries of the power of steam -and electricity, and all the conveniences and comforts of modern life -that have followed in their train. In ways too numerous to speak of, -their lives have been made brighter and happier. - -The Princes of Wales are the Earls of Chester still. King Edward the -Seventh, when he was Prince of Wales, came to Chester and opened the new -Town Hall. The citizens of Chester knew him well, for he was often a -guest at Eaton Hall, the home of the Grosvenors, the descendants of the -Conqueror's 'mighty huntsman'. William the Norman harried Cheshire with -the sword, and the people of Cheshire fled before him. King Edward -brought not a sword but peace in his hand, and the people loved him, for -he was one of the world's great peace-makers. - -In one of the earliest chapters of this book you have read of the -'making of Cheshire'. We have brought the story of Cheshire down to the -present day, but Cheshire is not yet 'made'. Many and wonderful changes -there have been since our ancestors shot wild beasts with their flinty -arrow-heads, and devoured raw flesh in the pits and caverns of Alderley -Edge. The people of Cheshire, who have struggled through long centuries -to win for themselves light and liberty, have never turned their faces -backwards. With steadfast purpose and unfaltering steps they march -forward on the way of progress. - -The 'making' still goes on; and there is plenty of work to do for the -Cheshire boys and girls of to-day, that they may help to make their -county a better place to live in than they found it. - - Enough, if something from our hands have power - To live, and act, and serve the future hour. - -The great families of Cheshire whose names recur so often in these pages -were proud of the mottoes written beneath their crests and coats of -arms. The words inscribed on the village cross which the boys and girls -of Eastham pass on their way to school, are the best mottoes that all -Cheshire school-children can take for their own: - - 'Fear God. Honour the King. Work while it is yet day.' - -And the day is very short. As the lines on a tombstone in Little Peover -churchyard remind us: - - A little rule, a little sway, - A sunbeam in a winter's day, - Is all the greatest of us have - Between the cradle and the grave. - - - - - - INDEX - - - Acton, 126. - Adlington, 141, 161. - Aethelfrith, 44. - Aethelred, 50. - Agricola, 36-8. - _Alabama_, the, 203. - Alderley Edge, 15, 18, 25, 42. - Aldford, 20, 61. - Alfred the Great, 51. - Almshouses, 147. - Altrincham, 88, 208. - Anne, Queen, 171. - Anselm, 64. - Archery, 110. - Architecture, Saxon, 50; - Norman, 65-71; - Early English, 81-6; - Decorated, 101-4; - Perpendicular, 120-2; - Elizabethan, 137-42; - Eighteenth-Century, 173-6. - Arden Hall, 142. - Armada, Spanish, 134. - Astbury, 45, 104. - Aston, Sir Thomas, 156. - Athelstan, 55. - - Baguley, 106. - Baldwin, Archbishop, 79. - Barnston, Colonel, 210. - Barrows, 27. - Barthomley, 162. - Bebington, 71, 104, 147. - Beeston Castle, 61, 160. - Beeston, Sir George, 134. - Benedictines, 64. - Birkenhead, 12, 198-200. - Birkenhead, Priory, 71; - Shipping, 200. - Black Death, 112. - Booth, Sir George, 157, 166, 171. - Boulder clay, 20. - Bradshaw, John, 163. - Bramhall, 106. - Branks, 149. - Brasses, 115. - Brereton Hall, 141. - Brereton, Sir William, 153, 155-60, 165. - Bridgwater Canal, 184. - Bridgwater, Duke of, 183. - Brindley, James, 183, 185. - British remains, 27. - Brocmael, 43. - Bromborough, 56. - Bronze Age, 28. - Broxton Hills, 27. - Bruera, 86. - Bucton Castle, 27. - Budworth, Great, 119, 162, 164. - Bunbury, 108, 134. - Bunter Sandstone, 18. - Burial urns, 27, 34. - Byron, Sir Nicholas, 157. - - Caesar, Julius, 29. - Calveley, Sir Hugh, 108. - Canals of Cheshire, 183-5, 205. - Carboniferous Rocks, 24. - Carroll, Lewis, 215. - Ceawlin, 43. - Celts, 26-8. - Chad, 48. - Chadkirk, 48. - Charles I, 153, 158. - Charles II, 164-6. - Charters, 78, 88. - Chartists, 202. - Cheshire, Canals, 183-5, 205; - Meres, 15; - Plain, 10; - Rivers, 12-14; - Railways, 192-7. - Chesshyre, Sir John, 177. - Chester, Battle of, 44; - Castle, 55, 62, 96, 174; - Caleyards, 65; - Cathedral, 130; - Customs of, 62; - King's School, 133, 152; - Plays, 90-1; - Phoenix Tower, 89, 158; - Roman city of, 36-8; - Rows, 112; - S. John's Church, 50, 66, 81, 160; - S. Mary's on the Hill, 160; - S. Olaf, 57; - S. Oswald, 47; - S. Werburgh's Abbey, 64, 72, 83; - Siege of, 158-60; - Situation of, 10; - Trade, 55, 144; - Walls, 37, 96; - Water Tower, 98. - Chests, Church, 124. - Christianity, Introduction of, 47-51. - Christleton, 20. - Chronicle, Old English, 54. - Circles, Stone, 28. - Cistercians, 73. - Civil War, 153-66. - Clive, Robert, 181. - Clulow Cross, 25, 28. - Cnut, 57. - Coaches, 178. - Coal measures, 22. - Coal-fields, 183. - Cobden, Richard, 202. - Combermere, Abbey of, 73. - Combermere, Viscount, 182. - Congleton, 88, 148. - Congreve, Lieutenant, 211. - Connought, Major, 162. - Constable's Sands, 74. - Conversion of the English, 47-8. - Cotton famine, 203; - manufacture, 188. - Cotton, Stapleton, 182. - County Council, 208. - Crewe, 195, 208. - Crewe, Sir Randolph, 152. - Crosses, 48. - Crusades, 79. - - Danes, Invasion of, 57. - Davenport, Peter, 162. - Davenport, Vivian, 74. - Dean Row, 168. - Decorated Architecture, 101-4. - Dee Mills, 77, 98. - Dee, River, 12. - Delamere, Forest of, 15, 27, 74. - Dennis, Peter, 181. - Derby, Earls of, 213. - de Tabley, Lord, 216. - Deva, 30. - Dissolution of the Monasteries, 129-33. - Domesday Book, 62-4. - Done, John, 76. - Downes, Peter, 181. - Drayton, Michael, 135. - Dukinfield, 151, 183. - Dunham Massey, 62. - Duttons, 212. - - Earls of Chester, 59, 74-81. - Early English Architecture, 81-7. - Eastham, 205. - Eaton Hall, 59. - Eaton, Samuel, 151. - Ecberght, 44. - Eddisbury, 20, 54. - Edgar, 56. - Edward the Elder, 54. - Edward I, 93-8. - Edward III, 96. - Edward VI, 130. - Edward VII, 218. - Edwin, Earl, 59. - Eleanor, Queen, 94. - Elizabeth, Queen, 134-50. - Elizabethan Houses, 137. - Ellesmere Canal, 206. - Erratics, 20. - Estuaries, 14. - Ethelfleda, 53-5. - Etherow, River, 12. - - Factory Acts, 201. - Faddiley, 43. - Farndon, 48, 159. - Fitton, Mary, 143. - Flagstones, 23. - Flashes, 15. - Flint implements, 25. - Forest, submerged, 23. - Forests of Cheshire, 74. - Friars, Coming of the, 99. - Frodsham, 65, 96, 174. - - - Gaskell, Mrs., 213. - Gawsworth, 120, 143, 178. - George I, 172. - George V, 210. - Gherbod, 58. - Gilds, 88-91. - Glacial Drift, 20. - Goyt, River, 12, 22, 189. - Grappenhall, 79. - Greg, Samuel, 190. - Grosvenors, the, 60, 218. - - Halton Castle, 61. - Handforth Hall, 141. - Handley, 121. - Harecastle, 185. - Harold, King, 58. - Harrison, Thomas, 164. - Hastein, 51. - Heber, Bishop, 215. - Henry I, 76. - Henry II, 80. - Henry III, 87. - Henry IV, 109, 114. - Henry V, 114. - Henry VII, 117. - Henry VIII, 125-30, 146. - Henry, Matthew, 168. - High Legh, 20. - Hotspur, 110. - Hoylake, 170. - Hugh, Earl, 59-73. - Hugh Kyvelioc, 77. - Hyde, 208. - Hyde, Anne, 171. - - Industrial Revolution, 183-92. - Ingemund, 53. - Inman, William, 200. - Irish Wars, 143. - Ismay, Thomas, 200. - Italian architecture, 146, 173-6. - - Jacobites, 172. - James I, 150, 152. - James II, 169-70. - John the Scot, 87. - Johnson, Samuel, 178. - - Kelsborrow, 27. - Kentigern, 47. - Keuper Sandstone, 18. - King, Edward, 186. - Kingsley, Charles, 215. - Kirby, West, 53. - Knights Hospitallers, 79. - Knights Templars, 79. - Knutsford, 164, 182, 192. - - Labyrinthodont, 18. - Laird, Thomas, 200. - Lambert, General, 164. - Latchford, 206. - Leghs, the, 108, 143, 161, 174. - Leicester, Sir Peter, 161. - Leofric, 57. - Limestone rocks, 23. - Llewellyn, 95. - Longdendale, 12. - Lyme, 77, 146, 172. - Lymm, 18. - - Macclesfield, Church, 94, 108, 120; - Forest, 74; - School, 133. - Maiden Castle, 27. - Malpas, 124. - Mancunium, 36. - Margaret, Queen, 115. - Marian persecution, 132. - Marling, 98. - Marsh, William, 132. - Martindale, Adam, 168. - Mary, Queen, 132. - Mary, Queen of Scots, 150. - Massey, Hamon de, 71. - Melandra Castle, 36. - Merchant Guilds, 88. - Meres, 15. - Mersey, River, 12. - Middlewich, Roman station of, 34; - Battle of, 156. - Midsummer Games, 151. - Millstone Grit, 23. - Mobberley, 63, 127. - Monk, George, 166. - Monmouth, Duke of, 169. - Moreton Hall, Little, 137. - Mountain Limestone, 23, 24. - Murage, 96. - Mural paintings, 122. - - Nantwich, 89, 92. - Nantwich, Battle of, 157. - Neolithic Age, 26. - Neston, 87, 178. - Nigel of Halton, 61. - Norman abbeys, 64, 71-3; - architecture, 65-71; - castles, 61; - churches, 65; - conquest, 58. - Normans, Coming of the, 58. - Norse settlements, 52. - Northwich, 19, 32, 157, 188. - Norton Priory, 129. - - Ordericus Vitalis, 60. - Oswald, 47. - Over, 48. - - Palaeolithic Age, 25. - Palatine, County, 59. - Parish registers, 125. - Parkgate, 178. - Peada, 48. - Penda, 48. - Peover, Little, 106. - Permian rocks, 22. - Perpendicular Architecture, 120-2. - Picts, 43. - Placenames, 45, 52. - Plegmund, Archbishop, 52. - Plemstall, 52. - Port Sunlight, 207. - Prestbury, 69, 75. - Pretenders, Stuart, 172. - Prince, John Critchley, 215. - Prynne, William, 152. - Pulton Abbey, 73. - Puritans, 150, 165. - - Quakers, 169. - Quarry Bank, 190. - - Railways, 192-7. - Randal Hignet, 91. - Randle Blundeville, Earl, 78-81. - Randle II, Earl, 76. - Randle Meschines, Earl, 76. - Ranulf Higden, 101. - Reformation, 128-33. - Renaissance, 173. - Restoration, 166. - Richard, Earl, 76. - Richard I, 80. - Richard II, 109. - Richard III, 117. - Rivers of Cheshire, 12-14. - Roe, Charles, 192. - Roger de Montalt, 87. - Roman altars, 35; - bricks, 40; - buildings, 38; - capitals, 39; - coins, 41; - forts, 36; - hypocausts, 39; - pottery, 41; - roads, 30; - tombstones, 34. - Romans, Coming of the, 29. - Roses, Wars of the, 115. - Rostherne, 174. - Rowton Moor, 158, 166. - Runcorn, 18, 54, 186. - Runes, 45. - Rupert, Prince, 157. - Rushbearing, 147. - - Salt, 18, 186. - Samian ware, 41. - Sandbach, 64; - battle of, 164; - crosses, 48. - Sandstone, New Red, 16-18. - Saxons, Coming of the, 43. - Scandinavians, 51-3. - Scott, Captain, 180. - Seven Lows, 27. - Shakerley, Sir Geoffrey, 159. - Ship Canal, 12, 205-6. - Ship money, 153. - Shocklach, 68, 123. - Shotwick, 15, 68, 95. - Silk manufacture, 192. - Simon de Montfort, 92. - Simon of Whitchurch, 92. - Simon Ripley, 122. - Speed, John, 135. - Stalybridge, 208. - Stanlaw, 73. - Stanley Palace, 146. - Stanleys of Cheshire, 99, 112,117, 164, 213. - Steam, Introduction of, 189. - Stephen, King, 76. - Stockport, 12, 32, 88, 104, 202, 210. - Stocks, 149. - Stone Age, 25. - Storeton, 18. - Stretford, 32. - Styal, 190. - Sunday Schools, 207. - - Tame, River, 12. - Tarporley, 155. - Tarvin, 20, 157. - Thelwall, 54. - Thingwall, 52. - Thornton Heath, 71. - Timber Houses, 137-41. - Tramways, 200. - Turpin, Dick, 179. - - Vale Royal, 93, 129. - van Zoelen, Baron, 171. - Veratinum, 41. - Victoria, Queen, 204-11. - - Wainwright, John, 215. - Wakes, 147. - Wales, Conquest of, 94. - Wallasey, 14, 70, 169. - Walton, Bishop, 167. - Warburton, 105. - Warford, 169. - Warren, Sir George, 183. - Watling Street, 12, 32. - Weaver, River, 14, 19, 186. - Wellington, Duke of, 182. - Werburga, Saint, 50. - Wesley, John, 180. - West Kirby, 53, 171. - Wilderspool, 32. - Wilkins, John, 167. - William the Conqueror, 58. - William Rufus, 75. - William III, 170. - Wilmslow, 115. - Wirral, 9, 22, 52, 197. - Witton, 133. - Woodchurch, 69, 147. - - Yoredale rocks, 23. - - -Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M.A. - - - - - Some Oxford Books - on - HISTORY - - -_General._ - -THE TEACHING OF HISTORY, by C. 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Kelsey, M.A. - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: normal; - } - -h1 -{ - - font-weight: normal; - line-height: 1.6; - font-size: xx-large; - margin-top: 4em; - margin-bottom: 4em; -} - -h2 -{margin-top: 4em; -margin-bottom: 2em; -} - -p -{ - margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; -} - -.frontmatter - { - text-align: center; - font-weight: bold; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - } - - .small {font-size: small;} - .medium {font-size: medium;} - .large {font-size: large;} - .xlarge {font-size: x-large;} - .xxlarge {font-size: xx-large;} - - .transnote {margin: auto; - margin-top: 4em; - border: 1px solid; - padding: 1em; - width: 25em;} -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: italic; - color: #B0B0B0; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} -.right {text-align: right;} -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} -.section {margin-top: 2em; text-align: center; font-size: 110%;} - -.image-center { - text-align: center; - margin: 1em auto; -} - -.caption p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -.caption p.left { - text-align: left; - margin-left: 8em; - } - -ul {list-style-type: none;} - -#toc { - margin: auto; -} - -#toc td { - padding-top: 0.75em; - vertical-align: top; - text-align: left; - padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; -} - -#toc td.right { - text-align: right; - vertical-align: bottom; -} - -#toc td.chapnum { - text-align: right; - padding-right: 0.5em; -} - - -/* Footnotes */ - - .footnotes {border: 1px dashed; padding-bottom: 2em;} - .footnote {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; font-size: 0.9em;} - .footnote .label, - .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; text-decoration: none; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; - text-decoration: none;} - -.poetry-container -{ - text-align: center; -} - -.poetry -{ - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; - -} - -.poetry .stanza -{ - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; -} - -.poetry .line -{ - margin: 0; - text-indent: -3em; - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.poetry .i1 {margin-left: 1em;} -.poetry .i2 {margin-left: 2em;} -.poetry .i4 {margin-left: 4em;} -.poetry .i5 {margin-left: 5em;} -.poetry .i9 {margin-left: 9em;} -.poetry .i10 {margin-left: 10em;} -.poetry .i16 {margin-left: 16em;} - -.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} - - -@media print, handheld - -{ - .poetry - { - margin: 1.5em; - display: block; - } - - .smcap - { - text-transform: uppercase; - font-size: 90%; - } -} - -@media handheld -{ - body - { - margin: 0; - padding: 0; - width: 90%; - } - - .transnote - { - width: auto; - } -} - </style> - </head> -<body> - - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cheshire, by Charles E. Kelsey - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Cheshire - -Author: Charles E. Kelsey - -Release Date: June 6, 2013 [EBook #42887] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHESHIRE *** - - - - -Produced by floofles, sp1nd and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" id="page1"></a></span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" id="page2"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="left"><span class="large">CHESHIRE. ROADS</span></p> - </div> - <a href="images/image1l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image1.jpg" width="525" height="400" alt="" /> - </a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3">3</a></span></p> - -<h1>OXFORD COUNTY HISTORIES<br /> -<b>CHESHIRE</b></h1> - -<p class="frontmatter large">BY CHARLES E. KELSEY, M.A.</p> - -<p class="frontmatter small">WITH TEN MAPS AND FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS</p> - -<p class="frontmatter">OXFORD<br /> -AT THE CLARENDON PRESS<br /> -1911</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a></span></p> - -<p class="frontmatter">HENRY FROWDE, M.A.<br /> -<span class="small">PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD</span><br /> -<span class="small">LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK</span><br /> -<span class="small">TORONTO AND MELBOURNE</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5">5</a></span></p> - -<h2>PREFACE</h2> - -<p>The aim of the present volume in the Oxford Series of County Histories -for Schools is to assist the study of the progress of the English people -by an examination of local antiquities, visits to ancient sites and -buildings, and suggestions of big national movements from local -incident. An attempt is made to foster the powers of observation in -children by showing them how to connect various styles of architecture, -for instance, with successive stages in the story of their county, and -to construct from familiar objects the broad outlines of national -history. Thus it is hoped that sooner or later the teaching of history -may become, to some extent, an <em>out-of-school</em> subject and take its -place side by side with outdoor Nature-study and Practical Geography in -the curriculum of our schools.</p> - -<p>In rural districts this end is obviously more easily attainable than in -large industrial centres. In the latter the expense of moving classes of -children from their schools to visit a site some miles distant would be -no doubt considerable; but is it too visionary to hope that before long -a motor-bus, capable of carrying a class of thirty or forty boys and -girls, will be deemed by Educational Committees a necessary part of -their 'apparatus'?</p> - -<p>Apart from the educative value of such work there would, as the children -grow up, arise a body of public opinion which could give valuable help -in saving historic sites and buildings from loss or destruction, and -preventing the removal of antiquities from their natural home. Cheshire -has suffered perhaps more than her share of both these evils, and looks -with sorrowful eyes at many of her treasures housed in the museums of -towns beyond her borders.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6">6</a></span> -All students of Cheshire history owe much to Ormerod's great work. But -his history is largely genealogical, and personally I wish to -acknowledge a greater debt to the labours and transactions of local -societies, particularly the Chester Archaeological Society and the -Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society. Many learned members of -these two bodies have made most important contributions to our knowledge -of ancient and mediaeval Cheshire within the most recent years. Among -other works consulted I may mention the <cite>Palatine Note Book</cite>, <cite>Cheshire -Notes and Queries</cite>, and Morris's <cite>Diocesan History of Chester</cite>. I have -received kindly assistance from several Cheshire clergymen, and to all -who have given me permission to take photographs within their churches I -express my thanks.</p> - -<p>The maps, drawings, and photographs are original, with few exceptions. I -am indebted to the Council of the Chester Archaeological Society, and -the Grosvenor Museum for the loan of the block of a Roman tombstone from -a photograph by Mr. R. Newstead, and to Mr. Alfred Newstead, Curator of -the Museum, for photographs of the Runic stone and Roman altar.</p> - -<p>The Rev. J. F. Tristram, of the Hulme Grammar School, read the two -geological chapters and made valuable suggestions. To the Clarendon -Press I am grateful for much kind help and criticism.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The Hulme Grammar School</span>,<br /> -<span class="smcap i2">Manchester</span>,<br /> -<span class="smcap i2"><i>July, 1911</i>.</span></p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7">7</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table id="toc" summary="contents"> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum"><small>CHAP.</small></td> - <td> </td> - <td class="right"><small>PAGE</small></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">I.</td> - <td class="smcap">Position and Natural Features of Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page9">9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">II.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Making of Cheshire (1)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page16">16</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">III.</td> - <td> <span class="smcap">The Making of Cheshire</span> (<i>continued</i>) (2)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page21">21</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">IV.</td> - <td class="smcap">Early Inhabitants of Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page25">25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">V.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Romans in Cheshire (1)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page29">29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">VI.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Romans in Cheshire (2)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page36">36</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">VII.</td> - <td class="smcap">Saxons and Angles come to Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page43">43</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Cross in Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page47">47</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">IX.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Coming of the Northmen</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page51">51</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">X.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Normans come to Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page58">58</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XI.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Norman Abbeys and Churches of Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page64">64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Earls of the County Palatine</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page74">74</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Churches of the Thirteenth Century</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page81">81</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> - <td class="smcap">Growth of Towns in Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page87">87</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XV.</td> - <td class="smcap">Edward the First and Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page92">92</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Coming of the Friars</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page99">99</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> - <td class="smcap">A Deposed King</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page107">107</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Rival Roses</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page114">114</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> - <td class="smcap">Churches of the Middle Ages</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page118">118</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XX.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Reformation and the Great Awakening</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page128">128</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> - <td class="smcap">Elizabethan Cheshire (1)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page134">134</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> - <td class="smcap">Elizabethan Cheshire (2)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page143">143</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Rule of the Stuarts</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page150">150</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> - <td class="smcap">Civil War: (1) The Battles of Middlewich and Nantwich</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page153">153</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> - <td class="smcap">Civil War: (2) A Memorable Siege</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page158">158</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8">8</a></span>XXVI.</td> - <td class="smcap">Civil War: (3) The Protectorate and the Restoration</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page163">163</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Fall of the Stuarts</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page167">167</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Eighteenth Century (1)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page173">173</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Eighteenth Century (1)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page180">180</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Industrial Revolution (1)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page183">183</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXXI.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Industrial Revolution (2)</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page188">188</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXXII.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Railways of Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page192">192</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXXIII.</td> - <td class="smcap">Progress and Reform in the Nineteenth Century</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page198">198</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXXIV.</td> - <td class="smcap">The Reign of a Great Queen</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page204">204</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXXV.</td> - <td class="smcap">Famous Men and Women of Cheshire</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page211">211</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="chapnum">XXXVI.</td> - <td class="smcap">Conclusion</td> - <td class="right"><a href="#page216">216</a></td> - </tr> - </table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9">9</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER I<br /> -<small>POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>Few English counties owe more of their history to their geographical -position and surroundings, and to the character of their natural -features, than Cheshire. Not only in the past have the rocks and rivers -of Cheshire helped to make history, but even to-day they have a very -direct bearing upon the fortunes of Cheshire men and women. How many of -us reflect, as our eyes travel over the plain to the distant hills, that -on the wise and orderly arrangement of mountain and valley, forest and -winding stream, our very existence and means of livelihood depend? Truly -Nature has other work to do than merely create picturesque landscapes.</p> - -<p>Cheshire is situated in the north-west of England, washed partly by the -Irish Sea, and guarded as it were on its eastern and western sides by -two great ramparts of hill country, that on the east formed by the -southern spurs of the Pennine Chain, while the Welsh hills of Flint and -Denbigh are the natural frontier on the west.</p> - -<p>The western boundary, however, which has been frequently changed, now -follows roughly the Valley of the Dee. A semicircle of hills of lesser -height fringes the county on the south, and the river Mersey divides it -from its northern neighbour, Lancashire.</p> - -<p>In the north-west of the county a rectangular stretch of country known -as Wirral is washed by two great estuaries and by the Irish Sea, and a -wedge of moorland in the north-east penetrates into the heart of the -Pennines. Here the hills reach their greatest height, Black Hill the -highest point in Cheshire being just under 2,000 feet above sea-level. -The low-lying lands enclosed by this amphitheatre of hills form the -Cheshire Plain,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10">10</a></span> broken only by ridges or terraces of low sandstone -hills running north and south.</p> - -<p>A glance at a map of the British Isles will show you that Cheshire lies -in the very heart of the three kingdoms. Its geographical position has -thus made it a meeting-place of nations, and you will see in later -chapters that all the peoples that have helped to make our national -history have in turn realized the importance of its position, and have -fought desperately for its possession. Briton and Roman, Angle and Saxon -and Dane, Welsh and Norman have all left some mark of their presence in -the county, and from these many elements is derived the blood that flows -in the veins of nearly all Cheshire boys and girls of to-day.</p> - -<p>Now look at the map opposite. The shaded portions represent land over -300, 600, or 1,000 feet above sea-level. In the south, the eastern and -western uplands slope gradually down towards the bit of white which -touches the centre of the bottom of the map and forms what is known as -the Cheshire Gap. Through this gap the Midlands lie open to the -north-west and to the Cheshire Plain, and over these lower heights -naturally passed the great highway from London to the Irish Sea. -Chester, built on a rocky plateau at the head of the tidal waters of the -Dee and protected on its western side by a natural bend of the same -river, was clearly a position of great importance for guarding alike the -coast road into North Wales and the roads to the north of England; and -there is no doubt that it was held as a fortified post long before the -Romans built the Roman city of Deva.</p> - -<p>For many centuries this stronghold was one of the chief military -outposts and frontier towns of England, not often free from war's -alarms, and the sentinels on her walls and watch-towers ever on the -look-out for the approach of some new enemy. Chester became the 'base' -or head-quarters from which all military campaigns in the north-west, in -Wales or in Ireland were carried out, united with the metropolis by the -great road that passed through the heart of England, along which armies -could march without any difficult hills to cross and hardly a river of -any <span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12">12</a></span>great size to bridge. In later and more peaceful times, for the same -geographical reasons, the London and North-Western Railway, the lineal -descendant of the ancient 'Watling Street', laid its lines on nearly the -same ground as the old highway, and is thus the easiest as well as the -most direct of all routes from London to the north-west.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="left"><span class="large">CHESHIRE</span></p> - </div> - <a href="images/image2l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image2.jpg" width="511" height="400" alt="" /> - </a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Contour Map</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>With the exception of the Dee, which rises near Lake Bala in Wales, the -rivers of Cheshire have their sources in the eastern or southern -uplands. For eight months of the year moisture-laden winds blow from the -sea across the Cheshire Plain and deposit their rains upon the hills. In -the hilly country of the north-east, where the rainfall is greatest, the -water is gathered and stored in a number of reservoirs in Longdendale; -and the moist climate is the chief reason why this district is the seat -of the cotton industry, for cotton threads become brittle in a dry -atmosphere. In the valleys of the Tame and Goyt the abundance of fresh -running water from the hills formerly caused many mills for the -bleaching, dyeing and printing of calicoes to be erected on or near the -streams. Nowadays, however, owing to the greater supply of water brought -by pipes from a distance, mills are erected principally on the outskirts -of the great towns and nearer the centres of population. Hence in the -villages of the Goyt it is no uncommon sight to see the tottering walls -of mills that have been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin and -decay.</p> - -<p>The combined waters of the Etherow, Tame, and Goyt form the Mersey at -Stockport. Only the left bank of this river is in Cheshire. Moreover, -for a large part of its course it has been 'canalized', so that it no -longer flows between its natural banks, but down the artificial channel -of the Manchester Ship Canal. The estuary of the Mersey, which is three -to four miles across at its widest point, narrows at Birkenhead to a -width of barely three-quarters of a mile. At this point the river is -kept open to the largest vessels afloat by constant dredging. Here in -the docks you may see ships of all nations, and generally one or more of -our huge ocean greyhounds riding at <span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14">14</a></span> -anchor in mid-river or awaiting but the turn of the tide to take out -their cargoes of human lives to distant lands.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="large">SOURCES OF RIVERS IN E. CHESHIRE</span></p> - </div> - <a href="images/image3l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image3.jpg" width="400" height="614" alt="" /> - </a> -</div> - -<p>The Weaver, on the other hand, is wholly a Cheshire river, rising in the -Peckforton Hills in the south-west of the county. The Mersey and the -Weaver receive a number of tributaries, of which the Bollin and the Dane -are the most important, from the eastern highlands,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line i10">the high-crowned Shutlingslawe</div> - <div class="line">... with those proud hills whence rove</div> - <div class="line">The lovely sister brooks the silvery Dane and Dove,</div> - <div class="line">Clear Dove that makes to Trent, the other to the West.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>At Northwich the Weaver becomes navigable as far as the Mersey.</p> - -<p>The rivers flow mainly in a westerly or north-westerly direction. -Spreading evenly over the plain in almost parallel lines, they serve to -drain and fertilize the land, which thus affords the finest pasturage -for cattle. Dairy-farming and stock-raising have therefore become the -principal occupation of the inhabitants of the Cheshire midlands; and on -market days the piles of the famous Cheshire cheese are generally the -first thing we notice in the open market-places of our country towns.</p> - -<p>The most noticeable feature of the county are the two estuaries of the -Dee and the Mersey. The tract enclosed between them is for the most part -flat, Heswall Hill, the highest point, being little more than 300 feet -in height, and the lowest parts have to be protected from the inroads of -the sea by long embankments. Several portions were in fact, at one time -separated from the mainland, like Hilbre Isle at the present day, as is -shown by the names Wallasey, 'isle of the Welsh or strangers,' and Ince -'an island'. In the Middle Ages, owing to the importance of Chester, the -Dee was the principal outlet for the trade of the north-west, as Bristol -was for the south-west of England. In those days Liverpool was but an -insignificant town, and the Mersey was known as the 'Creek of Chester'. -But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the shipping trade of the -Dee declined owing to the great accumulation of sand and silt in the -channel. When vessels could no<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15">15</a></span> longer unload or ship their merchandise -under the walls of Chester a quay was formed at Shotwick, some six miles -along the northern shore of the estuary. In this neighbourhood over two -thousand acres of land have been recovered from the sea that once flowed -over them. Navigation was partially restored as far as Chester for small -vessels by a new artificial channel, but since the rise of the cotton -and other great industries in South Lancashire Liverpool and Birkenhead -have replaced Chester and become the second port in the kingdom.</p> - -<p>Cheshire also possesses a miniature 'Lake District'. Between the Bollin -and the Weaver are scattered many lakelets or 'meres'. They are -particularly numerous in the salt districts, where they are due to the -pumping of brine which has been going on for ages, and caused the -sinking down of the overlying rocks. In the neighbourhood of Northwich -the sheets of water thus formed are called 'flashes'.</p> - -<p>The county still contains much 'forest', that is, uncultivated land. The -hilly country of the east consists mostly of bleak and barren moorland, -affording but poor pasturage for sheep and used mainly for the -preservation of game. Such names as Wildboarclough, Wolf's Edge, Cat's -Tor, Eagle's Crag, and many others, show clearly the wild and desolate -character of this district. Extensive woods are found in the valleys and -'cloughs' of the Etherow and Goyt. Delamere was once a deer forest -extending as far as Nantwich, but in the last hundred years the greater -part of it has been cultivated. Many towns and villages still retain -their 'common' land, often bright with patches of broom and gorse, while -the numerous and extensive parks of the great landowners are justly -noted for their fine forest trees.</p> - -<p>To many of you the natural features described in this chapter must be a -familiar sight. Some of you have perhaps stood by the beacon on Alderley -Edge or by the sham ruins on the summit of Mow Cop, and viewed wide -stretches of the Cheshire Plain. Others have looked down from the -Frodsham Hills upon the estuary of the Mersey mapped out at their feet, -or from the walls of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16">16</a></span> Chester have gazed upon the purple hills of Wales. -But the surface of the county suffered many changes before it assumed -its present aspect, and we must now see what story the stones have to -tell us of bygone ages when Cheshire was yet in the making.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER II<br /> -<small>THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE. I</small><br /> -<span class="smcap"><small>The Newer Rocks</small></span></h2> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">There rolls the deep where grew the tree:</div> - <div class="line i2">O earth, what changes hast thou seen!</div> - <div class="line i2">There, where the long street roars, hath been</div> - <div class="line">The stillness of the central sea.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Nearly every Cheshire boy has visited at some time or another a quarry -in the neighbourhood of the town or village where he dwells. He will -probably have noticed that beneath the two or three feet of soil at the -top of the quarry the rocks are arranged in beds or 'strata' piled one -upon another in horizontal rows, or sometimes sloping in parallel lines -towards the bottom of the quarry. When and how were these beds of rock -formed and laid down?</p> - -<p>If our quarry is in the central or western parts of Cheshire we shall -find that the rocks are of a reddish colour, generally hard and gritty, -but sometimes so soft that pieces may be crushed into fragments with the -fingers. These rocks are known as the New Red sandstones, and are -largely used for building purposes. Chester Cathedral and a great number -of Cheshire churches have been built of this material; and the hillsides -where the rocks crop out above the soil often glow with a rich warm red -in the evening sunlight. You may see them best perhaps in the railway -cuttings in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18">18</a></span>neighbourhood of Frodsham and Chester, or in the great quarries at -Storeton-in-Wirral and Runcorn.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <a href="images/image4l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image4.jpg" width="598" height="400" alt="" /> - </a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Geological Map</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>These beds of sandstone are really wide stretches of the sandy shores of -an ancient sea, which have been pressed into a solid substance by the -weight of other layers of rock deposited over them in later ages. Thus -they belong to a group of what are called 'water-laid' rocks. We know -that seas once flowed over them because some of the beds show the -ripple-marks that we see so often in the sands when walking by the -sea-shore. A fearful looking monster, with the equally terrible name of -labyrinthodont, in appearance rather like a gigantic frog, has left his -'footprints in the sands' in the rocks near Lymm and Weston. You will -probably not be able to find these footprints, but in the museums at -Manchester and Warrington you may see them on large slabs of sandstone -rock. How would you like to meet one of these reptiles to-day, wallowing -in the mud on the shores of some Cheshire mere? On the same slabs you -will see suncracks which tell us of the baking of sand and mud in the -sun's rays when the tide has gone down.</p> - -<p>The lower layers of the New Red Sandstone are of a paler colour, light -brown or almost white. To these the name of 'Bunter' has been given to -distinguish them from the upper and therefore later deposits known as -'Keuper' sandstone. The Bunter beds are found chiefly in the west of the -county, and in Wirral, where you may see the Keuper rocks of Storeton -Hill sticking up above the layers of Bunter stone that surround and -underlie them.</p> - -<p>The greater part of the surface of Cheshire consists of these rocks. -Alderley Edge and Helsby Hill, the hills of Delamere and Peckforton are -composed of it, and it crops out often in our village streets. The steps -of the village cross at Lymm are cut out of a piece of rock which sticks -out in the middle of the road.</p> - -<p>In the sandstone beds at Northwich, Winsford, and Middlewich are layers -of rock salt from which we obtain our salt for food and other domestic -uses. The salt was formed at a time when the sea was gradually -disappearing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19">19</a></span> from the surface of Cheshire leaving inland salt lakes, -which, becoming dried up, deposited beds of salt crystals. These, like -the sandstone, became pressed into a solid condition by the weight of -other layers. Where the salt has been taken out of the earth the upper -layers have sunk from time to time. At Northwich the land is continually -sinking, and you may see houses and chimneys cracked and twisted out of -their proper shape as if they had been visited by an earthquake. Often -the hollows where the land has sunk have become filled with water and -produced the numerous meres or small lakes dotted about the county. In -the valley of the Weaver they are locally known as 'flashes'.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image5.jpg" height="400" width="538" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Striated Boulder (Erratic): High Legh</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>When, in the course of time, the red sandstone formed the dry land of -Cheshire, it became covered by a great ice-sheet which extended over -Britain even as far south as the Thames valley. Beneath this covering of -ice the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20">20</a></span> rocks were crushed and ground to atoms by the movement of the -ice-sheet over them. This formed beds of a substance called -boulder-clay, containing lumps of rock which must have been brought by -the ice great distances, for they are of a kind found only in the north -of England or in Scotland. Some of these 'boulders' are of great size. -Several have been placed in Vernon Park, Stockport, and in the West -Park, Macclesfield, you may see one that was dug up in the neighbourhood -of the town. It weighs about thirty tons. On Eddisbury Hill is a mass of -rock, ten feet long, of a kind found only on Skiddaw in the Lake -District, and in the narrow lane behind the 'Wizard' Inn on Alderley -Edge is a lump of granite from Eskdale, so that these rocks have been -brought by the ice a distance of a hundred miles. Such blocks and -boulders are called 'erratics', because they have wandered so far from -their original home. Another proof of the existence of the ice-sheet may -be seen in the scratchings and marks (called 'striae') on pebbles and -rocks found in these beds. In the lane outside the church at High Legh -are a number of large boulders which still show the lines of furrows and -scratchings made on their surface by the movement of the ice over them.</p> - -<p>The boulder-clay has been worn away by the action of water and weather -from a great part of Cheshire, but in the west of the county large -patches may be seen in the low-lying districts. You may observe the beds -most clearly in the cliffs of boulder-clay on the estuary of the Dee -between Heswall and West Kirby. In the neighbourhood of Chester, many of -the villages—Tarvin, Christleton, Aldford, Saighton, and Barrow, for -instance—are built on sandstone knolls and ridges which stick up -through the boulder-clay, for the sandstone is drier and healthier than -the clay to live upon, and the wells, especially those in the Bunter -beds, provide the purest water.</p> - -<p>As the ice-sheet melted and the glaciers or ice-rivers retreated -northwards when the climate became warmer, beds of sand, gravel, and -stones were spread over the Cheshire plain. These are called drift beds. -The stones and pebbles are rounded by the streams of melted ice and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21">21</a></span> -snow which flowed from the mouths of the ice-rivers. Upon the beds of -drift lies the surface soil in which grow the crops and grass, the -herbage and the woods of to-day; and it is in the drift, as you will see -in a later chapter, that traces of the earliest inhabitants of Cheshire -are to be found.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER III<br /> -<small>THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (<i>cont.</i>). II</small><br /> -<small><span class="smcap">The Older Rocks</span></small></h2> - - -<p>Let us now visit some quarries in East Cheshire. We shall find -considerable difficulty in reaching some of them. It will be necessary -to get permission from the owners of the quarries, put on a special suit -of clothes, enter an iron cage, and descend many hundred feet perhaps -into the depths of the earth's surface until we find ourselves—in a -coal-mine!</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image6.jpg" width="790" height="250" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Section of Rocks from Knutsford to Buxton</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22">22</a></span>Unlike the New Red Sandstones, which are found for the most part in flat -horizontal beds, the coal beds slope downwards from east to west. This -is due to the uplifting of the East Cheshire hills, which we shall -presently explain. When this uplift took place, the coal beds, which -were originally flat, became raised in the east and equally lowered in -the west. When the sea flowed over them they became covered by sandy -deposits of such a thickness that in the greater part of Cheshire the -coal cannot be reached. The earliest sands laid down formed what are -called the Permian rocks, and the later layers the New Red Sandstone -series mentioned in the last chapter. The Permian rocks may be well seen -at Stockport, in the river beds of the Tame and the Goyt which have cut -their way through them. In the strip of country between Stockport and -Macclesfield, and again on the south-eastern borders of Cheshire, the -upturned edges of the coal beds have been left exposed so that the coal -is near the surface and can be easily extracted.</p> - -<p>Coal consists of the vegetable remains of forest trees and their -undergrowth. If you look at a lump of coal you will see that it has been -pressed down into thin layers like the leaves of a book. When these -layers are split apart there are often found the fossil remains of -leaves and roots of trees, fronds of ferns, seed-cones and stems of -plants which grew in the forests. Some of these, particularly the ferns, -are often of great beauty. You may see a number of these 'coal pictures' -in the Vernon Park Museum at Stockport. Here too you will find portions -of the actual trunks of trees that have been dug up just where they -stood when the seas flowed over them.</p> - -<p>You may learn even to distinguish different varieties of these forest -trees, just as you are able to distinguish the oak and the beech and the -elm of to-day. Latin names such as Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, and -Salisburia have been given to them. The most beautiful of all is a -Maidenhair Tree-fern. The Calamites was a huge 'Horse-tail' plant of -which you may find small varieties to-day on banks and in hedgerows.</p> - -<p>On the coast of Wirral, between Meols and New Brighton,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23">23</a></span> are the remains -of a forest which has only in very recent years been covered by the sea. -Boys who live in this neighbourhood may have heard their parents tell of -the stumps of tree-trunks sticking out through the sands when the tide -was low. This shows that the land is continually undergoing changes, at -one time being raised above the seas, at another time sinking beneath -the waves.</p> - -<p>The beds or 'seams' of coal vary in thickness from a thin film to -several yards, and are separated from one another by layers of hard -clays and flagstones. From the flagstone beds are obtained the square -slabs with which the pavements of our towns and cities are laid. In many -of the quarries near the Cheshire coal-field you may watch the workmen -cutting and shaping these stones.</p> - -<p>The beds of clays and seams of coal make up what are called the 'Coal -Measures'. These in their turn rest upon a foundation of hard rock, -harder than any we have yet examined, called Millstone Grit or -Gritstone. Boys who live in the hilly parts of East Cheshire are very -familiar with it, for very probably the houses in which they live and -the churches and chapels where they worship have been built of this -stone. It is composed of coarse sand and grit, and, like the red -sandstone, is a waterlaid deposit several thousand feet in thickness. -The Pennine Hills, on the borderland of Cheshire and Derbyshire, are -covered with Millstone Grit, which has been thrust upwards by the -crumpling and arching of the rocks beneath it.</p> - -<p>Below the Gritstone are still older rocks of a different character -called the Limestone series. The uppermost beds contain layers of a -sandy substance called Yoredale sandstones. Mixed with them are layers -of shale, a dark bluish grey clay that crumbles into thin fragments when -crushed with the hand, and thin seams of limestone and, occasionally, of -coal. These are the oldest rocks that are found anywhere in Cheshire. -You may see them in the hills east of Macclesfield and Congleton and the -higher parts of Longdendale. Below these beds is a mass of Mountain -Limestone which has been forced upwards into an arch by tremendous -pressure of rocks from either side, and has lifted up the Gritstone -above to a height of nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24">24</a></span> two thousand feet. In this way the -highlands of East Cheshire, and indeed the whole of the Pennine Chain, -have been formed. The Mountain Limestone, which consists almost entirely -of animal remains, especially shells and corals, extends right under the -highest hills of Cheshire, and comes to light in the cliffs of the -beautiful dales of Derbyshire. Only at one spot, a quarry near Astbury, -does it appear at the surface in Cheshire.</p> - -<p>The Coal Measures, Millstone Grit, Yoredale sandstones, and Mountain -Limestone make up what geologists call the Carboniferous or Coal-bearing -series, so called because in England our chief supplies of coal are -obtained from this group of rocks.</p> - -<p>But we should have to dig deeper even than the Mountain Limestone before -we could reach the original surface of the earth in Cheshire. Long ages -ago, ages so distant that not even the most learned men of science can -reckon them, our earth was a globe of fiery molten rock. As the surface -gradually cooled it became wrinkled, as a baked apple will when taken -from an oven. Water collected in the hollows into which fragments of -rock were washed down from the ridges, and thus the waters were raised -and formed into seas and lakes. But we shall not find any of these rocks -in Cheshire, though you may see them in great masses in the mountains of -Cumberland and Wales, where they have been forced upwards by the violent -movements always at work in the interior of the earth. It is of these -molten rocks that the mass of stone which was brought by the ice from -Cumberland and left on Eddisbury Hill is composed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25">25</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IV<br /> -<small>EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>A few years ago some workmen digging on the high ground of Alderley Edge -came across a number of flint stones, which from their shape and the -marks of chipping upon them had clearly been fashioned by the hand of -man. Some of the flints were shaped like a knife blade with a sharp edge -on their entire length, and others of a more or less oval shape had a -keen edge on one of their curves. The former were the knives with which -the earliest men of Cheshire cut the flesh of animals for food; the -latter were the scrapers with which they removed the flesh from the -bones or from the hides that provided them with clothing.</p> - -<p>Flints, however, are not naturally found in any of the Cheshire rocks; -they must be sought for in the districts where chalk hills abound. -Clearly therefore these men must have brought their tools and weapons -with them when they first came into Cheshire from the east or from the -south. Afterwards, no doubt, they bargained for them, giving skins and -furs in exchange.</p> - -<p>Men first made their homes in Cheshire when the glaciers of the Great -Ice Age retreated northwards and the climate became more suitable for -human habitation. A flint arrow-head found during some excavations at -Clulow Cross near Wincle, tells us that men lived then by hunting, -depending for their food on the flesh of wild beasts. They lived in -caves or in holes dug in the ground. The roughly-chipped stone axe in -the Grosvenor Museum was made by these men.</p> - -<p>The Flint men, or men of the Old Stone Age, probably came originally -from the mainland of Europe to which Britain at that time was joined, -the North Sea and English Channel being then dry land. The reindeer, -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26">26</a></span> mammoth, the wild ox, and packs of hungry wolves and hyenas roamed -over Cheshire in those days.</p> - -<p>These Flint men were succeeded by other races of New Stone men who found -that they could manufacture their necessary tools out of the boulders -embedded in the drift and boulder-clay. The men who dug up the knives -and scrapers of Alderley found near Mottram Common a heap of small -boulders carefully placed in a pit dug in the ground and clearly -selected for some useful purpose. For out of these stones were to be cut -and shaped stone hammer-heads with which they learned to crush copper -ore and axe-heads to cut down trees. Some of the hammer-heads themselves -have been found in this locality, and they are made of a stone similar -to that of the unbroken boulders. The stone 'celt' or axe-head in Vernon -Park Museum shows that they were improving in their skill and -workmanship, for their tools were no longer chipped into their required -shape but ground with hard mill-stones and afterwards smoothed and -polished. Afterwards, as you may see from the specimen in the Grosvenor -Museum, which has a hole cut through it, the New Stone men learned how -to fit handles to their axe-heads.</p> - -<p>In the course of time these primitive dwellers learned to tame and train -animals for their service and use. They were protected from attack by -wild beasts by circles of piled stones or raised earth covered with -turf. Traces of these circles have in recent years been found at -Alderley Edge, but they have been mostly levelled for agricultural -purposes.</p> - -<p>They also taught themselves the art of pottery, making rough jars and -urns of sun-dried clay and sand, jars wherein to store their water, and -urns in which to place the remains of their dead. One of these urns, dug -up at Stretton, may be seen in the Warrington Museum.</p> - -<p>The Stone men were succeeded by tribes of an entirely different race -called Celts. The Celts drove out the earlier inhabitants from their -Cheshire homes, compelling them to seek refuge in Wales and Ireland. -They came not all at once but in successive waves, the earliest arrivals -being the Goidelic or Gaelic Celts, who in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27">27</a></span> turn were ousted by -the Brythonic Celts, from whom the name of Briton is derived. These are -the ancestors of the Welsh nation.</p> - -<p>The Brythons, or Britons as we may now call them, were a more -intelligent and civilized race than any that had hitherto dwelt in the -land. They were a pastoral people, and brought with them great herds of -cattle, as well as horses and dogs. They could spin and sew, making -their spindles and needles of bone or horn, and grew corn, which they -ground with hand-mills.</p> - -<p>But the Britons must have been continually fighting against fresh -incoming tribes, for on some of the hill-tops of Cheshire you may see -the camps and earthworks which they made for their defence and refuge in -time of war. Suitable positions were chosen, with one side guarded by -precipitous cliffs if possible, the whole being enclosed except on the -steep side by a raised rampart of earth and a ditch. These earthworks -are circular or oval with gaps on either side for entrances. At Bucton -Castle, high above Mossley and the Tame Valley, at Kelsborrow Castle in -Delamere Forest, and Maiden Castle in the Broxton Hills, British -encampments may still be seen.</p> - -<p>The Britons were very particular about the burial of their dead. Over -the graves of their chiefs they erected great round 'barrows'. Many of -these barrows, or, to give them their Latin name, 'tumuli,' may be seen -to-day, and several of them have been opened and examined. In a field -near Oakmere, not far from the high-road that passes through Delamere -Forest, is a cluster of barrows called the 'Seven Lows' which clearly -mark an early settlement of considerable importance. They vary in size -from fifteen to thirty yards in diameter. One of them, when opened, was -found to contain an urn with charred human remains within it. The urn -was inverted, the better to support the weight of soil above it, and was -set in the middle of a floored space over which was a thin layer of -charcoal. This seems to show that a funeral pyre was erected on which -the body was first burnt, the remains being then gathered and placed in -the urn. The barrow was erected over the urn by piling stones and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28">28</a></span> -covering them with soil and turf. Burial urns have been found at Castle -Hill Cob and Glead Hill Cob in Delamere Forest, and at Twemlow where -there is a group of five tumuli.</p> - -<p>In the hilly district of East Cheshire, where rocks are plentiful, the -burial grounds were marked by circles of upright stones. There are some -remains of such circles on the moorland near Clulow Cross. Among the -burnt bones in a barrow at this spot were found a flint<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> knife and -arrow-head, for it was believed that the dead man would require his -tools and weapons after death just as in his lifetime. For the same -reason often the wives and slaves of a chief were sacrificed or cremated -at his death to serve and wait upon him in another world. The barrows -were also used by the tribes as a place of assembly for their religious -rites, when prayers and human victims were offered to their gods and to -the spirits of their dead leaders, who, as they believed, would continue -to watch over them and help them in battle.</p> - -<p>The Brythonic Celts came to Britain between 1,000 <small>B.C.</small> and 500 <small>B.C.</small>, and -were acquainted with the use and manufacture of bronze implements. Hence -the period during which they arrived and lived in Britain is called the -Bronze Age. The bronze 'celt' in the Grosvenor Museum was found in the -camp at Kelsborrow, and when the railway was cut at Wilmslow an urn -containing bones and a bronze dagger was dug up. The urn and dagger are -now in the museum at Peel Park, Salford.</p> - -<p>The river valleys and the lowlands of Cheshire were in those days swampy -and unhealthy, so the Britons lived as much as possible in the higher -parts, which were also more suitable for agricultural pursuits. On the -crests or slopes of hills were tracks or ridgeways for pack-horses, -leading from one settlement to another. On Werneth Low, Eddisbury Hill, -and Alderley Edge, these ancient ridgeways may still be traced. When men -went down to the rivers to fish they carried on their backs light -coracles of plaited reeds covered with skin, such as the fishermen -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29">29</a></span> -still use on the Dee between Farndon and Bangor where the water is too -rapid or shallow for boats.</p> - -<p>Roman writers have left us descriptions of the Britons who lived in the -centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ; from them we learn -that, although the British tribes were mainly occupied in fighting -against one another, a certain amount of trade was carried on with -travellers and merchants from other lands, and that they dwelt in -'towns' or collections of wattled huts surrounded by a stockade and -ditch. From the numerous fragments of British pottery that have been -unearthed in the neighbourhood of Chester, we gather that there was a -British town of considerable importance on the site of the later city, -and traders from the Mediterranean, who visited this country, may well -have moored their vessels in the tidal waters of the Dee.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER V<br /> -<small>THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. I</small></h2> - -<p>In the previous chapters all that we know of Cheshire and its people has -been learned from unwritten records, 'stories in stones', and from such -scanty remains as have been brought to light by excavation and careful -examination of the soil. From this time onwards our knowledge will be -much more extensive and sure, for we shall have <em>written</em> records left -by men who lived in the times of which they wrote.</p> - -<p>Fifty-four years before the birth of Christ the British inhabitants of -Cheshire must have heard of the landing on the southern shores of -Britain of the drilled and disciplined soldiers of one of the greatest -generals that ever lived. Julius Caesar, who first led the Roman eagles -into Britain, has given us in his 'Commentaries' a description of the -Britain of his day and of its inhabitants. Some of the fierce hill-men -of East Cheshire may possibly have fought against him, for he tells us -that the British tribes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30">30</a></span> -ceased making war on one another, and united themselves under a single leader called Cassivellaunus to resist the -invaders. After a decisive victory—at least, according to his own -account—Caesar returned with his legions to the Continent, and ninety -years passed by before the Romans came again, this time to make a long -stay of nearly four hundred years.</p> - -<p>About the year <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 50 the Roman axe might be heard hewing a road -through the dense forests which in those days almost surrounded the city -of Chester. A Roman governor, Ostorius Scapula, was busy in the -neighbouring county of Shropshire making war on the sturdy Welsh-Britons -of the borderland of Wales, and fortifying the city which he built under -the shadow of the Wrekin. From this point, slowly but surely, the Roman -soldiers made their way through forest and foe to Chester, or Deva as it -was then called. This was the chief town of a tribe called the Cornavii, -a pastoral people occupying the present county of Cheshire, except the -hilly districts of the north-east, where the Brigantes, a more warlike -tribe than the Cornavii, had their homes.</p> - -<p>The Romans did not, however, capture Chester without a struggle. The -city was well protected on its western and southern sides by the river -Dee, whose waters spread over the Roodee right up to where the walls of -the city now stand. Only from the east could the place be attacked, and -the highest points of Delamere Forest and the Peckforton Hills are still -marked by the British encampments and earthworks where the Britons made -their last stand, and by green earth-mounds or 'tumuli' where the dead -bodies of their leaders were buried.</p> - -<p>If you take up an Ordnance Map you will often find a length of road -running quite straight for some miles. Such roads will nearly always -prove to have been the work of the Romans, for the Romans made their -roads direct from point to point, like modern railways, their chief -object being to enable troops to march rapidly from one military station -to another. Two straight pieces of Roman road enter the city of Chester, -one on the south and the other on the east.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31">31</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="left"><span class="large">ROMAN ROADS IN CHESHIRE</span></p> - </div> - <a href="images/image7l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image7.jpg" width="603" height="400" alt="" /> - </a> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32">32</a></span></p> - -<p>The Romans were skilful engineers and did their work very thoroughly, -clearing the forest land as they advanced, and draining marshes or -laying stone causeways across them. Bridges were built, though not every -bridge now called Roman was the work of the Romans. The 'Roman bridge' -near Marple was not built until many centuries after the last Romans had -left Cheshire, but it may well mark the spot where, according to -tradition, a Roman bridge had once stood.</p> - -<p>More often, where the roads crossed rivers, fords were marked by stakes, -and the bed of the river carefully laid with stones. In the Museum at -Vernon Park is a paving-stone taken from the Mersey at Stockport where -probably the Roman road crossed the river. The Roman roads were paved -throughout, except where they were hewn out of the solid rock.</p> - -<p>The road through Delamere Forest was part of the 'Watling Street' which -went in an almost straight line from Deva to Manchester, called by the -Romans Mancunium. Stretford is the place where the Roman 'street' -crossed the Mersey. The modern high-road from Chester to Manchester for -nearly its entire length keeps very close to the line of the ancient -Watling Street, only departing from the older road to avoid hills. At -such points the straight track of the Roman road can still be traced in -the fields and woodland. Often in the neighbourhood of Tarvin and -Kelsall has the pickaxe or the spade of the labourer struck against the -Roman paving-stones.</p> - -<p>When an excavation was made at Organsdale, midway between the villages -of Kelsall and Delamere, a portion of the Roman Watling Street, cut in -the solid sandstone, was discovered, still showing the wheel-ruts worn -on the surface by Roman and British carts. In other parts of the forest, -when the crops are in, you may see lines of raised earth and gravel -where the ancient road was laid along an embankment.</p> - -<p>At Northwich, which the Romans called Salinae or the 'saltworks', a -second road, which entered Cheshire at Wilderspool near Warrington, -crossed Watling Street at <span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34">34</a></span> -right angles and ran in a perfectly straight line to Middlewich or -'Condate'. This road was called by the Saxons Kind or King Street, and -was continued southwards to Nantwich.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image8.jpg" width="300" height="628" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Tombstone to Caecilius Avitus (Grosvenor Museum)</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The Grosvenor Museum at Chester contains a large collection of stones -with figures and inscriptions carved upon them, and other objects from -which we may learn a great deal about the Roman conquerors. The -inscriptions, which are of course in Latin, the language of the Romans, -show that Chester was an important garrison town, and the head-quarters -of the Twentieth Legion. A legion, or division, of the Roman army -contained about five thousand men.</p> - -<p>A number of these relics are tombstones of the legionary soldiers who -were stationed here. You may distinguish them by the opening words <small>DIS -MANIBUS</small>, or shortly <small>D.M.</small>, which practically means in English, 'To the -memory of.' The inscriptions then give the name of the soldier and his -native place, his age, and the name of the 'century' or company to which -he belonged. Women accompanied the legion, as you may see from a -tombstone of a centurion and his wife. Another stone of which a picture -is given, shows the ordinary dress, the tunic and belt of a Roman -soldier. In most of the inscriptions on these stones are the letters VV, -which are the initials of the words 'Valeria Victrix', the victorious -Valerian, by which name the Twentieth Legion was known. The badge of the -legion was a boar, and this also appears on many of the stones and tiles -of the buildings put up by the soldiers of this legion.</p> - -<p>These tombstones were discovered in the year 1883 inside the base of the -north wall of the city of Chester while the wall was being repaired. It -is probable therefore that there had been a cemetery outside the city -wall at this point, from which the stones were taken during its -construction.</p> - -<p>The bodies of the Romans were burnt after death, and the ashes placed in -urns of earthenware not unlike those of the Britons. Roman burial urns -have been discovered on Winnington Hill near Northwich -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35">35</a></span> and at Boughton. -You may see them in the Chester Museum.</p> - -<p>Here also are a number of Roman altars dedicated, as their inscriptions -show, to the Roman gods Jupiter, Mars, Minerva, &c. On one of them you -can easily make out the words <small>DEO MARTI CONSERV</small>, which mean 'To the god -Mars the Preserver'. The lower portion, which has been broken off, -contained the name of the soldier who dedicated it. Another altar is -dedicated to the 'Genius', or guardian spirit, of the century. On the -sides of the altars are rough carvings of the axe and the knife, the jug -and the dish, used in sacrificial ceremonies.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image9.jpg" width="200" height="493" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Altar: Genio (Grosvenor Museum)</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>A third group of stones are called centurial stones. These, like our -modern foundation or memorial stones, were built into a portion of wall -or building and gave the name of the 'century' of soldiers by whom the -work was constructed.</p> - -<p>At first the Romans were hard taskmasters. Heavy tribute was demanded -from the conquered Britons, who complained loudly of the miseries of -bondage, and of the insults and injuries put upon them. Gangs of British -slaves were forced to work in cornfield and quarry under the whips of -their Roman rulers, or compelled to fight with one another or with wild -beasts 'to make a Roman holiday'. Rebellions were frequent, and were put -down by the Roman officers with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36">36</a></span> -great cruelty; and for many years it -was only the superior arms and military science of the Roman legions -that made it possible to keep in subjection a discontented people.</p> - - - - -<h2>CHAPTER VI<br /> -<small>THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. II</small></h2> - -<p>A piece of leaden water-piping discovered in Eastgate Street, Chester, -bears the name of Julius Agricola. Agricola was made Governor of Britain -in <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 78. Tacitus, a Roman historian, who married Agricola's daughter, -wrote a life of his father-in-law and a narrative of his work in -Britain. From his writings we learn that Agricola first turned his -attention to the fierce tribe of the Brigantes who inhabited the hilly -districts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and North-East Cheshire.</p> - -<p>Agricola made the preparations for his expedition at Chester, which -became his head-quarters, and built the fortified outposts of Mancunium -on the Irwell and Melandra on the Derbyshire bank of the River Etherow, -connecting them with one another with new roads. Both Mancunium and -Melandra have been excavated in recent years, and at the latter you may -see the foundations of portions of the wall laid bare, and the base of -one of the principal gateways leading into the fort.</p> - -<p>A Roman camp was usually square, with the corners slightly rounded, as -has been proved by the excavations at Melandra and by the piece of Roman -wall lately discovered at Chester, which shows a distinct curve towards -the Pepper Gate. Roads crossed the camp at right angles. The wall or -'vallum' was protected when necessary by a fosse or ditch, but Agricola -chose his positions with such care that one side at least was usually -already guarded by the waters of some stream. Watch-towers were placed -at the corners and on either side of the gateways.</p> - -<p>Chester still preserves the shape and plan of the Roman fortress. Its -four main streets, which are hewn out of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37">37</a></span> sandstone on which the -city is built, cross each other at right angles. The Welsh called it -Caer Lleon or Lleon Vawr—the 'Camp of the Legion'. The present walls -are not, however, the work of the Romans, though here and there they -have been proved to have been built on the foundations of the Roman -walls. The lowest courses of the North Wall near the Deanery Field, when -excavated, were found to be faced with massive stones of Roman masonry, -with a Roman 'plinth' running along the base. The stones fit very -closely together and no mortar was used. The inside of the wall was -filled with rubble.</p> - -<p>From time to time portions of Roman wall have been found in other parts -of the city. One big piece is in the cellars of Dickson's seed -warehouse. When the foundations of the offices of the National Telephone -Company in John Street were being excavated a year or two ago, a fine -piece of Roman wall was unearthed. The builders have left it standing -where they found it, and you may now see it in the basement of the -building, protected from future harm by an iron grid.</p> - -<p>On the Roodee is a portion of Roman masonry of finely jointed stones -which is thought to have been the quay of the Roman city.</p> - -<p>In the middle of a Roman fortress was the Praetorium or general's -quarters. Traces of such a building are to be seen in the camp at -Melandra, and at Chester the foundations of a large edifice discovered -in Northgate Street may possibly be a portion of a similar building.</p> - -<p>Inscriptions show us that another legion, called the Legio Secunda, was -stationed at Chester for several years. When Britain was more or less -pacified and required fewer troops this legion was recalled and sent to -the Roman provinces on the Danube.</p> - -<p>Tacitus tells us that Agricola spread civilization among the Britons, -sent the sons of chieftains to Rome to be educated, and even in time -taught the Britons to adopt Roman habits and dress and to speak the -Latin tongue. But he would not at first let them join the Roman legions -in Britain; those who wished to fight for the Roman -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38">38</a></span> emperors were sent -abroad to the Roman provinces on the Rhine or the Danube.</p> - -<p>The soldiers of subject races were not for many years after their -conquest allowed by the Romans to fight in their own country. The -tombstones mentioned in the previous chapter prove this, for not one of -them bears the name of any British soldier. A bronze tablet dug up at -Malpas, on which is engraved a decree of the Emperor Trajan, shows that -the soldiers who fought in the Roman army in Britain were not all -Romans, or even Italians, for it speaks of Thracians, Dalmatians, -Spaniards, and men of other nations conquered by Rome.</p> - -<p>For seven years Agricola was a wise and a humane ruler. He removed many -of the burdens put upon the Britons by previous governors, and it was -chiefly due to him that the Romans were able to make their rule -acceptable to the Britons. In time Britons became proud of the name of -Roman citizens.</p> - -<p>We have seen from the character of the remains that Chester was -peculiarly a military city. Thus it differed greatly from many of the -Roman cities of southern Britain, which lost their military character as -the tide of war rolled northwards and westwards. These cities soon -became busy centres of trade and civic life, with all the conveniences -and luxuries of Italian towns. They had their temples and their basilica -or town hall, theatres and public baths, palaces and colonnades of -shops, and handsome villas of Roman officials. But life at Chester, with -the continual arrival and departure of troops and stores, must have been -hard and monotonous, with the din of warfare probably never far distant. -The Welsh were never really subdued by the Romans.</p> - -<p>Yet even at Chester there were buildings of importance, as we can see -from the broken fragments of pillars in the little garden by the Water -Tower, and in the basements of Vernon's Toy Bazaar and other shops in -Chester.</p> - -<p>These pillars were made to support the porches and colonnades with which -the fronts and sometimes the sides also of Roman buildings were adorned. -No doubt you have noticed them in pictures you have seen of ancient -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39">39</a></span> -Rome. In a later chapter you will learn that the Englishmen of the -eighteenth century copied the Roman or Italian style of architecture in -their churches, town halls, and other public buildings, and from the -buildings then made you can get some idea of those of a Roman town.</p> - -<p>The pillars were of three different patterns or 'orders', and by -observing carefully their differences you will be able to tell at a -glance to which particular order a modern building belongs. The capitals -of the Doric and Ionic pillars are much simpler in design than those of -the Corinthian, which were often of a very ornamental nature.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image10.jpg" width="634" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Roman Capitals: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian</p> - </div> -</div> - - -<p>The Romans felt the cold and damp of the British climate, so different -from that of their own warm and sunny land. Many of their houses and -public buildings were warmed by 'hypocausts' or heating chambers, and -every city had its public baths with rooms heated by hot air. In Bridge -Street is a hypocaust remaining just where the Romans left it. The -pillars which you see in the illustration are those of another hypocaust -found many years ago in Bridge Street.</p> - -<p>The pillars were set up in rows on a solid foundation, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40">40</a></span> being fixed in -their places by cement. On the top of these a second floor of cement and -bricks, several inches thick, was laid. The space between the two floors -was heated by hot air, introduced through an opening in the side wall -communicating with a furnace or oven. In their own country the bath was -an important event in the everyday life of the Romans.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image11.jpg" width="526" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Remains of Hypocaust, Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - - -<p>The floors of Roman buildings were paved with tiny blocks of brick -called 'tesserae', three to four inches long and one inch wide. A piece -of flooring in the Grosvenor Museum shows that the bricks were laid on a -bed of cement or concrete in 'herring-bone' pattern, that is, with the -bricks at right angles to one another. A large number of tiles used in -roofing have been found all over -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41">41</a></span> the city; on many of these you will -see the stamp <small>LEG XX VV</small> of the Twentieth Legion. There was a tile -factory at Holt on the Dee where also many of these tiles bearing the -same stamp have recently been found.</p> - -<p>The Romans taught the Britons many useful trades. 'Veratinum' or -Wilderspool became under the Romans quite a busy manufacturing town, the -forerunner of a modern Warrington or Wigan. The site of the ancient -Roman town has been carefully dug over. Traces have been found of many -pits, hearths, furnaces, and ovens for the manufacture of glass and -pottery, a bronze foundry, and an iron smelting furnace, and an -enameller's workshop. In the museums at Warrington and at Stockport are -many fragments of pottery found here. Most of it is of a rough brown-red -ware, called 'rough-cast', of which the commoner utensils, water-jugs -and bowls and funeral urns, were made. A more ornamental kind is called -'Samian', and is of a darker colour, highly glazed and decorated with -embossed figures of men and animals. Many articles of iron, knives, -padlocks, keys, nails, found on the same spot show that Veratinum was -the Birmingham of the Roman occupation.</p> - -<p>Roman coins have been dug up in large numbers at Chester and other sites -along the Roman roads. Many of them are to be seen in Chester Town Hall -and in our museums. Nearly all the emperors of the first four centuries -are represented upon them. Several emperors came to Britain, and we may -be sure that in their tours of inspection they paid visits to the -important garrison city of the 'great legion'.</p> - -<p>Some of these coins bear the name of Constantine, the first Christian -emperor, who was born at York, and whose mother was perhaps a lady of -British birth. There is unfortunately nothing to show that there was any -Christian church in Roman Cheshire, though many of the Roman soldiers -must have been familiar with the Christian faith. Romans who became -Christians were allowed to worship in the basilica, which in after days, -as we shall see, became the model upon which Christian churches were -built.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42">42</a></span> -On a house near the East Gate of Chester are carved these words: 'The -fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.' This is the translation of an -inscription on a Roman coin found when the workmen were digging the -foundations of the building. The coins of the Emperor Magnentius show -the monogram of the first two letters of Christ.</p> - -<p>The Roman rule lasted for 370 years. During this period they had -transformed a desolate and barren land, inhabited by a people that were -almost savages, into a fertile and prosperous province; Britannia Felix -the Romans themselves called it. Large tracts of forest land were -cleared and brought under cultivation. Britain became one of the chief -granaries of Rome. In the museums you may see the Roman querns or -handmills with which they ground their corn.</p> - -<p>The Romans worked the copper mines on Alderley Edge; stone hammer-heads -with which the Britons crushed the ore for their Roman masters have been -found there. A 'pig' of lead weighing over a hundredweight, dug up in -the Roodee, shows that lead mines were extensively worked. The lead was -brought to Chester from the mines of Denbighshire and was part of the -tribute paid by the Britons to the Roman emperors. Salt, a scarce -commodity in many countries, was obtained, as at the present day, from -the salt beds of Northwich.</p> - -<p>At the end of the fourth century the Roman empire was overrun by hordes -of barbarians from Northern Europe. The Romans, weakened by luxury and -wealth, were unable to beat back the ruthless invaders. Legion after -legion was summoned from the distant parts of the empire for the defence -of the imperial city itself. About the year <small>A.D.</small> 380 the 'Conquering -Legion' marched out for the last time through the city gates of Chester, -and by 410 no Roman soldiers were left in Britain.</p> - -<p>With sorrow and despair the Britons watched the last soldiers depart. -Their own fighting-men were far away in distant lands, and they knew -that without the protection of the Roman legions on whom they had so -long relied, they were left a defenceless prey of the foes that were -threatening them on all sides.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43">43</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VII<br /> -<small>SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>As the Romans retreated southwards, tribes of Picts, a fierce race -inhabiting the northern parts of Britain followed in their wake -plundering and destroying the cities built by the Romans, and everywhere -falling upon the defenceless Britons. We know little of the doings of -this terrible time, for with the departure of the Romans there descended -upon Britain a veil of darkness that was not to be lifted for 150 years.</p> - -<p>In the latter part of the fifth century the tide of Pictish invasion was -rolled back by other races who landed on our southern and eastern -coasts. These were the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, the rude forefathers -of the English people, who left their homes in Northern Germany to make -new settlements and found kingdoms in our country. You will read -elsewhere of the long and gradual conquest of England by these barbarian -invaders. 'Field by field, town by town, forest by forest, the land was -won' from the British inhabitants.</p> - -<p>According to the story usually told, though I am obliged to admit that -we have very strong evidence for it, it was not until the year 584 <small>A.D.</small> -that any of them reached the part of the country that is now Cheshire. -By that time the West Saxons, one of the most powerful of these tribes, -had fought their way from the English Channel to the River Severn and -Shropshire, where they destroyed the great Roman city of Uriconium. -Under their leader Ceawlin they appear to have made an attempt to reach -Chester, but were met near Nantwich at a spot called Fethanleagh, now -probably the modern village of Faddiley, by Brocmael, Prince of Powys or -mid-Wales. The Saxons were routed and retired quickly to the South. -Chester was saved for a time and became the capital of the Welsh kingdom -of Gwynedd.</p> - -<p>Thirty years later, however, a greater than Ceawlin -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44">44</a></span> appeared before the -walls of the Roman city. The Angles, who had founded on our -north-eastern shores the powerful kingdom of Northumbria, crossed the -Pennine Hills under their leader and king Aethelfrith, and descended -upon Cheshire. Once more Brocmael put himself at the head of the Britons -and Welsh. We are told by Bede, the earliest of our English historians, -who wrote in the succeeding century, that 1,200 monks from a great -monastery at Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee accompanied Brocmael after a fast -of three days to the battlefield to offer up prayers for victory. -Aethelfrith watched the wild gestures of the monks and bade his -followers slay them first of all. 'Bear they arms or no,' he said, 'they -fight against us when they cry against us to their God.' Brocmael left -them to their fate and fled from the battle, which ended in the utter -defeat of the Britons.</p> - -<p>The victory of Aethelfrith was followed by the capture of Chester, and -Cheshire became a portion of a kingdom that stretched from the Tweed to -the Dee. But the most important result of the 'Battle of Chester' was -that the northern Welsh Britons or 'Cumbrian' Welsh were now completely -cut off from their kinsmen in Wales. Everywhere the conquered Britons -were driven northwards and westwards to the mountains of Cumberland or -Wales, and the Britons as a united nation ceased to exist.</p> - -<p>For forty years Cheshire was ruled by Northumbrian kings, but during the -latter part of this period another kingdom was gathering strength in the -Midlands of England. This was the kingdom of Mercia or the Marchland. -The Mercian Penda defeated the Northumbrian king and added Cheshire to -the lands over which he ruled. Mercia and Cheshire were frequently -raided by the Welsh, and it was to keep them out that Offa, greatest of -the Mercian kings, built his famous 'Dyke' from Chester to South Wales, -many portions of which you may trace to this day.</p> - -<p>Mercia in turn was conquered by the kings of Wessex, one of whom, -Ecberght, is usually styled the first king of all England. Ecberght and -his West Saxons overran<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45">45</a></span> -Cheshire and captured the city of Chester in -the year 828. Thus did three kingdoms strive for the possession of -Cheshire, which from its central position must have been the scene of -many an unrecorded fight.</p> - -<p>Numbers of Cheshire villages show by their names their Anglo-Saxon -origin. Davenham, Frodsham, and Warmingham speak to us of the 'hams' or -homesteads that the Saxons made for themselves in their newly won lands. -Bebington, Bollington, and Congleton take their names from the 'tun', -the enclosure or hedge of a farm or village; Prestbury, Marbury, and -Astbury from the 'burh' or fortified house of the headman of a tribe.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image12.jpg" width="571" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Runic Stone, Upton</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Goostree is perhaps the 'God's tree' where the land was parcelled out -among the villagers and punishment meted to wrong-doers; Thurstaston, or -the tun of Thor's stone, the place of sacrifice to their heathen god -Thor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46">46</a></span> -The ash tree gives its name to several Cheshire villages, Ashton, -Ashley, Astbury, for instance. This fact tells us that the tree was held -in great veneration by the Angles and Saxons. Even to this day the tree -is thought to possess the power of bringing good or evil. A -superstitious Cheshire labourer will not, if he can help it, cut down an -ash tree for fear it should bring him misfortune, and churn staves made -of ash are used by farmers' wives to prevent the butter from being -bewitched.</p> - -<p>It is in fact from the Angles and Saxons that we have inherited the -priceless possession of our English tongue. The oldest traces of our -language in a written form in Cheshire may be seen in the Grosvenor -Museum at Chester. Here on a plaster cast is an inscription written in -strange letters, 'Runes' or 'mysteries' as they are called. This cast is -a copy of an inscribed stone discovered at Upton-in-Wirral when the old -church was pulled down. The stones of this building had previously been -taken from the ancient ruined church at Overchurch. Learned scholars -examined the stone carefully and made out these words: <small>FOLCAE AREARDON -BEC[UN]. [GI]BIDDATH FOR ATHELMUND</small>. The meaning is 'Folk reared tomb, -bid (i.e. pray) for Athelmund'. You can see that the words are English, -though their form has changed considerably during the 1,200 years or -more that have gone by since the runes were carved.</p> - -<p>Fierce and bloodthirsty were these early ancestors of ours, 'hateful -alike to God and men,' as Gildas, a Welsh monk, described them. Yet even -they were taught in time to abandon their strange gods and turn to the -worship of Christ, and through the land in town and village uprose a -cross of wood or stone, the outward symbol of a new and better faith.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47">47</a></span></p> - - -<h2>CHAPTER VIII<br /> -<small>THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>During the latter years of the Roman occupation there must have been -many among the Roman soldiers stationed in Cheshire who had heard the -message of the Gospel, and, following the example of their emperors, -professed the faith of Christ. But, as we have before stated, there is -no proof that a Christian church existed in Cheshire in those days, -though tradition says that where the cathedral church of Chester now -stands there was a church dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul, which had -previously been a temple of Apollo.</p> - -<p>In Wales and Ireland the Church flourished greatly through the troublous -period of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. We are told that Kentigern, the -first bishop of Glasgow, on his return to Wales landed in Wirral and -founded a church there. In the previous chapter we have seen that at -Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee there was a monastery of great importance, -which after the victory of Aethelfrith of Northumbria was razed to the -ground.</p> - -<p>Yet it was from Northumbria that Christianity was destined to be brought -and preached to the Angles and Saxons of Cheshire. Oswald, the son of -the heathen Aethelfrith, had during his exile in Scotland been converted -by Celtic missionaries. During the reign of this 'most Christian king, a -man dearly beloved of God, and fenced with the faith of Christ', -missionaries from Scotland 'began with great and fervent devotion to -preach the word of faith to those provinces which King Oswald governed, -baptising all such as believed. Therefore churches were builded in -places convenient: the people rejoicing assembled together to hear the -word of God,' The ancient churches dedicated to S. Oswald at Chester, -Malpas, Brereton, Peover, Bidston, and Worleston, are proof of the great -part played by King Oswald in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48">48</a></span> conversion of Cheshire and of the -high repute in which he was held as a champion of Christianity.</p> - -<p>The tiny hamlet of Chadkirk near Marple suggests to us a famous -missionary who lived at a time when Cheshire had become part of the -kingdom of Mercia. This was Ceadda or Chad, who was sent by the Irish -saint Colomba to preach the gospel to the people of Mercia, and became -in later times the patron saint of the bishopric of Mercia, founded by -King Offa. Chad, who like Oswald had received Christianity from the -Celtic missionaries of North Britain, continued the good work of the -Northumbrian missionaries. At the village of Over were formerly two -stone crosses which may well mark the spots where Chad preached to the -Saxons of Cheshire, baptizing the converts in the river Weaver that -flows hard by. The old church of Over is dedicated to him, as are also -the churches of Farndon and Wybunbury. It is worthy of note that all the -Cheshire churches named after him were built on the banks of streams, -which leads us to suppose that S. Chad, like S. John the Baptist by the -banks of Jordan, chose places where his preaching might be immediately -followed by the ceremony of baptism.</p> - -<p>At Sandbach are two stone crosses which are thought to be closely -connected with the conversion of Cheshire. The story goes that Peada, -son of Penda the heathen king of Mercia, wished to marry the Christian -daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria. To win the maiden the young man -consented to forsake his old religion and become a Christian; whereupon -the crosses were set up to commemorate his conversion and marriage.</p> - -<p>If you look carefully at the Sandbach crosses you will see that the -Angles of Mercia had reached a very high level of art in sculptured -stones. Carved upon them are several scenes in the life of our Lord, the -Nativity in the stable at Bethlehem with the ox and the ass kneeling -before the infant Christ, the Crucifixion with S. Mary and Apostles -below, Christ carrying the Cross, and Christ in glory with S. Peter on -His right hand bearing the keys of heaven.</p> - -<p>Few crosses were, however, carved so elaborately as -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50">50</a></span> -these Sandbach crosses. The majority were doubtless of wood, set up in -the middle of the open space round which clustered the huts and wattled -dwellings of the inhabitants. Others consisted of a plain stone shaft -set upright in the ground or on a base of stone steps, sometimes rudely -adorned with scroll-work such as you may see on the fragments of a cross -preserved in the churchyard of Prestbury. Most of them have perished, -broken into fragments where they fell, or have been used for repairs to -damaged buildings. Many were wantonly destroyed in the seventeenth -century during the Civil War.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image13.jpg" width="400" height="611" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Anglian Crosses at Sandbach</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Crosses were set up by the wayside at the junction of important highways -or in towns at the crossing of the principal streets, as at Chester. -Here in the open air the monks would gather round them bands of -listeners, and preach the Word of God. Afterwards close to the cross was -erected an edifice of wood or wattles in which the services of the -Church were held, and in still later times these wooden churches would -be replaced by stone buildings. Nowhere, however, in Cheshire are there -any churches or even portions of churches remaining which can be said to -have been built by our early Saxon forefathers.</p> - -<p>The church of S. John's, Chester, is said to have been founded by King -Aethelred of Mercia in the year 689. An ancient legend states that -Aethelred 'was admonished to erect a church on the spot where he should -find a white hind'. In the church you may see fragments of an ancient -wall-painting or 'fresco' on one of the pillars of the nave which -illustrates this story. A church certainly did exist here in very early -times, for we read that in later days Leofric, Earl of Mercia, -<em>repaired</em> and enriched the church of S. John's, which may mean that the -earlier wooden church had fallen into decay, and a more substantial -building of stone was erected in its place.</p> - -<p>The house of the Mercian Penda produced yet another name closely -connected with the story of the Cross in Cheshire. Werburga, a -great-granddaughter of Penda, succeeded her mother as head of several -great abbeys.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51">51</a></span> -She died at Trentham in Staffordshire towards the end of -the seventh century, and two hundred years later, when the Danes (of -whom you will read more in the next chapter) were harrying the land, her -body was removed to Chester for safe keeping, and placed in the church -of S. Peter and S. Paul which had been re-dedicated to S. Werburga and -S. Oswald. For many centuries crowds of devout pilgrims made their way -to Chester to offer prayers and gifts at S. Werburga's shrine.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IX<br /> -<small>THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN</small></h2> - -<p>With the capture of Chester (Chap. VII) Ecberght's conquest of Mercia -was complete. Northumbria, Kent, and East Anglia also submitted to him. -But neither Ecberght nor the kings that came after him were to be -allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace, for a new and terrible enemy -now appeared on our shores.</p> - -<p>In the ninth century, the coasts of Britain were ravaged by the Northmen -or Vikings, those</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line i16">Wild sea-wandering lords</div> - <div class="line">Who sailed in a snake-prowed galley with a terror of twenty swords.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The word Vikings or 'wickings' means creek-men, from a Scandinavian word -'wick', 'a creek'. These Scandinavian and Danish sea-pirates left their -homes in the bays and fiords of North-West Europe, and made raids upon -Britain and the neighbouring lands more at first from greed of plunder -than with any idea of conquest. Large numbers of Danes landed on our -eastern coasts and ravaged the midlands. Under their leader Hasting or -Hastein, they seized and occupied the city of Chester. We can imagine -the hasty flight of the monks, for the abbeys and churches were always -the first objects of attack by these heathen invaders. You will read -elsewhere how King Alfred<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52">52</a></span> -finally saved the greater part of England -from the Danes and converted their leaders to Christianity.</p> - -<p>The little village of Plemstall (or Plegmundstall), near Chester, -reminds us of Plegmund, a Saxon hermit, who took refuge here to escape -the Danes. Plegmund had been a friend and tutor of King Alfred. When -Alfred's work was done, and peace made with the Danes, he called -Plegmund from his lonely retreat in the marshes of the Gowy to be -Archbishop of Canterbury.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the Scandinavians had sailed round the north and west coasts -of Scotland, plundering the rich monasteries that had been built by S. -Patrick and his followers, and making new homes for themselves in the -Isle of Man and in Ireland. Towards the end of the ninth century they -crossed into Wales and sailed up the Dee to the walls of Chester, drawn -thither perhaps by the report of the wealth of the great church that had -been built on the banks of the river. But they found only a deserted -city in ruins, and retired to the shores of Wirral, where they settled -and tilled the land, and devoted themselves to the more peaceful -pursuits of agriculture.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53">53</a></span>In the Wirral peninsula many of the names of the villages still show -their Scandinavian origin. Thus Shotwick means the south wick or creek. -This village stands at the edge of a strip of land that has been -recovered from the sea. In early times, boats could run along the creek -right up to the rising ground where now stands the village church.</p> - -<p>An interesting name survives in the little hamlet of Thingwall, situated -almost in the centre of the Wirral. Thingwall is the field where the -'thing', that is the tribe, assembled to divide the land and to dispense -justice. You will recognize the same word in the town of Dingwall in the -North of Scotland, and at the present day 'thing' is the Norwegian and -Danish name for Parliament.</p> - -<p>The ending '-by' in the villages Kirby, Irby, Raby, Frankby, and Helsby, -is the Danish name for a township, and we see the word in our modern -word 'by-laws', that is town laws. You will not find this ending in the -names of villages in any other parts of Cheshire.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image14.jpg" width="598" height="300" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Norse Hog-back, West Kirby</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In the museum in the old school-house by the churchyard at West Kirby -you may see a stone, which, from its shape, antiquaries call a -'hog-back'. The hog-back was a tombstone or grave-slab that marked the -burial-place of some Scandinavian chief. The carved ornamentation as -well as its shape is like that of other similar stones that have been -found in the parts of Britain where the Northmen settled. The stone -gives you some idea of the homes from which these pirates came, for the -carved oval shapes represent little wooden tiles; and the interlaced -lines are the wattles or osiers of which their huts were made. The -heathen Scandinavian liked his place of burial to be as much like home -as possible, which may be taken as a proof that he did not think that -his soul would perish along with his body. In the same museum is another -stone with a head shaped like a wheel, which is also the work of the -Vikings.</p> - -<p>We are, fortunately, able to tell almost the exact time at which the -settlements in the Wirral were made. We read in an old chronicle that in -the year 900 <small>A.D.</small> Alfred's daughter Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, -granted lands in Wirral to one Ingimund who had been driven out of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54">54</a></span> -Ireland. This lady, Ethelfleda, fortified Chester and rebuilt the walls -which had lain in ruins since the departure of the Romans. Perhaps -Ingimund and his followers had already become Christians during their -stay in Ireland. If they had not, we may be sure that Ethelfleda did as -her father had done in his treaty with the Danes, and insisted on their -becoming Christians in return for being allowed to settle in Cheshire.</p> - -<p>It was in the reign of Alfred that many English counties or shires first -received their modern names. Cheshire or Chester-shire, like -Staffordshire and Warwickshire, took its name from the chief city or -fortress which dominated the district and protected it from the ravages -of the Danes.</p> - -<p>Alfred also ordered an English history to be written, in which the chief -events of each year were recorded. This Old English Chronicle, as it is -called, was kept up in the reigns of the successors of Alfred, and is -the principal source of our knowledge of England under the Anglo-Saxon -kings.</p> - -<p>The Chronicle tells us that, in order to prevent any fresh landing of -Danes, Ethelfleda built a castle or 'burh' at Runcorn at the head of the -estuary of the Mersey. The very site of her castle has now disappeared, -for 'Castle Rock', upon which it was built, was destroyed when the Ship -Canal was made.</p> - -<p>Another fortress was erected by Ethelfleda on Eddisbury Hill, the -highest point of Delamere Forest, where, probably, there was a large -camp in British times. Her brother Edward, who succeeded Alfred as King -of England, also fortified Thelwall on the Mersey, as an inscription on -the gable of an inn at Thelwall tells us. For the next twenty years he -carried on a vigorous war against the Danes of the 'Five Boroughs', -Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Stamford, and Lincoln. But in many parts -Saxon and Dane had already settled down side by side, the Danes -abandoned the worship of their heathen gods Odin and Thor, and received -the Gospel of Christ, and in the next century a Danish king was -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55">55</a></span> -destined to rule over all the land and to advance greatly the cause of -Christianity.</p> - -<p>Edward's work was done when he received the homage of the chief kings of -Britain, and made the royal house of Wessex supreme. In the year 924, as -you may read in the English Chronicle, 'then chose him for father and -lord the King of Scots ... and all those who dwell in Northumbria -whether English or Danes, and also the King of the Strathclyde Welsh.'</p> - -<p>Chester appears to have rapidly risen in importance, largely no doubt -owing to its central position, and to have become a great and populous -city. The walls were extended beyond the limits of the ancient Roman -city, and a new fortress built where the present 'Castle' of Chester now -stands, to guard the road over the river.</p> - -<p>Henceforth, the city was kept in a state of defence by a custom which -bound every 'hide' in the shire to provide a man at the town-reeve's -call to keep its walls and bridge in repair. A considerable trade with -the seaports of Ireland followed, largely it is to be feared in -connexion with the slave traffic, and the city became a favourite resort -of the English kings. Coins were minted here in the reign of Athelstan.</p> - -<p>Athelstan must often have been in Cheshire, for this favourite grandson -of King Alfred was brought up by the Lady of Mercia, and no doubt -learned from her the ways of a strong and wise ruler. When Athelstan -became king he was attacked by the King of the Scots and the Danes of -Ireland. A great battle was fought, perhaps on Cheshire soil, and the -English Chronicle breaks out into a wonderful song of victory.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">Athelstand King</div> - <div class="line">Lord among Earls,</div> - <div class="line">He with his brother,</div> - <div class="line">Gained a lifelong</div> - <div class="line">Glory in battle,</div> - <div class="line">Slew with the sword-edge,</div> - <div class="line">There by Brunanburh ...</div> - <div class="line"><b>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</b></div> - <div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56">56</a></span></div> - <div class="line i4">Bow'd the spoiler,</div> - <div class="line">Bent the Scotsman,</div> - <div class="line i4">Fell the ship-crews</div> - <div class="line i4">Doom'd to the death.</div> - <div class="line">All the field with blood of the fighters</div> - <div class="line i4">Flow'd, from when first the great</div> - <div class="line i4">Sun-star of morningtide,</div> - <div class="line i4">Lamp of the Lord God</div> - <div class="line i4"> Lord Everlasting</div> - <div class="line">Glode over earth till the glorious creature</div> - <div class="line i4">Sank to his setting.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Brunanburh has been thought by some writers of history -to be the village of Bromborough in Wirral. We cannot -be sure of this, but some day perhaps the land will give -up its secret, when some labourer's spade shall dig up the -javelins and the war-knives of the defeated Northmen.</p> - -<p>'Edgar's field' is supposed to mark the site of the -palace of one of the greatest of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of -England. It is related that in the year 973, Edgar the -'Peacewinner' visited Chester, and received there the -submission of many tributary kings. He assembled an -imposing fleet of ships on the Dee, and was rowed from -his palace to the minster of S. John's by six under-kings, -the King of Scots, the King of Cumberland, the King of -Man, and three Welsh princes, he himself taking the -helm as being their head-king. 'Those who come after -me', he said, 'may indeed call themselves kings, since -I have had such honour.'</p> - -<p>Guided by his chief adviser, the good Archbishop Dunstan, -Edgar also did much to increase the power and -influence of the Church. He gave a charter in 958 to the -church of S. Werburga, and endowed it richly with -lands. The English Chronicle thus speaks of him:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">He upreared God's glory</div> - <div class="line">and loved God's law</div> - <div class="line">and bettered the public peace</div> - <div class="line">more than the kings</div> - <div class="line">who were before him</div> - <div class="line">within man's memory.</div> - <div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57">57</a></span></div> - <div class="line">God also him helped</div> - <div class="line">that kings and earls</div> - <div class="line">gladly to him bowed</div> - <div class="line">and were submissive</div> - <div class="line">to all that he willed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In Edgar's reign we first hear of the division of the shire into -'hundreds' for the trial and punishment of evildoers. Why this name was -chosen is not quite clear, but the Hundred probably denoted a collection -of a hundred homesteads or hamlets. The Hundred had its 'moot' or -assembly of freemen, held near some sacred spot or conspicuous landmark. -In Cheshire some of them, Bucklow for instance, took their names from -the ancient 'lows' or burial-places.</p> - -<p>Early in the eleventh century fresh invasions of Danes took place, and -in 1016 Cnut Dane became King of England. Cheshire formed a portion of a -great earldom, embracing the whole of Mercia and governed by Earl -Leofric. Cnut, who during his reign visited Rome and had there learnt -much about church building, was a generous friend to the churches, -rebuilding those that had suffered in the wars and erecting many new -ones. The church of S. Olave or Olaf, in the south-eastern part of the -city of Chester, probably owes its foundation to him, for the name shows -that there was a Danish settlement in the city. The city itself was -governed at this time, like other Danish cities, by twelve 'lagmen' or -lawmen who presided over its law-courts.</p> - -<p>Leofric, not to be outdone by his master Cnut, almost entirely rebuilt -the church of S. Werburga in 1057, and if we may judge from the -memorials of his work which he has left in other cities of his earldom, -much of the new church was probably built of stone. It is doubtful -whether he lived to see the completion of his work. In any case, before -many years had passed, the church was again enlarged on a still grander -scale and by a greater race of church builders than any that had gone -before them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58">58</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER X<br /> -<small>THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>In the early months of the year <small>A.D.</small> 1070 the Saxons of Cheshire fled -before the approach of an army of discontented and almost mutinous -troops who had cut their way through the deep snowdrifts of the Pennine -Hills. But neither the severity of the weather nor the hardships of the -march seemed to have any effect upon the stern and indomitable Norman -warrior at their head, who, like the Vikings whose blood flowed in his -veins, set an example of energy and endurance to his half-starved -fainting followers.</p> - -<p>William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, had landed in England three and -a half years previously, and defeated the English King Harold at the -battle of Senlac. But the real 'conquest' was yet to come; and after -swift visits to the west and north of England William crossed the hills -that lay between York and Cheshire and made a dash upon Chester, the one -great city of free England that had not yet bowed to the might of the -Norman invader.</p> - -<p>There were at this time in Chester many English, the wife of Harold -among them, who had fled thither after the defeat of Senlac, prepared on -William's approach to cross the seas to Ireland. In the next century -Gerald 'the Welshman' related the legend that Harold himself was not -killed at the battle of Senlac, but escaped, and, after many wanderings, -took refuge in a hermit's cell near the minster of S. John's, where he -remained until his death. The story was no doubt invented by those who -were unwilling to believe that an English king had been defeated by a -foreigner.</p> - -<p>William captured the city and received the submission of Edric the -Forester and other Saxon leaders. Chester was put in charge of a Flemish -noble called Gherbod, who, however, in the following year returned to -his native land. Then, leaving a trail of fire and sword through -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59">59</a></span> -mid-Cheshire, William marched southwards to Salisbury Plain, where he -held a grand review of all his followers and distributed to them their -rewards. You will not see him again in Cheshire. No part of the country -ever needed a second visit from the 'Conqueror'.</p> - -<p>The English who had borne arms against William were treated as rebels -and deprived of their lands and possessions, which were parcelled out -among the Normans. A parcel of land thus granted was called a manor. All -the landowners, including those English who were allowed to keep their -estates, were compelled to take the oath of fealty to King William in -person. In this way William broke up the great earldoms which had been -created by the Danish king Cnut.</p> - -<p>Cheshire, however, in which the Saxon Earl Edwin, Harold's -brother-in-law, owned vast estates, was from the first treated in a very -special manner. Owing to its position on the border of Wales, William -saw that it was very necessary to place a strong military power in this -part of England to protect his newly-won kingdom from invasion from the -west. So he bestowed the county upon his own favourite nephew Hugh -d'Avranches, surnamed Lupus or 'the Wolf', and his heirs, giving him the -title of Earl of Chester. The earl's duty was to repel any attacks that -might be made by the Welsh, and permission was given him even to extend -his earldom, if possible, beyond the Welsh border. Royal rights were -granted to him over all land within the earldom, which was held by him -'as freely by the sword as the king held England by the Crown'. For this -reason Cheshire was called a County Palatine, that is, a county whose -ruler exercises all the powers of an independent prince, save only that -he owns allegiance to his overlord the king. And the sword, the 'sword -of dignity', as it was called, was no light one. You may see it if ever -you visit the British Museum, a mighty two-edged weapon four feet long, -with its inscription in Latin engraved beneath the hilt, 'Hugo comes -Cestriae,' Hugh Count of Chester.</p> - -<p>In the quadrangle of Eaton Hall is an equestrian statue of Hugh Lupus, -an ancestor of the Dukes of Westminster, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60">60</a></span> whose family derives its name -of Grosvenor from Robert the 'gros veneur' or great huntsman of the -Conqueror and nephew of 'the Wolf'.</p> - -<p>An old engraving gives us a picture of the royal state with which Earl -Hugh was surrounded. He is represented sitting on a raised throne and -presiding over his council or parliament, which consisted of the four -chief abbots and the four greatest barons of Cheshire. Behind a barrier -at the lower end of the council-chamber a crowd of humble people are -gathered, bearing petitions or grievances for the earl's hearing and -consideration. For the earl possessed power of life or death over all -offenders, could pardon treason and murder within his own domain, and -give protection or 'sanctuary' to criminals, who, however, paid heavy -fines for this privilege. He also raised taxes, appointed all the judges -and justices of the peace in the earldom, and created his own barons, -who were themselves permitted to hold baronial courts for the trial and -punishment of evildoers. Gilbert de Venables, the Baron of Kinderton, -and his successors held courts at their castle near Middlewich until -late in the sixteenth century, when all these courts were swept away.</p> - -<p>Ordericus Vitalis, a Norman monk who wrote in the early part of the -twelfth century, says that Earl Hugh 'was very prodigal, and carried not -so much a family as an army along with him. He daily wasted his estate, -and delighted more in falcons and huntsmen than in tillers of the soil. -He was much given to his appetite, whereby in time he grew so fat that -he could scarcely crawl.' He was also a lover of minstrelsy and romance, -and invited the best narrators of great deeds to live with him and spur -on to rivalry the young nobles whom he delighted to gather round him at -his court.</p> - -<p>The mass of the English people became dependent on their Norman masters. -The latter had learned the use of the lance and the longbow, and the -fame of their mailclad mounted knights had spread through all Europe. -They kept the English down by building strong castles in their midst. At -Aldford, Shocklach, Doddleston, and Malpas on the Welsh borderland, -where castles were naturally<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61">61</a></span> more numerous, little remains to be seen -at the present day but the green mounds on which were erected the keeps -or donjons of the Norman lords. Round the tree-clad hummock at -Aldford—'Blob's Hill' the village folk call it—the moat that -surrounded the Norman castle yet remains, now dry and carpeted in -springtime with primroses, whose waters must often have been dyed with -the blood of Norman, Saxon, and Welshman.</p> - -<p>The Norman castles were of great strength, though not always built of -stone. Many were built on the sites of British encampments or Saxon -'burhs', in which case the old wooden stockade was doubtless allowed to -remain. The central fortress or keep, a square, or sometimes circular, -building with walls of immense thickness, was surrounded by an inner -ward or courtyard in which cattle and provisions could be gathered in -case of attack, and where, on a raised mound in the centre, the baron -held his court. Round this ward were grouped the domestic apartments, -the stables, and the quarters of servants and retainers. Beyond these -buildings was a second or outer ward, the whole being enclosed by walls -with projecting towers at intervals. The castles of the plain were -further protected, as at Aldford, by a deep ditch or moat crossed by a -drawbridge leading to the principal entrance. The keep was the last -place of refuge when the defenders were driven from the walls, and -frequently contained a well of water. In the keep at Beeston Castle is a -well over three hundred feet deep, to which water was perhaps at one -time drawn from Beeston Brook or some other neighbouring stream.</p> - -<p>On the summit of Halton Hill you may still see a portion of the outer -wall of the castle built by Nigel, Baron of Halton and cousin of Earl -Hugh. He was the chief of all the Cheshire barons, was constable of the -city of Chester, and led the Cheshire army, when required, against the -Welsh. Thirty-seven manors, among them those of Congleton, Great Barrow, -Raby and Sale in the county of Cheshire, were included in his -possessions. Other barons created by the Earl of Chester were William of -Nantwich, Vernon of Shipbroke, Fitzhugh of Malpas, Venables of -Kinderton, Hamon Massi of Dunham, Nicholas -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62">62</a></span> of Stockport, and Robert of -Montalt or Mold. The last-named shows that the county of Flint was at -that time part of the earldom. The name of the Norman baron was often -added to that of the Saxon village where he dwelt, as in the case of -Dunham Massey, Minshull Vernon.</p> - -<p>The earl himself resided at Chester, where large additions were made to -the stronghold of Ethelfleda, but probably his castle was built largely -of timber, for no stone of it remains, and a hundred and fifty years -later Henry the Third ordered the stockade with which the castle ward -was enclosed to be removed and replaced by a wall of stone. On the -eastern side of the castle was erected a great shire hall where the earl -held his parliament, and an exchequer court where the dues and taxes -were paid to him.</p> - -<p>What these dues and taxes were we may learn from the Great Survey called -Domesday Book, which was made by King William's orders, and completed -about the year 1087. The chief object of the Survey was to find out what -the country was worth, and how much the people could afford to pay in -taxes. The book, which is carefully preserved at the British Museum, is -the most valuable record we possess of the state of England under its -first Norman king. Domesday Book was written in Latin, but translations -have been made by scholars, and may be seen in many of our free -libraries. In the 'Customs of Chester' we are told that the city paid in -rent forty-five pounds and three bundles of marten skins, a third of -which went to the earl and two-thirds to the king. The skins were -imported from Ireland, and show that the Irish pirates of former days -had given place to peaceful traders. The king also claimed two-thirds of -the produce of the brine pits at Nantwich, Northwich, and Middlewich, -the last-named being farmed 'for twenty-five shillings and two cartloads -of salt'. The value of every manor, with the number of 'hides' of arable -land, the extent of meadow land and of woodland, was faithfully -recorded. 'There was not one single yard of land, nor even one ox, one -cow, one swine that was left out.'</p> - -<p>Some Saxon villages had little left to record after -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63">63</a></span> the Conqueror's -visit, so that you may learn from Domesday something of the severity -with which William's conquest had been accomplished. Prestbury and many -other Saxon villages are not even mentioned. When Earl Hugh received the -city of Chester it was worth only thirty pounds, 'for it had been -greatly wasted; there were two hundred and five houses less there than -there had been in the time of King Edward' (the Confessor).</p> - -<p>From Domesday we can learn the names of the Saxon freemen who were -allowed to keep their lands. Marton was held by the Saxon Godfric, -probably in return for some service rendered to the invaders, or because -he had at least not taken arms against them; Butley was divided between -the Saxon Ulric and Robert, son of Hugh Lupus. The manor of Brereton was -retained by the Breretons, whose descendants play a great part in the -later history of Cheshire. But such cases are few and far between, and -by far the greater part of the county passed into new hands.</p> - -<p>The story of Mobberley may be taken as a good example of what happened -in most cases to the old English landowners. The very name of the -village brings to our eyes scenes of old English life as the Normans -found it, for Motburlege, as the name is written in Domesday, is the -open space (lege) by the fortified house (burh) where the assembly of -the people was held (mote). 'The same Bigot' (thus Domesday runs)' -<em>holds</em> Motburlege. Dot <em>held</em> it and was a freeman.... The value in -King Edward's time was twelve shillings, now only five shillings.' Such -is the simple story, repeated again and again in the great survey. Dot -was a Saxon lord of sixteen villages, including Cholmondeley, Bickerton, -Shocklach, Grappenhall, Peover, and Dodcot, to the last of which he gave -his own name. Thus, even as Dot's own forefathers had driven out the -Celtic tribesmen who pastured their flocks on the neighbouring commons, -so now it was Dot's turn to be thrust from his ancestral home at -Mobberley and seek a refuge perhaps among the very people whom he had -displaced.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64">64</a></span></p> - -<p>Bigot received more than one manor. Domesday tells us that he held -Sandbach also. Over the entrance of Sandbach Town Hall you may see his -statuette, placed there to remind you of the days when Cheshire lands -passed from the hands of the English to their Norman conquerors.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XI<br /> -<small>THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>Among the friends of Earl Hugh who visited him at his castle at Chester -was Anselm the great churchman, who afterwards became Archbishop of -Canterbury. Anselm was at the time prior of the Abbey of Bec, which was -close to Avranches, the earl's own Norman home. Now if there was one -thing on which the Normans justly prided themselves, it was the founding -and building of churches, and the heart of Earl Hugh was set on building -in his own city of Chester a monastery that should rival in splendour -those of his native country. Perhaps, too, the Norman lords thought that -by devoting a portion of their wealth to the service of God they could -win salvation for their souls and atone for the shortcomings and -misdeeds of their stormy lives. So the Cheshire earl sent for his former -friend Anselm to come and aid him in his scheme, and the result of his -visit was that in 1093 the clergy of S. Werburgh's were turned out of -their homes, and the church itself pulled down, and in its place was -erected a monastery of Benedictine monks who were brought over from Bee, -Anselm's chaplain, Richard, being made the first abbot.</p> - -<p>The monks were men who lived a life of prayer, fasting, and study apart -from the world. None might ever leave the precincts of the monastery -without permission. The Benedictines received their name from Saint -Benedict, who lived in the sixth century, and drew up rules for the -daily life and conduct of the monks of the Order. They -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65">65</a></span> all slept in the -same dormitory, and all took their meals together in a common room -called a refectory. In the refectory at Chester you may see a lector's -pulpit from which portions of the Scriptures were read aloud to the -monks as they sat at their meals. They gave all their private -possessions to the monastery, and had to obey their superior in all -matters. Every hour of the day and night had its allotted duties of -work, study, or religious services. High up in the wall in one of the -oldest parts of Chester Cathedral is a row of tiny arches, and behind -them a narrow passage, along which the monks went from their -sleeping-chamber to the early morning services in the abbey church.</p> - -<p>To some of the monks was given the work of gardening, agriculture, and -even building. The name of Caleyards at Chester still speaks to us of -the kitchen-garden which the monks tended. Others made copies of -illuminated 'missals' or books of Church services, or wrote histories -and the annals of the abbey to which they were attached. The Chronicles -of S. Werburgh were kept and added to yearly by the monks of Chester; -though the original has been lost, a copy of it, made by a later scribe, -has happily been preserved.</p> - -<p>The most important part of the monastery was of course the church. The -Norman churches were built of stone, and, as they took many years to -build, very few of the founders lived to see the completion of their -work. Probably only the foundations and portions of the walls of the -church of Earl Hugh Lupus were finished during his lifetime. The work of -the Norman builders may be recognized by the round-headed arches, -doorways and windows which they copied from the Roman buildings. The -Roman basilica or hall of justice, in which the earliest Christians were -permitted to worship, was taken as a model for Christian churches. The -capital of a Norman pillar in Frodsham Church proves that they had -studied the architecture of the Romans, for it has the Ionic 'volute' or -spiral scroll on each of its four faces. If you look for the round -arches in the Cathedral of Chester you will be able to make out the -portions which remain of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66">66</a></span> -church built by Earl Hugh and by the -abbots who completed his plans after his death.</p> - -<p>You will see from the Norman church of S. John's at Chester that the -churches were built in the form of a cross with four great semicircular -arches to support a central tower. Similar arches on massive circular -columns separate the nave from the two aisles. An examination of these -columns reveals the fact that the building of the nave was commenced -from both ends at once in order to make more rapid progress with the -work, for the mouldings of the capitals of the outer columns is the -same, but differ from those of the inner ones. Moreover, the masonry of -the latter is more finely jointed than that of the earlier end columns. -This shows that the Normans improved in the quality of their work as -they went on. In the north transept of Chester Cathedral, which is part -of the first Norman church, the stones in the lower parts have wider -joints and are less carefully fitted than those above them.</p> - -<p>The choir and aisles generally ended in a semicircular 'apse'. A -semicircle of dark blue stones set in the floor of the north aisle in -the Cathedral of Chester marks the apse of an aisle of Earl Hugh's -church.</p> - -<p>The village churches were of course not built on the same scale of -grandeur as the churches of S. John and S. Werburgh. Nearly everywhere -the Norman 'lords of the manor' rebuilt the rude and humble churches of -wood and stone that had served the needs of the Saxons before them. But -little remains in Cheshire of these Norman churches, save here and there -a doorway or a window or a capital, that has escaped destruction or the -ravages of time. The Norman architects and builders were few in number, -and must have employed many Saxon workmen in the task of rebuilding. The -latter, as you have already learned, were no mean masons and sculptors, -and the carving of the mouldings and capitals of the doorways of the -village churches was doubtless in many cases done by them. The 'chevron' -or zigzag moulding, and the spirals carved on the face of capitals could -easily be cut with an axe, for the Saxons were not yet acquainted -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68">68</a></span> -with the use of the Norman chisel. At Shotwick and Shocklach you may see -doorways, which, from the simplicity of their mouldings, are probably -the work of Saxons, performed under the eye of their Norman masters.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image15.jpg" width="400" height="560" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Norman Arches, S. John's. Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Towards the end of the eleventh century the clever Norman masons, who -loved to invent new patterns and vary their work, introduced other forms -of ornamentation such as the 'billet' and 'lozenge' and 'scollop' in -their mouldings, and adorned the capitals and even the pillars with rich -carving. Carved pillars may be seen in the Norman arcade in the -cloisters at Chester.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image16.jpg" width="514" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Cloisters, Chester: Portion of First Norman Abbey of S. Werburgh</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The head of a Norman doorway is sometimes filled with a semicircular -stone called a tympanum, usually covered -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69">69</a></span> with a carved picture of some -scriptural subject. The tympanum over the door of the Norman chapel at -Prestbury represents Christ seated in glory.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image17.jpg" width="400" height="515" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Norman Doorway with Tympanum, Prestbury</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The Norman windows, like the doorways, were round-headed. The tiny -window in the chancel at Woodchurch shows us that they were often mere -slits on the outer face of the wall, widening considerably towards the -inner face in order that the light entering through the narrow -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70">70</a></span> opening -might be diffused as much as possible. Very few Norman windows have been -allowed to remain in Cheshire, for nearly all have been replaced by -larger ones of a different style at a later date when more light was -needed.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image18.jpg" width="400" height="518" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Norman Window, Woodchurch, showing wide splay inside</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The font is sometimes the sole remaining portion of the older Norman -church in which it once stood. In the modern church of Wallasey is an -ancient font, which by the arcade of semicircular arches carved upon it -is evidently the work of the Norman builders, and belonged to the Norman -church that formerly stood on the site of the present building. The font -of similar pattern at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71">71</a></span> -Grappenhall was dug up during a restoration three -feet below the floor of the present church, where it had lain for -centuries, and there are Norman fonts at Eastham, Bebington, and Burton. -In addition to those already spoken of, the churches of Bebington, -Bruera, Frodsham, Church Lawton, and Barthomley contain portions of -Norman work in some shape or form.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image19.jpg" width="419" height="300" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Norman Font at Wallasey</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The Norman style of architecture is rarely copied nowadays in the -building of churches, being considered too massive and sombre as well as -costly. Boys who live in Wirral should, however, walk to the village of -Thornton Heath, where they may see a new church built entirely in this -style, with every detail copied faithfully from famous old Norman -churches.</p> - -<p>Other Norman barons were not slow to follow the example of their -overlord the Earl of Chester. In 1150 Hamon de Massey, Baron of Dunham -Massey, built a priory at Birkenhead for sixteen Benedictine monks. The -tolls from a ferry across the Mersey were granted to them for their -support, the charges being 'for a horseman two-pence, for a man on foot -one farthing, a halfpenny for a footman on market days, and a penny when -he had goods or produce with him'. The name of 'Monks Brow' still marks -the landing-place of the ferry on the Cheshire side of the estuary. The -monks were also freed from attendance at the 'Hundred' Court of the -Wirral. The manors<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72">72</a></span> -of Tranmere, Bebington, Saughall Massey, and -Claughton were also given to the priory, and the priors sat in the -council or parliament of the Earls of Chester. The ruined refectory is -the only portion of the priory now remaining.</p> - -<p>The Abbey of S. Werburgh received grants of land from Earl Hugh's barons -as well as a large number of churches and manors from the earl himself. -In the course of time one-fourth of the entire city of Chester became -the property of the abbey. The abbot also had the right of taking the -tolls at the annual fair held at Chester at the Feast of S. Werburgh. -The fair lasted for three days, during which time even criminals might -visit the city to make their purchases without danger of arrest.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image20.jpg" width="300" height="335" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Arms of the See of Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Chester had in fact rapidly become the chief seat of trade in the -north-west of England, and when the Conqueror ordered the sees of the -bishoprics to be removed from thinly populated centres to the large -towns, Peter, the first Norman bishop of Lichfield, left Lichfield 'a -sordid and desert place' and came to Chester, 'a city of renown,' making -the church of S. John his cathedral. Chester did not, however, keep this -honour long, for Peter's successor removed to the rich monastery of -Coventry. Hence it is that you find three mitres on the arms of the -bishopric of Chester.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73">73</a></span> -Earl Hugh Lupus died in the second year of the reign of Henry the First. -Three days before his death he had put on the cowl and robe of a -Benedictine monk and entered his own monastery at Chester. He was buried -in the abbey cemetery, and his only son Richard, a boy of seven years of -age, inherited the earldom.</p> - -<p>The Abbey of Combermere was founded for another brotherhood of monks -called Cistercians. Their 'rule' was even more strict than that of the -Benedictines. They wore neither boots nor cowl, and for a portion of the -year were allowed but one meal a day; nor were they permitted even to -speak to one another. In 1178, John, Baron of Halton, to secure the -safety of body and soul previous to making a pilgrimage to Palestine, -built a Cistercian abbey at Stanlaw, a dreary spot on the shore of the -Mersey estuary, and a third house of the same Order was founded at -Pulton on the Dee by Robert Pincerna, butler to Earl Randle II. Stanlaw -was almost wholly destroyed by a huge tidal wave which swept up the -Mersey, and the monks were removed to Whalley on the banks of the -Lancashire Calder. The monks, doubtless, were not sorry for the change, -for by the end of the twelfth century the majority of them had grown -tired of the simple life, and, becoming more luxurious in their way of -living, preferred to build their homes in delectable river valleys, -where they could fish the streams to their hearts' content.</p> - -<p>Pulton Abbey was not more fortunate, and was much too near to the Welsh -to be a comfortable place to live in. The Welsh visits were so frequent -and unpleasant that the monastery was abandoned and the monks placed in -a fine new abbey at Dieulacresse in Staffordshire.</p> - -<p>The monks who kept the abbey records were not always very particular -about the truth of the events they relate. They were very superstitious, -and ready to believe any story that would increase the fame of their -founders, or of their patron saints, to whom they ascribed the power of -performing miracles. The story is told that when Earl Richard was making -a pilgrimage to the holy well of S. Winifred in Flintshire he was -attacked by a band of Welsh insurgents and compelled to take refuge in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74">74</a></span> -a neighbouring monastery. He prayed for aid to S. Werburgh, who is said -to have instantly parted the waters of the Dee by making new sandbanks, -over which the Constable of Chester marched troops to the relief of his -lord. These banks were long after known as the Constable's sands.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XII<br /> -<small>THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE</small></h2> - -<p>In the western porch beneath the tower of Prestbury Church are a number -of fragments of broken grave-slabs of the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries. On nearly all is carved a cross, the head of which is usually -enclosed within a circle, the ends of the limbs of the cross consisting -of a triple lily, the favourite emblem of the Norman sculptors. One only -of these fragments tells us over whose remains the slab was placed. An -inscription, in which the letters <span class="smcap">VIVYN D</span> are clearly seen, tells us -that this fragment formed part of the tombstone of Vivian Davenport, -Chief Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield. Hunting was the favourite -sport of the Normans, and in Cheshire, as elsewhere, large tracts of -forest land were enclosed for the protection of deer and game, and the -amusement of the Norman knights. The Conqueror himself set the example -by making the New Forest in the south of England, and shortly afterwards -the Earl of Cheshire enclosed the Forests of Mara or Delamere in the -west and Macclesfield in the eastern part of the county.</p> - -<p>The forest laws were very strict. William the Conqueror did not indeed -punish offenders with death, but he ordained that 'whoso slew hart or -hind man should blind him, that none should touch the harts or the -wild-boars, and he made the hare go free. So mightily did he love the -high deer as though he were their father. His rich men bewailed it and -the poor murmured at it, but he was so stark he recked not of them all.' -The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75">75</a></span> -forest laws of Rufus were far more severe, and caused fierce hatred -among his poorer subjects. The forests became the haunt of robbers and -outlaws, who clothed themselves in suits of 'Lincoln green', the better -to escape being seen in the greenwood. Foresters were appointed, whose -duty it was to hunt out these lawless -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76">76</a></span> and rebellious men, as well as to -preserve the game of the forest.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image21.jpg" width="400" height="520" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Grave-slabs at Prestbury</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Hugh Lupus made John Done of Utkinton and his heirs Chief Bowbearer and -Forester of his Forest of Delamere. The Dones had the right to kill deer -and game, take swarms of wild bees, the fallen trees, and such small -game as 'foxes, hares, weasels, and other like vermin'; their badge of -office was a black bugle horn tipped with gold. Their hunting-seat or -'Chamber in the Forest' was served by ten keepers and two woodsmen. Some -of their descendants were buried at Tarporley, and on one of the tombs -you may see the badge of the bugle carved.</p> - -<p>Earl Richard, the successor of 'the Wolf', married Matilda, niece of -King Henry I and a daughter of Stephen of Blois. He was drowned with his -wife on his return from France when the ill-fated White Ship went down -in 1119.</p> - -<p>The next earl was Randle of Meschines. He was one of King Henry the -First's chief fighting-men, and led the van at the Battle of Tinchebrai -against the king's elder brother Robert.</p> - -<p>His son, Randle the Second, played a great part in the civil war of King -Stephen's reign. Stephen was quite unable to curb his barons as his -predecessors had done, and the Earl of Chester was unruly and ambitious. -In addition to his Earldom of Cheshire, he had succeeded to vast estates -in Lincoln and the Midlands. His power and influence was so great that -he ruled over an extent of country hardly smaller than the ancient -Earldom of Mercia. Stephen refused to add the city of Carlisle to the -already numerous possessions of the earl, who in anger declared himself -on the side of Stephen's rival Matilda when she took up arms, and became -one of Stephen's most bitter and active enemies.</p> - -<p>The king took Randle prisoner by a stratagem, and the monks of Pulton -Abbey were commanded to pray for the earl's safety. When at length he -was set free, the earl in a moment of gratitude gave the monks -permission to fish the waters of the Dee, and freed them from the toll -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77">77</a></span> -which they were accustomed to pay for grinding their corn in the Dee -Mills at Chester. Under the Norman rule the use of handmills, such as -the Saxons had used, was strictly forbidden, and everybody had to send -his corn to be ground in the mill belonging to his lord.</p> - -<p>When the Welsh heard of the earl's captivity they took advantage of his -absence and ravaged the county of Cheshire, but were defeated in a -battle at Nantwich in 1146 by Robert of Montalt.</p> - -<p>Randle died in the same year as King Stephen, and was succeeded by Hugh -Kyvelioc. This second Earl Hugh enclosed large stretches of forest-land -in East Cheshire, and gave the chief forestership to Richard Davenport. -It is Richard's grandson Vivian whose grave-slab we have seen in the -church at Prestbury.</p> - -<p>To Vivian Davenport's office was also joined the office of Hereditary -Grand Serjeant of the Hundred of Macclesfield. The Grand Serjeant -received twelve pounds six shillings and eightpence a year, and a fee of -two shillings and a salmon for the capture of a master-robber, and one -shilling for a common thief. Human life was held cheap in those days. -The robbers when caught were beheaded, and their heads sent to Chester, -where they were publicly shown as a warning to others. Descendants of -the Davenports live now at Capesthorne, and their peculiar crest, a -robber's head with a rope round the neck, recalls the gruesome duties of -their ancestors.</p> - -<p>A portion of the Forest was held by the Venables in return for providing -thirty-three huntsmen on hunting days. The Downes of Taxal held their -land more cheaply on the northern limits of the Forest, which is now -Lyme Park, 'by the blast of a horn on Midsummer Day and one pepper-corn -yearly.' Near Overton is a spot still called Gallows Yard, where the -Downes had power to execute robbers and criminals. In Lyme Park you may -see to this day the red deer that are descended from their wild -ancestors of Macclesfield Forest.</p> - -<p>When Hugh Kyvelioc was Earl of Chester, Henry the Second ruled England -and the greater part of France. He also received at Chester the homage -of the King of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78">78</a></span> -Scotland. But in the later years of his reign he found -it hard to keep together the widely scattered parts of his empire. -Rebellions were frequent, and his wife, his sons, and his barons all -took up arms against him. Among his discontented barons none was more -unruly than Hugh Kyvelioc, who stirred up Brittany against Henry, but he -was captured in battle and brought to England. In the great rising of -1173 Geoffrey of Costantin, one of Henry's sons, held the castle of -Stockport against the king. Not a stone of this castle is to be seen -now, but it stood in the highest part of the town near the Parish -Church.</p> - -<p>After Hugh Lupus, the greatest of the Earls of Chester was Randle the -Third, or Randle Blundeville. Like his predecessors, he was constantly -engaged in fighting against the Welsh, on one occasion being besieged in -Rhuddlan Castle until he was relieved by a rabble of vagabonds hastily -gathered from Chester Fair. This Randle was earl for over fifty years, -and was high in favour with three successive kings of England whom he -steadfastly supported. Henry the Second gave him in marriage his own -daughter-in-law, Constance, the widow of his son Geoffrey. The English -historian, Matthew Paris, says that the earl carried the crown at the -coronation of Richard the First, and he was present at the signing of -the Great Charter by King John, whose side he took in the quarrel with -the barons.</p> - -<p>The earl ruled Cheshire wisely, favouring especially the towns in his -earldom. To Chester, Macclesfield, and Stockport he gave charters by -which these towns were freed from certain payments and duties, and were -permitted to govern themselves under a mayor of their own choosing. In -the new Town Hall of Stockport is a stained glass window commemorating -the earl's grant to his baron Sir Robert de Stokeport of the town's -first charter of freedom.</p> - -<p>His gifts to the Church and the founding of abbeys won for him the title -of the 'Good' earl. He did not neglect the poor, for he built and -endowed the hospital of S. John, near the North Gate of Chester, for the -support of thirteen poor people, with three chaplains to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79">79</a></span> minister to -their religious needs. At Boughton, outside the city walls, he founded a -hospital for lepers, whose terrible disease was brought to this country -by travellers returning from Eastern lands.</p> - -<p>In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries men's minds were deeply stirred -by the hardships and cruelties put upon pilgrims to the Holy Land. Men -of every Christian land and race joined in the Crusades or Holy Wars to -win back Jerusalem, which had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, -enemies of the Christian faith. Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, came -to Chester and preached from the High Cross the duty of all Christian -men to rescue the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre from the power of the -unbelievers. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he did not preach in vain. -Men of all classes dedicated their lives or their wealth to the service -of the Cross. King and baron, soldier and priest, rich and poor alike -put on the sign of the Cross, and sailed to the Holy Land, where they -vied with one another in deeds of chivalry and valour.</p> - -<p>Randle Blundeville joined the Crusades in 1219, and set out with a -number of other English knights for Jerusalem. He distinguished himself -greatly in Egypt, and when he returned the fame of his brave deeds made -him a popular hero, and his adventures were recited or sung in many a -stirring ballad.</p> - -<p>The stone effigy of Sir William Boydell in Grappenhall Church will give -you some idea of a crusading warrior. He is clad in chain armour with a -plain surcoat. His legs are crossed, a sign perhaps that he had taken -the vows of the Cross, and his head rests on his helmet. A shield is on -his left shoulder, by his left side a sword.</p> - -<p>Many Crusaders bound themselves by sacred vows and joined different -'Orders' or companies to which the names Knights Templars, Knights -Hospitallers, or Knights of Saint John, and so on, were given. The -last-named founded a house where the brethren of the Order might live in -their old age at Fulshaw, near Wilmslow.</p> - -<p>When Randle returned to Cheshire he built in the heart of his earldom -the strong castle of Beeston, on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80">80</a></span> -summit of Beeston Rock, from whose -walls he could survey nearly every portion of the county over which he -ruled. He entertained Henry the Second at Chester Castle when Henry made -an expedition against the Welsh, the troops encamping on Saltney -marshes. Henry the Second had high views of the duties of kingship, and -was always busily occupied at home or in his continental dominions. But -Cheshire saw little or nothing of his son Richard, greatest of all -Crusaders, for he spent the greater part of his reign seeking adventures -abroad, and left his people to take care of themselves.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image22.jpg" width="523" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Effigy of Crusader: Grappenhall</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Earl Randle lived long enough to see the boy king Henry the Third -dismiss his guardians and rule on his own account. Almost his last act -was to refuse to allow<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81">81</a></span> -the clergy of Cheshire to pay the tenth part of -their incomes to the pope to aid him in his private wars. In 1232 he -died, and was buried with his forefathers in the Abbey Church of -Chester.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIII<br /> -<small>THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY</small></h2> - -<p>The greatest churches which the Normans planned were on such a scale -that they could not be finished in the lives of their designers. The -work was carried on more or less continuously by the builders and -architects who came after them. But, as time went on, various -improvements were made in the art of building, and new fashions came -into being, and the original plans had often to be altered to meet the -growing needs of the day, or to allow the newest features of style to be -introduced.</p> - -<p>The interior of S. John's Church, Chester, will show you some of the -changes of style which were taking place in the early part of the -thirteenth century. The two rows of <em>pointed</em> arches over the circular -headed arches of the nave tell us that by the time the massive Norman -piers and arches were finished, an entirely different form of arch was -coming into fashion.</p> - -<p>The pointed arch was first used when Norman and Saxon had settled down -peaceably side by side. From the fusing of the two nations, the English -people grew in strength and power. Norman baron and Saxon peasant had -combined to wrest from a wicked king the Great Charter of freedom for -the English people. Hence the new style is appropriately called Early -English.</p> - -<p>The work of church building had often been interrupted. During the civil -war of Stephen's reign, the building of churches was almost at a -standstill; the Crusades, by drawing large numbers of people from the -country, also checked the progress of the work. The raids of the Welsh -often destroyed a half-built Cheshire church. But from the time of Magna -Charta the erection of sacred -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82">82</a></span> buildings went forward apace, and was -continued with even greater zeal and activity through the long reign of -Henry the Third.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image23.jpg" width="400" height="537" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Ruins of S. John's, Chester</p> - <p>Change from Norman round arch to pointed arch</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The pointed arch was the principal feature of the new style, which is, -therefore, sometimes called the Pointed style. But we must look -carefully at the shape and details before we can be quite sure that an -arch belongs to this period of building.</p> - -<p>The arch must be tall and narrow, the columns on -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83">83</a></span> which they rest, round -and slender, often grouped together in clusters of three or more. Often -the columns consist of slender shafts united on one base and under one -capital. The mouldings of the arch, base and capital must be deeply cut -and grooved. The pointed arches of S. John's have all these -characteristic features. The lower of the two rows of pointed arches is -called the triforium or blind story, that is, without windows, for it is -built within the slope of the roof over the side aisles of the church. -The upper row is the clerestory, containing many window lights. A -triforium is only to be seen in the very largest churches. In the ruined -portion of S. John's you may see round and pointed arches side by side.</p> - -<p>The arches of the nave at Prestbury belong to this period. The columns -are very much more slender than the massive columns of S. John's. You -will notice that the capital of one of the columns is covered with -carved foliage which could only have been done with a chisel. Deep -under-cutting is a feature of the Early English style, and shows that -the English masons had improved greatly in their skill.</p> - -<p>Early English windows, like the arches, are long, narrow, and pointed. -From their shape they are called lancets. Sometimes two or more lancets -are grouped together side by side under a single 'dripstone' or hood. At -the east end of the Chapter-house at Chester is a window consisting of -five lancets.</p> - -<p>Several portions of Chester Cathedral, or rather the Abbey of S. -Werburgh as it was still called, were built during this period. In the -north aisle of the choir you may see the point where we pass from the -massive Norman masonry to the lighter and more graceful Early English. -The piscina or basin built in the wall is the place where you must look -for the change.</p> - -<p>At the end of the twelfth century the church of Hugh Lupus was already -in ruins. Earl Randle was in the Holy Land, and, during his absence, the -Welsh were more than usually troublesome. In the early years of the -thirteenth century large sums of money were given to the abbey, and the -abbots began building in the new style. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84">84</a></span> When Hugh Grylle was abbot, the -Chapter-house, in which the business of the abbey was transacted, was -built. The number of monks also increased to such an extent that a new -and larger refectory was needed.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image24.jpg" width="400" height="539" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Boss from Ruins of S. John's Church, Chester</p> - <p>Left of the boss is a strip of dog-tooth moulding</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>This refectory and the vestibule or entrance hall leading to it contain -the most beautiful examples of Early English work to be found in -Cheshire, and boys and girls who live in or near Chester should study -them carefully. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85">85</a></span> -refectory is the stone pulpit referred to in a -previous chapter, with a staircase and arcade of Early English arches -leading to it. The wall above the arches is pierced with a row of -'quatrefoil' openings, with deeply cut mouldings.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image25.jpg" width="400" height="541" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Early English Doorway, Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In the hollows of the Early English mouldings we sometimes see an -ornament pointed like a dog's tooth. You will see it in the moulding -round a circular opening over the doorway of the vestibule in the -cloisters of the Cathedral. Another ornament which the -thirteenth-century<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86">86</a></span> -masons invented and put into their work was the -'cusp', a projection made by the meeting of two curves placed end to -end. If you put two cusps into the head of a pointed arch you will find -that you have made a trefoil-headed arch. The triforium arches in the -choir of the cathedral are all of this description. Quatrefoils are made -by arranging four cusps within a circle.</p> - -<p>Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Abbot Simon of Whitchurch -built the Lady Chapel east of the choir. The windows of this chapel are -all lancets, those at the side being arranged in groups of three, while -the east window contains five lights. The Lady Chapel looks very new -now. It has, in fact, been almost entirely rebuilt since Abbot Simon's -day. The mediaeval builders of Cheshire did not select their -building-stone very carefully. You will see from the cloisters how the -red sandstone has weathered and crumbled to ruin.</p> - -<p>The walls of Early English buildings were not so thick as those built by -the Normans, and required to be supported on the exterior by buttresses -which projected further from the walls than the flat Norman buttresses. -You will find Early English buttresses at Audlem and Prestbury.</p> - -<p>Many houses in Chester are built over crypts or underground cellars, -which were made during the reign of Henry the Third, and consequently -show some of the features we have been describing. The oldest of these -crypts is under a shop in Bridge Street. It is lighted by a triple -lancet window having deep splays. The door of the staircase leading to -it has a trefoiled head, and the vaulted stone roof is groined and -ribbed like the roof of the cloisters of the cathedral. The roofs of -Early English churches were groined in the same way, but with wood -instead of stone.</p> - -<p>Many Cheshire churches were, no doubt, rebuilt or repaired in the new -style. At Bruera there is a pointed doorway under a semicircular arch. -Bruera was one of the many churches bestowed on the Abbey of S. Werburgh -by Norman lords. A grant of a manor or a church was often made when a -baron or some member of his family entered the abbey as a monk of the -brotherhood.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87">87</a></span> -Their descendants did not always approve of these gifts. In the -Chronicle of S. Werburgh, we read that in 1258 Roger de Montalt, Chief -Justice of Chester, tried to recover the churches of Bruera, Coddington, -and Neston, which the lord of Montalt had given to the abbey in the days -of Earl Hugh. Roger entered Neston Church with a body of armed men, and -turned out the monks who had been sent from the abbey to perform the -services, and gave the living to his nephew Ralph. The Chronicle speaks -of the misfortunes that befell Roger as a warning to other would-be -robbers of the Church. His eldest son died within fifteen days, and -Roger himself 'died in poverty within two years, the common people being -ignorant of the place of his burial'.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIV<br /> -<small>GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>Earl Randle 'the Good' had no son to succeed him, and when he died the -earldom passed to his nephew John the Scot, the son of Randle's eldest -sister. John married the daughter of Llewellyn the Prince of Wales, so -that peace was secured for a time between the Welsh and the earl's -subjects. He did not live to enjoy his earldom long, however, and he too -died without an heir. His wife was suspected of causing his death by -poison.</p> - -<p>Henry the Third was at this time King of England. He had looked with -anxious eyes upon the growing power of the Earls of Chester. Now that a -suitable opportunity presented itself, the king decided to take the -earldom into his own hands, his excuse being that he was unwilling that -so fair an inheritance should be divided 'among distaffs', meaning the -sisters of John the Scot. So he gave them each a portion of land and a -husband, and appointed John de Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, as custodian -of Cheshire.</p> - -<p>A few years later Henry bestowed the earldom on his son Edward, and from -that time down to the present day the title of Earl of Chester has -belonged to the son<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88">88</a></span> -and heir of the reigning monarch. The present -Prince of Wales is also Earl of Chester. One of Edward's first acts was -to confirm to the barons and the people of Cheshire all the liberties -and privileges which Randle had formerly granted them.</p> - -<p>Some of these 'liberties' are set forth in the Charter which John the -Scot gave to the people of Chester: 'Know that I have conceded and by -this my present charter confirmed to all my citizens of Chester that no -merchant should buy or sell any kind of merchandise which has come to -the city of Chester by sea or by land, except these my citizens of -Chester themselves and their heirs, or in accordance with their will, -and except in the established fairs, that is on S. John the Baptist's -day and at the feast of S. Michael. Likewise I have conceded and by this -my present charter confirmed to my citizens of Chester, to have and to -hold their guild merchant, as freely as they held it in the time of my -uncle, Lord Randle, Earl of Chester.'</p> - -<p>Similar charters were given to other Cheshire towns. Earl Randle, who -was one of those who saw King John sign the Great Charter, gave to his -baron, Sir Robert de Stokeport, a charter for his town of Stockport, -with permission to hold markets and fairs, receiving in return the -market dues and tolls. Hamon de Massey gave a charter for a weekly -market to the inhabitants of Altrincham. Congleton received its charter -in the reign of Edward the First from Henry de Lacy, whose statue you -may see on the front of Congleton Town Hall. Macclesfield boasts of -charters received from Randle Blundeville and from Edward the First, -though by the latter the citizens were compelled to grind their corn at -the king's mill and bake their bread in the king's oven, paying a toll -of one shilling each for this privilege.</p> - -<p>In the thirteenth century the merchants and traders of a town formed -themselves into guilds, which drew up sets of rules for the regulation -and protection of their trade and industries. The merchants met at fixed -times in their guild-hall, where they elected the officers of the guild, -an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, and an usher, and where -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89">89</a></span> they -transacted the business of the guild. By these laws no merchant could -buy or sell goods in the town unless he was a member of the guild. All -the members subscribed to the guild, and if one of their number fell -into poverty, or was unable to work and provide for himself, he received -a sum of money every year from the common chest.</p> - -<p>The little schoolroom in the churchyard of Nantwich was the old Guild -Hall. The guilds became very rich in time, and bought property and built -homes for poor people who had belonged to the guild, and schools where -their children might be taught.</p> - -<p>The workmen also who worked for the merchants wanted their own guilds, -and craft guilds were formed by the different trades of a city, each of -the guilds receiving a charter of its own. Several charters of this kind -may be seen in the muniment room of the Chester Town Hall.</p> - -<p>In mediaeval towns those who were engaged in a particular trade lived -near to one another in the same street, to which they often gave the -name of their industry. The name of Shoemakers' Row still survives at -Chester to tell us where the shoemakers' shops were to be found. Newgate -Street was formerly Fleshmonger Lane, and was the chief place of -business of the butchers. The Skinners lived in 'Castle Drive', and a -portion of Bridge Street known as Mercers' Row was given over to the -mercers, drapers, and haberdashers. The trade guilds were formed in the -same way as the merchant guilds. Each had its own officers and -meeting-place. The Phoenix Tower takes its name from the crest of one of -the city guilds, which used the tower as its council-chamber.</p> - -<p>While the merchant guild looked after the interests of the trades, the -town itself was governed by a mayor and aldermen, who were responsible -for the good behaviour of the inhabitants. They also fixed the prices at -which food and other necessaries of life were to be sold, and had the -control of all markets and fairs. Commonhall Street takes its name from -the old Common Hall in which the mayor and aldermen of the city met for -their deliberations. The old hall has long since disappeared. The mayor -and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90">90</a></span> -magistrates administered justice in the Penthouse or Pentice, -which used to stand close to S. Peter's Church in the centre of the -city.</p> - -<p>During the two great fairs of the city of Chester a large white glove -was suspended from the tower of S. Peter's as the symbol of welcome to -all strangers to bring their wares into the city for sale. In the church -of S. John's is an ancient grave-slab with glove and scissors carved -upon it. The slab once covered the remains of a glover; glove-making has -always been one of the chief industries of Chester. Another slab shows -by the hammer and horseshoe engraved upon it that it belonged to the -tomb of a smith.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image26.jpg" width="200" height="478" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Tombstone of a Glover, S. John's Church, Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>One of the privileges of the Shoemakers' Guild was that of providing the -ball for the annual game of football played on the Roodee on Easter -Monday. The mayor and all the city guilds came to watch the game, which -unfortunately did not always end happily, for we read that 'great strife -did arise', and many of the players were haled away to be dealt with by -the Mayor at the Pentice court. The saddlers provided a silver bell as a -prize for the winner of a horse-race on the Roodee.</p> - -<p>But the greatest event of the year in mediaeval Chester was the -performance of scenes from the Scriptures—mystery plays, as they were -called—at the Festival of Whitsuntide. The city guilds bore the whole -of the expense and chose the players to perform them, each guild being -responsible for one scene. Thus the painters and glaziers performed the -Shepherds' Watch and the Angels' Hymn; the vintners acted the part of -the Wise Men of the East; the butchers the Story of the Temptation; the -glovers the Raising of Lazarus. Scenes from the Old Testament were -included, the linen drapers performing the story -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91">91</a></span>of Balaam and the Ass, -and the watermen of the Dee, appropriately enough, the story of the -Flood.</p> - -<p>The plays were put into English verse by Randal Hignet, a monk of S. -Werburgh's, and no doubt were originally performed by the monks as a -means of instructing the people in the outlines of the Christian faith. -As the abbey church was found to be unsuitable they were performed -publicly in the streets, in order 'to exhort', as a clerk of the Pentice -said, 'the minds of the common people to good devotion as well as for -the common weal and prosperity of the city.'</p> - -<p>Twenty-five scenes in all were played, and the performance lasted for -three days. On the first day the people saw scenes representing the -Creation of the World, the Banishment from the Garden of Eden, the Birth -of Christ and the Vision of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Wise -Men; on the second day the Passion and Resurrection of Christ; and on -the third day stories illustrating the founding of the Christian Church, -the Lives of the Saints, and the final Advent of Christ and the Day of -Judgement.</p> - -<p>The plays were performed on movable stages fitted with wheels. The -stages consisted of two stories, the upper one being left open for the -plays, the lower one covered with curtains that it might serve as a -dressing-room. The first performance took place at the Abbey Gate. The -stages then passed one by one to the Water Gate, where a second -performance was given. The plays were acted for the third and last time -in Bridge Street.</p> - -<p>People crowded into Chester from all the country round on these -occasions, for the pope granted one thousand days of pardon to all who -witnessed the plays. The abbey also grew in wealth, for every one was -expected to visit the Abbey Church and lay some offering at S. -Werburgh's shrine. To provide a passage for the crowds of pilgrims, side -aisles were built round the choirs of famous churches, and behind the -high altar a vacant space left where the shrines of saints were placed.</p> - -<p>The Cheshire towns which grew in importance during the thirteenth -century as a result of the great increase in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92">92</a></span> trade were situated on or -near the great roads of Cheshire, which were still, in the main, the old -roads laid by the Romans. Their position was generally one of great -strength, having been chosen in early times in order that men might be -able to beat off the attacks of enemies. Chester was, as you have -already seen, guarded on two sides by a bend of the river Dee, and was -the meeting-place of Roman roads. Northwich on the Watling Street, -Middlewich on Kind Street, and Stockport were all built at a point where -two rivers meet. Runcorn, Lymm, and Altrincham are on sandstone heights -protected on the north by the Mersey; Macclesfield is astride the main -road in East Cheshire, and Nantwich on the highway into Wales. It was -only by means of the roads that commerce between the towns could be kept -open. The 'Welsh Row' of Nantwich recalls the days when the principal -trade of the town was with the wool-weavers of Wales, a trade that was -too often interrupted by the fierce outbreaks on the border.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XV<br /> -<small>EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>Simon of Whitchurch received the Abbey of S. Werburgh from the hands of -another and a greater Simon, the powerful Earl of Leicester, who was -engaged in a grim struggle with the king on account of the king's -extravagance and misgovernment, and the rule of foreign favourites. Both -Henry and his son Edward were, in fact, at this very time prisoners of -the earl, for the battle of Lewes, which ended so disastrously for the -king, had just been fought. In the same year Earl Simon summoned the -famous Parliament in which knights from the shires, and citizens from -the boroughs, sat side by side with the nobles and bishops.</p> - -<p>Edward had not long received the Earldom of Chester from his father when -the Barons' War broke out. Simon de Montfort made an alliance with -Llewellyn the Welsh<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93">93</a></span> -prince, and Chester, expecting an attack, was put -into a state of defence. Abbot Simon could hardly have commenced -building his beautiful Lady Chapel when he saw his church desecrated and -turned into barracks by Sir William de la Zouche, the Chief Justice of -Chester.</p> - -<p>After the defeat of Henry and Edward at Lewes they were compelled to -hand over to Earl Simon the Earldom of Chester, and Henry de Montfort, -Simon's eldest son, came to Chester and received in his father's name -the homage and oath of fealty of the citizens. Lucas de Taney was left -in charge of the city.</p> - -<p>Edward afterwards escaped from the custody of Earl Simon, and James de -Audley seized the castle of Beeston on his behalf. He also besieged -Lucas de Taney in the castle of Chester for ten weeks, but did not -succeed in taking it on account of the excellent defence made by the -garrison. De Taney surrendered when he heard of the death of Simon de -Montfort at Evesham, where Edward won a great victory. The chief of the -surviving barons were brought as prisoners to Beeston Castle.</p> - -<p>But the great prize for which de Montfort fought and laid down his life -was won. When Edward came to the throne he learned from the mistakes -made by his father, chose his ministers wisely, and gave his people good -laws. His reign saw the growth of a full and free parliament, in which -all classes of free men were represented. Cheshire did not, however, -send any members, but being under the personal eye of the king had still -a separate government of its own as well as its own judges and -law-courts.</p> - -<p>Vale Royal reminds us of the great Plantagenet king, whose motto was -'Keep Troth' and who for thirty-five years did all he could to win the -love of his people. Before Edward became king he went on Crusade to the -Holy Land, where he distinguished himself by recovering the holy city of -Nazareth from the Saracens. On his return he narrowly escaped shipwreck. -In his peril he invoked the aid of the Virgin Mary, and vowed that if he -were saved he would build a monastery in her honour on his return to his -own country. The Chronicle<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94">94</a></span> -tells us that 'the vessel straightway -righted itself and was miraculously brought safe into port; the sailors -disembarked, the Prince landing last of all, and immediately the vessel -broke in pieces, and every fragment of the wreck vanished under the -water'.</p> - -<p>Edward 'kept his troth' and built a home for one hundred monks of the -Cistercian Order at Darnhall. Four years later he laid the foundation -stone of a stately Abbey at Vale Royal, in the very heart of Cheshire. -Queen Eleanor and a great company of nobles accompanied him. We may not -now hear the Angelus tolling its summons to evening prayer, nor see -jolly monks fishing the streams of the Weaver, but in the last few -months the foundations of the Abbey church where they chanted the mass -have been discovered.</p> - -<p>The abbey took more than fifty years to build, and it was not until the -reign of the third Edward that the monks were able to move from their -temporary lodgings to the new and spacious building. The abbey received -valuable lands in the neighbourhood of Over, Darnhall, and Weaverham, of -which villages the abbot became lord. By the ancient 'customs' of the -manor of Darnhall the villagers were required to attend at the manorial, -now the abbot's court; the abbot had power of life and death over all -his tenants, who had also to grind all their corn at the abbot's mill; -at the death of any native the abbot took all his horses, cattle, and -pigs, and half of his standing and gathered corn.</p> - -<p>Cheshire saw a good deal of Edward the First in the earlier half of his -reign. In the year after the ceremonies at Vale Royal we find him at -Macclesfield, when he began to build the parish church of S. Michael.</p> - -<p>He was the first English king to take in hand the conquest of Wales -seriously. In the reign of Henry the Third the Welsh had taken advantage -of the king's troubles with his barons, and waged a murderous warfare on -the Cheshire border. They advanced as far as Nantwich, and James de -Audley, who owned a large part of the barony of Nantwich, saw his -castles burnt, woods felled, and cattle destroyed. Preparations were -made for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95">95</a></span> -a big expedition into Wales, and Prince Edward summoned the -knights and barons of Cheshire to Shotwick Castle on the banks of the -Dee. A grassy knoll, where once stood the castle keep, is all that is -left of the scene of the gathering.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image27.jpg" width="400" height="547" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="smcap">Chester Wall.</span> Roman below; Edwardian above</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Chester, from its position at the very gates of North Wales, was the -natural meeting-place for the troops, and the starting-point of Edward's -expedition against Llewellyn. Soon after his accession he summoned the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96">96</a></span> -Welsh princes to do homage to him. This they refused to do, and the king -prepared for war. Llewellyn's brother David for a long time fought on -the side of the English, and received the manor of Frodsham as his -reward.</p> - -<p>Edward's first task, however, was to strengthen the defences of Chester -so that it might resist all attacks. The enemy frequently came close up -to the walls of the city, and raided especially the suburb of Handbridge -on the opposite shore of the Dee, naming it Treboeth or 'Burnt Town', a -name that tells its own tale.</p> - -<p>Edward was a great castle-builder, as many of you have learnt from -pictures you have seen of his Welsh castles. The Norman castle of -Chester had been constructed largely of wood. Edward now rebuilt it of -stone, and greatly enlarged it by adding an outer ward or 'bailey'. He -surrounded the whole fortress with 'curtain' walls flanked with towers -and protected with a deep ditch. He also set to work to rebuild the -walls of the city.</p> - -<p>The ancient Roman walls had long since crumbled to their foundations, -though here and there a mass of masonry remained standing, and the Roman -east gate was still in its place. The stones of which the walls had been -built had provided building-material for many centuries. On the east -side from the Pepper Gate to the Phoenix Tower Edward built his wall on -or near the foundations of the Roman wall, portions of which you may -still see on this side of the city. For the most part, however, the new -walls were built outside the older ones, and the area enclosed was much -greater than that of the Roman town.</p> - -<p>The walls were strengthened by a number of watch towers, some of which -were not completed until the time of his grandson Edward the Third, when -Bonewaldeston's Tower and the Water Tower were built. A wall-tax called -'murage' was levied on the inhabitants of Cheshire for keeping the walls -in repair. The citizens of Chester were also made to build a bridge over -the Dee. Edward's chief engineer was named Richard, and in return for -his services he received for a number of years -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98">98</a></span> -the Dee Mills, so that for the time being he was the 'Miller of the -Dee'.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image28.jpg" width="400" height="550" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Water Tower and Curtain Wall, Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>After some years of hard fighting the conquest of the Welsh was -complete. At Rhuddlan Castle, on the borders of the ancient palatine -earldom, Edward gave to the conquered Welsh a settled government and a -system of law-courts similar to that which he had already set up for the -English. He returned to Chester to celebrate the peace that he had made, -and accompanied by his queen, with great pomp and ceremony attended mass -and a service of thanksgiving in the Abbey of S. Werburgh.</p> - -<p>The river Dee washed the walls of the Water Tower, and great iron rings, -to which the barges were moored, were fixed in the Tower walls. The -ships brought wines from Gascony and cloth from Flanders, whither the -monks of Vale Royal and Combermere sent the wool of the flocks that -pastured on their meadows. Some of the Flemish weavers left their own -country and settled on the shores of the Mersey near Birkenhead.</p> - -<p>In nearly every field in the pastoral parts of Cheshire are to be found -one or more small round pools, often fringed with willows and reeds. You -know them well, for you have been to them often to watch the tadpoles -and the minnows. But you have not wondered why they are there, and why -there are so many of them. Yet they have something to tell of the -wool-raising in the days of the three Edwards. For they are marl-pits, -and many of them were dug first when the first Edward was king; the -marl, which is a great fertilizer, being taken out of the earth and -spread over the grass-lands on which the flocks were pastured. The -farmers do not use it now, for new and easier ways of enriching the soil -have been found.</p> - -<p>The marl-diggers, or 'marlers' as they were called, had their own -particular feast-day once a year, when they claimed toll of every -passer-by, and in the evening sang their marling songs in the village -ale-house.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line"> When shut the pit, the labour o'er,</div> - <div class="line">He whom we work for opes his door</div> - <div class="line">And gies to us of drink galore,</div> - <div class="line">For this was always Marler's law.</div> - <div class="line i4">Who-whoop who-whoop wo-o-o-o-o.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99">99</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XVI<br /> -<small>THE COMING OF THE FRIARS</small></h2> - -<p>Three streets in Chester in the neighbourhood of the Church of S. Martin -bear the names of Grey Friars, Black Friars, and White Friars -respectively. During the thirteenth century numbers of begging friars, -clad in simple grey or black or white tunics, came to Chester and -settled in the poorest quarters of the city. Like the early disciples of -Christ, whose lives of poverty they sought to imitate, they carried with -them neither gold nor silver, and walked unshod, begging their food and -shelter as they journeyed from town to town.</p> - -<p>Their simple teaching appealed to the poor, who soon began to look upon -them as their best friends. For they brought the Gospel of Christ to -them in their streets, and tended the sick and the aged amid their -squalid homes. They were forbidden by the rules of their Orders to -receive either money or lands.</p> - -<p>The first to arrive in Chester were the Dominicans or Black Friars, who -settled near the Watergate when Randle Blundeville was earl. The old -palace of the Stanleys formed part of the home of the Black Friars. They -were followed a few years later by the Franciscans or Grey Friars who -also lived by the Watergate, near the spot on which the Linen Hall was -afterwards erected, and in the reign of Edward the First the White -Friars or Carmelites took up their abode in the neighbourhood of White -Friars Street.</p> - -<p>Unlike the monks, the friars had at first no fixed homes of their own, -and preached at wooden crosses set up at the street corners. Afterwards, -with the alms they received from the people and the legacies from rich -men who admired their devout lives, each of the different Orders of -friars built for themselves a permanent dwelling-place or friary, to -which a church in time was added.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100">100</a></span> -The Church of the Carmelites must have been one of great beauty. Some of -the glazed coloured tiles which formed the pavement of the building may -be seen in the Grosvenor Museum. Excavations have been made at the spot -where the tiles were found, and three feet lower down the workmen came -across broken columns and bases of a large Roman building. Mediaeval -Chester was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman city. A doorway in -an old house called 'The Friars' was part of the Carmelite Friary.</p> - -<p>The friars studied medicine and devoted themselves particularly to the -care of lepers. They also built schools for the children of the poor. -The Dominicans were also skilful engineers, and Edward the First -employed them in making wells and laying water-pipes in the city.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately some of the friars did not live up to their early vows of -poverty, and the rules which S. Francis and S. Dominic had drawn up for -them. When wealth poured in upon them they became jealous of one -another, and quarrels and disturbances frequently arose between them. -The Records of Chester tell of many violent acts on the part of the -Dominicans and Carmelites, the latter of whom, armed with cudgels, were -wont to roam in the night time through the city to the terror of the -inhabitants.</p> - -<p>The monks of the thirteenth century had also become idle and luxurious. -They had, as you have already read, become great landowners, and -received the manorial dues from the manors which belonged to them. The -Abbots of Vale Royal ruled with a rod of iron. The poor people rebelled, -and fights between them and the monks were frequent. They laid their -complaints before the king, and good Queen Philippa interceded for them -as she did for the burghers of Calais, but the abbot was generally able -to prove his 'rights', and the people obtained little satisfaction. The -wealth of the monasteries was also greatly increased by the cultivation -of crops and the sale of their wool. But the richer they became, the -more they neglected their spiritual duties. The poor could no longer -look to them for their spiritual teaching or for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101">101</a></span> charity and good -works, and so gladly turned to the friars who for a time ministered to -their needs so well.</p> - -<p>Monks and friars alike were bitterly attacked in Edward the Third's -reign in a poem written by William Langland. In this poem, which is -called 'The Vision of Piers Plowman', the poet speaks of the ignorance -and sloth of the monks, one of whom is made to confess that he cannot -even chant the Lord's Prayer.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">I cannot the Pater Noster as the priest it syngethe,</div> - <div class="line">But I can Rimes of Robin Hood and of Randall of Chestre.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>A few exceptions there were to the general rule. In his quiet retreat in -the Abbey of S. Werburgh, Ranulf Higden wrote a work called -'Polychronicon', which contained a history of the world from the -Creation to his own day, with geographical descriptions of the different -countries of the world, and the favourite mediaeval legends of Babylon -and Rome. The book is valuable because it is one of the earliest pieces -of literature written in the language of mixed Norman and Saxon which is -our mother tongue to-day. When printing was invented in the fifteenth -century, the Polychronicon was one of the books printed by Caxton the -first English printer.</p> - -<p>Many of the churches in Cheshire show us that the masons and builders of -Edward the Third's long reign made great progress in their art.</p> - -<p>We have seen how the thirteenth-century workmen learned to group a -number of lancets together under one hood, and to shape the lancet heads -like a clover leaf by the addition of cusps. In the fourteenth century -the space above a row of lancet or trefoil-headed lights was filled in -with a number of geometrical figures such as circles and foils. Hence -the name of Geometrical or Decorated has been given to the work of this -period. The large east windows of many of our Cheshire churches are made -up in this way. The patterns of flowing lines thus produced are called -'bar tracery'. There are Decorated windows in the aisles of the choir -and south transept of Chester Cathedral.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102">102</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image29.jpg" width="544" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">North-West View of Nantwich Church</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103">103</a></span></p> - -<p>Windows and arches were now made wider than in the previous century. The -builders of the Pointed period sought after height; those of the -Decorated period aimed rather at breadth and openness.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image30.jpg" width="400" height="539" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Geometrical Window, South Transept, Chester Cathedral</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The fourteenth-century masons studied nature carefully, and put masses -of carved fruit or flowers or leaves in the capitals of their columns. -The arches of the nave of Chester Cathedral prove this fact.</p> - -<p>A favourite ornament of the Decorated period is the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104">104</a></span>crocket, a -projecting bunch of foliage added to pinnacles, the hoods of arches, and -the canopies of niches and tombs. Another device is the ball-flower -carved in the mouldings. The ball-flower is as sure a sign of Decorated -mouldings as the dog-tooth was in those of the Early English period.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image31.jpg" width="540" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Altar Tombs, Macclesfield</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The choir of Stockport Parish Church is a beautiful example of the -Decorated style, and the greater portions of Macclesfield, Nantwich, and -Prestbury Parish Churches belong to the same period. In many other -churches you will find some detail, generally a window or a doorway or -an altar tomb, which will show you some of the features of this style.</p> - -<p>In the Early English and Decorated periods a spire was sometimes added -to the tower, as at Astbury and Bebington. The spire grew out of the -pyramid-shaped roof with which the towers of Norman churches were -covered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105">105</a></span> -In the low-lying portions of the Cheshire plain, where stone was scarce -but timber plentiful, the framework of a church was often built of wood. -In the village of Warburton, on the banks of the Mersey, is a -fourteenth-century wooden church, which served as the chapel of a priory -that was established here by the Normans. The name itself -('Werburgh-ton') speaks to us of S. Werburgh, the patron saint of the -Abbey of Chester, and a field by the river is still called the Abbey -Croft; the stone coffins within the church once contained the bones of -monks who lived here.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image32.jpg" width="535" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Interior of Warburton Timber Church. Fourteenth Century</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The arches within are made of rough-hewn timber, rudely shaped with the -axe. Lantern pegs of buck-horn from the deer that once roamed the -woodlands of Dunham<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Massey are fixed on the oak pillars; the roof is -supported by stout cross-beams. The brick tower has been added at a -later day, and the south wall built when the timbers on that side of the -church collapsed. The timber churches of Lower Peover and Marton belong -to the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. -Marton Church was the burial-place of the Davenports, who lived at -Marton Hall.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image33.jpg" width="444" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">The Old Priest's House, Prestbury</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The Davenports had a more splendid home at Bramhall, the oldest portions -of which were built when Edward the Third was king. The great hall at -Baguley was built<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107">107</a></span> -about the same time. The massive upright posts are -cut from timber more than two feet square, and the spaces between them -filled with wickerwork and plaster. The open roof is supported by a -mighty 'tie-beam' and two uprights called 'queen-posts'<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>. The windows -are tall and the lights narrow, and separated from one another by oak -mullions.</p> - -<p>Surely the men who built it had hearts of oak. The building reflects the -rugged character of the men of the days when 'knights were bold' and -'might was right'. In this hall we can picture old Sir William Baggiley -feasting with his family and his retainers, when the summons came from -his king to follow him to the French wars.</p> - -<p>His effigy still rests in the hall that he himself perhaps built. It is -broken and battered, but enough remains to show us that the knights who -fought for Edward and the Black Prince had changed the fashion of their -war dress since the Crusades. A hood of mail still protects the head and -neck, but the suit of mail has given way to plates of steel riveted or -hooked together, so that the whole body is cased in armour.</p> - - - -<h2>CHAPTER XVII<br /> -<small>A DEPOSED KING</small></h2> - -<p>When Edward the First completed his conquest of North Wales, and the -Welsh chiefs swore fealty at Chester to the first English Prince of -Wales, the fighting squires of Cheshire found themselves without any -occupation. Edward the Third, ambitious of recovering the French -dominions of the Norman and Angevin Kings of England, provided the -Cheshire men with a fresh field of adventures, with far greater -opportunities of performing deeds of valour and satisfying their thirst -for warfare.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108">108</a></span> -A number of Cheshire knights followed the king and the Black Prince to -France. The French Chronicler, Froissart, tells us that Sir James Audley -and his four Cheshire squires 'fought always in the chief of the battle' -at Poitiers. One of the four squires was Sir John Delves, who built the -old tower of Doddington Castle, near Audlem. In Barthomley Church is a -monument to Sir Robert Fulleshurst, who also was one of the dauntless -four.</p> - -<p>In the chancel of Bunbury Church is the tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley, who, -by his bold deeds, won for himself the title of the 'Cheshire Hero'. -Over the doorway of the inn at Handley you may see the sign of the three -calves, the ancient coat of arms of the Calveleys. Sir Hugh was the -leader of a famous band of soldiers called the 'Companions', who gave -their services for pay to any leader who required them, and were the -terror of the country people of France for many years. Edward made him -the Governor of Calais, from whence he sacked the seaport of Boulogne, -and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. Indeed, many of his -exploits are anything but deeds of glory.</p> - -<p>When Sir Hugh Calveley returned in his old age to his home in Cheshire, -wishing to atone, perhaps, for his ruthless acts, he founded a college -at Bunbury for a master, two chaplains, and two choristers. Their chief -duty, no doubt, was to pray for the repose of the soul of their -benefactor.</p> - -<p>Cheshire knights and Welshmen fought side by side at Poitiers. When the -Black Prince returned to England he gave the Dee Mills for life to Sir -Howell y Fwyall.</p> - -<p>An inscription on the wall of the Parish Church of Macclesfield tells us -that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd King Edward the Third and the Black Prince -his sonne in all their warres in France, and was at the Battell of -Cressie, and hadd Lyme given him for that service'. The descendants of -the Leghs still live at Lyme Hall, near Disley, where a life-size -portrait of the Black Prince hangs in the entrance hall. Sir Perkin -married the daughter of Sir Thomas d'Anyers, who received a handsome -reward for rescuing the Royal Standard at Crecy -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109">109</a></span> from the French. His -body lies beneath the d'Anyers monument in Grappenhall Church.</p> - -<p>The same inscription at Macclesfield tells us that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd -King Richard the Second, and left him not in his troubles, but was taken -with him and beheaded at Chester'.</p> - -<p>Cheshire was very loyal to the unfortunate Richard, who styled himself -Prince of Cheshire, and showed great favour to the ancient earldom. The -victory of Crecy was due to the English archers, and among them none -were more famous than those of Cheshire. On their return from the wars, -Richard's faithful bowmen became his body-guard, and could always be -relied upon whenever he wished to strike a blow at his enemies. 'Sleep -in peace, Dickon,' they would say to him, 'we will take care of thee, -and if thou hadst married the daughter of Sir Perkin of Legh, thou -mightest have defied all the lords in England.'</p> - -<p>Cheshire men got a very bad name, for they were cruel and bloodthirsty, -given to lawless deeds and inspiring terror wherever they appeared. They -were safe in Cheshire, for the county was governed directly by the king, -and did not yet send representatives to Parliament. The House of Commons -itself was overawed by a force of 2,000 Cheshire archers, commanded by -seven Cheshire esquires. When the Commons rose against the misgovernment -of the king, the unpunished robberies and evil deeds of the Cheshire men -were one of the causes of complaint. The bowmen all wore the badge of -the White Hart, Richard's own device. There are at the present day many -inns in the villages of Cheshire that bear the sign of the White Hart, a -reminiscence of the days of Richard and his Cheshire guards.</p> - -<p>The enemies of Richard were determined to depose him, and put in his -place Henry of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt. Richard banished Henry, -and deprived him of his estates and possessions. When Henry landed with -a small force at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, in the year 1399, he was joined -by many of the northern lords, chief among whom was the powerful Earl of -Northumberland and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110">110</a></span> -son, Harry 'Hotspur'. Richard surrendered to his -cousin at Flint, and was brought to Chester 'on a sorry hack not worth a -couple of pounds'. He was confined in the tower over the gateway of the -Castle at Chester before being removed to Pontefract, where he probably -met a violent death, though it was given out that he died of starvation. -Perkin a Legh was executed for his loyalty to Richard, and his head -fixed on a pole on the highest tower of Chester Castle.</p> - -<p>The Cheshire archers struck one more blow in Richard's defence. Hotspur -had been made Justice of Cheshire and North Wales by Henry the Fourth, -to keep down the turbulent Cheshire men and the Welsh insurgents. He -suddenly changed sides, and joined Earl Mortimer and Owen Glendower of -Wales in their revolt against the new king.</p> - -<p>Hotspur gave out that Richard was yet alive at Sandiway, and the chief -barons of Cheshire, the Venables and the Vernons, and the archers of -Macclesfield and Delamere flocked to his standard. The Mayor of Chester -went too, and the parsons of Pulford, Davenham, Rostherne and other -villages, each with his own following. Though they were afterwards told -that Richard was really dead, they were quite content to avenge him, and -the army decked with the badge of the White Hart marched from Cheshire -to join the Welsh leader.</p> - -<p>King Henry met them near Shrewsbury, where a fierce battle took place. -The Cheshire archers fought with great bravery, and even routed a -portion of the king's army. But they were gradually overcome by the more -numerous royal forces, and Henry's victory was complete. Hotspur himself -was killed, and among the slain were 'the most part of the knights and -squires of the county of Chester'. After the battle, the baron of -Kinderton, Sir Richard Venables, was executed, and his estates given to -his brother, a supporter of the king.</p> - -<p>The ancient yew-trees in many of the churchyards of Cheshire will remind -you of the sturdy bowmen who overthrew the mail-clad mounted men of -France at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers. The big yew in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111">111</a></span> -churchyard of Farndon must have been of great age, even in the days -when Richard's archers cut their bows from its tough and pliant boughs.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">The bow was made in England, in England,</div> - <div class="line">Of true wood, of yew wood, the wood of English bows:</div> - <div class="line"> So men who are free</div> - <div class="line"> Love the old yew tree</div> - <div class="line">And the land where the yew tree grows.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In order to encourage archery among workmen and labourers, Richard -forbade the playing of football, tennis, and the like, under penalty of -fine or imprisonment. Among the town-laws of Chester was one which -compelled all children of six years old and upwards to be taught the use -of the bow and arrow, both 'for the avoiding of idleness' and for -service 'in the ancient defence of the kingdom'. Every Easter Monday the -two sheriffs chose teams of archers, and shot a match on the Roodee, the -prize being a breakfast or dinner of calves' heads and bacon, in which -the Mayor and Aldermen also took part. When a man of any well-to-do -family married in Chester, he was expected to give a silver arrow in the -following year as a prize for archery.</p> - -<p>Some of the knights who returned from the French wars found their old -homes burnt or destroyed by marauding Welshmen during their absence. The -castles which they built for their protection were built of stone, and -portions strongly fortified. The massive tower or keep of Doddington is -crowned with a battlement and four square corner turrets; the windows -are mere slits in the walls. Brimstage Tower in Wirral was built in 1398 -by Sir Hugh de Hulse. The parapet or gallery is 'machicolated', that is -to say it projects beyond the walls of the tower, so that molten metal -might be poured through holes in the parapet upon an attacking force -below.</p> - -<p>The more famous Storeton Hall was built about the same time, though -little remains now to show its former splendour. From Storeton came the -powerful Cheshire House of Stanley. In the reign of Edward the Third, -Sir Philip de Bamville was master-forester of Wirral, which -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112">112</a></span> at the time -was covered with an extensive forest, so that an old rime said</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">From Blacon Point to Hilbre</div> - <div class="line">Squirrels in search of food</div> - <div class="line">Might jump straight from tree to tree,</div> - <div class="line">So thick the forest stood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Sir Philip was being entertained by John Stanley. In the evening, when -the festivities were at their height, young William Stanley ran away -with Joan de Bamville, Sir Philip's only child. Through forest and over -moorland they spurred their horses, and stayed not till the wide -Cheshire plain lay between them and their homes. At Astbury Church they -were wedded, and after the old knight's death, the Stanleys succeeded to -the forestership and the estates that went with it.</p> - -<p>Scarcely any churches were built in Cheshire in the latter part of the -fourteenth century, though the chancel of West Kirby was put up in the -reign of Richard the Second. The carved heads on one of the window-hoods -are those of Richard and his queen. Labourers were very scarce, owing to -the ravages of the terrible calamity known as the Black Death, and the -men who returned from the wars had no fancy for doing the work of the -mason and the builder. Men refused to work; wages and the price of bread -rose so high that a limit had to be set to them by law. Even so great a -person as the Abbot of S. Werburgh was fined because his steward charged -too big a price for the abbey corn.</p> - -<p>When the next century dawned and the land had rest for a while under the -Lancastrian king, churches were no longer built in the Decorated style -of the fourteenth century. Another style of church-building prevailed.</p> - -<p>The curious Chester 'Rows' were originally built during the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries, though they have been altered and rebuilt many -times since then. There is nothing quite like them in any other English -city. The 'Rows', or galleries, run continuously for most of the length -of the four principal streets over the shops on the street level, as if -the front rooms on the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114">114</a></span> -first floor of all the houses had been taken out and a thoroughfare made -through them. At the ends of the Rows, and at street corners, you may -descend by a staircase to the pavement below.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image34.jpg" width="400" height="482" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Chester Rows, Watergate Street</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>No one can be quite sure how the Rows came to be built on this plan. -Some people have thought that they were copied from the porticoes or -colonnades of shops in Roman towns. Others, again, say that they were -intended to serve as barricades in the street fighting which often took -place when the Welsh attacked the city. Probably, however, neither of -these explanations is correct.</p> - -<p>Many old houses in Chester show that they were at first built with -outside flights of stone steps leading from the street to the first -floor. Under the steps was an entrance to a cellar or storeroom. At some -time or other the steps were removed, except at the ends of the streets, -and a footway laid along the tops of the cellars. The upper stories were -then brought forward, and, resting on columns of wood, made level with -the street fronts of the basement.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> -<small>THE RIVAL ROSES</small></h2> - -<p>Henry the Fourth belongs partly to Cheshire, for a Duke of Lancaster had -married the heiress of the Lacys, who were descended from Nigel, Baron -of Halton and Constable of Chester. John of Gaunt, the king's father, -was a frequent visitor at Halton Castle, which he used as a -hunting-lodge.</p> - -<p>The French wars broke out again in the reign of Henry the Fifth. Once -more the loyal Leghs and other Cheshire knights followed their king. In -fact the king's body-guard was composed of Cheshire men, among them -being Richard de Mobberley, Ranulf de Chelford, and William de Mere. -Piers Legh, the grandson of Perkin Legh, fell at Agincourt, as you may -read on the brass plate in Macclesfield Church. In the same church is -the altar-tomb of another hero of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115">115</a></span> -Agincourt, Sir John Savage, who was knighted after the battle.</p> - -<p>Henry was stricken down at the very moment of his triumph, and a baby -king succeeded to the throne of England. The royal uncles, who acted as -guardians, quarrelled with one another, and in a few years the English -were compelled to leave France. Foreign wars were followed by strife in -our own country. The Wars of the Roses lasted for the greater part of -the second half of the fifteenth century.</p> - -<p>Queen Margaret, the 'outlandish woman' as her Yorkist enemies called -her, was in Chester in the year 1459. The king was ill, and the queen -conducted the wars herself, and summoned the fighting-men of Cheshire to -rally to her side. The people of Cheshire were not greatly excited over -the wars, which were mainly blood-feuds of powerful nobles. The trading -classes and the artisans of the towns took little part in the fighting, -but the sturdy Cheshire yeomen followed the squires, who ranged -themselves on the one side or the other. Members of the same family -often found themselves opposed to one another.</p> - -<p>A sixteenth-century poet, describing the battle of Blore Heath, which -took place just over the southern border of Cheshire, says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">There Dutton Dutton kills, a Done doth kill a Done,</div> - <div class="line">A Booth a Booth, and Legh by Legh is overthrown;</div> - <div class="line">A Venables against a Venables doth stand,</div> - <div class="line">A Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Red Rose was badly beaten in this battle, in which Lord Audley and -two thousand Cheshire men were killed.</p> - -<p>One of the Booths who fought in the Wars of the Roses is buried beneath -the chancel floor of Wilmslow Church. Set in a marble slab which covers -the grave is a brass plate with figures of Sir Robert de Bothe and Douce -Venables his wife. Similar 'brasses' were common enough in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the monuments of those families -who could afford them. They represent, for the most part, knights and -priests. Few are left now, for numbers were stripped from their places -during the Great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116">116</a></span> -Rebellion. Portions of the brass at Wilmslow have been -destroyed or lost, for the figures were at one time set in a handsome -canopy of brass, and the whole surrounded by an inscription, only a -fragment of which remains.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image35.jpg" width="300" height="557" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Brass of Robert de Bothe and Douce Venables</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The brass shows us the costume of a knight and lady of the fifteenth -century. The knight is in plate armour, which, since its first -appearance in the Edwardian wars, had become more and more elaborate and -highly ornamental. If you study this brass and the effigies on the -Savage monuments at Macclesfield you will be able to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117">117</a></span> recognize in other -churches the warriors who fought in the battles of the fifteenth -century.</p> - -<p>Douce Venables was only nine years of age when she was married by her -parents to the twelve-year-old husband whom they chose for her. -Throughout the Middle Ages child-marriages were frequently arranged in -order to make secure the estates which the children were to inherit, and -save them from the greediness of the kings. The sovereign claimed the -right of wardship over all heirs and heiresses who were left orphans in -early life, and took a large sum of money out of their estates when he -gave them away in marriage. If they did not then marry according to his -wishes they had to pay a further sum. We may be sure the kings made all -they could from this source, for wars were expensive and the kings were -always short of ready money.</p> - -<p>The people of Cheshire were glad when the Wars of the Roses were over. -The Roses were united when Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, married -Elizabeth the heiress of Edward the Fourth and of the House of York. On -the porch of Gawsworth Church is a carved corbel consisting of a rose, -within whose petals appear two faces. This is the Tudor Rose, a symbol -of the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York. The porch was -therefore built shortly after the wars were ended.</p> - -<p>The Cheshire Stanleys helped Henry Tudor to win the crown of Richard the -Third on the field of Bosworth, the last battle of the rival Roses. When -Richard saw the redcoats and the harts' heads of the Stanley followers -ranged on the side of his enemies, he knew that he was doomed.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">The Stanley strokes they are so strong, there may no man their blows abide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was Sir William Stanley who picked up the crown which had fallen from -King Richard's head when he was struck down, and taking Henry aside, set -it on his head.</p> - -<p>Macclesfield suffered severely in this battle. Among the corporation -records of Macclesfield is preserved a letter to King Henry the Seventh, -praying that the town might<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118">118</a></span> -not lose its charter because it could not -make up the necessary number of aldermen, owing to the heavy slaughter -of the townsmen at Bosworth.</p> - -<p>Lord Derby, the head of the House of Stanley, arranged the new king's -marriage with the Lady Elizabeth, and Sir William Stanley was for a time -high in favour with the king. But one day he asked for too great a -reward—nothing less than the Earldom of Chester, and the suspicious -king chopped off his head. Thus were men often requited for their -services.</p> - -<p>Notwithstanding the squabbles and jealousies of rival kings and princes, -the people as a whole were progressing along more peaceful ways. Trade -was flourishing, and the class of well-to-do merchants becoming yearly -more numerous and important. Wealthy aldermen imitated the good example -of King Henry the Sixth, founder of many schools and colleges. Edmund -Shaw, of Stockport, founded in 1487 a Free School at Stockport for the -children of the burgesses. The master of the school was to be a priest, -'a discrete man, and conning in grammer and able of connyng to teche -gramer.' The art of printing had just been discovered, and now that -books were likely to be within the reach of all, it was necessary first -of all to teach Cheshire boys how to read and understand their own -language.</p> - -<p>The century, that opened with war and bloodshed, closed in peace such as -Cheshire had hardly ever before experienced.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIX<br /> -<small>CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES</small></h2> - -<p>Many of the largest and finest churches in Cheshire were built during -the Wars of the Roses, and in the reigns of the early Tudors. This fact -shows us more than anything else perhaps that the wars did not greatly -interfere with the progress and prosperity of the inhabitants of -Cheshire. During this period the churches of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119">119</a></span>Mottram, Malpas, Great -Budworth, Nantwich, Astbury, Grappenhall, Tarvin, Bunbury, Wilmslow, -Witton, Gawsworth, and many others were built or completed.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image36.jpg" width="400" height="516" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Astbury, West Front. Perpendicular</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>If you study any of these churches carefully you will see that the style -was once again changing. Probably the first thing you will note will be -the change in the patterns of the windows. The mullions which divide -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120">120</a></span> -the lights are carried right up to the crown of the windows instead of -branching off to right or left in flowing curves. This is the chief -feature from which the new style has received the name of Perpendicular.</p> - -<p>The Perpendicular builders of the latter half of the fifteenth and the -first half of the sixteenth centuries found their windows growing to -such a size that they had to strengthen them with cross-bars called -transoms. Thus the windows, as in the west front of Astbury and the -south transept of Chester Cathedral, for instance, present the -appearance of a number of rectangles placed side by side and piled one -above another. The crown of the windows are also now flattened until -they hardly appear to be pointed at all.</p> - -<p>The clerestories of the Perpendicular churches were filled with rows of -windows until the whole length of the wall was almost continuous glass, -as at Malpas and Astbury. When Bibles and Church services began to be -printed more light was needed, for people went to church to read as well -as to listen.</p> - -<p>The doorways, like the windows, have changed with the times. The heads -are flattened and covered with a square moulded hood. The corner spaces -between the arch and the hood are called spandrels, and are generally -filled in with carved foliage or shields. At the sides are often niches -for the images of saints, or moulded panels. The door of the Rivers -Chapel at Macclesfield is a beautiful specimen of Perpendicular -architecture.</p> - -<p>The walls of Perpendicular churches are generally surmounted by a -parapet which runs round the whole length of a church, as at Malpas. -Sometimes the stone work of the parapet is pierced with panel-shaped -slits or ornamented with rows of quatrefoils. Panels appear on the -buttresses of Gawsworth Church.</p> - -<p>But the great glory of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century churches are -the tall and massive square towers. These are built in stages separated -from one another by a narrow projecting course of stones or by bands of -quatrefoils. The name of the builder often appears on the tower. Round -the tower of Mobberley Church runs<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121">121</a></span> -a Latin inscription bearing the -names of John Talbot and Margaret his wife, the patrons of the church, -and Richard Plat the master-mason. On the towers of Macclesfield and -Gawsworth Churches are carved rows of shields bearing the arms of -different lords of the manor. Like the body of the church, the tower is -generally crowned with an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the four -corners.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image37.jpg" width="400" height="529" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Perpendicular Tower, Handley. Fifteenth Century</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122">122</a></span> -In the carved foliage of one of the capitals in the nave of Chester -Cathedral are the letters S. R. They are the initials of Abbot Simon -Ripley, one of the greatest of fifteenth-century builders in Cheshire. -He rebuilt the upper parts of the nave and south transept of the Abbey -Church, and planned the central tower, which was finished by the next -abbot. Simon Ripley also built the old tower and gateway at Saighton -Grange, which had been the residence of the Abbots of S. Werburgh ever -since the time of Hugh Lupus.</p> - -<p>Many of the village churches of Cheshire were built on the sites of -former churches, and often a portion of the older building remains to -prove this. The Norman font at Grappenhall and the little Norman window -at Woodchurch are all that is left to prove that churches existed here -before the present buildings were erected. In such churches you can -often trace the successive buildings and rebuildings, alterations and -additions that have been made from time to time. A single church may -indeed show the chief features of all the styles from the time of the -Conqueror to the Civil War. At Prestbury you may see a Norman doorway in -the little chapel in the churchyard; in the chancel of the church is a -window of pure Early English, and in the nave a pillar of the same -period. There are Decorated windows in the aisles, and a Perpendicular -window at the east end.</p> - -<p>The Cheshire churches are beautiful still; they must have been even more -beautiful in the sixteenth century, before the Puritans of the -Reformation and the Civil War in their mistaken zeal destroyed almost -everything of beauty within and without that could be destroyed. On the -walls of the interior were often painted pictures of Bible stories such -as the Creation, the Crucifixion, or the Resurrection of our Lord. When -the plaster was stripped from the walls of Gawsworth Church some of -these wall-paintings were discovered. Drawings were made from them, -which you may see in the Free Library of Macclesfield. On the wall of -the nave of Mobberley Church some of these paintings still remain, but -their meaning is not very clear.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123">123</a></span> -The chancel was divided from the nave by a screen of carved oak, with a -long narrow gallery above it called a rood-loft, from the rood or cross -which was placed in the centre of the gallery. The crosses have gone, -but at Mobberley you may see the ancient screen, with an inscription, -and the date 1500 carved upon it.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image38.jpg" width="400" height="544" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Shocklach: Cross and Norman Door</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Throughout the Middle Ages it was the custom for the lord of the manor -to reserve some portion of the church -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124">124</a></span> for his own use, or to add to the -building a chantry or chapel where his own chantry priest might pray -daily for the salvation of his soul. These chapels are generally at the -eastern ends of the aisles. You will know them by the handsome monuments -which were raised over the graves of the founders, for these chapels -were used as the burial-place of the founders and their families. The -Calveleys had a private chapel at Bunbury, the Mainwarings at Over -Peover, the Dones at Tarporley, the Troutbecks in S. Mary's, Chester, -and the Cholmondeleys at Malpas.</p> - -<p>The church porches are on the south side of the church. They are -generally large, for portions of the baptismal service were read there, -and the font is therefore close to the door within the church. In the -corner of the porch at Woodchurch you will see a little stone basin or -'stoup' in which holy water was placed for the use of those entering the -church. At Malpas there is a little room above the porch called a -'parvise'; this was used as a priest's room. Over the door of the porch -are niches for the images of the saints to whom the church is dedicated.</p> - -<p>In the churchyard near the south porch, which was nearly always the -principal entrance to the church, you will generally see a cross or -stump of a cross and steps representing a Calvary. From these steps the -friars used to preach to the people when they travelled through the -Cheshire towns and villages.</p> - -<p>In many of the old churches of Cheshire you will see a stout oak chest, -often black with age, and strongly bound with bands and clasps of iron. -These chests were made to hold the deeds of gift of land and money made -by rich patrons. Beneath the tower of Wilmslow Church is an ancient -chest that was carved out of a solid block of wood. Some of you have -perhaps tried to raise the heavy lid of the chest at Little Peover, but -it is as much as a strong man may do. An old legend says that the maid -who can lift it is indeed worthy to become a Cheshire farmer's wife. In -the museum at Warrington is preserved the old parish chest of -Grappenhall. It is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125">125</a></span> -oldest chest in the county. It is of the rudest -description, consisting merely of a tree trunk, seven feet long, chopped -smooth with an axe, sawn into two portions and hollowed.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image39.jpg" width="400" height="529" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Porch with Parvise: Malpas</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In these chests were also placed the churchwardens' accounts of -expenses, as well as the registers of births, deaths, and marriages -which Henry the Eighth in 1538 commanded to be kept in every parish. -These ancient records are valuable now, and preserved with great care -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126">126</a></span> -for from them we can glean much information about the lives of our -forefathers. Many of them have been copied and published by scholars, -and may be read by you in your libraries. Many Cheshire parish registers -date from the times of the Tudors, but a large number were lost or -destroyed during the Civil Wars.</p> - -<p>Churchwardens' accounts help us to picture in our minds the interior of -a mediaeval church. We read of payments made 'for timber bought to make -the pulpit', 'for mending of the Bible book and for the covering of the -same', for strewing rushes on the floor of the church to keep it warm, -and 'for a chain to the Bible'. There are chained Bibles still at -Bunbury, Backford, and Burton. A printed Bible cost a lot of money, and -chains were necessary to prevent it being stolen.</p> - -<p>There were no comfortable cushioned seats for those who worshipped in -mediaeval churches. Wooden or stone benches were ranged along the walls, -and 'kneeling places' were made for those who could afford to pay for -them. In Acton Church the old stone bench running all round the walls of -the nave and chancel still remains.</p> - -<p>In the choir there were stone seats, called 'sedilia', for the priests. -They are set in the wall on the south side of the chancel, and are -generally covered, as at Stockport and Mobberley, with a canopy of Early -English or Decorated tracery.</p> - -<p>In the churches which were closely connected with an abbey or monastery, -wooden stalls were made for the monks. These are often beautifully -carved, and covered with handsome canopies of wooden tracery and -pinnacles. The choir stalls of Nantwich are said to have been brought -from the Abbey of Vale Royal.</p> - -<p>The carved oak stalls in Chester Cathedral are thought by many people to -be the handsomest in England. Many of them still remain as they were in -King Henry the Eighth's days, freed now from the coat of white paint -with which stupid workmen covered them at a later time. The heavy seats -are fitted with hinges, so that they may be raised. On the under side -are quaint carvings of birds and dragons and unicorns, kings, knights -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128">128</a></span> -and seraphs, illustrating ancient legends such as Richard Cœur de -Lion pulling the heart out of a lion, or Scriptural subjects and stories -from the lives of the saints.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image40.jpg" width="400" height="588" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>All Cheshire boys and girls should learn to read and understand the -stories of the Cheshire churches, for in them is bound up the story of -Cheshire men and women of many ages.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XX<br /> -<small>THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING</small></h2> - -<p>On one of the walls of the Parish Church of Macclesfield is a small -brass plate, a few inches square. It is called a 'Pardon brass', and -represents the Pope bowing before Christ, while Roger Legh and his six -sons are in the act of prayer. Beneath the figures is the inscription: -'The pardon for saying of five paternosters, five aves and a creed, is -twenty-six thousand years and twenty-six days of pardon.' We are not -told how much money Roger Legh paid the Pope for obtaining pardon for -his misdeeds, but it was a good round sum, I imagine.</p> - -<p>During the Middle Ages the doctrine grew up that sins committed by one -man might be atoned for by the prayers or penance performed by others, -together with a sum of money, which varied according to the crime. The -price of pardon for robbery was twelve shillings, for murder only seven -shillings and sixpence, and for perjury nine shillings. By the sixteenth -century people began to have an uneasy feeling that the sale of -'indulgences', as these pardons were called, was wrong, and preachers -rose up everywhere to denounce the system.</p> - -<p>This was only one of many evils which was bringing the Church into ill -repute. Reformers, like Martin Luther, showed that the Church believed -many things which did not agree with the teaching of the Bible. -Moreover, churchmen filled all the principal offices of state, and used -their position as a means of amassing great wealth, a portion of which -passed into the hands of the Pope, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129">129</a></span> -was the recognized head of the -Church and whom the clergy were bound to obey. As the clergy would not -reform the Church themselves, the king and his lay ministers decided to -do it for them by Act of Parliament. King Henry the Eighth declared -himself head of the English Church, which, from this time, became -separated from the Church of Rome.</p> - -<p>The king then turned his attention to the monasteries, which had grown -wealthy at the expense of the people. The monks themselves had grown -lazy and careless of their duties, and many of them were living evil -lives. The king decided to turn out the monks and do away with the -monasteries altogether.</p> - -<p>In the year 1536 the king's officers appeared in Cheshire. The first to -suffer was the Abbot of Norton Priory, who resisted stoutly and summoned -all his tenants to his assistance. The king's men were compelled to take -refuge in a tower, but managed to send a message to Sir Piers Dutton, -Sheriff of Chester, by whose aid the abbot was captured and conveyed to -Halton Castle. The priory was sold, and the revenues, plate, and jewels -confiscated to the king.</p> - -<p>Vale Royal fared no better. In this case, at any rate, the monks -deserved their fate. They had long been the terror of the neighbourhood, -and were the friends of the robbers and cut-throats of Delamere Forest. -Abbot and monks were expelled from the abbey, which was handed over to -Sir Thomas Holcroft. The Holcroft crest was a raven, and superstitious -people saw in the fall of Vale Royal the fulfilment of a prophecy of a -Cheshire 'wise man' named Nixon, who said that the abbey would one day -be destroyed and become a raven's nest.</p> - -<p>The Cistercian Abbeys of Combermere and Darnhall, and the Priories at -Mobberley and Birkenhead, were treated in similar fashion, and their -wealth and estates divided between the neighbouring gentry and the king.</p> - -<p>The Abbot of S. Werburgh was the most powerful man in Cheshire, but he -could not save his abbey from the greedy hands of the king's officials. -The wealth of this abbey was reckoned at more than a thousand pounds, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130">130</a></span> a -large sum in those days, equal to a sum at least ten times as great at -the present time. The abbots lived in their fortified manor-houses at -Saighton and Ince, where they kept great state, and supported large -numbers of retainers and dependants. They held a court at Chester, and -frequent quarrels arose between them and the Mayor of Chester as to the -extent of their powers and jurisdiction.</p> - -<p>The people of Chester were probably not sorry to see the abbot stripped -of his power. He did not, like the Abbot of Norton, show violence to the -royal officers, but fell in quietly with their wishes. For this he -received his reward, and returned to Chester within two years, no longer -as abbot, but as dean of a new cathedral.</p> - -<p>Many of the bishoprics of England covered such a vast extent of country -that Henry decided to spend a portion of the wealth which he had taken -from the monasteries, in creating six new bishoprics. Chester was one of -them, and the Abbey of S. Werburgh became the cathedral church of the -new bishopric, a portion of the new buildings being set apart as a -palace for the newly made Bishops of Chester. The first bishop was John -Bird, a Carmelite friar.</p> - -<p>Henry did not go as far in his reformation of the English Church as many -people wished. There were many who 'protested' against practices in the -Roman Church which they thought wrong, such as the worship of images or -of the relics of saints, to which the people were encouraged by the -clergy to pray for help. The Protestants, as the extreme reformers were -called, increased in number daily, and in the reign of Edward the Sixth -got the upper hand. They did away with the old Latin services of the -Church, which the greater part of the poorer classes did not understand, -and wrote a Book of Common Prayer in the English tongue. By an Act of -Uniformity, all the clergy were called upon to use this Prayer Book in -their churches.</p> - -<p>During Edward's reign, the rich jewelled vestments of the priests, the -church plate and crucifixes, and even the church bells, were swept away -and sold for the benefit of the king. Many of our village crosses were -wantonly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132">132</a></span> -destroyed during this period. The beautiful Sandbach crosses were thrown -down and broken in fragments. Most of the pieces were recovered at a -later day, and the crosses set up again, but they will for ever remain a -proof of the careless destruction of works of art by which the period of -the Reformation was marked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image41.jpg" width="667" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="smcap">Chester Cathedral</span> (before Restoration)</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>When Queen Mary came to the throne she restored the old religion of -Rome. A memorial obelisk on Gallows Hill, Boughton, reminds us of the -dark days when Protestants were persecuted with blind and bitter hatred -by their Catholic enemies, and even suffered death for their beliefs. On -Gallows Hill, George Marsh was burnt at the stake for teaching the -doctrines of the reformed faith. He was tried in the Lady Chapel of the -cathedral, and condemned to death. The citizens of Chester, who had -shown themselves sympathetic to the reformers, were filled with horror, -and, led by one of the sheriffs, tried to rescue him, but failed in the -attempt. The bones of the martyr were collected and laid in the -burial-ground of S. Giles. The sheriff was forced to flee to the -continent until better times. He returned in the more tolerant days of -Queen Elizabeth, and became mayor of the city.</p> - -<p>A settlement was brought about in Queen Elizabeth's reign, which -satisfied all but the extreme men on either side. She was the more -inclined to the Protestant cause inasmuch as she hated the Catholic King -Philip of Spain, who called her 'the heretic queen', and whose spies -were to be found all over England. When the struggle with Spain was near -at hand, Protestants and Catholics forgot their quarrels in face of a -common danger, and the queen had no more loyal subjects than the great -Catholic families of Cheshire. Rowland Stanley, of Hooton-in-Wirral, -gave a large sum of money for improving the defence of the sea-coast, -for it was thought that Philip might land troops in Wirral.</p> - -<p>The Reformation was only part of a great awakening of peoples all over -Western and Central Europe. Scholars studied and brought from Italy -copies of the books of the ancient Greek and Roman writers. The -invention of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133">133</a></span> -printing helped the spread of learning, and the Tudor -monarchs encouraged the building of schools and colleges in order that -all classes might have the benefit of a better education. Over the porch -of the King's School, Chester, is a statue of King Henry the Eighth. He -was the founder of the school, which for a long time was carried on in -the ancient refectory of the abbey.</p> - -<p>Some of the wealth taken from the abbeys and monasteries was devoted to -the foundation of schools. The Grammar School at Macclesfield was -endowed in the reign of Edward the Sixth. At Bunbury, Thomas Aldersey, a -haberdasher of London, founded a school, the chantry and college of Sir -Hugh Calveley having been dissolved at the same time as the abbeys.</p> - -<p>Sir John Deane, son of Laurence Deane, of Davenham, gave some property -which had been in the possession of monks for the building of a free -Grammar School at Northwich, 'forasmuch as God's glory, His honour and -the public weal is advanced and maintained by no means more than by -virtuous education and bringing up of youth under such as be learned and -virtuous school-masters.'</p> - -<p>'God's glory' was indeed not the least of the things that Cheshire boys -of the sixteenth century were taught to observe. In the statutes of the -founder of Witton Grammar School it is laid down 'that the scholars -shall thrice a day serve God within the school, rendering Him thanks for -His goodness done to them, craving His special grace that they may -profit in learning to His honour and glory'.</p> - -<p>In the reign of Henry the Eighth the voice of the people of Cheshire was -heard for the first time in the Parliament of the English people at -Westminster. Hitherto, the miniature Parliament of the Norman and royal -Earls of Chester had been considered sufficient for them. Henry now -summoned two knights of the county and two burgesses from the city of -Chester to take their place side by side with the chosen representatives -of the other English shires and boroughs in the national assembly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134">134</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXI<br /> -<small>ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. I</small></h2> - -<p>The chief event with which all boys, I imagine, connect the name of -Queen Elizabeth is the defeat of the Great Armada sent against these -shores by the King of Spain. Doubtless on that summer night in the year -1588 there were watchers by the beacon on Alderley Edge who saw the -'Wrekin's crest of fire' flashing its message northwards. There was no -telegraph in those days, and yet in an hour or two at most the news of -the approach of an enemy was carried by beacon fires from the Channel to -the Cheviots. Cheshire indeed produced no Drake or Hawkins; but Sir -George Beeston, whose tomb you may see in Bunbury Church, commanded the -ship Dreadnought, one of the four ships that broke through the Spanish -line and took an active part in the pursuit and destruction of the -Spanish vessels.</p> - -<p>A few years later Sir Uryan Legh of Adlington Hall accompanied Lord -Howard and Raleigh and the Earl of Essex on an expedition to Cadiz, when -they destroyed the ships in the harbour and for a second time 'singed -the King of Spain's beard'. The town itself was taken by storm, and for -his bravery on this occasion Sir Uryan Legh was knighted. The Leghs were -always to the fore when there was any fighting to be done. A canopied -arch in Prestbury Church marks his last resting-place, but the tomb -itself has long since disappeared.</p> - -<p>One result of the expeditions of Drake and Raleigh was that Englishmen -were inspired with a passion for travel, whether abroad or at home, -partly for the sake of adventure and the pursuit of wealth, partly out -of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. The voyages of the great -navigators, 'itineraries' or diaries of travel, and histories of our own -country and its people were written at this period. These books show -clearly in their pages how intensely proud the Englishmen of Elizabeth's -day<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135">135</a></span> -were of their country and their queen and her brave seamen, who by -their victories over Spain raised England to the first position among -the nations of the world.</p> - -<p>Michael Drayton wrote a long poem called 'Polyolbion', in which four -hundred lines are taken up with a description of Cheshire, which he -calls the</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">thrice happy Shire, confined so to be</div> - <div class="line">twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He speaks of Chester as</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">th' imaginary work of some huge Giant's hand:</div> - <div class="line">which if such ever were, Tradition tells not who.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The book was illustrated by a number of curious maps, adorned with -quaint figures of men and women representing the rivers, hills, forests, -and castled towns.</p> - -<p>John Speed was born at Farndon on the Dee, and wrote a book called the -<cite>Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain</cite>, which contained the earliest -set of maps published in England.</p> - -<p>Cophurst, an old house near Sutton Downes in the Forest of Macclesfield, -is thought to have been the birthplace of the chronicler Raphael -Holinshed, who wrote a History of England and dedicated it to William -Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great minister of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare -used this book for the plots of some of his plays.</p> - -<p>The triumphs of Francis Drake were celebrated in a long Latin poem by -Thomas Newton of Butley, who placed the small brass tablet on the wall -near the pulpit in Prestbury Church to the memory of his parents. Newton -was for some time the head master of Macclesfield Grammar School. -Another Elizabethan poet was Geoffrey Whitney, who was born at Nantwich.</p> - -<p>An inscription on an old house at Nantwich, bearing the date 1584, shows -that Elizabeth returned the affections of her people and did all she -could for them. The verse reads thus:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">God grant our royal Queen</div> - <div class="line"> In England long to reign;</div> - <div class="line">For she hath put her helping hand</div> - <div class="line i1"> To build this town again.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136">136</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <a href="images/image42l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image42.jpg" width="502" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - </a> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="smcap">Map of Cheshire.</span> From Drayton's 'Polyolbion'</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137">137</a></span></p> - -<p>Nantwich had been almost totally destroyed by fire in the previous year. -The risk of fire was always very great, owing to the fact that nearly -all the houses of the Middle Ages were built of timber and thatched with -straw.</p> - -<p>The black and white timbered halls are the glory of Cheshire. Let us pay -a visit to-day to Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton, perhaps the most -beautiful of them all. The people who live here are proud of their home, -and on certain days of the week allow you to examine at your leisure -many of the rooms in the old house, which remains in almost the same -condition as when the Moretons removed to a new and more spacious house -of brick hard by.</p> - -<p>The framework of the house is all of wood, good solid English oak, and -black with age. The spaces between the beams and props are filled with -plaster and painted white. The principal beams which support the -building are of course upright, firmly laid on a foundation of stone. -Within the squares of this framework other beams are set in sloping -parallel lines, forming patterns of chevron or diamond, or arranged in -rows of quatrefoils and arcades of trefoil-headed arches. The upper -stories and the gables of the roof project beyond the ground floor of -the building, which is thus kept dry.</p> - -<p>We cross the moat by a substantial stone bridge, and enter through a -gateway whose massive oaken lintel and side-posts are covered with rich -carving, and find ourselves in a square paved courtyard. Within the -gateway is a stone horse-block.</p> - -<p>Facing us are two deep bay-windows formed of five sides of an octagon. -Over them you may read the carved inscription: 'God is al in al things. -This window whire made by William Moreton in the yeare of oure Lorde -<small>MDLIX</small>.' The building of the home was regarded by our Elizabethan -forefathers as an almost sacred work, to be carried out with hardly less -reverence than the building of a church.</p> - -<p>A second gateway forms the entrance to the dining-hall on the one hand -and the kitchen on the other. The walls -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139">139</a></span> -of the dining-room are lined with wainscoting of panelled oak; the open -timbered roof is held up by a strong central beam; the windows are -filled with countless tiny panes of glass, with bright patches of red -and orange and blue where the coat-of-arms and crest of the Moretons are -painted upon them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image43.jpg" width="542" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Little Moreton Hall</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In the kitchen are marks of the growing comfort and luxuries of -Elizabethan days—the rows of pewter plates bearing the Moreton arms, -and a great spice-chest where the fragrant spices of the East, brought -home by travellers, were stored, as well as the sweet herbs, the sage -and rosemary, lavender and thyme, from the herb-garden of the Hall. In -the open fireplace, ten feet wide, an ox might well be roasted; the -smoke from the log-fire was carried upwards from the roof by a -chimney-stack of brick.</p> - -<p>Over the 'screen' or passage that divides the dining-hall and the -kitchen is a musicians' gallery, where the players of the viol and the -harp made music while the squire and his lady supped in the early -evening.</p> - -<p>To the left of the gatehouse through which we first entered is the -chapel, where the chaplain read the daily prayers to the assembled -family. A narrow spiral staircase fixed upon a central newel post leads -to a long gallery at the very top of the house, running the whole length -of one side of the courtyard. This was the ballroom, where Elizabeth -herself may perhaps have danced, as tradition says she did, for we know -that she was fond of visiting her people in their own homes.</p> - -<p>Few sixteenth-century houses were without a secret chamber. Little -Moreton Hall contains two such rooms, cunningly concealed in a corner of -the house. They are entered by sliding panels from an apartment over the -kitchen, and the fugitive could escape his pursuers by an underground -passage leading underneath the moat to the open field beyond.</p> - -<p>At opposite corners of the moat are two green circular mounds, on which -probably once stood two watch-towers to guard the house against attack. -A large number of the old halls of Cheshire were at one time moated for -their protection, though in many cases the moats have -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141">141</a></span> -been filled up, now that they are no longer necessary. Peel Hall in -Etchells, Irby, Swinyard Hall, Twemlow, Marthall, and Allostock Hall -still retain portions of their original moats.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image44.jpg" width="528" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">The Gallery, Little Moreton Hall</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Handforth Hall was built, as the inscription over the entrance door -tells us, 'in the year of our Lord God <small>MCCCCCLXII</small> by Uryan Brereton -Knight.' The Tudor builders were not ashamed to put their names to their -work. Within the Hall is a wide oak staircase with a wonderfully carved -balustrade, one of the most beautiful pieces of Tudor woodwork in -Cheshire. Sir Uryan's daughter married Thomas Legh of Adlington, who -built the timber portions of Adlington Hall in 1581.</p> - -<p>As you have already seen in a previous chapter, some of the timber -houses of Cheshire belong to a period much earlier than the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. Just as they reached their highest pitch of beauty and -richness under the Tudors a new style of domestic architecture was -coming in. Bricks, which had been very seldom used since the days of the -Romans, were again employed. The bricks were much larger than those used -by the Romans; in fact they were precisely similar to those of the -present day. They were not, however, laid as they are now, but in the -style called 'English bond', in which one 'course' or row shows all the -long faces and the next one all the short ends.</p> - -<p>These brick mansions were larger and more spacious than the old wooden -ones, and built for comfort rather than defence. They were set in the -midst of broad parks, and surrounded by terraced lawns and gardens -enclosed by walls of clipped yew-trees. Sometimes ornamental fish-ponds, -such as you may see at Gawsworth, were laid out in front of the house; -avenues of limes and Spanish chestnuts imported from abroad were planted -along the roadway leading to the principal entrance. Their general -shape, out of compliment to Queen Elizabeth, was that of the letter E. -Brereton Hall is a good example of this 'Tudor' style. It was built in -1586, the first stone being laid, so it is said, by the queen herself.</p> - -<p>In the eastern parts of Cheshire, where stone is abundant, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142">142</a></span> -houses similar in design were built of this material instead of brick. -Arden Hall, near Stockport, is now in ruins, but enough remains to show -the chief characteristics of an Elizabethan mansion; the turret with -circular stone staircase, the wings with gabled ends, and the bay -windows carried up to the roof. Other Elizabethan houses are -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143">143</a></span> Marple -Hall, Poole Hall, Carden Hall in the Broxton Hills, Dorfold Hall, and -Burton Hall in Wirral.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image45.jpg" width="400" height="532" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Tudor Monuments in Gawsworth Church</p> - <p>The central figure is that of Mary Fitton</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In Gawsworth Church are a number of monuments of members of the Fitton -family, who lived at the Old Hall at Gawsworth. Mary Fitton was one of -Elizabeth's maids-of-honour, and used to take part in plays for the -amusement of the queen; and it is not at all unlikely that she was a -friend of Shakespeare. It is indeed supposed that she is the 'dark lady' -of whom the poet speaks in his sonnets. From an examination of these -Fitton monuments you can learn what the costume at the end of the -sixteenth century was like. Lady Alice Fitton is surrounded by the -kneeling figures of her two sons and two daughters, the former in plate -armour, the latter wearing the familiar head-dress and ruff which are -such distinctive features in the dress of Tudor ladies. The figures are -carved in alabaster, and have clearly at one time been painted in bright -colours. The picture of Mary Fitton will help you to recognize the Tudor -monuments which are to be seen in many Cheshire churches.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXII<br /> -<small>ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. II</small></h2> - -<p>Many attempts were made by the Tudor sovereigns to conquer the Irish. -From time to time expeditions were sent across the sea, and the troops -embarked at various points on the Cheshire coast. The fighting Leghs of -Adlington raised a troop of Cheshire soldiers, and Thomas and Ralph Legh -fell in battle against the Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill. A Cheshire -knight, Sir Edward Fitton, of Gawsworth, was made Governor of Connaught.</p> - -<p>In the later years of Elizabeth's reign a constant stream of ill-clad -and ill-paid soldiers marched through Cheshire on their way to the wars. -The soldiers had to be supplied with food and quarters by the towns and -villages through<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144">144</a></span> -which they passed, and the cost of billeting the men -in the houses on their arrival at Chester fell very hard on the city -merchants, who were soon brought to great distress. The soldiers were -generally put on board ship at Parkgate, for the channel of the Dee had -become so choked up with sand that only the smallest vessels could reach -Chester.</p> - -<p>The leader of one of the expeditions was the Earl of Essex, who was a -frequent visitor at Lyme Park, where he hunted the stag with his host, -Sir Piers Legh.</p> - -<p>The wars with Spain ruined the oversea trade of Chester, consisting at -this time largely in the export of tanned leather to the French ports of -Rochelle and Bordeaux. In the year 1598, Thomas Fletcher, the Mayor of -Chester, wrote to Lord Burghley that he 'had found the poor city to be -generally very weak and much decayed, especially in the chiefest parts -thereof (the merchants) who have been heretofore the most able to do her -Majesty service'. For eight months there had not been 'one ship nor -small bark laden into any foreign place'. The queen had, some years -previously, given the merchants license to export 10,000 'dickers' (that -is, bundles of ten) of tanned calf-skins within a certain time, but -owing to the wars they were unable to get them away within the given -period, and the merchants asked for the time to be extended.</p> - -<p>An old gabled house in Watergate Street, with its pious superscription -'God's Providence is mine inheritance', reminds us of a more dreadful -scourge than war which visited Chester, and indeed the whole of -Cheshire, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This was the -terrible plague, which attacked rich and poor alike, and stopped the -trade of the city so much that, as one writer says, 'grass did grow a -foot high at the Cross'. Houses that were infected with the disease were -marked with a cross, that none might go near; no merchandise was allowed -to enter the city until it had been unpacked and aired outside the -walls. Death came suddenly, or within a few hours at most; and often 'to -those that merrily dined it gave a sorrowful supper'. God's Providence -House received<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146">146</a></span> -its name from the fact that its inmates alone of all the neighbourhood -escaped the disease.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145">]</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image46.jpg" width="400" height="537" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="smcap">Stanley Palace, Chester</span> (showing influence of Renaissance)</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The Courts could not be held in the plague-stricken city; the Exchequer -Court was removed to Tarvin, and the Assizes were held at Nantwich. The -annual fairs were abandoned to prevent the spread of the disease. -Numbers of victims were carried out from the city and hastily buried in -the 'Barrow Field'. Other Cheshire towns suffered severely. On the -hills, near Macclesfield, are many gravestones of the victims of the -plague; two gravestones near the Bowstones on Disley Moor tell the same -tale.</p> - -<p>Some of the English nobles had residences in Chester. The city gates -were confided to noble families for safe keeping. The East Gate was -guarded by the ancestors of Lord Crewe. The 'Bear and Billet' Inn in -Bridge Street belonged to the Earls of Shrewsbury, who were Sergeants of -the Bridge Gate. The Earls of Derby had charge of the Watergate. The -North Gate, however, the most important entrance to the city, was -entrusted to the mayor and the citizens.</p> - -<p>A narrow court in Watergate Street leads to the Stanley Palace of the -Earls of Derby; the gardens extended down to the river-side. The -architecture is very similar to that of the old timber halls described -in the last chapter, but the row of round-headed panels tells us that -people were beginning to imitate in their timber decorations the -round-headed arches of the Italian style.</p> - -<p>As early as the reign of Henry the Seventh, English architects were -beginning to study the remains of ancient buildings in Rome, and Italian -architects were brought over to England. Henry the Eighth invited a -builder named John of Padua, who designed the north side of Lyme Hall. -The Italians despised the Pointed styles of English architecture, -calling it contemptuously 'Gothic', from the name of the barbarian -Goths, who overran the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries.</p> - -<p>Many of the Cheshire gentry left their homes in the towns to live in new -houses in the country. The old hall of the Sandbach family is now the -principal inn of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147">147</a></span> -town of Sandbach; the ancient home of the Ardernes -in Great Underbank, Stockport, is now a bank; and the house built at -Nantwich by 'Richarde and Marjery Churche' has been turned into a -ladies' school. The Mainwarings lived in a fine house in Watergate -Street, Chester, until a number of little shops were allowed to block up -the front of their home. The Wilbrahams moved from Nantwich to the -spacious Elizabethan hall at Dorfold.</p> - -<p>When the monasteries were destroyed, a large number of people were -thrown out of work, especially in the country districts. The distress -was so great in Queen Elizabeth's reign that Parliament passed a 'poor -law', by which the inhabitants of every parish were compelled to pay -taxes for the support of their own poor.</p> - -<p>This did not, however, prevent rich and charitable men from devoting a -portion of their wealth to the building of hospitals and almshouses, -where the aged poor could live in comfort. In Commonhall Street, -Chester, are the old almshouses founded by Sir Thomas Smith in 1532, and -there are almshouses at Acton, Little Budworth, Macclesfield, Nantwich, -Tarporley, Sandbach, and Stockport, though some of these were built in -later reigns. Nantwich was particularly favoured by benefactors, and -possesses four separate sets of almshouses.</p> - -<p>Sometimes sums of money were left to be spent on providing bread for -those who were unable to work. In the churches at Little Peover, -Mottram, and Woodchurch, you will see some wooden shelves fixed on the -wall near the porch. On these were placed the loaves which were -distributed after the Sunday services. At Bebington and Woodchurch sums -of money were given by a family of the name of Goodacre for the purchase -of bullocks to draw the ploughs of the poor peasants of Wirral.</p> - -<p>Certain days of the year were set apart as public holidays. Every parish -had its 'wakes' or festival of the dedication of the parish church. -These were held on the feast-day of the saint after whom the church was -named. Another festival was that of the 'rush-bearing'. In a former -chapter you have read of the rushes that were spread on the floors of -churches. They were gathered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148">148</a></span> -from the fringe of a stream or mere, and -tied into bundles and placed on the rush-cart, which was gaily decked -with ribbons and flowers. A procession was then formed of the villagers, -who accompanied the cart to the church, where a special service was -held. There are still rush-bearing services at Farndon, Aldford, and -Forest Chapel, but in many villages the merry-making too often ended in -disorder and drunkenness, and the custom has been allowed to die out.</p> - -<p>An Elizabethan writer tells us that the people of Nantwich visited the -brine pits on Ascension Day and decked them with flowers and garlands. -Then they offered hymns and prayers of thanksgiving for the blessing of -the brine, on which the prosperity of their town depended.</p> - -<p>May-day was the favourite holiday of the people. The maypole was set up -on the village green, where the Queen of the May was crowned, and -morris-dancers danced to the fiddle and horn-pipe, as they do to this -day at Lymm, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel, and many other Cheshire villages. -Sometimes there were wrestling matches, and combat with sword and -quarterstaff. At Gawsworth are the remains of a tilting-ground where -such encounters took place. The long terraced banks of earth on which -the spectators sat may still be seen.</p> - -<p>The good people of Chester were particularly fond of shows and pageants, -and processions. On Midsummer Day the mayor and aldermen of the city -marched with banners through the streets to S. Oswald's Church. With -them went 'four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, an ass and a dragon, -and six hobby horses'. The giants were made of pasteboard and repainted -every year, and 'dosed with arsenic to keep the rats from eating them'.</p> - -<p>Some of their amusements were, however, of a more degrading kind. The -High Cross of Chester, from which the friars and Wyclif's 'poor priests' -had preached in former days, now became the scene of brutal pastimes. -For at this spot bulls were baited in the bull-ring when a mayor -finished his year of office, the mayor himself paying the expenses.</p> - -<p>The Bear's Head and White Bear Inn at Congleton -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149">149</a></span> remind us that the -natives of Congleton were so fond of bear-baiting, that a local proverb -says that they 'sold their Church Bible to buy a new bear'. Few towns or -villages were without a cock-pit, for cock-fighting was a favourite -amusement of all classes. Happily, these degrading sports are now -forbidden by law, and we do not regret their disappearance.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image47.jpg" width="500" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Little mercy was shown to those who were guilty of brawling or breaches -of the peace. Often by the lichgate of a Cheshire churchyard, or near -the village cross, you will see the remains of the wooden stocks in -which drunkards were placed and exposed to the jeers and gibes of the -passers-by. In the museums at Chester, Stockport, and Macclesfield, you -will see a still more barbarous form of punishment. The scolding or -brawling woman was compelled to have her head encased in a 'brank' or -skeleton helmet of iron, with a spiked iron piece pressing -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150">150</a></span> on the -tongue. A chain was attached to the woman's waist, and she was led -through the town.</p> - -<p>Another instrument of punishment is to be seen in the Museum at West -Park, Macclesfield. It is a girdle or cage, consisting of a number of -iron hoops fastened together by chains which were placed round the body -of a woman, who was then tied to a plank called a 'ducking-stool', and -dipped in a pond. There was also an iron strait-jacket at Macclesfield -for drunkards and lunatics.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> -<small>THE RULE OF THE STUARTS</small></h2> - -<p>In the 'Stag Parlour' of Lyme Hall is a framed piece of needlework done -by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, when she stayed at Lyme. When she was -deposed by her Scottish subjects she threw herself on the mercy of Queen -Elizabeth, who permitted her to live in England. But plots were made -against the life of Elizabeth, and Mary was suspected of having a hand -in them, and in the end Mary had to pay the penalty of death.</p> - -<p>Mary was a Catholic, but her son James, who succeeded to the English -throne on the death of Elizabeth, had been brought up among the Scottish -reformers. The extreme English reformers, or Puritans as they were now -called, hoped therefore that the king would be friendly to their wishes. -The Puritans were disappointed, but James agreed to one of their -demands, and said that he would have a new translation of the Bible -made. The Authorized Version of the Bible which is read in all Cheshire -churches and chapels to-day is the one noble work due to the first -Stuart king.</p> - -<p>The Puritans were so named because they wished to 'purify' the Church of -certain forms and ceremonies, such as the use of the surplice, and the -sign of the cross at baptism, and even the ring in the marriage service. -They also objected to the rule of bishops, and wished the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151">151</a></span> Church to be -governed by councils of elders or 'presbyters' after the manner of the -Presbyterian Church of Scotland.</p> - -<p>During the reign of Elizabeth many Puritan clergymen had refused to -perform the services of the Church in the way ordered by the Prayer -Book. They were driven out of the Church, and formed separate -congregations of their own. Hence they received the name of -Independents, and they were the earliest of the Nonconformist -dissenters.</p> - -<p>Many Independents suffered so severely at the hands of King James and -his archbishop, that they determined to leave the country and settle in -new homes across the sea. They gave the name of New England to their -colony in America, and thus became the founders of our American -possessions. Among the exiles was Samuel Eaton, a Wirral clergyman. He -returned in the reign of Charles the First, and became a minister in the -chapel attached to Dukinfield Hall, which thus became one of the -earliest places of worship for the Independents in Cheshire. The ancient -chapel now forms a portion of the modern Nonconformist church of -Dukinfield.</p> - -<p>The Catholics were not more pleased with James than the Puritans were. -They were compelled to attend the new services of the Protestant Church. -Those who refused to do so were called 'recusants'. The Bishop of Chester -was ordered by James to hunt out all the Popish recusants in Cheshire -and bring them to trial. The secret hiding-places built in the walls of -many Cheshire halls must often have sheltered these fugitive priests, -for many great families in Cheshire, such as the Stanleys of Hooton and -the Masseys of Puddington, were strongly Catholic.</p> - -<p>Chester was Protestant, and a Puritan Mayor of Chester stopped the -Midsummer show, and broke up the pasteboard giants, and abolished the -bull-ring; for the Puritans disliked shows and processions and sports of -all kinds, and even such harmless pastimes as the May-day dances.</p> - -<p>The Midsummer revels were, however, revived, and held with great pomp -when King James paid a visit to Chester<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152">152</a></span> -in 1617. His arms are carved in -a panel under one of the front windows of Bishop Lloyd's house. One of -the Fitton family was mayor on this occasion, and the king's sword was -borne by a Stanley. James rode to the minster, where he heard one of the -scholars of the King's School read a Latin address of welcome. 'After -the said oration he went into the choir, and there, in a seat made for -the king at the higher end of the choir, he heard an anthem sung. And -after certain prayers the king went from thence to the Pentice, where a -sumptuous banquet was prepared at the city's cost: which being ended, -the king departed to the Vale Royal: and at his departure the order of -knighthood was offered to the mayor, but he refused the same.' The sale -of knighthoods and baronetcies was one of King James's ways of raising -money, and the Mayor of Chester was not the only one who declined the -honour.</p> - -<p>A zealous Puritan named William Prynne wrote against the performance of -stage plays, dancing, and other amusements. Some things that he said -were thought to refer to the Queen of Charles the First, and he was -tried by the Star Chamber and ordered to pay a fine of £5,000 and to -have his ears slit. There was a branch of the Court of Star Chamber at -Chester, but it was abolished in Charles the First's reign. In one of -the rooms of Leasowe Castle are some oak panels brought from the Star -Chamber at Westminster.</p> - -<p>William Prynne passed through Chester on his way to his prison in -Carnarvon Castle. The Puritans turned out to welcome and cheer him in -the streets, but their leaders were punished by fines and imprisonment -for so doing.</p> - -<p>Neither James nor Charles got on well with their Parliaments. The Tudor -monarchs had for the most part understood the people, and the people in -their turn allowed them to have their own way. But the Stuarts began to -claim powers which the people would not permit. When Parliament refused -to grant money they asked for, the Stuart kings tried to raise money by -means which the people thought illegal. Charles borrowed large sums of -money without the consent of Parliament. Sir Randolph Crewe, of Crewe -Hall, was one of the judges who thought -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153">153</a></span> that this was wrong, and he was -dismissed from his office by the king.</p> - -<p>Charles also tried to impose a tax called Ship Money, a tax which had in -former times been levied on the counties on the seaboard for the support -of the navy. Now the king proposed that inland counties also should -contribute for this purpose. Sir William Brereton, a Cheshire knight, -objected strongly to the hateful tax, and was very angry with the people -of Chester for rating some land of his near Chester, called the Nunnery -Fields, for the payment of the money.</p> - -<p>It is not surprising that trouble should arise between Parliament and a -king who refused to obey the wishes of the people over whom he ruled. -The Stuarts believed in the theory known as the Divine right of kings, -that is, that kings are made by God alone, and that from Him alone they -receive their power. But from the time of the great awakening the people -had begun to think for themselves, and the result of this was that they -were now determined that the king should carry out the will of the -nation through the mouth of its Parliament.</p> - -<p>Moreover, Charles was suspected of being a Catholic; at any rate he had -married a Catholic wife, and Parliament was not in a mood to permit a -return to the unhappy state of affairs of Queen Mary's reign.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> -<small>CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. I</small><br /> -<small><span class="smcap">The Battles of Middlewich and Nantwich</span></small></h2> - -<p>Charles proclaimed war on Parliament in the year 1642, and both sides -prepared at once for the struggle. Roughly speaking, London and the -south-eastern counties were on the side of Parliament, for they were the -chief centres of trade in the seventeenth century, and felt most keenly -the evils of bad government. The great modern -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155">155</a></span> -industrial towns of the northern counties of England were in most cases -as yet mere villages.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p>THE CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE</p> - </div> - <a href="images/image48l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image48.jpg" width="400" height="425" alt="" /> - </a> -</div> - -<p>The king's supporters were drawn chiefly from the north and west. They -were called Royalists or Cavaliers, while the Parliamentarians were -nicknamed Roundheads because they wore their hair cut short, after the -manner of the Puritans, and disdained the flowing curls which were -fashionable at the time. But although the country was thus roughly -divided into two opposing factions, supporters both of king and of -parliament were to be found in nearly every town and village. Indeed it -sometimes happened that members of a single family found themselves on -different sides in the war. The Breretons of Brereton Hall were stout -royalists, but their cousins of Handforth were, as you will see, the -most determined opponents of the king.</p> - -<p>The towns of Cheshire, with the exception of Chester, were largely on -the side of Parliament, while most, but not all, of the great landowners -and their numerous retainers fought for the king. The county was -represented in the Long Parliament by Sir William Brereton, the son of -William Brereton of Handforth Hall.</p> - -<p>Brereton was an ardent Puritan, and at the first signs of approaching -war he put himself at the head of the Parliamentary party in Cheshire, -calling upon all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty -to join him at Tarporley, and soon after was appointed by Parliament -itself as commander of the Cheshire forces. His career was very nearly -cut short at the very beginning of the struggle, for he brought about a -riot in Chester by causing the drum to be beaten publicly in the streets -for Parliament. He was brought to the Pentice but released, and with -difficulty saved from the fury of the citizens, who in later days -complained bitterly that the mayor had preserved the life of one who was -to be the author of so much disaster to themselves.</p> - -<p>In Tarporley Church you may see a helmet and breastplate that were dug -up in the neighbourhood. They were probably worn by some soldier who -fought in one of the earliest battles of the civil war in Cheshire. The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156">156</a></span> -first fighting took place in the southern parts of the county. In -February, 1642, Brereton was attacked at Tarporley by the king's troops -who had marched out from Chester. Entrenchments were thrown up near the -church, but the severest fighting was at the neighbouring hamlet of -Tiverton, where both sides lost heavily. The Royalist troops retired to -Chester and the Parliamentarians to Nantwich, which Brereton made his -head-quarters. From these two places the two parties 'contended which -should most prevail upon the affections of the county to declare for -them and join them'.</p> - -<p>Brereton's task was the capture of the important city of Chester, in -order to prevent assistance reaching the king from Ireland. To this end -he placed troops on the principal roads leading to the city. The roads -from the south were watched by the Nantwich forces, who captured and -occupied Beeston Castle. On the north Warrington Bridge was seized to -prevent help coming from Lancashire or from Scotland, which remained -loyal to Charles. Norton Priory and the Norman castle of Halton, already -in ruins, were fortified and held by the Roundheads. A strong force was -posted at Northwich which commanded the main road through the forest of -Delamere, thus completing a chain of garrisons along the valley of the -Weaver from Nantwich to the Mersey. On the Welsh side the border castles -of Holt on the Dee and Hawarden in the county of Flint were attacked and -occupied by the Parliamentarians, who thus prevented the arrival of -reinforcements from the west.</p> - -<p>In 1643 Brereton won his first great victory by defeating Sir Thomas -Aston, the Royalist leader, at Middlewich, capturing two cannon, four -barrels of powder, four hundred soldiers, and arms for five hundred men. -Sir Thomas Aston marched out from Chester with a strong force of -Royalists one Sunday morning in March. Brereton was at Northwich at the -time, and word was sent to him that the king's forces were at Middlewich -and taking up a strong position there. The Roundheads hurried -southwards, but had not sufficient ammunition to take the town. A fresh -supply was sent for, and on Monday afternoon Sir Thomas -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157">157</a></span> Aston found -himself between two fires, for troops from Nantwich also arrived on the -scene.</p> - -<p>The Royalists were driven into the narrow streets of the town, where the -cavalry were penned like sheep and quite useless. The foot-soldiers fled -into the church, where they laid down their arms or were slain. The -church steeples, like the keeps of the Norman castles, were usually the -last places of refuge for the defenders of a town, and many of them -suffered great damage in consequence during the war. Aston escaped with -a remnant of his cavalry, leaving the infantry to their fate. He laid -the blame for his defeat upon his Welsh allies, who were sent to line -the hedges of the roads by which the Roundheads advanced, but who threw -away their arms and fled at the first approach of the enemy.</p> - -<p>Brereton's victory at Middlewich was complete, but some months -afterwards Sir Thomas Aston had his revenge and turned the tables on his -enemy. He was reinforced by troops from Ireland, by whose aid he was -able to drive the Parliamentarian general out of Middlewich.</p> - -<p>The Royalists now appeared to be getting the upper hand, and they -actually laid siege to Nantwich, which was defended by Sir George Booth -during the temporary absence of Brereton. The besiegers were commanded -by Sir Nicholas Byron, the governor of Chester, and an ancestor of the -poet Byron. Brereton returned with Sir Thomas Fairfax, one of the -greatest of Cromwell's lieutenants, and compelled the Royalists to raise -the siege. Thus the fortunes of war inclined now to one side, now to the -other, and the towns continually changed hands. The strong Parliamentary -garrison at Northwich was attacked by Aston, at first without success, -but later in the year Brereton was badly defeated here by his determined -enemy, and the town held by the Royalist troops.</p> - -<p>The event which had most effect on the war in Cheshire was Brereton's -victory in August, 1644, at Tarvin on the road from Chester to -Northwich. Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, nephews of the king, were -attempting to reach Chester with a relieving column. Brereton -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158">158</a></span> attacked -and routed them and posted himself astride the main road. Tarvin Church -still shows traces of the fighting here, for a bullet is buried deep in -a brass plate in the chancel. After this success Brereton advanced his -head-quarters to Christleton, only two miles from the gates of Chester.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXV<br /> -<small>CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. II</small><br /> -<small><span class="smcap">A Memorable Siege</span></small></h2> - -<p>In 1645 word was brought to Chester that the king himself was coming, -and the drooping spirits of the Royalists revived. Charles entered the -city with about three hundred followers who had escaped from the battle -of Naseby, where the main Royalist army had been cut to pieces by -Cromwell's Ironsides. During his short visit to Chester the king was the -guest of Sir Francis Gamull at his home, still called Gamull House, in -Bridge Street.</p> - -<p>Many of you have read the inscription on the Phoenix Tower on the walls -of Chester—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line i5">'King Charles</div> - <div class="line i4">stood on this tower</div> - <div class="line">September 27th, 1645, and saw</div> - <div class="line i4"> His Army defeated</div> - <div class="line i4">on Rowton Moor.'</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Rowton Moor is no longer moorland. A village now stands on the -battlefield where the last hopes of the loyal inhabitants of Chester -were destroyed. The defeated army consisted of the remnants of the -Royalist cavalry under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was trying to cut his -way through the enemy to reinforce the garrison of Chester. The -Royalists were almost successful, and a sortie was made by the troops -within the city to join hands with Langdale, but the Puritan General -Poyntz, following closely on the heels of the Royalist horse, threw -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159">159</a></span> -them into hopeless confusion and drove them helter-skelter in all -directions. During the battle Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, whose tomb is in -the Shakerley Chapel at Little Peover, carried dispatches to the king, -ferrying himself across the river Dee in a tub. Some matchlocks and -firelocks used in this battle have been found on the Heath, and are now -in the Chester Museum.</p> - -<p>This defeat was almost the final blow received by the king in his -struggle with Parliament. On the following day Charles fled into Wales -by an undefended road, asking only that the city might hold out for -eight days longer to enable him to make good his escape. In a tiny -window in Farndon Church are some pieces of ancient painted glass, with -portraits of several of the Cheshire esquires who attended Charles -during his stay in Chester.</p> - -<p>The cordon was now drawn tighter round the doomed city, and a regular -blockade followed to starve the citizens into surrender. When the -Cromwellian troops who had been battering Lathom House in Lancashire -arrived and took up a position on the north side of the walls, the city -was completely surrounded. Dodleston Hall, to the south-west of the -city, was occupied by Brereton to prevent any further escapes into -Wales. The Roundheads made a floating bridge across the river Dee, which -was, however, destroyed by fireships which were turned adrift and were -carried up the river by a strong spring tide. Scaling-ladders were fixed -on the walls, but the Royalists dragged them up into the city in the -night-time.</p> - -<p>The inhabitants were determined not to give in without a struggle. Even -women took a share in the work of defence, carrying baskets of earth to -fill up the breaches made by a night attack upon the city walls. The -city was well protected by the river Dee on its western and southern -sides; a semicircle of mud earthworks was made round the north and east -of the city. Many large houses in the neighbourhood were burnt by the -Royalists to prevent their being used by the enemy. The suburb of -Boughton, with its hall, was entirely destroyed, fighting taking place -almost daily in this quarter. The Royalists also made breaches in the -Dee Bridge.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160">160</a></span> -When the outworks were carried by the Parliamentarian troops, all S. -John's parish lay at their mercy. The Roundheads turned the church into -a fortress, and planted a battery of guns on the tower, from which they -battered the city walls. In a glass case at the west end of the church -you may see a cannon ball that was fired from the walls and long -afterwards found embedded in the church tower.</p> - -<p>The walls were also fiercely bombarded from Brewers Hall on the opposite -side of the Dee, though a battery of guns placed on the summit of -Morgan's Mount kept the besiegers at bay on the north. The Water Tower -at the north-west corner of the city bears the marks of some well-aimed -shots from the guns of Cromwell's men.</p> - -<p>Within the city the hardships were very severe. Fires were frequent, -especially in the night-time. Cold and bleak December days increased the -suffering, and, worst of all, food was getting scarce, and the pinch of -hunger began to be felt. At length the inhabitants were reduced to -eating the flesh of horses and dogs, and still Sir Nicholas Byron held -out, waiting daily for the help that never came. Famine did its work at -last, and after a siege of eighteen weeks the city surrendered to -Brereton on February 3, 1646.</p> - -<p>One of the conditions of surrender was that the victorious troops should -not do any damage to the city. The fragment of the High Cross, now in -the Grosvenor Museum, shows that in this respect the soldiers of -Cromwell did not keep their word. Sir Francis Gamull, the mayor, -bargained with the Roundheads that the tombs of his family should not be -harmed, and this explains the fact that the Gamull monuments in S. -Mary's-on-the-Hill are almost the only relics of the kind in Chester -that escaped destruction.</p> - -<p>The events of the war were published every week in the Mercurius Aulicus -or 'Court Mercury,' a forerunner of the modern newspaper. In the Free -Library at Birkenhead are preserved some sheets of this paper, on one of -which is related the story of the capture and recapture of Beeston -Castle. After its occupation by the Parliamentary troops -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161">161</a></span> a daring -assault was made upon the castle by Captain Sandford and a party of -eight Royalists, who scaled the steep rock on which the castle is built -and called upon the defenders to surrender. Captain Steel, the Puritan -commander, was tried for cowardice in yielding to so small a force, and -condemned to be shot. After the battle of Rowton Moor the castle endured -a seven weeks' siege, and surrendered in November, 1645. Shortly -afterwards Parliament ordered the castle to be dismantled, and it has -been in ruins ever since. Several of the officers who were killed at -Beeston are buried at Tarporley.</p> - -<p>Many of the Cheshire halls, which were held mainly by Royalists, -suffered severely for their loyalty to the king. Crewe Hall was taken by -the Roundheads, retaken by Byron, and finally garrisoned by the soldiers -of Brereton. Huxley Hall was occupied by Colonel Croxton during the -siege of Chester. Puddington Hall, in Wirral, the ancient home of the -Masseys, whose owner, Sir William Massey, remained in Chester till its -fall, was destroyed by fire.</p> - -<p>Adlington Hall, the home of the loyal Leghs, endured a fortnight's -siege, at the end of which time its gallant garrison of one hundred and -fifty men was compelled to surrender and permitted to depart. The marks -of cannon shot used in the bombardment may still be seen upon the -massive oak doors of the courtyard. Wythenshaw Hall was held by -Royalists, but Colonel Dukinfield, a friend and neighbour of Sir William -Brereton, compelled a surrender after a short siege. Cannon balls have -been found in the grounds of the hall.</p> - -<p>Vale Royal, the private residence of the Cholmondeleys since Henry the -Eighth turned out its abbot and monks, was plundered and partly burnt by -the soldiers of General Lambert's army. Sir Peter Leycester, of Tabley -Hall, fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians and was sent to -prison. During his captivity he first planned his famous book of the -History and Antiquities of Cheshire.</p> - -<p>The lot of the unhappy Cheshire squire was indeed pitiable. Royalists -and Roundheads were equally unwelcome guests, treating their host with -scant ceremony, ransacking his house and helping themselves freely to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162">162</a></span> -everything that might be of any service to them. Let Peter Davenport, -the squire of Bramhall, tell in his own words the story of his woes: 'On -New Year's Day, 1643, came Captain Sankey (a Parliamentary officer) with -two or three troopers to Bramhall, and went into my stable and took out -my horses, above twenty in all, and afterwards searched my house for -arms again and took my fowling-piece, stocking-piece, and drum, with -divers other things. Next day, after they were gone, came Prince -Rupert's army, by whom I lost better than a hundred pounds in linen and -other goods, besides the rifling and pulling to pieces of my house. By -whom I lost eight horses, and they ate me threescore bushels of oats.' -Poor Peter was not yet at the end of his troubles, for when the war was -over he had to pay five hundred pounds in order to buy back his own -property, for the estates of the Royalists were confiscated by -Parliament and sold back to their owners for large sums of money.</p> - -<p>The empty niches over the porches of many Cheshire churches tell their -own tale of the damage done by the Cromwellian troops. Sculptured images -were everywhere broken in fragments, lead was stripped from the fonts -and roofs to be turned into bullets. The pipes were taken from the organ -of Budworth Church, and the stained glass windows of Tarvin destroyed by -the Puritan fanatic, John Bruen. The sacred buildings themselves were -used throughout the war as barracks, fortresses, stables, or prisons.</p> - -<p>The destruction of property and of works of art that can never be -replaced was indeed largely the work of the Roundheads; but it was the -Royalists who perpetrated the blackest deed in this long tale of civil -strife. In the winter of 1643 Lord Byron's troopers were plundering the -villages of South Cheshire, burning farms and homesteads, and driving -the country people before them. One of his officers, Major Connought, -entered the village of Barthomley, and many of the panic-stricken -inhabitants took refuge in the tower of the church. Connought and his -brutal followers broke up the pews, gathered together the mats and -rushes strewn upon the floor, and made -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163">163</a></span> a bonfire at the entrance to the -tower. Forced from their place of refuge by fire and smoke, the -unfortunate villagers were stabbed and hacked to death as they came out -one by one. This was their Christmastide, the season of peace and good -fellowship and brotherly love, and men, blind with the lust of blood, -were cutting the throats of their brothers as if they were sheep in the -shambles. Happily, such scenes as this were rare, even in those dark -years.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> -<small>CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. III</small><br /> -<small><span class="smcap">The Protectorate and the Restoration</span></small></h2> - -<p>The story is told that a schoolboy, wandering among the tombstones in -the churchyard of Macclesfield, scratched these strange lines on one of -the grave-slabs:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">My brother Harry must heir the land;</div> - <div class="line">My brother Frank must be at his command;</div> - <div class="line">While I, poor Jack, shall do that</div> - <div class="line">Which all the world will wonder at.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>'Poor Jack' was John Bradshaw, whose name is the first on the list of -those who signed the warrant for the execution of the king. On January -1, 1649, Parliament decided that Charles should be tried before a High -Court of Justice, and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, Bradshaw, -the president of the Court, pronounced the death sentence in Westminster -Hall.</p> - -<p>John Bradshaw, the 'regicide', was born at Wibbersley Hall, near Disley. -In the register of the Parish Church of Stockport is the record of his -baptism: 'December, 1602, John, the son of Henry Bradshaw, of Marple, -baptised the tenth. Traitor.' The word 'Traitor' has been added by -another hand, no doubt that of some ardent Royalist.</p> - -<p>He was educated at Bunbury School by Edward -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164">164</a></span> Burghall, a notable -Cheshire Puritan, who was afterwards made vicar of Acton, and wrote a -Diary (or copied someone else's Diary) of the Civil War in Cheshire. -Bradshaw also probably spent a short time at the Grammar School at -Macclesfield. He became Mayor of Congleton and Chief Justice of -Cheshire.</p> - -<p>The name of Major-General Thomas Harrison, a native of Nantwich, also -appears on the list of those who signed the death-warrant of the king.</p> - -<p>Memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most -devoted of his followers. In the Stag Parlour at Lyme Hall are some -chairs, said to be covered with portions of the cloak that Charles wore -at the time of his death. Here also are a pair of embroidered gloves -that belonged to the king, and a dagger with his name 'Carolus' engraved -upon it.</p> - -<p>The war was continued by his son, Charles the Second. James Stanley, -Earl of Derby, was made commander of the Royalist forces in Cheshire. In -the year 1651 Knutsford Heath was a scene of bustling activity. Here -were encamped the forces of General Lambert, one of Cromwell's most -trusted lieutenants, consisting of 9,000 horse and 4,000 foot. He was -waiting for the Royalist army, which was marching southwards from -Scotland under the command of Charles himself and General Leslie. -Lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at Warrington to prevent the -passage of the king's army, but arrived too late. Skirmishes took place -at Budworth and High Legh, and Lambert was compelled to retreat to -Knutsford, while the Royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field -of Worcester.</p> - -<p>A few days later, the people of Sandbach were setting up the stalls and -spreading their wares in the market-place for the September Fair. A cry -was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town. They were all -that was left of Leslie's Scottish Cavaliers. Weary of war, their horses -jaded and lame, they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their -homes again in safety. But the townspeople, remembering perhaps the -massacre of Barthomley, were not minded to let them off easily. The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165">165</a></span> -foremost troopers, who alone were armed, were allowed to pass through -the town. Then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and -cudgelled them. Many were wounded and captured, and placed in the town -prison, where perhaps they were not sorry to rest. Others escaped into -the open fields. 'Scotch Commons', as the scene of the encounter is -still called, reminds us of this last event of the Civil War in -Cheshire. The struggle was ended. Charles was an exile, and Cromwell -ruled over the land.</p> - -<p>One of Cromwell's Acts decreed that all who had any communication with -Charles the Second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the -State. The Earl of Derby, who escaped from the rout at Worcester, but -was captured at Nantwich, was tried under this Act and condemned to -death. He escaped from his prison in the castle at Chester, and lay -concealed for a time, it is said, in a secret chamber in the Stanley -Palace near the Water Gate. The 'Martyr Earl' was, however, recaptured -on the banks of the Dee, and beheaded at Bolton.</p> - -<p>Brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the Parliamentary cause with -the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest. Soon afterwards, however, -he left the county of his birth and lived in London until his death in -1661. His body was brought to Cheadle for burial in the Handforth -Chapel. There is, however, no note of his burial in the parish -registers, and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in -which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a -river over which it was being carried.</p> - -<p>The Puritans determined to put an end to the government of the Church by -bishops, and abolished the Book of Common Prayer from the Church -services, putting in its place a new form of public worship. About -thirty of the clergy in Cheshire who refused to perform the new services -of the Church were turned out of their livings. Children were no longer -to be baptized in fonts but from a basin. Hour-glasses were set up in -the pulpits, from which long political sermons were preached to the -people.</p> - -<p>The Puritan mayor of Chester would not permit -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166">166</a></span> Christmas and other -time-honoured festivals of the Church to be kept, and music, dancing, -and games were rigidly put down.</p> - -<p>In 1659 an attempt was made by a number of Cheshire gentry to restore -Charles to the throne. Oliver Cromwell was now dead, and had been -succeeded by his son Richard. But the real power was in the hands of the -soldiers, and many people soon became disgusted with military rule. The -leader of the revolt in Cheshire was Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey. -He had fought on the side of Parliament in the early years of the war, -and was one of the Presbyterian members of Parliament who were turned -out of the House by 'Pride's Purge,' just before the execution of the -king.</p> - -<p>Sir George Booth collected a Royalist force on Rowton Moor, and prepared -to attack Chester. He captured the city and the walls, but failed to -take the castle, whose governor was Colonel Croxton, of Ravenscroft Hall -near Middlewich. Colonel Lambert, however, was summoned with two -regiments from Ireland, and he compelled Booth to retire towards -Northwich. The Royalist force was overtaken at Hartford, and in the -battle which took place near Winnington Bridge on the river Weaver, was -completely routed.</p> - -<p>But the return of the exiled king was not long delayed. Among the -Royalists captured at Nantwich in 1644 was George Monk. After his -release he entered the service of Parliament, and won the esteem of -Cromwell. General Monk now succeeded in persuading Parliament to recall -Charles. Nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in Cheshire. -Church bells rang merrily, maypoles were set up again upon the village -greens, and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops. The long quarrel that had -separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end, and -many a Cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers. -The king had come into his own again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167">167</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> -<small>THE FALL OF THE STUARTS</small></h2> - -<p>When Charles was restored to the throne the bishops also came back to -their bishoprics. The records of the churches of Chester tell of the -payments made to the ringers for the ringing of the bells when the -citizens joyously welcomed Bishop Walton to the city. A large number of -citizens and mounted soldiers went as far as Nantwich to meet him and -escorted him to the city gates of Chester, where the mayor and -corporation as well as the clergy and gentry of Cheshire received him. -Once more a Christmas was kept in the old time way, and the churches -were decked with holly and evergreens for one of the greatest festivals -of the Church. And truly the bare walls, stripped of everything that was -beautiful, needed some adornment after the ravages and desecrations of -the Civil War.</p> - -<p>But Charles was a foolish king, and spent most of his days in idle and -frivolous pleasures. The people were disappointed with him, for he had -plenty of brains. One of his favourite hobbies was the study of science. -John Wilkins, another Bishop of Chester, was one of a little band of -clever men who helped the king to found the Royal Society for the spread -of knowledge and the study of science. To be a Fellow of the Royal -Society is to this day one of the highest honours that men of science -can obtain.</p> - -<p>The favourite study of John Wilkins was astronomy, and he wrote a book -called the <cite>Discovery of a New World, to prove that there may be another -habitable world in the moon</cite>. Another book of his was called <cite>Mercury; -or the secret and swift Messenger, shewing how a man may privately and -with speed tell his thoughts to friends at any distance</cite>. Thus, had he -lived in a later age, he might perhaps have been the inventor of the -telegraph and telephone.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168">168</a></span> -Charles secretly favoured the old Catholic religion, and on his -death-bed was received into the Catholic Church. During his reign -another Act of Uniformity was passed, much more severe than the former -one. Sixty ministers of Cheshire churches, who refused to obey the Act, -were turned out of their livings. Among them was Adam Martindale, a -noted Puritan, who was driven from his church at Rostherne. Adam -Martindale wrote the story of his life, with all his trials and -misfortunes, in a book which you may read in many of your public -libraries.</p> - -<p>The Nonconformists were prevented by another Act from holding prayer -meetings within five miles of the town or village where they had held a -living. The gaol at Chester was soon filled with those who were ready to -suffer for the crime of preaching the Gospel in their homes and to their -friends. Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, who had been made Governor of Chester -Castle for his services in the Civil War, sought them out and persecuted -them with great cruelty.</p> - -<p>Still there were many who continued to worship in their own way. For a -long time they held their services secretly in private houses, but, in -1690, the Toleration Act allowed them to build chapels. These they -erected chiefly on the outskirts of towns or in remote villages. During -the later years of the seventeenth century these chapels increased -greatly in number. The Unitarian chapel at Knutsford and the tiny brick -chapel at Dean Row, between the Bollin and the Dean, are among the -earliest of such places of worship in Cheshire.</p> - -<p>Matthew Henry, a learned commentator of the New Testament, whose father -had been turned out of his church at Worthenbury, preached in the chapel -in Trinity Street, Chester. You may still see the seventeenth-century -pulpit from which he addressed his congregation. During the Civil War -the pulpit had become the most important feature of the churches. The -Puritans were in the habit of preaching long political sermons which -they timed with an hour-glass fixed on the wall near the pulpit. At -Shotwick is a pulpit of the kind called a 'three-decker', with a square -box-pew beneath it for the parish clerk.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169">169</a></span> -As soon as people were permitted to choose their own form of worship -several other religious bodies came into being, each with its own -peculiar teaching and belief, often differing but slightly from each -other, all bent on practising their religion precisely in their own -particular way. Many earnest soldiers in the Parliamentary army of Sir -George Booth, when encamped in the neighbourhood of Knutsford and -Alderley, had held their services in the barn of a farmhouse at Warford. -Their children in after days built the tiny Baptist chapel which still -remains in the village.</p> - -<p>The Quakers were very numerous in the neighbourhood of Stockport and -Wilmslow, and George Fox the founder of their sect, or 'Society of -Friends' as it was called, used often to visit them. Some cottages on -Lindow Moss were once a Quaker chapel, and there is a Quaker -burial-ground in a clump of trees near Mobberley. Many of the -gravestones have seventeenth-century dates upon them. Often the Quakers -were refused burial in the churchyards, and most out-of-the-way places -were chosen for their last resting-place. There are some Quakers' graves -in the woods at Burton in Wirral.</p> - -<p>James the Second, who succeeded his brother Charles, did not try to hide -the fact that he was a Papist. Many people would have preferred the Duke -of Monmouth, a bastard son of Charles the Second, as king. He was known -to be a Protestant, and the people of Cheshire, who were strongly -Protestant, would have welcomed him as they had already welcomed him -once in Charles the Second's reign.</p> - -<p>Three years before James became king, the duke had visited Cheshire and -raised the cry of 'No Popery!' He stayed at Mainwaring House in Bridge -Street, Chester, and supped at the Plume of Feathers Inn. On the -following day the little daughter of the mayor was christened, and the -duke stood godfather, naming her Henrietta.</p> - -<p>The duke then made a triumphal progress through the villages of Wirral. -He stayed at Peel Hall, Bromborough, in order to attend the races at -Wallasey, where he won<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170">170</a></span> -a prize, which he sent to his little goddaughter -at Chester. Several of the Wirral gentry met in a summer-house at -Bidston, and talked of a rising in his favour. But the country people -did not show so much readiness as had been expected, and all the duke's -doings were secretly reported to the king by Sir Peter Shakerley, the -governor of Chester Castle. Monmouth also stayed at Rock Savage and -Dunham Massey, and witnessed the sports at Gawsworth. Shortly -afterwards, however, he was captured by the king's men at Stafford, and -the plot came to nothing. He was lucky not to lose his head. Charles was -kinder to him than James was when the duke raised the West of England in -1685.</p> - -<p>James was thoroughly hated by the bulk of the people, who grew tired of -the mischievous rule of the Stuarts, and made up their minds to depose -him. They were also determined that never again should a Catholic king -reign over them. James fled to France, and Thomas Cartwright, the Bishop -of Chester, who had made the citizens angry by bringing in again the old -Catholic services of the Church, followed him into exile.</p> - -<p>In the gardens of Gayton Hall are two ancient trees which have been -called William and Mary. William of Orange was the new king who was -invited by the English to succeed James. All who held office in Church -or State were required to take the oath of allegiance to him. Some -refused to do this. They were called non-jurors, and among them were -several of the clergy of Cheshire who had to give up their churches. -James made an effort to regain his lost kingdom, and sailed from France -to Ireland, where he hoped to win many adherents. William assembled his -forces in Wirral, staying at Gayton Hall, the home of William Clegg, -whom he knighted after his visit.</p> - -<p>The 'King's Gap', near Hoylake, reminds us of King William's presence in -Cheshire. On the Lowlands, between Hoylake and Meols, his army lay -encamped, and in the river Dee Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the brave sailor -who rose from 'powder-monkey' to admiral, was waiting with the fleet to -take the troops across to Ireland. Cloudesley -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171">171</a></span> Shovel is said to have -received part of his education at the Grammar School of Stockport.</p> - -<p>On the chancel wall of West Kirby Church is a tablet bearing the name of -Baron Johannes Van Zoelen, who died here in 1690. The foreign-looking -name is that of an officer of the Dutch troops of the Duke of Schomberg, -for William employed Dutch and German soldiers to put down James's -rising in Ireland. The soldiers embarked at Hoylake, and a few weeks -later the farmers of Wirral, who had had to feed the army, and who, no -doubt, were glad to see it depart, heard of William's great victory at -the battle of the Boyne. James took refuge again in France.</p> - -<p>Many Cheshire men took part in William's Irish campaign. A regiment was -raised in Cheshire by Sir George Booth, the old Parliamentary leader who -had, after the Civil War, become one of Charles the Second's most -devoted followers and received the title of Lord Delamere for his -services. The regiment was also accompanied by a troop of horse from -Wilmslow and the neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>William was never popular with his subjects. They disliked him because -he was not English. He was cold and silent, and his manners ungracious; -he spoke English with difficulty, and often he seemed anxious to get -back to his own country. But he was devoted to duty and a great soldier, -and he did much for England in checking the power of the French king who -favoured the exiled Stuart.</p> - -<p>William died childless, and was succeeded by Anne, the last Stuart who -sat on the English throne. She had Cheshire blood in her veins, for she -was the daughter of James the Second's wife, Anne Hyde, whose -grandfather, the Earl of Clarendon, was a Hyde of Hyde Hall.</p> - -<p>Queen Anne's children all died young. Before she came to the throne -Parliament had passed an Act of Settlement, by which the crown was -settled on a Protestant, Princess Sophia, granddaughter of James the -First, and her heirs. When Queen Anne died, George, the eldest son of -Sophia, became king.</p> - -<p>The fallen Stuarts made more than one attempt to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172">172</a></span> recover the British -crown. In 1715, when George the First was king, a number of Cheshire -gentlemen, among whom were the Leghs of Legh and Lymm, the Grosvenors of -Eaton, Warrens and Asshetons, and Cholmondeleys met in the hall of the -Asshetons at Ashley to decide whether they should give any help to James -Edward, the 'Old Pretender', James's eldest son, who was raising a -revolt in Scotland. They decided by a majority of one only to remain -loyal to the Protestant King George.</p> - -<p>Thirty years later the inhabitants of East Cheshire saw an army of -rugged Highlanders in bonnets and kilts pass southwards from Stockport -Prince Charles Edward, the 'Young Pretender', had raised his flag in the -Highlands of Scotland and gathered together an army of 'Jacobites', as -the followers of the Stuarts were called. At Manchester the Scots had -been joined by about 200 Lancashire Catholics. But the villagers who -cheered the rebels on the Macclesfield high-road saw them returning -within a week, for they had hardly crossed the hills at Bosley and -descended into the valleys of Derbyshire when the Duke of Cumberland, -commanding an army in the Midlands, scattered them and drove them -pell-mell northwards again.</p> - -<p>In Lyme Hall are some Jacobite wine-glasses, with the White Rose of the -Stuarts stamped on one side, and on the other the Latin word 'fiat', -which expressed the thought that was in the minds of those who used -them: 'May the king come to his own again!' When men were forbidden to -drink the health of the Pretender in public, these 'fiat' glasses were -made by the Jacobites and the toast drunk in silence.</p> - -<p>'Bonnie Prince Charlie' stayed at the house of Sir Peter Davenport in -Macclesfield, and his officers at a house in Jordangate which is now the -George Hotel. Stuart 'Pretenders' were never seen in Cheshire again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173">173</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> -<small>THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. I</small></h2> - -<p>During the latter part of the seventeenth century the people of Cheshire -began to repair the damage done to the churches, mansions, and public -buildings during the Civil Wars. It was hardly to be expected that the -art of the builder could flourish during that stormy period. Gothic -architecture had reached its greatest glory under the Plantagenet and -Tudor kings, and when the builders of the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries took up their work again they cast aside the aims and ideals -of the Gothic craftsmen and turned to new models and new sources for -their inspiration.</p> - -<p>The changes which were now made were one of the results of the -Renaissance or Great Awakening of the sixteenth century. The men who -visited Italy and brought back with them copies of the works of the old -Greek and Roman writers, which they printed and gave to the world, -brought also the ideas of Italian architects and plans of Italian -buildings, which had been copied from those of ancient Athens and Rome. -Englishmen of the eighteenth century took these as their models. Like -the Roman workmen, they found it easier to <em>copy</em> than to <em>invent</em>.</p> - -<p>If you turn back to Chapter VI you will find that the chief feature of -the Roman, which we will now call the Italian or Classic style, are the -rows of pillars ranged along the front and sides of a building. The Town -Hall of Macclesfield, and the group of buildings which now form the -Castle of Chester, are good examples of the style of architecture which -prevailed during the eighteenth century. The windows are sometimes -round-headed, but more often they are rectangular, with low triangles -above them.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately many ancient buildings, which we would gladly have with us -now, disappeared at this time. Some -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174">174</a></span> of them, no doubt, were in such a -ruinous state that it was impossible to repair them, but, generally -speaking, little or no pains were taken to restore them to their former -appearance. The people preferred to pull down and destroy and rebuild in -the new Classic style, which rapidly became a craze.</p> - -<p>The greatest loss was that of the mediaeval castle of Chester, which, -with the exception of 'Caesar's Tower', was pulled down in 1788. The -front entrance to the new castle is in the Doric style. Round the -courtyard are barracks and an armoury, the county gaol and the shire -hall with colonnades of Ionic pillars.</p> - -<p>Many fine Elizabethan halls were destroyed to make way for mansions in -the Classic style. Hooton Hall was built on the site of an old 'black -and white' timber house. Poynton, Tabley, Tatton, Ince, and Doddington -Halls were built about the same time. Other houses were altered or -enlarged. The beauty of Adlington Hall was spoilt by the stone front -with its Corinthian columns, which Charles and Hester Legh built. The -appearance of Lyme Hall was completely changed by an Italian architect -named Giacomo Leoni. His work is adorned with figures of the gods of -heathen Rome, Neptune and Venus and Pan. The Leghs of Lyme brought many -treasures from Italy. The stained glass in the east window of Disley -Church was brought by them.</p> - -<p>The roundheaded 'Italian' windows in the tower of Rostherne Church tell -us that they are the work of eighteenth-century builders and -'restorers'. The ugly tower cuts a sorry figure when compared with the -beautiful perpendicular towers of Mobberley, Cheadle, Budworth, Witton, -Alderley, Middlewich, and others in the neighbourhood. The tower of -Great Barrow Church, with urns in the place of pinnacles, and the porch -of Frodsham, are out of keeping with the Gothic character of the rest of -the buildings.</p> - -<p>The eighteenth-century restorers had little taste or sense of beauty. -Within the churches ugly wooden galleries were placed over the aisles, -and the walls, pillars, and pews coated with layers of paint or -whitewash. Even the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176">176</a></span> -carved woodwork of the choir stalls of Chester Cathedral was painted. -The open timber roof of Alderley Old Church was hidden by a flat ceiling -of lath and plaster. A portion of the old timber church at Warburton was -repaired with common bricks, and sometimes whole churches were rebuilt -with the same material.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image49.jpg" width="660" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Entrance to Chester Castle</p> - </div> -</div> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image50.jpg" width="508" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Rostherne. Eighteenth-Century Tower</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In place of the handsome Decorated altar tombs, with their effigies of -knights and dames, great tablets of marble brought from Italy were fixed -on the walls. On them were carved skulls and cross-bones, sometimes an -entire skeleton, with funeral urns like those in which the Romans placed -the ashes of their dead. Scrolls with long rambling inscriptions told of -the virtues of the dead. These were often written in Latin, as if the -homely English of the mother tongue was not good enough for the -purpose.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177">177</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image51.jpg" width="400" height="534" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="smcap">Chancel: Frodsham</span> (Eighteenth Century)</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The poets of the eighteenth century imitated the style of the poets of -ancient Rome. Their poems are full of the wit and satire found in Horace -and Juvenal. Man, not Nature, was nearly always the subject of their -poems. Two lines of Alexander Pope, the greatest of the -eighteenth-century poets, are carved on the tombstone of Sir John -Chesshyre in Runcorn Church:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">A wit's a feather and a chief's a rod:</div> - <div class="line">An honest man's the noblest work of God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178">178</a></span> -Sir John Chesshyre was a lawyer, and built the little library near -Halton Castle in 1733 for the books which he left for the use of -Cheshire scholars and students.</p> - -<p>Clubs were formed by the poets and wits and 'men of fashion' of the -eighteenth century. They met in the taverns and coffee-houses of the -towns, and scratched their smart sayings on the window-panes with their -diamond rings. They rather prided themselves on their eccentric habits -and their superiority over other men, who had neither the time nor the -money to waste on frivolous amusements.</p> - -<p>In a little wood near Gawsworth is a lonely grave with a plain flat -stone, beneath which,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">Undisturbed, and hid from Vulgar Eyes,</div> - <div class="line">A Wit, Musician, Poet, Player, lies.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The grave is that of Samuel Johnson, a dancing master, 'afterwards -ennobled with the grander title of Lord Flame,' as the inscription tells -us, who was buried here at his own desire.</p> - -<p>Neston and Parkgate, twin towns on the southern shore of Wirral, were -visited by many fashionable people in the eighteenth century. They spent -the summer here for the bathing and the fresh breezes that blow from the -Irish Sea and the hills of Wales. It is to be feared that Parkgate was -also the resort of less respectable folk, for in some of the old houses -you may still see the huge holes in which smugglers stored their -unlawful cargoes. It was dangerous work, for the 'King's Yacht', as the -revenue cutter was called, patrolled the waters of the Dee, and the -officers had orders to shoot down all whom they caught in this illegal -traffic. It is from this boat that the 'Yacht Inn' at Chester takes its -name.</p> - -<p>Neston and Parkgate were the starting-points for the Irish mails. The -coaches from London and Liverpool put down their passengers here for -Dublin. One of the most beautiful poems in the English language, the -'Lycidas' of John Milton, was written in memory of Edward King, a friend -of the poet, who was shipwrecked on his way from Ireland to Parkgate.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179">179</a></span> -The London coaches that brought travellers to Chester and Parkgate -frequently got into difficulties in the low-lying parts near the River -Dee. The roads were very bad, and the coach often had to be hauled out -of the mud by a team of horses borrowed from some neighbouring farm.</p> - -<p>The passengers sometimes found themselves without their purses and their -jewels at the end of their journey. The roads were frequented by -highwaymen—'gentlemen of the road', they called themselves—who held up -the coach and demanded money. With pistols levelled at their heads, the -travellers were generally glad to escape with their lives.</p> - -<p>One of the most famous of these highwaymen was Dick Turpin, whose -escapades, I imagine, are known to most Cheshire boys, though I hope -they have no wish to follow the career of this rascally thief.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">Once it happened in Cheshire, near Dunham I popped</div> - <div class="line"> On a horseman alone, whom I speedily stopped;</div> - <div class="line">That I lightened his pockets you'll readily guess—</div> - <div class="line">Quick work makes Dick Turpin when mounted on Bess.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The robbery spoken of in these lines was committed on the high-road -between Altrincham and Knutsford, and Turpin rode so fast to the inn at -Hoo Green, where he showed his watch to some Cheshire squires, that he -was never suspected of the crime. This and many other stories of Turpin -are told by Harrison Ainsworth, the novelist, whose father lived at -Rostherne.</p> - -<p>Knutsford claimed a highwayman of its own, one Higgins, who lived on -Knutsford Heath as an ordinary gentleman of means, and was very friendly -with the sporting squires of the neighbourhood. His favourite amusement -was to waylay the ladies who went to the county balls and 'assemblies' -at the George Hotel, and rob them of their diamonds. But he, like most -others of his profession, was found out at last, and paid with his life -the penalty of his crimes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180">180</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> -<small>THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. II</small></h2> - - -<p>The people of Cheshire were not all thieves and robbers in the -eighteenth century. If the rich and the idle were given to folly and -extravagance, and poorer men also too often lost the little they -possessed through gambling and cock-fighting, the heart of the people -was sound, and only waiting to be stirred to newer life and better -ideals.</p> - -<p>In the latter half of the century a great preacher came to Cheshire, and -stirred deeply the hearts of men by denouncing the follies of the age, -and the lack of religious feeling which had spread over all classes of -society. His name was John Wesley, the founder of the Wesleyan and -Methodist bodies. At first he met with much opposition, and his meetings -were broken up by the mob, but in time the people were struck by his -earnestness and flocked to hear him. The chapel at Chester where he -preached was so crowded that it could not hold all who wished to listen -to him. In his Diary he tells us of his visits to Knutsford, Stockport, -and other Cheshire towns. But Wesley and his followers often found -themselves unable to preach in the churches, so they built for -themselves chapels, little square brick buildings, all over the county.</p> - -<p>Another fervent preacher of the time was Captain Scott, who left the -army to be a missionary among his own countrymen, whom he gathered round -him in the streets or the inn-yards of the villages where he stayed. The -Mill Street Chapel at Congleton is one of the many chapels founded by -him in Southern Cheshire.</p> - -<p>Many Cheshire men were fighting in the wars into which England was drawn -in the eighteenth century. In the reigns of Anne and the three Georges -war succeeded war, and the intervals of peace were few and short. France -and Spain were our enemies, each of whom looked with jealous eyes upon -the growing power of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181">181</a></span> -England, and, still more, her vast colonial -empire. From Canada in the West to India in the East battles were fought -on land and on sea to maintain for England the supremacy of the sea and -her colonies.</p> - -<p>Many churches in Cheshire tell the story of Cheshire soldiers and -sailors who distinguished themselves in these wars. In the church of -Pott Shrigley you may see a memorial tablet of Peter Downes, whose -ancestors were foresters of the forest of Macclesfield. Peter Downes -entered the navy and was killed in a fight between the <cite>Leander</cite>, an -English man-of-war, and the French ship <cite>Généreux</cite>.</p> - -<p>Peter Dennis, who was born at Chester and was a scholar at the King's -School, became an Admiral of the Fleet. He was in command of the -battleship <cite>Centurion</cite> in a battle fought off Cape Finisterre. -Afterwards he was knighted and made commander-in-chief of the -Mediterranean fleet.</p> - -<p>The battleships in which these sailors fought were very different to the -monster ironclads of the present day with which you are familiar. The -eighteenth-century vessels were the old 'wooden walls' of England, big -sailing ships called 'three deckers', with three rows of guns pointing -outwards from their sides. There is a model of one of them, the <cite>Royal -George</cite>, over the inner door of Vernon Park Museum.</p> - -<p>Robert Clive was the son of a Shropshire squire, and was educated at the -little school in the Cheshire village of Allostock. Clive went to India -and became a soldier. The English and French were fighting for the -mastery of India, and it is to Clive's victories that we owe in a great -measure our Indian Empire.</p> - -<p>In the last few years of the eighteenth century the dangers which -threatened England from France were much nearer home. In 1794 King -George the Third was obliged to ask Parliament for a large increase in -our home army. Cheshire raised a regiment of six troops, with Colonel -Leicester, of Tabley Hall, as its commander.</p> - -<p>Shortly afterwards a call for Volunteers was made in Cheshire, as in -other parts of the country, to defend the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182">182</a></span> -shores of our own land from -attack. The armies of Napoleon were conquering everywhere, and an -invasion of England was expected. Knutsford Heath presented the same -busy scene that it had done 150 years before, when Lambert's troops were -encamped upon it. For Knutsford was the appointed meeting-place of all -the Cheshire forces—Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers—and the beacon -that was kept in readiness on Alderley Edge was to give the signal.</p> - -<p>The danger was not over for many years, for the war lasted well into the -nineteenth century, ending only when Napoleon and the French were -defeated by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. Duke Street and -Wellington Street in Stockport keep alive the memory of the 'Iron Duke', -Napoleon's conqueror.</p> - -<p>A friend of the Duke of Wellington was Stapleton Cotton, Viscount -Combermere, whose statue stands in front of the gates of Chester Castle. -He was a descendant of the Cotton to whom the Abbey of Combermere was -given when Henry the Eighth plundered the Cheshire monasteries. The Duke -of Wellington frequently stayed at Combermere; on one of his visits he -planted an oak tree which you may still see in the Park. On the tomb of -Stapleton Cotton in Wrenbury Church you may read the names of the many -battles in which this gallant soldier took part.</p> - -<p>The wars of the eighteenth century and the final struggle with Napoleon -would have ruined this country but for a great increase in the wealth of -the people, which made them able to bear the cost.</p> - -<p>To understand the sources of this wealth, and the way in which it was -made, we shall have to go back again to the middle of the eighteenth -century, and tell the story of a great Industrial Revolution, a -revolution without war and bloodshed indeed, but one that brought with -it the greatest changes perhaps that Cheshire had yet seen. What these -changes were, and how they affected the lives of Cheshire men and women, -you will read in the succeeding chapters.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183">183</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXX<br /> -<small>THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. I</small></h2> - -<p>The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century laid the foundation -of modern manufacturing England. With remarkable rapidity great -industries came into being, and new methods of making all kinds of -manufactured goods. And the first cause of this revolution was the -discovery of coal, or rather the discovery of what you could do with -coal. For coal was all at once in great demand to provide the power of -steam, and in 1769 James Watt, the discoverer of the power of steam, -showed that the steam engine could be used to drive machinery hitherto -worked by hand.</p> - -<p>Coal was first found in Cheshire about the year 1750. A colliery was -opened at Denhall in Wirral, where coal is worked to this day. In East -Cheshire coal was found by an accident. A farmer near Poynton had to -fetch his water from a considerable distance, and asked his landlord, -Sir George Warren of Poynton Hall, to sink him a well on his land. While -the workmen were boring the well they came across a seam of fine coal -quite near to the surface. Many other collieries have since that time -been started in the same neighbourhood, and now coal is taken out of the -earth nearly all the way from Stockport to Macclesfield. There are pits -at Norbury, Middlewood, and Bakestonedale. The coal-field extends -northwards also, and all along the Tame valley there are pits, and -especially in the neighbourhood of Dukinfield, where some of the -workings reach a depth of over two thousand feet below the surface of -the land.</p> - -<p>The earlier Cheshire canals were made as a result of the discovery of -coal. The Duke of Bridgwater, who owned rich coal-mines at Worsley near -Manchester, made very little profit out of them on account of the -expense of carrying the coal by carriage to the shipping ports. A clever -engineer named James Brindley was the first -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184">184</a></span> to suggest to him the -making of a canal by which barges might take the coal to the river -Irwell. This was the first canal made in England, and was finished in -the year 1761.</p> - -<p>The Bridgwater Canal was afterwards extended and carried over the Irwell -by an aqueduct. It enters Cheshire at Stretford, and passing through -Altrincham and Lymm extends a distance of twenty-four miles to Runcorn, -where it descends by a series of locks to the tidal waters of the -Mersey.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image52.jpg" width="543" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">An Old Canal: Marple</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The canal turned out so successful that the manufacturers in the -Potteries of Staffordshire asked Brindley to make a canal across the -Cheshire plain to unite the rivers Trent and Mersey. This was the -beginning of the Grand Trunk Canal, which now winds through the heart of -England and connects the great industrial towns of Lancashire and -Cheshire with the metropolis.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185">185</a></span> -At Harecastle the canal is carried under the hills that separate -Cheshire from Staffordshire by a tunnel nearly three thousand yards -long. At first the boatmen pushed their barges through the tunnel by -'legging' along the roof. This was such a laborious and troublesome way -that another engineer named Telford, the great road-maker, afterwards -built a second tunnel large enough for horses to tow the barges through -it.</p> - -<p>The Ellesmere Canal connects the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, -and thus cuts off the Wirral peninsula from the rest of the county. When -this canal was being made, layers of fine sand and sea shells were -found, proving that at some not very remote period the estuaries of the -Mersey and the Dee were connected with one another.</p> - -<p>In the east of Cheshire the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canal enters -the county at Dukinfield. One portion goes southward to Macclesfield and -the other crosses the river Goyt at Marple by an aqueduct a hundred feet -above the river. The Shropshire Union Canal connects the Dee and the -Severn; and thus all the great rivers of the north midlands, the Mersey, -Dee, Severn, and Trent, are united with one another by this network of -Cheshire canals.</p> - -<p>The canals proved a blessing not only to the coal owners and -manufacturers, but were also used by the people of the country villages -in order to travel from one part to another. Passenger barges called -'fly-boats' enabled the country women to take their butter and cheese to -the market towns.</p> - -<p>James Brindley was a man of humble birth, and for several years worked -as a labourer on a farm, amusing himself in his spare moments with -making wooden models of machinery with a pocket-knife. He was so clever -that he was often called in by the mill-owners of Macclesfield and -Congleton to repair their machinery. When he was first employed by the -Duke of Bridgwater he was paid only half a crown a day. He was a very -practical man, and gained his knowledge not from books but from his own -experiments. When he was called to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186">186</a></span> -the House of Commons to explain his -scheme for carrying a canal over the Mersey, which many people laughed -at as absurd, he took with him a Cheshire cheese which he cut in halves -to represent the arches of the bridge, and made a complete model of his -proposed work which greatly amused his audience, and at the same time -proved that he was well able to overcome his difficulties.</p> - -<p>The rivers also were dredged and made suitable for navigation wherever -possible. An artificial channel was made for the waters of the Dee which -had become choked with silt and sand, and small ships could once more be -towed as far as Chester. The Weaver was made navigable from Winsford to -the Mersey, so that salt, which was taken out of the earth in ever -increasing quantities, could be taken to Runcorn in barges at a much -smaller cost than on wagons.</p> - -<p>Salt is necessary in every home for cooking and other household needs. -But still greater quantities are required for alkalis and other -chemicals, the making of which is the chief occupation of the workpeople -of Runcorn and Weston Point. Thousands of tons are also exported every -year to other countries where salt is scarce.</p> - -<p>Salt has been worked in the towns on or near the Weaver from Roman days. -The earlier way was simply to mine it as we do coal now. Some of the -mines at Northwich cover many acres, and when lit up by electric -coloured lights are very beautiful. The roof of a mine is held up by -columns of salt which are left in position for that purpose, but they -frequently give way and the buildings above them are wrecked.</p> - -<p>The coarser kinds of rock-salt are still taken out in lumps. You may -often see pieces in the Cheshire fields which farmers have put there for -cattle to lick. For salt contains health-giving properties, and -salt-mining is not injurious to health as coal-mining is. Brine baths -have been made at Nantwich for people suffering from certain diseases.</p> - -<p>In the Middle Ages, wells or brine-pits were sunk and the water carried -in leather buckets to the salt-houses. Edward King, a Cheshire -historian, who in the seventeenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188">188</a></span> -century wrote a book called <cite>Vale Royal</cite>, says that 'at Northwich there -was a salt spring on the bank of the River Dane, from which the brine -runneth on the ground in troughs of wood until it comes to the -"wich-houses", where they made salt. Some old leaden salt-pans may still -be seen at Northwich, pieces of charcoal still sticking to them on the -under side, showing that the brine had been heated over wood fires.'</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p>THE MILL TOWNS OF N.E. CHESHIRE</p> - </div> - <a href="images/image53l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image53.jpg" width="405" height="400" alt="" /> - </a> - </div> - -<p>Modern science has found better and easier ways of making salt. The -white salt which you use daily is still obtained by evaporation. The -brine is first pumped into a reservoir and taken by pipes to large -shallow salt-pans heated by furnaces beneath them. As the water -evaporates the crystals are formed and scraped from the sides and the -bottoms of the pans. You may see specimens of the different kinds of -salt in the Salt Museum at Northwich.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> -<small>THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. II</small></h2> - -<p>In the year 1785 cotton was brought into the Mersey from the United -States of America. Long before that time so-called 'cotton' stuffs had -been made in Cheshire villages. But these fabrics were not really cotton -at all, but a mixture of wool and flax. The flax was brought from -Ireland, and woollen manufacturers tried for a long time to keep it out. -In the parish records of Prestbury you may read of an Act passed in -Charles the Second's reign forbidding any one to be buried in anything -but a woollen shroud.</p> - -<p>At first there were no cotton-mills, such as you see now in the populous -towns of East Cheshire. The raw cotton was given out to poor people, who -spun it and wove it in their own cottage homes. Nearly every cottage -became a small factory, the fathers, mothers, and children all taking -part in the work. The machinery was simple and made of wood. The -spinning was done by the women<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189">189</a></span> -and children in the house, the weaving -by the men in a weaving-shed of one story built in the yard.</p> - -<p>As time went on, the machinery was improved by the inventions of clever -men, so that one loom would do as much work as several had done -previously. The workpeople did not like the new machines, for often a -number of people were thrown out of work by them, and frequently the new -spinning and weaving-frames of the inventors were wrecked by a furious -mob.</p> - -<p>The earlier and simpler machines, such as the spinning-wheel and the -hand-loom, were worked by hand. But the new discoveries made it possible -for one wheel to turn eighty or a hundred spindles at once by means of -horse-power or a water-wheel, and the hand-loom similarly gave place to -a power-loom. But in remote villages the old-fashioned methods survived, -and even to this day you may still occasionally see a hand-loom at work -in cottages in the highlands of East Cheshire.</p> - -<p>Then great factories began to be built, huge buildings of brick and of -many stories, chiefly on the banks of Cheshire streams, or on the -canals, by which the raw cotton could be brought in barges to the very -doors. You may look down from the churchyard of Mottram into the valley -beneath and count a score of them. Steam was applied, and the whole of -the machinery of the factories was driven by this new force. Great towns -sprang up like mushrooms. Hyde and Stalybridge and Dukinfield, from -being tiny villages, soon became great busy hives of the cotton -industry.</p> - -<p>The cotton had also to be bleached and the calicoes printed, and mills -for the purpose were built along the streams, whose waters provided the -steam-power which worked the machinery of the mills. From Taxal to -Stockport, along the banks of the now polluted Goyt, is an almost -continuous line of great mills, the bleach-works of Whaley Bridge, the -print-works of Furness Vale and Strines, the cotton-mills of Disley, -Marple, and Mellor. The Mellor mills were built as early as 1790 by -Samuel Oldknow, and were at one time in the hands of Peter Arkwright, -who was one of a famous family of inventors, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190">190</a></span> and who made many changes -in the machinery of his works.</p> - -<p>Thus the positions of modern manufacturing towns have not been chosen, -as were those of the towns of the Middle Ages, by their ability to beat -off the attacks of enemies. For war is no longer the principal business -of the inhabitants of Cheshire. The 'cotton' towns have come into being -just in those parts where the conditions are favourable to the cotton -industry. In the first place the climate is damp, owing to the nearness -of the Pennine hills, on which the wet winds from the south-west drop -their moisture; and cotton can only be spun and woven in such a climate, -for a dry climate would make the threads break. Secondly, there is a -plentiful water-supply from the numerous streams that flow from the -hills, and lastly, the towns are close to big coal-fields from which -they may obtain the fuel for the engines that work the machinery of the -mills.</p> - -<p>In the pretty model village of Styal, on the banks of the Bollin, is a -house which is still called by the name of 'Prentice House. Here once -lived a number of young girls and boys, orphans many of them, who worked -in the picturesque ivy-clad building, strangely unlike a mill, at Quarry -Bank. They were 'apprenticed', that is, bound to their master for seven -years. During that time they were well fed and clothed by their -employer, and certain times were set apart for learning to read and -write and sew. On Sunday mornings they walked together to the church at -Wilmslow. The girls were dressed in straw bonnets and plain grey -dresses, the boys in fustian coats and breeches of corduroy.</p> - -<p>They were kindly treated, but the hours in the mill were long. They rose -at five, and their breakfast of porridge and milk was eaten in the mill. -Half an hour was allowed for dinner, and not until half-past eight did -their long day of toil come to an end. At Christmas prizes were given to -those who had been most obedient and industrious during the year.</p> - -<p>The young people of Quarry Bank were on the whole happy in the service -of Samuel Greg their master, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192">192</a></span> -the lot of the apprentices in other mills was often very different. The -harshness and cruelty of some employers led to the passing of Acts of -Parliament which shortened the hours of labour and fixed severe -penalties for ill-treatment. A later Act forbade altogether the -employment of children under a certain age.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191">191</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image54.jpg" width="542" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Styal Mill</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>In the middle of the eighteenth century the silk industry took root in -Cheshire. We first hear of it in Stockport, where a mill was started for -the winding and throwing<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> of silk. -John Clayton, of Stockport, built a -mill at Congleton, and the industry spread rapidly to the neighbouring -villages of Sutton, Rainow, and Bollington.</p> - -<p>The first silk-mill in Macclesfield, which is now the chief seat of the -silk industry in Cheshire, was opened by Charles Roe in 1756. Roe Street -is named after him. He made a fortune and built Christ Church. Over the -altar you may see his bust in marble, and over it a figure of Genius -with a cogwheel in her hand. In the museum at West Park are some models -of silk-looms.</p> - -<p>There was a silk-mill at Knutsford, as the name Silk Mill Street tells -us. In Mobberley also nearly every cottage had its spinning-wheel. The -cottagers fetched the raw silk from Macclesfield and took back the spun -yarn to be woven into pieces at the Macclesfield looms.</p> - - - -<h2>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> -<small>THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>After the making of canals came the railways, and the mighty power of -steam, that had wrought such a vast change in the cotton industry, was -to be the moving force of the new invention.</p> - -<p>Late in the summer of 1830 the people who lined the river banks from -Runcorn to Latchford saw a trail of smoke travelling slowly across the -nine arches of Sankey <span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194">194</a></span> -Viaduct and the peaty plains of the Mersey. The smoke was that of -Stephenson's 'Rocket', the steam locomotive that was drawing one of the -first passenger trains in England.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p><span class="large">CHESHIRE.</span> <b>RAILWAYS</b></p> - </div> - <a href="images/image55l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image55.jpg" width="529" height="400" alt="" /> - </a> -</div> - -<p>Cheshire had its 'Rocket' too in those days, the stage coach that left -the 'Black Boy' Inn at Stockport and passed through Cheadle, Lymm, and -Warrington to Liverpool. And the old 'Rocket' was very jealous of its -new namesake, for it was thought that with the coming of the railways -the coaches would be driven off the road. The canal companies also saw -themselves threatened, and did all they could to hinder the spread of -the new way of travelling.</p> - -<p>Some years were to pass before the inhabitants of Cheshire saw railways -laid through their own towns and villages. The farmers of Wirral rubbed -their eyes when the first train seen in Cheshire carried its human -freight along the southern shore of the Mersey. Many of them had -doubtless never seen one before, and not a few of the more ignorant fled -in terror from the puffing, panting thing, which they looked upon as the -invention of the evil one.</p> - -<p>It is hard indeed to think of Cheshire without its railways. Before -their coming, almost the only way of moving from one place to another -was by means of the stage coaches that rattled along the principal -highways, putting down at the nearest wayside inn the passengers who -lived in villages off the main roads. Goods and merchandise were carried -on pack-horses or slow lumbering wagons.</p> - -<p>Some of the most important main lines of English railways now pass -through Cheshire, for the Cheshire plain is the broad gateway that leads -to the busy and populous towns of South Lancashire. Within the space of -half a century the county was covered with a network of lines, and -to-day it is impossible to find a spot that has not a railway passing -within a very few miles of it.</p> - -<p>The earliest railways avoided the hilly districts, and for many years -there were no lines in East Cheshire. The main line of the London and -North Western Railway<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195">195</a></span> -crosses the southern border of Cheshire where the -hills are low, and picks its way through the Cheshire plain, keeping -closely to the level valley of the Weaver, and leaving the hills of -Delamere and Frodsham on the west. It crosses the Mersey into Lancashire -at Warrington.</p> - -<p>The cotton spinners of Stockport wanted a quick route to London, and so -a branch line was made through Alderley, which joined the main line at -Crewe. Some of the old country towns would not have the railway too -near, so we find Sandbach nearly two miles away from its station. -Another branch westwards left the main line at Crewe for Chester and -Holyhead, to carry the Irish mails; and a third branched off at Preston -Brook for Liverpool, being carried over the Mersey by a big iron bridge -at Runcorn.</p> - -<p>There were only a few houses at Crewe when the railways were made. The -station was in the village of Church Coppenhall, but the shorter and -more convenient name of Crewe was chosen from Crewe Hall. The little -village rapidly became a big town, for it was chosen to be the -head-quarters of the London and North Western Company. Big engine and -carriage works were built, and iron foundries for the making of boilers -and steel rails. It is now one of the most important railway centres in -England, giving employment to many thousand workmen.</p> - -<p>But one line was not enough to carry all the traffic from the great -manufacturing towns to the Midlands and the south of England. Other -railway companies accomplished the difficult task of crossing the -Pennine Hills, and Cheshire was thus brought into touch with Yorkshire -and the north-midland shires. The Midland Railway tunnelled under the -hills at a height of eight hundred feet above sea-level, and descended -rapidly to Stockport by the Goyt valley. The Great Northern enters -Cheshire by the tunnel near Penistone, and follows the Etherow down -Longdendale till it also reaches Stockport. The Staffordshire Railway -from the Potteries burrows through the hills at Harecastle on its way to -Congleton and Macclesfield. All these railways vied with one another in -quickening the speed of their trains, and their rivalry soon caused the -fares for passengers and rates for goods to become cheaper.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196">196</a></span> -There is one railway which, more than any other, Cheshire boys and girls -may call their own. The Cheshire Line is not one of the great 'trunk' -lines to London, but is confined to South Lancashire and the county from -which it takes its name. This railway crosses the county from Altrincham -to Chester, never more than a few hundred yards from its great ancestor, -the Watling Street.</p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image56.jpg" width="400" height="543" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Railway Viaduct Over Goyt Valley</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The populous towns of North-east Cheshire are also served by branches of -the Great Central and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. The coast -towns of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197">197</a></span> -Dee have their 'Wirral Railway', and through the heart of -Wirral Great Western expresses rush to their terminus at Birkenhead.</p> - -<p>The railways teach us that time is money, and this fact is constantly -brought home to us by seeing new lines made to shorten the distance -between two points, so that men may get to their places of business more -rapidly. The Midland Railway have in the last few years straightened -their line by a short cut through Cheadle Heath, that their express -trains to Manchester may avoid delay at Stockport; and the new London -and North Western line from Wilmslow to Manchester, though it saved less -than three miles, was yet thought worth the cost.</p> - -<p>The railways have brought town and country into closer touch with one -another, and both have gained. Farmers and market gardeners can send -their produce quickly and cheaply to the great markets of Stockport and -Birkenhead. Coals and salt, machinery and manufactured goods, can be -distributed easily from the great towns that produce them. Moreover, -many people whose daily life is spent in the crowded cities are able to -live away from their places of business and, for a portion of the day at -least, breathe the purer air of the country.</p> - -<p>Two residential districts of Cheshire are supported mainly by the -merchants and manufacturers of Manchester and Liverpool. In East -Cheshire, Altrincham and Bowdon, Knutsford, Alderley, Cheadle, and Lymm -are practically suburbs of Manchester. In the Wirral, Hoylake, West -Kirby, and New Brighton owe their present prosperity to the business men -of Birkenhead and Liverpool who have built their homes on the Cheshire -seaboard.</p> - -<p>In all these places you may see the mingling of the old and the new, the -older portions clustering round the parish church, the brand new villas -and mansions of the rich spreading on all sides into the surrounding -country. New towns spring up round the railway stations, as at Alderley -Edge, which is two miles from the older village of Nether Alderley.</p> - -<p>With the railways came also the 'penny post', for letters could now be -carried cheaply and quickly to and from all parts of the country.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198">198</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> -<small>PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY</small></h2> - -<p>Twenty years before steam locomotives were used to draw passenger trains -over the earliest railways in Cheshire, a steam packet boat had been -built to ply between Liverpool and the Cheshire port of Runcorn. This -boat was called simply 'The Steam Boat', and was the first steamer ever -seen in the River Mersey. The sailing packets were frequently becalmed, -but the new ship could make her voyage in all weathers.</p> - -<p>A number of steam-tugs were built soon afterwards to tow the big -sailing-ships that entered the Mersey to the ports to which they were -bound, and the first steam ferry-boat crossed the Mersey from Liverpool -to Tranmere. In a few years the Cheshire shore of the Mersey was lined -with docks and quays at Birkenhead, Seacombe, Woodside, Tranmere, and -Eastham. At the last-named port Liverpool passengers could get on the -coach for Chester and the midland towns.</p> - -<p>In 1819, the year in which Queen Victoria was born, the Savannah, the -first steamship that crossed the Atlantic, was seen in the River Mersey. -The Savannah took twenty-eight days over the passage, lowering by many -days the record of the fastest sailing-vessels hitherto. This was -thought a great feat in those days, but the huge 'ocean greyhounds' that -the boys and girls of Wirral see riding at anchor off Birkenhead, now -make four or five crossings in the same period of time.</p> - -<p>Just as Crewe owes its rapid rise to the coming of the railways, so -Birkenhead's prosperity dates from the beginnings of steam navigation. -Both of these towns are growths of the nineteenth century. At the -beginning of the century Birkenhead was a small village of less than a -hundred inhabitants. It is now Cheshire's greatest town, and contains a -population of more than 100,000, or, if we include the populous suburbs -which have sprung up on either side of it, nearly twice this number.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199">199</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="left"><span class="large">BIRKENHEAD & THE MERSEY</span></p> - </div> - <a href="images/image57l.jpg"> - <img src="images/image57.jpg" width="400" height="617" alt="" /> - </a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200">200</a></span></p> - -<p>The old village clustered round its ruined priory, which is still in the -heart of the modern town. A triangular piece of land, now covered by the -streets of New Brighton, Liscard, Wallasey, and Seacombe, was cut off -from Birkenhead and the rest of Wirral by a broad and swampy river -called Wallasey Pool. Mr. Laird, the founder of the famous shipbuilding -company of that name, bought some land on the edge of the Pool. He saw -that here was a firstrate place for dockyards and wharves, which would -be protected from south-westerly gales by the natural rampart of Bidston -Hill and the high ground of Oxton.</p> - -<p>In a few years Wallasey Pool was turned into a huge basin capable of -holding hundreds of big ocean-going ships. In the 'Great Float', as this -basin is now called, you may see ships of every nation. Twenty pairs of -lockgates connect it with the Mersey, and there are ten miles of quays -with a network of quay railways laid along them.</p> - -<p>The big ship-building yards of Messrs. Cammell and Laird give employment -to many hundreds of the working-men of Birkenhead. Here are built some -of our largest merchant vessels, as well as ships for the British Navy, -chiefly gunboats and torpedo boat destroyers. One of the Lairds was -Birkenhead's first member of Parliament. You may see his statue in front -of the Birkenhead Town Hall.</p> - -<p>Two other men whose names are closely linked with the shipping of the -Mersey will always be remembered by the people of Wirral. William Inman -and Thomas Ismay were the founders of fleets of ocean liners. With a -portion of the wealth that he derived from his business, Inman built -churches for the villages of Upton and Moreton. Ismay lived at Dawpool -Hall, and is buried in the churchyard of Thurstaston.</p> - -<p>The first street-tramway in Europe was laid along the streets of -Birkenhead, from Woodside Ferry to the Park, by an American called -Train. The cars were built at Birkenhead, and drawn by horses; the -length of the line was less than two miles. Now tram routes are spread -all<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201">201</a></span> -over Eastern Wirral, and are to be found in the streets of all -large towns. But the horses are gone, and the cars are now driven by the -cheaper and more serviceable method of electricity. Our tram-cars are -one of the greatest conveniences in the busy life of a town.</p> - -<p>Prior to the year 1832 Chester was the only Cheshire town which had its -own members of Parliament. The county returned two members, one for the -north division and the other for the south. The big manufacturing towns -which had increased so rapidly in size and population had no -representatives, while numbers of small towns and villages in other -parts of England returned one and sometimes even two members to the -House of Commons. The workers of the busy industrial districts felt that -this was very unfair, and demanded to be allowed to be represented. -After a long struggle Reform Bills were passed, and now Stockport is -allowed to choose two members, and Stalybridge and Birkenhead one each. -The number of county members has also been increased from two to eight, -one from each of eight divisions, to which the names Hyde, Macclesfield, -Altrincham, Knutsford, Crewe, Eddisbury, Northwich, and Wirral have been -given.</p> - -<p>Until the passing of the 'Reform Bills' only those who possessed -property were allowed to vote, the great majority of the people of -Cheshire had no say in the government of the country at all. The Reform -Bill of 1832 gave the vote to many more people, to every man in fact who -paid a rent of ten pounds or more a year for his house. Thus much of the -power which had previously belonged to the rich passed into the hands of -the poorer classes.</p> - -<p>One of the first results of the Reformed Parliament was the passing of a -number of Factory Acts. The cry of the children at work in the mills had -long been heard through the land, and the people were indignant at the -cruelties put upon them by some mill-owners. As early as the year 1802 -Sir Robert Peel, a Lancashire manufacturer, had persuaded Parliament to -pass an Act to improve the condition of the factories. The Reformed -Parliament now made it illegal to employ children under nine years -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202">202</a></span> of -age, or to make boys and girls under thirteen work for more than twelve -hours a day. Later Acts have still further shortened the hours of work -for women and children, and in many other respects have made the lot of -all the working classes more tolerable. Manufacturers are now compelled -to keep their factories clean and wholesome, and fit to work in. Factory -inspectors are appointed to see that the laws are carried out, and those -whose lives are spent in dangerous occupations, such as coal-mining or -the making of chemicals, are protected by strict rules which lessen the -danger to life and limb.</p> - -<p>The greatest evil from which the poorer classes suffered in the early -years of the nineteenth century was the high price of bread. This was -due to the heavy duty put on corn imported from foreign countries. In S. -Peter's Square, Stockport, is a statue of Richard Cobden, who for six -years was Stockport's member of Parliament. Cobden saw that the poverty -of the working classes could not be lessened until this corn-tax was -removed. He pleaded eloquently on their behalf, and in the end he was -successful. The growers of corn grumbled, but as Cheshire is not so much -a corn-growing as a pastoral county, the farmers of Cheshire were not -greatly hurt.</p> - -<p>Cobden also persuaded Parliament to take away or to lessen the duties on -imported raw materials, such as cotton, wool, and silk, on which the -prosperity of the Cheshire workers so much depended. The result was that -the manufacturers were able to pay the people who worked in their mills -better wages. Thus, with cheaper bread and wages higher, the lot of the -industrial classes became brighter. Soon also the duties on manufactured -goods brought to Cheshire from abroad were removed, and the system of -Free Trade, under which Cheshire has become rich and prosperous, came -into being.</p> - -<p>Among the leaders of the working classes were some who wanted far -greater changes. In the museum at Vernon Park are some iron pike-heads -taken from these men when they tried to arm the people and urge them to -fight for their 'rights'. The aims of the Chartists, as these reformers -were named, were set forth in a document -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203">203</a></span> which they called the People's -Charter. Among other things, they demanded votes for all men, yearly -Parliaments, vote by ballot, and payment of members of Parliament. But -the bulk of the people took alarm, for it was thought that if every man -had a vote, too much power would be put into the hands of the working -classes. The Chartists were tried for causing riots, and many were put -in prison. One of the Chartist leaders was James Stephens, who is buried -in Dukinfield churchyard.</p> - -<p>In 1861 a great disaster befell the cotton trade. In that year civil war -broke out in America between the Northern and the Southern States of the -Union. The Southern States were the seat of the cotton-growing -plantations, which were worked by millions of negro slaves. The English -people had put an end to slavery in their own colonies, and the Northern -States of America wished to do the same. When the Southerners desired to -extend the cotton industry to other new States, the Northern States -refused to allow it, and war broke out.</p> - -<p>The war brought much distress to the cotton workers of Cheshire, for the -ports of the Southerners were blockaded by the warships of their -enemies, and the ships which had brought their cargoes of raw cotton to -the Mersey could do so no longer. The result was a cotton famine. The -looms were idle, and thousands of workpeople were thrown out of -employment in Stockport, Stalybridge, and the other towns and villages -which depended for their daily bread on a constant supply of the raw -material.</p> - -<p>Attempts were made by ships sent from England to run the blockade of the -ports of the Southern States. At Birkenhead a ship called the <cite>Alabama</cite> -was built in the dockyard of Messrs. Laird for the use of the cotton -planters. The ship entered the harbours in the night-time or during -fogs, and succeeded several times in bringing small supplies of cotton. -She was caught at last, but not before she had destroyed sixty or -seventy vessels of the Northern fleet, and she very nearly brought about -a war between England and America.</p> - -<p>The war lasted four years. Then peace was restored, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204">204</a></span> the cotton was -once more brought to the starving spinners and weavers of East Cheshire. -During the famine the poor had been supported by sums of money raised in -the large towns of England, and many years passed before the cotton -industry reached its former prosperity.</p> - -<p>The memory of the hard days of the cotton famine has been handed down to -the grandchildren of those who suffered. Within the last few years the -cotton merchants and manufacturers have started an association for -growing cotton in our own English colonies, so that the workers may not -depend entirely on the cotton produced by foreign States.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> -<small>THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN</small></h2> - -<p>Many of the changes described in the last three chapters were but -partially accomplished in Cheshire, when a young princess of eighteen -years became Queen of England. The power of steam was known, but the -Cheshire railways were not yet laid, and those who wished to attend the -coronation of Queen Victoria had to use the stage or the family coach -and take a day and a half over the journey.</p> - -<p>Telegraph and telephone were also quite unknown, and the penny post had -not yet come into being. That was to follow in the wake of the railways. -During her reign all our main roads were lined with telegraph wires, and -cables laid at the bottom of the seas sent our messages to the uttermost -parts of the earth. The news of distant events, which formerly took -weeks or even months to reach us, may now be read in our newspapers -within a few hours at most.</p> - -<p>Inventions without number followed the discovery of electricity. The -shops and warehouses of large towns, railway carriages and ocean liners, -and the homes of the well-to-do are lighted with it. Electric launches -flit along the shores of the Mersey. Tram-cars are worked by -electricity, which also sets in motion the dynamos that work -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205">205</a></span> the -machinery of mills and workshops. The pressing of an electric button -sets free the big ships when they take the water for the first time in -the dockyards of Birkenhead.</p> - -<p>The wonderful progress made by the engineers of the nineteenth century -is seen in the making of the Manchester Ship Canal, the greater part of -which lies within the county of Cheshire. For many years Manchester's -great ambition was to become a port. The winding and shallow bed of the -inland waters of the Mersey could not be navigated by ocean-going -vessels, and a ship canal was wanted in order that the bales of cotton -might be brought direct from the United States and other cotton-growing -countries to the place where the raw material is distributed. Thus time -would be saved, as well as the expense of unloading at Liverpool and -putting the cargoes on the railways, whose rates were very high.</p> - -<p>It was therefore decided to ask Parliament for powers to make a wide and -deep canal, capable of carrying ships of several thousand tons burden. -The railway and canal companies and the Liverpool merchants who -controlled the navigation of the Mersey were afraid that the trade of -Liverpool would be injured, and opposed the scheme vigorously. But -Parliament was wise enough to see what a boon the canal would be to the -cotton towns and the district through which it was to be laid, and -passed the bill for its making. In the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria -the work was begun.</p> - -<p>Many millions of money were required for such a vast undertaking, and -more millions were asked for as the work went on. After seven years of -perseverance in the face of tremendous difficulties, the canal was -opened by the queen.</p> - -<p>The canal is thirty-five and a half miles long, and, roughly speaking, -two-thirds of it are in Cheshire. The entrance to the canal is at -Eastham, where great locks were built. From Eastham to Runcorn, a -distance of thirteen miles, the canal is tidal and laid along the -foreshore of the Mersey estuary, and protected by an embankment. At -Runcorn 'Gap' the canal and the Mersey, which -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206">206</a></span> here becomes very narrow, -are separated by a concrete wall nearly one mile in length.</p> - -<p>The rest of the waterway lies inland. Latchford serves as a port for -Warrington, and the locks here always present a busy scene. At Irlam -locks the canal enters Lancashire, and its waters are at this point -forty feet above sea-level. The canal is fed by the River Irwell, whose -waters flow down the canal from Salford to Irlam.</p> - -<p>The railways are carried over the canal by lofty bridges, which had to -be made very high to allow the masts of ocean ships to pass under them. -Bays or sidings, where ships may pass each other, occur at intervals. -Wharves and docks have been built at many points along the canal, which -some day may be expected to appear one long seaport.</p> - -<p>Ellesmere Port, where the Ellesmere Canal and Ship Canal unite, has -become a thriving place in recent years, and the trade of Runcorn has -also been greatly increased by the canal. Large alkali works have been -built at Weston Point, the most suitable place that could have been -found for them, because they are equally near to the Lancashire -coal-field on the one hand and to the salt beds of Cheshire on the -other. The salt is brought in the form of brine direct from Northwich to -the works by pipes laid underground, a great saving of money, for salt -is heavy and costly to carry.</p> - -<p>Though the cotton industry was the one that was expected to gain most -from the canal, the traffic is by no means confined to this commodity. -Grain and cattle are brought from the United States and from South -America, timber from Canada, and hides from the Argentine, and big -cargoes of bananas, oranges, and apples, pass up the canal. In addition -to this oversea traffic, the canal also has a great share of the -coasting trade of the West of England, of which slates from Carnarvon, -and china clay from Cornwall may be taken as the best examples.</p> - -<p>The triumphs of engineering and mechanical skill have improved our means -of travelling from one place to another. The great engines that are now -turned out from the locomotive sheds at Crewe are as vastly superior -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207">207</a></span> to -the Rocket (models of which are now but a curiosity in our museums) as -the twentieth-century motor-cycle is to the velocipede or wooden -'bone-shaker' that your fathers rode. Horse carriages are fast -disappearing and giving place to the motor-car, and hansoms to the -taxicab. The science of aviation is turning the inventive powers of men -into new channels, and 'flying men' are showing to the world that the -conquest of the air is but a matter of time.</p> - -<p>Before the reign of Queen Victoria, few of the children of the poorest -classes were able either to read or write. Such education as these could -receive was given in the Sunday Schools, which Robert Raikes had started -in 1781. The children were hard at work in the mills all the week. -Teachers volunteered for the work, which was carried on in cottages or -disused factories. In 1805, Stockport built the big Sunday School which -still remains, and a hundred thousand children have been grateful for -the simple teaching given to them.</p> - -<p>The Education Bills of Queen Victoria's reign brought knowledge within -the reach of all. Education is cheap for the middle classes, free for -the poor. Schools have been built where none existed before. Money has -been found to help any Cheshire boy or girl to receive the very highest -education, and to open up the way from village school to university. The -municipalities have built their own municipal schools in the chief towns -of Cheshire, and technical schools where you may learn a trade. At the -Agricultural School at Holmes Chapel you may be instructed in the newest -and most scientific ways of farming.</p> - -<p>The people have learnt to study the laws of health, and to understand -the value of light and fresh air. Towns are cleaner and your homes -healthier. Open spaces, parks and playing-fields, brighten the lives of -the children in the towns, and by making them stronger, fit them the -better for the hard work that lies before them.</p> - -<p>Port Sunlight shows how much can be done by those who study the needs of -the working classes. This 'garden city', with its avenues of dainty -cottage villas, is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208">208</a></span> -home of those who work in the big soap-works on -the Mersey. Here everything is done that can make for the comfort and -well-being of the inhabitants. There are schools for the children, and -'institutes' for the young men and women, libraries and reading-rooms, -savings banks to encourage thrift, games, clubs, swimming-baths and -gymnasium for the strong, a hospital for the sick and infirm, ambulance -and fire brigade and a life-saving society, and societies for the study -of literature and science.</p> - -<p>You are not all as fortunate as the dwellers of Port Sunlight. But some -day many of you will perhaps see the slums of great towns cleared away, -and you will take care that sunlight is let into dark places. You will -have learned how foolish it is to overcrowd the towns and herd together -in close and mean streets, and you will have the power to say that these -things ought not to be.</p> - -<p>The Cheshire County Council was created by Queen Victoria. Its members -are elected, and the Council allows large parishes to elect a Parish or -District Council to manage their own local affairs. But Stockport, -Chester, and Birkenhead do not send members to this Council, for their -populations are so big that they are considered as counties in -themselves. The County Council also controls the education of the -county, keeps roads and bridges in repair, directs the cleansing of the -small towns and villages, and provides a pure water-supply.</p> - -<p>New boroughs were made at Crewe, Hyde, and Stalybridge in Queen -Victoria's reign, with a mayor and corporation to direct their affairs. -Macclesfield, you will remember, was a borough in very early times. -Altrincham and Over too, once had their mayors, though they have them no -longer. Their mayors seem to have been men of very humble position, and -to have been looked down upon by their neighbours. You have perhaps -heard of the Cheshire saying:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">The Mayor of Altrincham,</div> - <div class="line">And the Mayor of Over—</div> - <div class="line">The one is a thatcher,</div> - <div class="line">The other a dauber.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209">209</a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image58.jpg" width="400" height="569" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Modern Gothic: S. Margaret's, Altrincham</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210">210</a></span></p> - -<p>The work of the borough councils has become very heavy during the last -fifty years. Gas, water, electricity, libraries, education, public -health, baths, markets, and police, have their own special committees to -look after them. The handsome Town Halls of Chester and Stockport, the -latter opened only a few years since by the present King George the -Fifth, had to be built to accommodate the small army of clerks who -assist in the government of a great city.</p> - -<p>The reign of Queen Victoria was not all one of peace. The war with -Russia, and the terrible mutiny of her Indian subjects with its tale of -horrors and its glorious heroism, brought woe to many a home in -Cheshire. The obelisk by the roadside between Aldford and Farndon -reminds us that the soldiers of Cheshire were often called upon to fight -our battles and too often find a grave in distant lands. Colonel -Barnston, of Crewe Hill, to whose memory this monument was set up, -fought at the siege of Sebastopol. In the Indian Mutiny he was wounded -while gallantly leading an assault at the relief of Lucknow, and died of -his wounds at Cawnpore. Numbers of memorial tablets in the Cathedral of -Chester speak of the lives that were cheerfully laid down by Cheshire -men in the service of their queen and country.</p> - -<p>Your fathers will tell you how bonfires were lighted on the beacons and -hill-tops of Cheshire to celebrate the Jubilee or fiftieth year of the -reign of Queen Victoria. Still greater was the rejoicing some ten years -later, when she surpassed in length of reign all previous sovereigns of -England. Nearly every town and village has some memorial of her: a cross -in the village street, a drinking-fountain by the wayside, new bells for -the parish church or a lich-gate for the churchyard, a village 'hall' or -a public recreation ground, these are but a few examples that prove the -love and reverence that Cheshire men and women felt for the great queen -whose only thought was ever for the welfare of her people.</p> - -<p>Yet her last years were saddened by the long and costly war in South -Africa, still unfinished when she died. The call to arms was once more -heard from east to west of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211">211</a></span> -Cheshire; from town and country, -'reservists' who had thought to end their days in peace were sent -oversea to defend the South African dominions of the queen. The brave -'Cheshires'—the fathers of some of you were among them—served -throughout the war. A gallant Cheshire officer was one of the first to -win distinction. Lieutenant Congreve, of Burton Hall, was one of three -who volunteered to rescue the guns at the battle of Colenso. He was shot -down in the attempt, but was able to crawl to a sheltered place, and -lived to receive the reward that all soldiers strive to merit—the -Victoria Cross.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXXV<br /> -<small>FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE</small></h2> - -<p>Throughout the Middle Ages, until the end of the Wars of the Roses, war -was the chief, almost the only occupation of the leading men of -Cheshire. A few entered the Church, Richard de Vernon, for instance, who -was Rector of 'Stokeport' early in the fourteenth century (his tomb is -in the chancel of Stockport), and William de Montalt, Rector of Neston. -One of the Bebingtons, William de Bebyngton, even became Abbot of S. -Werburgh's Abbey.</p> - -<p>The descendants of the barons who settled in Cheshire in the days of the -Conqueror followed the Norman and Plantagenet kings to the Crusades or -the French wars. Few of them stayed at home for any length of time, and -when they returned, they generally found that some score had to be -settled with the Welshmen, who had been making havoc of their lands -during their absence. So that whether at home or abroad, fighting was -always their chief business.</p> - -<p>Cheshire has been called the 'seed-plot of gentility'. The Cheshire -gentry prided themselves on marrying within their own county. A Cheshire -proverb says: ''Tis better to wed over the mixen than over the moor,' -meaning the moorland that separates Cheshire from her neighbours. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212">212</a></span> The -result of this intermarriage was that the number of great Cheshire names -did not greatly increase, and soon there became</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">As many Masseys as asses,</div> - <div class="line">Leghs as fleas,</div> - <div class="line">And Davenports as dogs' tails;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>to quote another Cheshire saying.</p> - -<p>One of the oldest Cheshire families is that of the Wooley-Dods of Edge -Hill, who trace their descent from the Saxon Dot, who was a great man in -Cheshire before the Normans came. The Grosvenors, whose ancestors came -over with the Conqueror, live at Eaton Hall, and own vast estates in -Western Cheshire. The present head of the family is the Duke of -Westminster. The Mainwarings, whose forefathers fought in the Crusades, -are at Peover, and the crest of the felon's head of the Davenports still -survives at Capesthorne, though the Davenports of Marton and Bramhall -are no more.</p> - -<p>Many old families of Cheshire have long since died out. The last of the -Masseys of Puddington (they had lived there since the days of Rufus) -died in the Stuart rising of 1715. There are no Pooles at Poole Hall nor -Venables at Kinderton. The last of the Savages of Rock Savage, whose -tomb is in the Rivers Chapel at Macclesfield, died in the seventeenth -century.</p> - -<p>Dutton village and Dutton Hall bear the name of a famous family that was -allied by marriage with most of the great families of Cheshire. Duttons -live no longer at the Hall, for the last male heir died in the reign of -James the First. They were descended from a squire of Robert Lacy, -Constable of Chester. When Earl Randal was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle -by the Welsh, the Constable and Dutton, his henchman, hastily gathered -together a motley rabble of fiddlers and mountebanks from Chester Fair -and went to his assistance. The Earl was rescued, and from that time -forward to the Duttons was given the charge of all minstrels and -fiddlers in the county. There are Duttons in Chester now; one was a -mayor of the city quite recently.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213">213</a></span> -Neighbours and kinsmen of the Duttons were the Dones or Donnes of -Utkinton, hereditary foresters of the Forest of Delamere. Many of them -are buried at Tarporley. The name of the last Lady Done is still called -to mind in the neighbourhood where they lived. The Cheshire proverb is -the highest praise that can be given to a young Cheshire housewife, and -'Lady Done' is a pet name for modest and thrifty girls, as 'Little Lord -Derby' is for brave and honourable boys.</p> - -<p>Lancashire claims the Earls of Derby now, but they are descended from -the Stanleys, perhaps the most famous of all Cheshire families, by the -marriage of Sir John Stanley and Isabella, heiress of the Lancashire -Lathoms. The Stanleys settled at Storeton in Wirral in the fourteenth -century. Many men of mark, churchmen and scholars, statesmen and -soldiers, belonged to this family. A Stanley helped to win the battle of -Bosworth for Henry Tudor, and a Stanley led the Cheshire troops in the -famous charge at Flodden Field,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">When shivered was fair Scotland's spear</div> - <div class="line">And broken was her shield.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>One branch of the family settled at Hooton, but the last of this line -lost his estates by gambling and extravagance. The Stanleys of Alderley -received knighthood from James the First; they are Barons of Alderley -now. This family has given a bishop to Norwich and a still more famous -dean to Westminster. The bishop was educated at the Grammar School of -Macclesfield.</p> - -<p>The Egertons are descended from the standard-bearer of Henry the Eighth, -who made him a knight after the 'Battle of the Spurs'. One of them rose -to be Lord Chancellor in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, -and was made Baron Ellesmere. The first Earl Egerton of Tatton was made -a peer by Queen Victoria largely for the help he gave in the making of -the Ship Canal.</p> - -<p>The Jodrells, buried in Taxal Church, were descended from an archer who -served under the Black Prince. Perhaps he cut his bow from the very yew -tree that still stands in the churchyard. One of them fought in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214">214</a></span> -Peninsular War, but the name has disappeared from this part of Cheshire -now.</p> - -<p>Several Cheshire noblemen sit in the House of Lords to-day, their family -name disguised under the more showy title of a peerage. A Booth became -Lord Delamere at the Restoration, and the Viscounts of Combermere are -the descendants of the Cottons, who helped Henry the Eighth to plunder -the Cheshire monasteries. The Ardernes are represented by the Earl of -Haddington; Lord Newton lives at Lyme Park, the ancient home of the -Leghs, and the Earl of Crewe at Crewe Hall. Lord Ashton of Hyde has only -recently taken a seat in the House of Lords. He was made a baron at the -coronation of King George the Fifth.</p> - -<p>When great industries took root in Cheshire new names appeared, and some -of the most honoured families in Cheshire now are those that have been -closely associated with the workers of the county. We hear a great deal -nowadays of 'the dignity of labour', and we think it no disgrace to rise -to position and power by a life of toil. The Gregs of Styal and the -Brunners of Northwich, the Levers of Wirral, and many others, have -endeared themselves to the people of Cheshire by the example of their -own labours and the pains they have taken to make the lives of those who -live about them and work for them brighter and happier.</p> - -<p>A simple cross in the graveyard of the Unitarian Chapel at Knutsford -bears the name of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. The people of Knutsford -have a warm corner in their hearts for her, for in a way she has made -their town famous for all time. One of the books she wrote—<cite>Cranford</cite> -she called it—speaks of the people of Knutsford as she knew them in the -earlier days of Queen Victoria. The book tells you much of the quiet -life of a country town before the coming of the railways and the busy -hubbub of the later nineteenth century, and all Cheshire children should -read it. Mrs. Gaskell wrote several other books, all of which show her -sweet sympathy and kindliness towards those whose lives are cast in -lowly surroundings.</p> - -<p>If you have not heard of <cite>Cranford</cite> you have probably -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215">215</a></span> read a book whose -title you know better than the name of the writer. <cite>Alice in Wonderland</cite> -was written by a man who spent much of his early life in Cheshire. -'Lewis Carroll', though that is not his real name, is the name under -which he wrote the humorous stories that have delighted young people and -old alike.</p> - -<p>John Critchley Prince, the workman poet of Hyde, lived in the days when -the poorly-paid workers of Cheshire were struggling for a better -existence. While working in a factory at Hyde he found time to write -poems which speak of the charms of home, the brotherhood of all mankind, -and the hopes and ambitions of his fellow men. Prince was thriftless and -intemperate, and much of his life was spent in misery, but his talents -were great, and the people of Hyde have done him honour. He is buried in -Hyde churchyard.</p> - -<p>In the chancel of Stockport Parish Church is a tablet to the memory of -John Wainwright, the organist who composed the tune for 'Christians, -awake', the beautiful Christmas hymn 'whose sound is gone out into all -lands where the praise of our Lord is sung', as the inscription runs. -The words of the hymn were written by Byrom, a Manchester man.</p> - -<p>Cheshire produced a famous hymn-writer in Bishop Heber. Reginald Heber -was born in the rectory of Malpas in 1783. He gave himself up to -missionary work in foreign lands, and was made Bishop of Calcutta. 'From -Greenland's icy mountains' and 'Brightest and best of the sons of the -morning' are two of the hymns that came from his pen.</p> - -<p>Charles Kingsley must have loved Cheshire. Though he was not a Cheshire -man by birth, he claimed descent from the Kingsleys of Vale Royal. He -was a great lover of nature, and, while he was Canon of Chester, founded -the Natural History Society in Chester, whose home is in the Grosvenor -Museum, and encouraged the people of Cheshire to take an interest in the -story of their county, and to study the ways of plants and of the wild -creatures of the fields and the forests. His pathetic ballad of the -Sands of Dee, 'O Mary, go and call the cattle home,' will always be a -favourite with the village people of Wirral.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216">216</a></span> -Tabley Hall was the home of another celebrated naturalist. Here lived -Lord de Tabley, one of the greatest students of Cheshire flowers, and a -lover of all wild living things. His grave is in the churchyard of -Little Peover, and over it trails a bramble, which was his favourite -plant and one of which he made a special study. In the gardens of Tabley -Hall is a bramble-bed, still tended carefully, which he laid out from -the choicest briars he could find.</p> - -<p>Lord de Tabley was a poet as well as a lover of flowers and birds. -Perhaps you will some day read his poems, and be charmed by his -descriptive pictures of the ways of his feathered friends, the -'starlings mustering on their evening tree', the 'swallows beating low -before a hint of rain', the 'plaintive plovers', and the 'wide-winged -screaming swift'.</p> - -<p>Lord de Tabley's example is one which all Cheshire boys and girls should -learn to copy. Those who are proud of their county will not do anything -to make it less beautiful. Like him, they will cherish and protect the -plants and birds and all the wild creatures that have been put into -their keeping; for such things are the common heritage of the people of -Cheshire, and, once destroyed, can never be replaced.</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI<br /> -<small>CONCLUSION</small></h2> - -<p>We have traced the story of Cheshire from prehistoric times. For long -ages the story was one of war and bloodshed, of conquest and defeat, of -the coming and the passing of many nations, each in turn yielding to a -more powerful foe. Cheshire has seen more of the strife of nations than -most counties of England. Her position on the map of the British Isles -has willed that this should be.</p> - -<p>When the latest struggle for the possession of our country was ended, -and the Normans lorded it over the conquered Saxons, we saw Cheshire -made into a bulwark<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218">218</a></span> -to keep in check the nations that surrounded her on north and west. For -200 years this was her mission. She was a kingdom within a kingdom, with -an earl or viceroy to rule over her, and a Parliament and laws of her -own. More centuries passed by before a Tudor king permitted her to take -her place in that greater English Parliament and to help to frame laws -under which she, along with the rest of England, should be governed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a></span></p> - -<div class="image-center"> - <img src="images/image59.jpg" width="603" height="400" style="border:2px solid" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="smcap">Dee Bridge and Mills: Chester</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p>But Cheshire was not denied the greatest of all good gifts. We saw the -lamp of Christianity burn brightly from Hildeburgh's Isle to Chadkirk, -and some of the earliest Gospel teachers were sent by the very Welsh and -Irish nations over which Cheshire was afterwards set as sentinel and -watch-dog. Feebly the light sometimes glimmered in days of stress and -storm, but it never went out; and after the Tudor monarch had shaken off -the shackles of Rome, and the minds of men had been stirred by a great -awakening, its early brightness was restored in a purified religion that -gave freedom of conscience to all men.</p> - -<p>Then came the horrors of civil war, when Cheshire men fought for the -liberty to believe what they thought to be right, and rose in their -wrath at the unlawful misdeeds of the Stuart kings, when patriots rose -in defence of the ancient liberties that are the inheritance of all -Englishmen. This was the last blood shed in Cheshire.</p> - -<p>In the last hundred years the people of Cheshire have seen the face of -Cheshire greatly changed. They have helped to create great industries, -and they have witnessed the wonderful discoveries of the power of steam -and electricity, and all the conveniences and comforts of modern life -that have followed in their train. In ways too numerous to speak of, -their lives have been made brighter and happier.</p> - -<p>The Princes of Wales are the Earls of Chester still. King Edward the -Seventh, when he was Prince of Wales, came to Chester and opened the new -Town Hall. The citizens of Chester knew him well, for he was often a -guest at Eaton Hall, the home of the Grosvenors, the descendants of the -Conqueror's 'mighty huntsman'.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219">219</a></span> -William the Norman harried Cheshire with -the sword, and the people of Cheshire fled before him. King Edward -brought not a sword but peace in his hand, and the people loved him, for -he was one of the world's great peace-makers.</p> - -<p>In one of the earliest chapters of this book you have read of the -'making of Cheshire'. We have brought the story of Cheshire down to the -present day, but Cheshire is not yet 'made'. Many and wonderful changes -there have been since our ancestors shot wild beasts with their flinty -arrow-heads, and devoured raw flesh in the pits and caverns of Alderley -Edge. The people of Cheshire, who have struggled through long centuries -to win for themselves light and liberty, have never turned their faces -backwards. With steadfast purpose and unfaltering steps they march -forward on the way of progress.</p> - -<p>The 'making' still goes on; and there is plenty of work to do for the -Cheshire boys and girls of to-day, that they may help to make their -county a better place to live in than they found it.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">Enough, if something from our hands have power</div> - <div class="line">To live, and act, and serve the future hour.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The great families of Cheshire whose names recur so often in these pages -were proud of the mottoes written beneath their crests and coats of -arms. The words inscribed on the village cross which the boys and girls -of Eastham pass on their way to school, are the best mottoes that all -Cheshire school-children can take for their own:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">'Fear God. Honour the King. Work while it is yet day.'</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And the day is very short. As the lines on a tombstone in Little Peover -churchyard remind us:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="line">A little rule, a little sway,</div> - <div class="line">A sunbeam in a winter's day,</div> - <div class="line">Is all the greatest of us have</div> - <div class="line">Between the cradle and the grave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220">220</a></span></p> - -<h3>INDEX</h3> - -<ul> -<li>Acton, <a href="#page126">126</a>.</li> -<li>Adlington, <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>.</li> -<li>Aethelfrith, <a href="#page44">44</a>.</li> -<li>Aethelred, <a href="#page50">50</a>.</li> -<li>Agricola, <a href="#page36">36</a>-<a href="#page38">8</a>.</li> -<li><em>Alabama</em>, the, <a href="#page203">203</a>.</li> -<li>Alderley Edge, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>.</li> -<li>Aldford, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</li> -<li>Alfred the Great, <a href="#page51">51</a>.</li> -<li>Almshouses, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</li> -<li>Altrincham, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</li> -<li>Anne, Queen, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</li> -<li>Anselm, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> -<li>Archery, <a href="#page110">110</a>.</li> -<li>Architecture, Saxon, <a href="#page50">50</a>; -<ul> - <li>Norman, <a href="#page65">65</a>-<a href="#page71">71</a>;</li> - <li>Early English, <a href="#page81">81</a>-<a href="#page86">6</a>;</li> - <li>Decorated, <a href="#page101">101</a>-<a href="#page104">4</a>;</li> - <li>Perpendicular, <a href="#page120">120</a>-<a href="#page122">2</a>;</li> - <li>Elizabethan, <a href="#page137">137</a>-<a href="#page142">42</a>;</li> - <li>Eighteenth-Century, <a href="#page173">173</a>-<a href="#page176">6</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Arden Hall, <a href="#page142">142</a>.</li> -<li>Armada, Spanish, <a href="#page134">134</a>.</li> -<li>Astbury, <a href="#page45">45</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>.</li> -<li>Aston, Sir Thomas, <a href="#page156">156</a>.</li> -<li>Athelstan, <a href="#page55">55</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Baguley, <a href="#page106">106</a></li> -<li>Baldwin, Archbishop, <a href="#page79">79</a>.</li> -<li>Barnston, Colonel, <a href="#page210">210</a>.</li> -<li>Barrows, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Barthomley, <a href="#page162">162</a>.</li> -<li>Bebington, <a href="#page71">71</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</li> -<li>Beeston Castle, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>.</li> -<li>Beeston, Sir George, <a href="#page134">134</a>.</li> -<li>Benedictines, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</li> -<li>Birkenhead, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page198">198</a>-<a href="#page200">200</a>. -<ul> -<li>Birkenhead, Priory, <a href="#page71">71</a>;</li> -<li>Shipping, <a href="#page200">200</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Black Death, <a href="#page112">112</a>.</li> -<li>Booth, Sir George, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</li> -<li>Boulder clay, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> -<li>Bradshaw, John, <a href="#page163">163</a>.</li> -<li>Bramhall, <a href="#page106">106</a>.</li> -<li>Branks, <a href="#page149">149</a>.</li> -<li>Brasses, <a href="#page115">115</a>.</li> -<li>Brereton Hall, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</li> -<li>Brereton, Sir William, <a href="#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page155">155</a>-<a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page165">165</a>.</li> -<li>Bridgwater Canal, <a href="#page184">184</a>.</li> -<li>Bridgwater, Duke of, <a href="#page183">183</a>.</li> -<li>Brindley, James, <a href="#page183">183</a>, <a href="#page185">185</a>.</li> -<li>British remains, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Brocmael, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> -<li>Bromborough, <a href="#page56">56</a>.</li> -<li>Bronze Age, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> -<li>Broxton Hills, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Bruera, <a href="#page86">86</a>.</li> -<li>Bucton Castle, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Budworth, Great, <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>.</li> -<li>Bunbury, <a href="#page108">108</a>, <a href="#page134">134</a>.</li> -<li>Bunter Sandstone, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> -<li>Burial urns, <a href="#page27">27</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</li> -<li>Byron, Sir Nicholas, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Cæsar, Julius, <a href="#page29">29</a>.</li> -<li>Calveley, Sir Hugh, <a href="#page108">108</a>.</li> -<li>Canals of Cheshire, <a href="#page183">183</a>-<a href="#page185">5</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</li> -<li>Carboniferous Rocks, <a href="#page24">24</a>.</li> -<li>Carroll, Lewis, <a href="#page215">215</a>.</li> -<li>Ceawlin, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> -<li>Celts, <a href="#page26">26</a>-<a href="#page28">8</a>.</li> -<li>Chad, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -<li>Chadkirk, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -<li>Charles I, <a href="#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page158">158</a>.</li> -<li>Charles II, <a href="#page164">164</a>-<a href="#page6">6</a>.</li> -<li>Charters, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page88">88</a>.</li> -<li>Chartists, <a href="#page202">202</a>.</li> -<li>Cheshire, Canals, <a href="#page183">183</a>-<a href="#page185">5</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>; -<ul> -<li>Meres, <a href="#page15">15</a>;</li> -<li>Plain, <a href="#page10">10</a>;</li> -<li>Rivers, <a href="#page12">12</a>-<a href="#page14">14</a>;</li> -<li>Railways, <a href="#page192">192</a>-<a href="#page197">7</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Chesshyre, Sir John, <a href="#page177">177</a>.</li> -<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221">221</a></span> -Chester, Battle of, <a href="#page44">44</a>; -<ul> -<li>Castle, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page174">174</a>;</li> -<li>Caleyards, <a href="#page65">65</a>;</li> -<li>Cathedral, <a href="#page130">130</a>;</li> -<li>Customs of, <a href="#page62">62</a>;</li> -<li>King's School, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>;</li> -<li>Plays, <a href="#page90">90</a>-<a href="#page91">1</a>;</li> -<li>Phoenix Tower, <a href="#page89">89</a>, <a href="#page158">158</a>;</li> -<li>Roman city of, <a href="#page36">36</a>-<a href="#page38">8</a>;</li> -<li>Rows, <a href="#page112">112</a>;</li> -<li>S. John's Church, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>;</li> -<li>S. Mary's on the Hill, <a href="#page160">160</a>;</li> -<li>S. Olaf, <a href="#page57">57</a>;</li> -<li>S. Oswald, <a href="#page47">47</a>;</li> -<li>S. Werburgh's Abbey, <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page83">83</a>;</li> -<li>Siege of, <a href="#page158">158</a>-<a href="#page160">60</a>;</li> -<li>Situation of, <a href="#page10">10</a>;</li> -<li>Trade, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page144">144</a>;</li> -<li>Walls,<a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>;</li> -<li>Water Tower, <a href="#page98">98</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Chests, Church, <a href="#page124">124</a>.</li> -<li>Christianity, Introduction of, <a href="#page47">47</a>-<a href="#page51">51</a>.</li> -<li>Christleton, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> -<li>Chronicle, Old English, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> -<li>Circles, Stone, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> -<li>Cistercians, <a href="#page73">73</a>.</li> -<li>Civil War, <a href="#page153">153</a>-<a href="#page166">66</a>.</li> -<li>Clive, Robert, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</li> -<li>Clulow Cross, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href="#page28">28</a>.</li> -<li>Cnut, <a href="#page57">57</a>.</li> -<li>Coaches, <a href="#page178">178</a>.</li> -<li>Coal measures, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</li> -<li>Coal-fields, <a href="#page183">183</a>.</li> -<li>Cobden, Richard, <a href="#page202">202</a>.</li> -<li>Combermere, Abbey of, <a href="#page73">73</a>.</li> -<li>Combermere, Viscount, <a href="#page182">182</a>.</li> -<li>Congleton, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page148">148</a>.</li> -<li>Congreve, Lieutenant, <a href="#page211">211</a>.</li> -<li>Connought, Major, <a href="#page162">162</a>.</li> -<li>Constable's Sands, <a href="#page74">74</a>.</li> -<li>Conversion of the English, <a href="#page47">47</a>-<a href="#page48">8</a>.</li> -<li>Cotton famine, <a href="#page203">203</a>; -<ul> -<li>manufacture, <a href="#page188">188</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Cotton, Stapleton,<a href="#page182">182</a>.</li> -<li>County Council, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</li> -<li>Crewe, <a href="#page195">195</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</li> -<li>Crewe, Sir Randolph, <a href="#page152">152</a>.</li> -<li>Crosses, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -<li>Crusades, <a href="#page79">79</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Danes, Invasion of, <a href="#page57">57</a>.</li> -<li>Davenport, Peter, <a href="#page162">162</a>.</li> -<li>Davenport, Vivian, <a href="#page74">74</a>.</li> -<li>Dean Row, <a href="#page168">168</a>.</li> -<li>Decorated Architecture, <a href="#page101">101</a>-<a href="#page104">4</a>.</li> -<li>Dee Mills, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a>.</li> -<li>Dee, River, <a href="#page12">12</a>.</li> -<li>Delamere, Forest of, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page27">27</a>, <a href="#page74">74</a>.</li> -<li>Dennis, Peter, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</li> -<li>Derby, Earls of, <a href="#page213">213</a>.</li> -<li>de Tabley, Lord, <a href="#page216">216</a>.</li> -<li>Deva, <a href="#page30">30</a>.</li> -<li>Dissolution of the Monasteries, <a href="#page129">129</a>-<a href="#page133">33</a>.</li> -<li>Domesday Book, <a href="#page62">62</a>-<a href="#page64">4</a>.</li> -<li>Done, John, <a href="#page76">76</a>.</li> -<li>Downes, Peter, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</li> -<li>Drayton, Michael, <a href="#page135">135</a>.</li> -<li>Dukinfield, <a href="#page151">151</a>, <a href="#page183">183</a>.</li> -<li>Dunham Massey, <a href="#page62">62</a>.</li> -<li>Duttons, <a href="#page212">212</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Earls of Chester, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page74">74</a>-<a href="#page81">81</a>.</li> -<li>Early English Architecture, <a href="#page81">81</a>-<a href="#page87">7</a>.</li> -<li>Eastham, <a href="#page205">205</a>.</li> -<li>Eaton Hall, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</li> -<li>Eaton, Samuel, <a href="#page151">151</a>.</li> -<li>Ecberght, <a href="#page44">44</a>.</li> -<li>Eddisbury, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> -<li>Edgar, <a href="#page56">56</a>.</li> -<li>Edward the Elder, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> -<li>Edward I, <a href="#page93">93</a>-<a href="#page98">8</a>.</li> -<li>Edward III, <a href="#page96">96</a>.</li> -<li>Edward VI, <a href="#page130">130</a>.</li> -<li>Edward VII, <a href="#page218">218</a>.</li> -<li>Edwin, Earl, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</li> -<li>Eleanor, Queen, <a href="#page94">94</a>.</li> -<li>Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#page134">134</a>-<a href="#page150">50</a>.</li> -<li>Elizabethan Houses, <a href="#page137">137</a>.</li> -<li>Ellesmere Canal, <a href="#page206">206</a>.</li> -<li>Erratics, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> -<li>Estuaries, <a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> -<li>Ethelfleda, <a href="#page53">53</a>-<a href="#page55">5</a>.</li> -<li>Etherow, River, <a href="#page12">12</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Factory Acts, <a href="#page201">201</a>.</li> -<li>Faddiley, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> -<li>Farndon, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>.</li> -<li>Fitton, Mary, <a href="#page143">143</a>.</li> -<li>Flagstones, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> -<li>Flashes, <a href="#page15">15</a>.</li> -<li>Flint implements, <a href="#page25">25</a>.</li> -<li>Forest, submerged, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> -<li>Forests of Cheshire, <a href="#page74">74</a>.</li> -<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222">222</a></span> -Friars, Coming of the, <a href="#page99">99</a>.</li> -<li>Frodsham, <a href="#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page174">174</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Gaskell, Mrs., <a href="#page213">213</a>.</li> -<li>Gawsworth, <a href="#page120">120</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page178">178</a>.</li> -<li>George I, <a href="#page172">172</a>.</li> -<li>George V, <a href="#page210">210</a>.</li> -<li>Gherbod, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> -<li>Gilds, <a href="#page88">88</a>-<a href="#page91">91</a>.</li> -<li>Glacial Drift, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> -<li>Goyt, River, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page189">189</a>.</li> -<li>Grappenhall, <a href="#page79">79</a>.</li> -<li>Greg, Samuel, <a href="#page190">190</a>.</li> -<li>Grosvenors, the, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Halton Castle, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</li> -<li>Handforth Hall, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</li> -<li>Handley, <a href="#page121">121</a>.</li> -<li>Harecastle, <a href="#page185">185</a>.</li> -<li>Harold, King, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> -<li>Harrison, Thomas, <a href="#page164">164</a>.</li> -<li>Hastein, <a href="#page51">51</a>.</li> -<li>Heber, Bishop, <a href="#page215">215</a>.</li> -<li>Henry I, <a href="#page76">76</a>.</li> -<li>Henry II, <a href="#page80">80</a>.</li> -<li>Henry III, <a href="#page87">87</a>.</li> -<li>Henry IV, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>.</li> -<li>Henry V, <a href="#page114">114</a>.</li> -<li>Henry VII, <a href="#page117">117</a>.</li> -<li>Henry VIII, <a href="#page125">125</a>-<a href="#page130">30</a>, <a href="#page146">146</a>.</li> -<li>Henry, Matthew, <a href="#page168">168</a>.</li> -<li>High Legh, <a href="#page20">20</a>.</li> -<li>Hotspur, <a href="#page110">110</a>.</li> -<li>Hoylake, <a href="#page170">170</a>.</li> -<li>Hugh, Earl, <a href="#page59">59</a>-<a href="#page73">73</a>.</li> -<li>Hugh Kyvelioc, <a href="#page77">77</a>.</li> -<li>Hyde, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</li> -<li>Hyde, Anne, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Industrial Revolution, <a href="#page183">183</a>-<a href="#page192">92</a>.</li> -<li>Ingemund, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</li> -<li>Inman, William, <a href="#page200">200</a>.</li> -<li>Irish Wars, <a href="#page143">143</a>.</li> -<li>Ismay, Thomas, <a href="#page200">200</a>.</li> -<li>Italian architecture, <a href="#page146">146</a>, <a href="#page173">173</a>-<a href="#page176">6</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Jacobites, <a href="#page172">172</a>.</li> -<li>James I, <a href="#page150">150</a>, <a href="#page152">152</a>.</li> -<li>James II, <a href="#page169">169</a>-<a href="#page170">70</a>.</li> -<li>John the Scot, <a href="#page87">87</a>.</li> -<li>Johnson, Samuel, <a href="#page178">178</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Kelsborrow, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Kentigern, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> -<li>Keuper Sandstone, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> -<li>King, Edward, <a href="#page186">186</a>.</li> -<li>Kingsley, Charles, <a href="#page215">215</a>.</li> -<li>Kirby, West, <a href="#page53">53</a>.</li> -<li>Knights Hospitallers, <a href="#page79">79</a>.</li> -<li>Knights Templars, <a href="#page79">79</a>.</li> -<li>Knutsford, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a>, <a href="#page192">192</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Labyrinthodont, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> -<li>Laird, Thomas, <a href="#page200">200</a>.</li> -<li>Lambert, General, <a href="#page164">164</a>.</li> -<li>Latchford, <a href="#page206">206</a>.</li> -<li>Leghs, the, <a href="#page108">108</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page174">174</a>.</li> -<li>Leicester, Sir Peter, <a href="#page161">161</a>.</li> -<li>Leofric, <a href="#page57">57</a>.</li> -<li>Limestone rocks, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> -<li>Llewellyn, <a href="#page95">95</a>.</li> -<li>Longdendale, <a href="#page12">12</a>.</li> -<li>Lyme, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page146">146</a>, <a href="#page172">172</a>.</li> -<li>Lymm, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Macclesfield, Church, <a href="#page94">94</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a>; -<ul> -<li>Forest, <a href="#page74">74</a>;</li> -<li>School, <a href="#page133">133</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Maiden Castle, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Malpas, <a href="#page124">124</a>.</li> -<li>Mancunium, <a href="#page36">36</a>.</li> -<li>Margaret, Queen, <a href="#page115">115</a>.</li> -<li>Marian persecution, <a href="#page132">132</a>.</li> -<li>Marling, <a href="#page98">98</a>.</li> -<li>Marsh, William, <a href="#page132">132</a>.</li> -<li>Martindale, Adam, <a href="#page168">168</a>.</li> -<li>Mary, Queen, <a href="#page132">132</a>.</li> -<li>Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#page150">150</a>.</li> -<li>Massey, Hamon de, <a href="#page71">71</a>.</li> -<li>Melandra Castle, <a href="#page36">36</a>.</li> -<li>Merchant Guilds, <a href="#page88">88</a>.</li> -<li>Meres, <a href="#page15">15</a>.</li> -<li>Mersey, River, <a href="#page12">12</a>.</li> -<li>Middlewich, Roman station of, <a href="#page34">34</a>; -<ul> -<li>Battle of, <a href="#page156">156</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Midsummer Games, <a href="#page151">151</a>.</li> -<li>Millstone Grit, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> -<li>Mobberley, <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>.</li> -<li>Monk, George, <a href="#page166">166</a>.</li> -<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223">223</a></span> -Monmouth, Duke of, <a href="#page169">169</a>.</li> -<li>Moreton Hall, Little, <a href="#page137">137</a>.</li> -<li>Mountain Limestone, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page24">24</a>.</li> -<li>Murage, <a href="#page96">96</a>.</li> -<li>Mural paintings, <a href="#page122">122</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Nantwich, <a href="#page89">89</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>.</li> -<li>Nantwich, Battle of, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</li> -<li>Neolithic Age, <a href="#page26">26</a>.</li> -<li>Neston, <a href="#page87">87</a>, <a href="#page178">178</a>.</li> -<li>Nigel of Halton, <a href="#page61">61</a>.</li> -<li>Norman abbeys, <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page71">71</a>-<a href="#page73">3</a>; -<ul> -<li>architecture, <a href="#page65">65</a>-<a href="#page71">71</a>;</li> -<li>castles, <a href="#page61">61</a>;</li> -<li>churches, <a href="#page65">65</a>;</li> -<li>conquest, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Normans, Coming of the, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> -<li>Norse settlements, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> -<li>Northwich, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a>.</li> -<li>Norton Priory, <a href="#page129">129</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Ordericus Vitalis, <a href="#page60">60</a>.</li> -<li>Oswald, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</li> -<li>Over, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Palaeolithic Age, <a href="#page25">25</a>.</li> -<li>Palatine, County, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</li> -<li>Parish registers, <a href="#page125">125</a>.</li> -<li>Parkgate, <a href="#page178">178</a>.</li> -<li>Peada, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -<li>Penda, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -<li>Peover, Little, <a href="#page106">106</a>.</li> -<li>Permian rocks, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</li> -<li>Perpendicular Architecture, <a href="#page120">120</a>-<a href="#page122">2</a>.</li> -<li>Picts, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> -<li>Placenames, <a href="#page45">45</a>, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> -<li>Plegmund, Archbishop, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> -<li>Plemstall, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> -<li>Port Sunlight, <a href="#page207">207</a>.</li> -<li>Prestbury, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page75">75</a>.</li> -<li>Pretenders, Stuart, <a href="#page172">172</a>.</li> -<li>Prince, John Critchley, <a href="#page215">215</a>.</li> -<li>Prynne, William, <a href="#page152">152</a>.</li> -<li>Pulton Abbey, <a href="#page73">73</a>.</li> -<li>Puritans, <a href="#page150">150</a>, <a href="#page165">165</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Quakers, <a href="#page169">169</a>.</li> -<li>Quarry Bank, <a href="#page190">190</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Railways, <a href="#page192">192</a>-<a href="#page197">7</a>.</li> -<li>Randal Hignet, <a href="#page91">91</a>.</li> -<li>Randle Blundeville, Earl, <a href="#page78">78</a>-<a href="#page81">81</a>.</li> -<li>Randle II, Earl, <a href="#page76">76</a>.</li> -<li>Randle Meschines, Earl, <a href="#page76">76</a>.</li> -<li>Ranulf Higden, <a href="#page101">101</a>.</li> -<li>Reformation, <a href="#page128">128</a>-<a href="#page133">33</a>.</li> -<li>Renaissance, <a href="#page173">173</a>.</li> -<li>Restoration, <a href="#page166">166</a>.</li> -<li>Richard, Earl, <a href="#page76">76</a>.</li> -<li>Richard I, <a href="#page80">80</a>.</li> -<li>Richard II, <a href="#page109">109</a>.</li> -<li>Richard III, <a href="#page117">117</a>.</li> -<li>Rivers of Cheshire, <a href="#page12">12</a>-<a href="#page14">14</a>.</li> -<li>Roe, Charles, <a href="#page192">192</a>.</li> -<li>Roger de Montalt, <a href="#page87">87</a>.</li> -<li>Roman altars, <a href="#page35">35</a>; -<ul> -<li>bricks, <a href="#page40">40</a>;</li> -<li>buildings, <a href="#page38">38</a>;</li> -<li>capitals, <a href="#page39">39</a>;</li> -<li>coins, <a href="#page41">41</a>;</li> -<li>forts, <a href="#page36">36</a>;</li> -<li>hypocausts, <a href="#page39">39</a>;</li> -<li>pottery, <a href="#page41">41</a>;</li> -<li>roads, <a href="#page30">30</a>;</li> -<li>tombstones, <a href="#page34">34</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Romans, Coming of the, <a href="#page29">29</a>.</li> -<li>Roses, Wars of the, <a href="#page115">115</a>.</li> -<li>Rostherne, <a href="#page174">174</a>.</li> -<li>Rowton Moor, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href="#page166">166</a>.</li> -<li>Runcorn, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>, <a href="#page186">186</a>.</li> -<li>Runes, <a href="#page45">45</a>.</li> -<li>Rupert, Prince, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</li> -<li>Rushbearing, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Salt, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page186">186</a>.</li> -<li>Samian ware, <a href="#page41">41</a>.</li> -<li>Sandbach, <a href="#page64">64</a>; -<ul> -<li>battle of, <a href="#page164">164</a>;</li> -<li>crosses, <a href="#page48">48</a>.</li> -</ul> -</li> -<li>Sandstone, New Red, <a href="#page16">16</a>-<a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> -<li>Saxons, Coming of the, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</li> -<li>Scandinavians, <a href="#page51">51</a>-<a href="#page53">3</a>.</li> -<li>Scott, Captain, <a href="#page180">180</a>.</li> -<li>Seven Lows, <a href="#page27">27</a>.</li> -<li>Shakerley, Sir Geoffrey, <a href="#page159">159</a>.</li> -<li>Ship Canal, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>-<a href="#page206">6</a>.</li> -<li>Ship money, <a href="#page153">153</a>.</li> -<li>Shocklach, <a href="#page68">68</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a>.</li> -<li>Shotwick, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page68">68</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>.</li> -<li>Silk manufacture, <a href="#page192">192</a>.</li> -<li>Simon de Montfort, <a href="#page92">92</a>.</li> -<li>Simon of Whitchurch, <a href="#page92">92</a>.</li> -<li>Simon Ripley, <a href="#page122">122</a>.</li> -<li>Speed, John, <a href="#page135">135</a>.</li> -<li>Stalybridge, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</li> -<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224">224</a></span> -Stanlaw, 73.</li> -<li>Stanley Palace, <a href="#page146">146</a>.</li> -<li>Stanleys of Cheshire, <a href="#page99">99</a>, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page213">213</a>.</li> -<li>Steam, Introduction of, <a href="#page189">189</a>.</li> -<li>Stephen, King, <a href="#page76">76</a>.</li> -<li>Stockport, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>.</li> -<li>Stocks, <a href="#page149">149</a>.</li> -<li>Stone Age, <a href="#page25">25</a>.</li> -<li>Storeton, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</li> -<li>Stretford, <a href="#page32">32</a>.</li> -<li>Styal, <a href="#page190">190</a>.</li> -<li>Sunday Schools, <a href="#page207">207</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Tame, River, <a href="#page12">12</a>.</li> -<li>Tarporley, <a href="#page155">155</a>.</li> -<li>Tarvin, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</li> -<li>Thelwall, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</li> -<li>Thingwall, <a href="#page52">52</a>.</li> -<li>Thornton Heath, <a href="#page71">71</a>.</li> -<li>Timber Houses, <a href="#page137">137</a>-<a href="#page141">41</a>.</li> -<li>Tramways, <a href="#page200">200</a>.</li> -<li>Turpin, Dick, <a href="#page179">179</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Vale Royal, <a href="#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>.</li> -<li>van Zoelen, Baron, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</li> -<li>Veratinum, <a href="#page41">41</a>.</li> -<li>Victoria, Queen, <a href="#page204">204</a>-<a href="#page211">11</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Wainwright, John, <a href="#page215">215</a>.</li> -<li>Wakes, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</li> -<li>Wales, Conquest of, <a href="#page94">94</a>.</li> -<li>Wallasey, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page169">169</a>.</li> -<li>Walton, Bishop, <a href="#page167">167</a>.</li> -<li>Warburton, <a href="#page105">105</a>.</li> -<li>Warford, <a href="#page169">169</a>.</li> -<li>Warren, Sir George, <a href="#page183">183</a>.</li> -<li>Watling Street, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>.</li> -<li>Weaver, River, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page186">186</a>.</li> -<li>Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#page182">182</a>.</li> -<li>Werburga, Saint, <a href="#page50">50</a>.</li> -<li>Wesley, John, <a href="#page180">180</a>.</li> -<li>West Kirby, <a href="#page53">53</a>, <a href="#page171">171</a>.</li> -<li>Wilderspool, <a href="#page32">32</a>.</li> -<li>Wilkins, John, <a href="#page167">167</a>.</li> -<li>William the Conqueror, <a href="#page58">58</a>.</li> -<li>William Rufus, <a href="#page75">75</a>.</li> -<li>William III, <a href="#page170">170</a>.</li> -<li>Wilmslow, <a href="#page115">115</a>.</li> -<li>Wirral, <a href="#page9">9</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>.</li> -<li>Witton, <a href="#page133">133</a>.</li> -<li>Woodchurch, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<ul> -<li>Yoredale rocks, <a href="#page23">23</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<p class="p2 center small">Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M.A.</p> - - -<div class=" p2 footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Flint weapons no doubt continued to be used, especially in -remote and hilly districts, even after the arrival of the Celts.</p> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Sometimes the roof was held up by a single 'king-post' in -place of two queen-posts. The 'king-post' reached from the centre of the -tie-beam to the point of the roof.</p> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> i.e. twisting the fine threads into yarn. Those who were -engaged in this particular process were called 'throwsters', just as -spinster meant originally one engaged in spinning.</p> - </div> -</div> - - - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225">225</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2>Some Oxford Books<br /> -<span class="small">on</span><br /> -<span class="large">HISTORY</span></h2> - -<p class="section">❡ <i>General.</i></p> - -<p>THE TEACHING OF HISTORY, by <span class="smcap">C. H. Jarvis</span>. 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W. -Mackail</span>, the late <span class="smcap">Henry Bradley</span>, <span class="smcap">G. McN. Rushforth</span>, <span class="smcap">G. Giovannoni</span>, <span class="smcap">W. E. -Heitland</span>. Edited by <span class="smcap">Cyril Bailey</span>, with an Introduction by the Right Hon. -<span class="smcap">H. H. Asquith</span>. Pp. 524, with 76 illustrations. 8s. 6d. net.</p> - -<p>THE LEGACY OF GREECE. Essays by <span class="smcap">G. Murray</span>, <span class="smcap">W. R. Inge</span>, <span class="smcap">J. Burnet</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">T. -L. Heath</span>, <span class="smcap">D'Arcy W. Thompson</span>, <span class="smcap">Charles Singer</span>, <span class="smcap">R. W. Livingstone</span>, <span class="smcap">A. -Toynbee</span>, <span class="smcap">A. E. Zimmern</span>, <span class="smcap">Percy Gardner</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">R. Blomfield</span>. Pp. 436, with -36 illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.</p> - -<p>COMPANION TO ROMAN HISTORY, by <span class="smcap">H. Stuart Jones</span>. Pp. 484, with 80 plates, -65 other illustrations, and 7 maps. 17s. 6d. n.</p> - -<p>A COMPANION TO CLASSICAL TEXTS, by <span class="smcap">F. W. Hall</span>. Pp. 372, with 7 plates. -9s. 6d. net.</p> - -<p>HISTORICAL PORTRAITS. Chosen by <span class="smcap">Emery Walker</span>. The Lives, by <span class="smcap">C. R. L. -Fletcher</span>, and (in part of Vol. II) <span class="smcap">H. B. Butler</span>. Introductions on the -artists by <span class="smcap">C. F. Bell</span>. In four volumes, each 12s. 6d. net, the complete -set 45s. net; the Portraits separately in envelope 7s. 6d. net each of -four sets. Vol. I, 1400-1600; Vol. II, 1600-1700; Vol. III, 1700-1800; -Vol. IV, 1800-1850. The four volumes contain 480 portraits.</p> - -<p>MEDIAEVAL ENGLAND. A new edition of Barnard's <i>Companion to English -History</i>. Edited by <span class="smcap">H. W. C. Davis</span>. Pp. 654, with photogravure -frontispiece and 359 other illustrations, 21s. net.</p> - -<p>SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND. Being an Account of the Life and Manners of his -Age. Forty-three sections of contributors of authority, with an Ode on -the Tercentenary Commemoration by the Poet Laureate. Two vols. Pp. 1192, -with 2 photogravure frontispieces and 195 illustrations. 42s. net.</p> - -<p>ENGLISH INDUSTRIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES, by <span class="smcap">L. F. Salzman</span>. Pp. 380, with -103 illustrations. 10s. net.</p> - -<p>OXFORD COUNTY HISTORIES, by <span class="smcap">E. A. G. Lamborn</span>, <span class="smcap">C. E. Kelsey</span>, <span class="smcap">F. S. Eden</span>, -<span class="smcap">W. H. Weston</span>, <span class="smcap">F. Clarke</span>, <span class="smcap">E. G. W. Hewlett</span>, <span class="smcap">H. A. Liddell</span>, <span class="smcap">T. Auden</span>, and -<span class="smcap">J. L. Brockbank</span>. 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With 90 coloured -maps and 182 pages of double column letterpress. <i>Prices on -application.</i></p> - -<p class="p2 center"><span class="large">OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS</span><br /> -<span class="small">Amen House, Warwick Square, E.C. 4</span></p> - - -<p class="transnote">Transcriber's note:<br /> -Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have -been preserved. Obvious typographical and errors have been corrected.</p> - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cheshire, by Charles E. 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Kelsey - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Cheshire - -Author: Charles E. Kelsey - -Release Date: June 6, 2013 [EBook #42887] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHESHIRE *** - - - - -Produced by floofles, sp1nd and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE. ROADS] - - - - - OXFORD COUNTY HISTORIES - - CHESHIRE - - BY CHARLES E. KELSEY, M.A. - - - WITH TEN MAPS AND FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS - - - OXFORD - AT THE CLARENDON PRESS - 1911 - - - HENRY FROWDE, M.A. - PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD - LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK - TORONTO AND MELBOURNE - - - - -PREFACE - - -The aim of the present volume in the Oxford Series of County Histories -for Schools is to assist the study of the progress of the English people -by an examination of local antiquities, visits to ancient sites and -buildings, and suggestions of big national movements from local -incident. An attempt is made to foster the powers of observation in -children by showing them how to connect various styles of architecture, -for instance, with successive stages in the story of their county, and -to construct from familiar objects the broad outlines of national -history. Thus it is hoped that sooner or later the teaching of history -may become, to some extent, an _out-of-school_ subject and take its -place side by side with outdoor Nature-study and Practical Geography in -the curriculum of our schools. - -In rural districts this end is obviously more easily attainable than in -large industrial centres. In the latter the expense of moving classes of -children from their schools to visit a site some miles distant would be -no doubt considerable; but is it too visionary to hope that before long -a motor-bus, capable of carrying a class of thirty or forty boys and -girls, will be deemed by Educational Committees a necessary part of -their 'apparatus'? - -Apart from the educative value of such work there would, as the children -grow up, arise a body of public opinion which could give valuable help -in saving historic sites and buildings from loss or destruction, and -preventing the removal of antiquities from their natural home. Cheshire -has suffered perhaps more than her share of both these evils, and looks -with sorrowful eyes at many of her treasures housed in the museums of -towns beyond her borders. - -All students of Cheshire history owe much to Ormerod's great work. But -his history is largely genealogical, and personally I wish to -acknowledge a greater debt to the labours and transactions of local -societies, particularly the Chester Archaeological Society and the -Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society. Many learned members of -these two bodies have made most important contributions to our knowledge -of ancient and mediaeval Cheshire within the most recent years. Among -other works consulted I may mention the _Palatine Note Book_, _Cheshire -Notes and Queries_, and Morris's _Diocesan History of Chester_. I have -received kindly assistance from several Cheshire clergymen, and to all -who have given me permission to take photographs within their churches I -express my thanks. - -The maps, drawings, and photographs are original, with few exceptions. I -am indebted to the Council of the Chester Archaeological Society, and -the Grosvenor Museum for the loan of the block of a Roman tombstone from -a photograph by Mr. R. Newstead, and to Mr. Alfred Newstead, Curator of -the Museum, for photographs of the Runic stone and Roman altar. - -The Rev. J. F. Tristram, of the Hulme Grammar School, read the two -geological chapters and made valuable suggestions. To the Clarendon -Press I am grateful for much kind help and criticism. - - THE HULME GRAMMAR SCHOOL, - MANCHESTER, - _July, 1911_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - I. POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE 9 - II. THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (1) 16 - III. THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (_continued_) (2) 21 - IV. EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE 25 - V. THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE (1) 29 - VI. THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE (2) 36 - VII. SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE 43 - VIII. THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE 47 - IX. THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN 51 - X. THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE 58 - XI. THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE 64 - XII. THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE 74 - XIII. THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 81 - XIV. GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE 87 - XV. EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE 92 - XVI. THE COMING OF THE FRIARS 99 - XVII. A DEPOSED KING 107 - XVIII. THE RIVAL ROSES 114 - XIX. CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES 118 - XX. THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING 128 - XXI. ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE (1) 134 - XXII. ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE (2) 143 - XXIII. THE RULE OF THE STUARTS 150 - XXIV. CIVIL WAR: (1) THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH 153 - XXV. CIVIL WAR: (2) A MEMORABLE SIEGE 158 - XXVI. CIVIL WAR: (3) THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION 163 - XXVII. THE FALL OF THE STUARTS 167 - XXVIII. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1) 173 - XXIX. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (2) 180 - XXX. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (1) 183 - XXXI. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (2) 188 - XXXII. THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE 192 - XXXIII. PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 198 - XXXIV. THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN 204 - XXXV. FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE 211 - XXXVI. CONCLUSION 216 - - INDEX 220 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -POSITION AND NATURAL FEATURES OF CHESHIRE - - -Few English counties owe more of their history to their geographical -position and surroundings, and to the character of their natural -features, than Cheshire. Not only in the past have the rocks and rivers -of Cheshire helped to make history, but even to-day they have a very -direct bearing upon the fortunes of Cheshire men and women. How many of -us reflect, as our eyes travel over the plain to the distant hills, that -on the wise and orderly arrangement of mountain and valley, forest and -winding stream, our very existence and means of livelihood depend? Truly -Nature has other work to do than merely create picturesque landscapes. - -Cheshire is situated in the north-west of England, washed partly by the -Irish Sea, and guarded as it were on its eastern and western sides by -two great ramparts of hill country, that on the east formed by the -southern spurs of the Pennine Chain, while the Welsh hills of Flint and -Denbigh are the natural frontier on the west. - -The western boundary, however, which has been frequently changed, now -follows roughly the Valley of the Dee. A semicircle of hills of lesser -height fringes the county on the south, and the river Mersey divides it -from its northern neighbour, Lancashire. - -In the north-west of the county a rectangular stretch of country known -as Wirral is washed by two great estuaries and by the Irish Sea, and a -wedge of moorland in the north-east penetrates into the heart of the -Pennines. Here the hills reach their greatest height, Black Hill the -highest point in Cheshire being just under 2,000 feet above sea-level. -The low-lying lands enclosed by this amphitheatre of hills form the -Cheshire Plain, broken only by ridges or terraces of low sandstone -hills running north and south. - -A glance at a map of the British Isles will show you that Cheshire lies -in the very heart of the three kingdoms. Its geographical position has -thus made it a meeting-place of nations, and you will see in later -chapters that all the peoples that have helped to make our national -history have in turn realized the importance of its position, and have -fought desperately for its possession. Briton and Roman, Angle and Saxon -and Dane, Welsh and Norman have all left some mark of their presence in -the county, and from these many elements is derived the blood that flows -in the veins of nearly all Cheshire boys and girls of to-day. - -Now look at the map opposite. The shaded portions represent land over -300, 600, or 1,000 feet above sea-level. In the south, the eastern and -western uplands slope gradually down towards the bit of white which -touches the centre of the bottom of the map and forms what is known as -the Cheshire Gap. Through this gap the Midlands lie open to the -north-west and to the Cheshire Plain, and over these lower heights -naturally passed the great highway from London to the Irish Sea. -Chester, built on a rocky plateau at the head of the tidal waters of the -Dee and protected on its western side by a natural bend of the same -river, was clearly a position of great importance for guarding alike the -coast road into North Wales and the roads to the north of England; and -there is no doubt that it was held as a fortified post long before the -Romans built the Roman city of Deva. - -For many centuries this stronghold was one of the chief military -outposts and frontier towns of England, not often free from war's -alarms, and the sentinels on her walls and watch-towers ever on the -look-out for the approach of some new enemy. Chester became the 'base' -or head-quarters from which all military campaigns in the north-west, in -Wales or in Ireland were carried out, united with the metropolis by the -great road that passed through the heart of England, along which armies -could march without any difficult hills to cross and hardly a river of -any great size to bridge. In later and more peaceful times, for the -same geographical reasons, the London and North-Western Railway, the -lineal descendant of the ancient 'Watling Street', laid its lines on -nearly the same ground as the old highway, and is thus the easiest as -well as the most direct of all routes from London to the north-west. - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE CONTOUR MAP] - -With the exception of the Dee, which rises near Lake Bala in Wales, the -rivers of Cheshire have their sources in the eastern or southern -uplands. For eight months of the year moisture-laden winds blow from the -sea across the Cheshire Plain and deposit their rains upon the hills. In -the hilly country of the north-east, where the rainfall is greatest, the -water is gathered and stored in a number of reservoirs in Longdendale; -and the moist climate is the chief reason why this district is the seat -of the cotton industry, for cotton threads become brittle in a dry -atmosphere. In the valleys of the Tame and Goyt the abundance of fresh -running water from the hills formerly caused many mills for the -bleaching, dyeing and printing of calicoes to be erected on or near the -streams. Nowadays, however, owing to the greater supply of water brought -by pipes from a distance, mills are erected principally on the outskirts -of the great towns and nearer the centres of population. Hence in the -villages of the Goyt it is no uncommon sight to see the tottering walls -of mills that have been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin and -decay. - -The combined waters of the Etherow, Tame, and Goyt form the Mersey at -Stockport. Only the left bank of this river is in Cheshire. Moreover, -for a large part of its course it has been 'canalized', so that it no -longer flows between its natural banks, but down the artificial channel -of the Manchester Ship Canal. The estuary of the Mersey, which is three -to four miles across at its widest point, narrows at Birkenhead to a -width of barely three-quarters of a mile. At this point the river is -kept open to the largest vessels afloat by constant dredging. Here in -the docks you may see ships of all nations, and generally one or more of -our huge ocean greyhounds riding at anchor in mid-river or awaiting -but the turn of the tide to take out their cargoes of human lives to -distant lands. - - [Illustration: SOURCES OF RIVERS IN E. CHESHIRE] - -The Weaver, on the other hand, is wholly a Cheshire river, rising in the -Peckforton Hills in the south-west of the county. The Mersey and the -Weaver receive a number of tributaries, of which the Bollin and the Dane -are the most important, from the eastern highlands, - - the high-crowned Shutlingslawe - ... with those proud hills whence rove - The lovely sister brooks the silvery Dane and Dove, - Clear Dove that makes to Trent, the other to the West. - -At Northwich the Weaver becomes navigable as far as the Mersey. - -The rivers flow mainly in a westerly or north-westerly direction. -Spreading evenly over the plain in almost parallel lines, they serve to -drain and fertilize the land, which thus affords the finest pasturage -for cattle. Dairy-farming and stock-raising have therefore become the -principal occupation of the inhabitants of the Cheshire midlands; and on -market days the piles of the famous Cheshire cheese are generally the -first thing we notice in the open market-places of our country towns. - -The most noticeable feature of the county are the two estuaries of the -Dee and the Mersey. The tract enclosed between them is for the most part -flat, Heswall Hill, the highest point, being little more than 300 feet -in height, and the lowest parts have to be protected from the inroads of -the sea by long embankments. Several portions were in fact, at one time -separated from the mainland, like Hilbre Isle at the present day, as is -shown by the names Wallasey, 'isle of the Welsh or strangers,' and Ince -'an island'. In the Middle Ages, owing to the importance of Chester, the -Dee was the principal outlet for the trade of the north-west, as Bristol -was for the south-west of England. In those days Liverpool was but an -insignificant town, and the Mersey was known as the 'Creek of Chester'. -But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the shipping trade of the -Dee declined owing to the great accumulation of sand and silt in the -channel. When vessels could no longer unload or ship their merchandise -under the walls of Chester a quay was formed at Shotwick, some six miles -along the northern shore of the estuary. In this neighbourhood over two -thousand acres of land have been recovered from the sea that once flowed -over them. Navigation was partially restored as far as Chester for small -vessels by a new artificial channel, but since the rise of the cotton -and other great industries in South Lancashire Liverpool and Birkenhead -have replaced Chester and become the second port in the kingdom. - -Cheshire also possesses a miniature 'Lake District'. Between the Bollin -and the Weaver are scattered many lakelets or 'meres'. They are -particularly numerous in the salt districts, where they are due to the -pumping of brine which has been going on for ages, and caused the -sinking down of the overlying rocks. In the neighbourhood of Northwich -the sheets of water thus formed are called 'flashes'. - -The county still contains much 'forest', that is, uncultivated land. The -hilly country of the east consists mostly of bleak and barren moorland, -affording but poor pasturage for sheep and used mainly for the -preservation of game. Such names as Wildboarclough, Wolf's Edge, Cat's -Tor, Eagle's Crag, and many others, show clearly the wild and desolate -character of this district. Extensive woods are found in the valleys and -'cloughs' of the Etherow and Goyt. Delamere was once a deer forest -extending as far as Nantwich, but in the last hundred years the greater -part of it has been cultivated. Many towns and villages still retain -their 'common' land, often bright with patches of broom and gorse, while -the numerous and extensive parks of the great landowners are justly -noted for their fine forest trees. - -To many of you the natural features described in this chapter must be a -familiar sight. Some of you have perhaps stood by the beacon on Alderley -Edge or by the sham ruins on the summit of Mow Cop, and viewed wide -stretches of the Cheshire Plain. Others have looked down from the -Frodsham Hills upon the estuary of the Mersey mapped out at their feet, -or from the walls of Chester have gazed upon the purple hills of Wales. -But the surface of the county suffered many changes before it assumed -its present aspect, and we must now see what story the stones have to -tell us of bygone ages when Cheshire was yet in the making. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE. I - -THE NEWER ROCKS - - There rolls the deep where grew the tree: - O earth, what changes hast thou seen! - There, where the long street roars, hath been - The stillness of the central sea. - - -Nearly every Cheshire boy has visited at some time or another a quarry -in the neighbourhood of the town or village where he dwells. He will -probably have noticed that beneath the two or three feet of soil at the -top of the quarry the rocks are arranged in beds or 'strata' piled one -upon another in horizontal rows, or sometimes sloping in parallel lines -towards the bottom of the quarry. When and how were these beds of rock -formed and laid down? - -If our quarry is in the central or western parts of Cheshire we shall -find that the rocks are of a reddish colour, generally hard and gritty, -but sometimes so soft that pieces may be crushed into fragments with the -fingers. These rocks are known as the New Red sandstones, and are -largely used for building purposes. Chester Cathedral and a great number -of Cheshire churches have been built of this material; and the hillsides -where the rocks crop out above the soil often glow with a rich warm red -in the evening sunlight. You may see them best perhaps in the railway -cuttings in the neighbourhood of Frodsham and Chester, or in the great -quarries at Storeton-in-Wirral and Runcorn. - - [Illustration: GEOLOGICAL MAP] - -These beds of sandstone are really wide stretches of the sandy shores of -an ancient sea, which have been pressed into a solid substance by the -weight of other layers of rock deposited over them in later ages. Thus -they belong to a group of what are called 'water-laid' rocks. We know -that seas once flowed over them because some of the beds show the -ripple-marks that we see so often in the sands when walking by the -sea-shore. A fearful looking monster, with the equally terrible name of -labyrinthodont, in appearance rather like a gigantic frog, has left his -'footprints in the sands' in the rocks near Lymm and Weston. You will -probably not be able to find these footprints, but in the museums at -Manchester and Warrington you may see them on large slabs of sandstone -rock. How would you like to meet one of these reptiles to-day, wallowing -in the mud on the shores of some Cheshire mere? On the same slabs you -will see suncracks which tell us of the baking of sand and mud in the -sun's rays when the tide has gone down. - -The lower layers of the New Red Sandstone are of a paler colour, light -brown or almost white. To these the name of 'Bunter' has been given to -distinguish them from the upper and therefore later deposits known as -'Keuper' sandstone. The Bunter beds are found chiefly in the west of the -county, and in Wirral, where you may see the Keuper rocks of Storeton -Hill sticking up above the layers of Bunter stone that surround and -underlie them. - -The greater part of the surface of Cheshire consists of these rocks. -Alderley Edge and Helsby Hill, the hills of Delamere and Peckforton are -composed of it, and it crops out often in our village streets. The steps -of the village cross at Lymm are cut out of a piece of rock which sticks -out in the middle of the road. - -In the sandstone beds at Northwich, Winsford, and Middlewich are layers -of rock salt from which we obtain our salt for food and other domestic -uses. The salt was formed at a time when the sea was gradually -disappearing from the surface of Cheshire leaving inland salt lakes, -which, becoming dried up, deposited beds of salt crystals. These, like -the sandstone, became pressed into a solid condition by the weight of -other layers. Where the salt has been taken out of the earth the upper -layers have sunk from time to time. At Northwich the land is continually -sinking, and you may see houses and chimneys cracked and twisted out of -their proper shape as if they had been visited by an earthquake. Often -the hollows where the land has sunk have become filled with water and -produced the numerous meres or small lakes dotted about the county. In -the valley of the Weaver they are locally known as 'flashes'. - - [Illustration: STRIATED BOULDER (ERRATIC): HIGH LEGH] - -When, in the course of time, the red sandstone formed the dry land of -Cheshire, it became covered by a great ice-sheet which extended over -Britain even as far south as the Thames valley. Beneath this covering of -ice the rocks were crushed and ground to atoms by the movement of the -ice-sheet over them. This formed beds of a substance called -boulder-clay, containing lumps of rock which must have been brought by -the ice great distances, for they are of a kind found only in the north -of England or in Scotland. Some of these 'boulders' are of great size. -Several have been placed in Vernon Park, Stockport, and in the West -Park, Macclesfield, you may see one that was dug up in the neighbourhood -of the town. It weighs about thirty tons. On Eddisbury Hill is a mass of -rock, ten feet long, of a kind found only on Skiddaw in the Lake -District, and in the narrow lane behind the 'Wizard' Inn on Alderley -Edge is a lump of granite from Eskdale, so that these rocks have been -brought by the ice a distance of a hundred miles. Such blocks and -boulders are called 'erratics', because they have wandered so far from -their original home. Another proof of the existence of the ice-sheet may -be seen in the scratchings and marks (called 'striae') on pebbles and -rocks found in these beds. In the lane outside the church at High Legh -are a number of large boulders which still show the lines of furrows and -scratchings made on their surface by the movement of the ice over them. - -The boulder-clay has been worn away by the action of water and weather -from a great part of Cheshire, but in the west of the county large -patches may be seen in the low-lying districts. You may observe the beds -most clearly in the cliffs of boulder-clay on the estuary of the Dee -between Heswall and West Kirby. In the neighbourhood of Chester, many of -the villages--Tarvin, Christleton, Aldford, Saighton, and Barrow, for -instance--are built on sandstone knolls and ridges which stick up -through the boulder-clay, for the sandstone is drier and healthier than -the clay to live upon, and the wells, especially those in the Bunter -beds, provide the purest water. - -As the ice-sheet melted and the glaciers or ice-rivers retreated -northwards when the climate became warmer, beds of sand, gravel, and -stones were spread over the Cheshire plain. These are called drift beds. -The stones and pebbles are rounded by the streams of melted ice and -snow which flowed from the mouths of the ice-rivers. Upon the beds of -drift lies the surface soil in which grow the crops and grass, the -herbage and the woods of to-day; and it is in the drift, as you will see -in a later chapter, that traces of the earliest inhabitants of Cheshire -are to be found. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE MAKING OF CHESHIRE (_cont._). II - -THE OLDER ROCKS - - -Let us now visit some quarries in East Cheshire. We shall find -considerable difficulty in reaching some of them. It will be necessary -to get permission from the owners of the quarries, put on a special suit -of clothes, enter an iron cage, and descend many hundred feet perhaps -into the depths of the earth's surface until we find ourselves--in a -coal-mine! - - [Illustration: SECTION OF ROCKS FROM KNUTSFORD TO BUXTON] - -Unlike the New Red Sandstones, which are found for the most part in flat -horizontal beds, the coal beds slope downwards from east to west. This -is due to the uplifting of the East Cheshire hills, which we shall -presently explain. When this uplift took place, the coal beds, which -were originally flat, became raised in the east and equally lowered in -the west. When the sea flowed over them they became covered by sandy -deposits of such a thickness that in the greater part of Cheshire the -coal cannot be reached. The earliest sands laid down formed what are -called the Permian rocks, and the later layers the New Red Sandstone -series mentioned in the last chapter. The Permian rocks may be well seen -at Stockport, in the river beds of the Tame and the Goyt which have cut -their way through them. In the strip of country between Stockport and -Macclesfield, and again on the south-eastern borders of Cheshire, the -upturned edges of the coal beds have been left exposed so that the coal -is near the surface and can be easily extracted. - -Coal consists of the vegetable remains of forest trees and their -undergrowth. If you look at a lump of coal you will see that it has been -pressed down into thin layers like the leaves of a book. When these -layers are split apart there are often found the fossil remains of -leaves and roots of trees, fronds of ferns, seed-cones and stems of -plants which grew in the forests. Some of these, particularly the ferns, -are often of great beauty. You may see a number of these 'coal pictures' -in the Vernon Park Museum at Stockport. Here too you will find portions -of the actual trunks of trees that have been dug up just where they -stood when the seas flowed over them. - -You may learn even to distinguish different varieties of these forest -trees, just as you are able to distinguish the oak and the beech and the -elm of to-day. Latin names such as Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, and -Salisburia have been given to them. The most beautiful of all is a -Maidenhair Tree-fern. The Calamites was a huge 'Horse-tail' plant of -which you may find small varieties to-day on banks and in hedgerows. - -On the coast of Wirral, between Meols and New Brighton, are the remains -of a forest which has only in very recent years been covered by the sea. -Boys who live in this neighbourhood may have heard their parents tell of -the stumps of tree-trunks sticking out through the sands when the tide -was low. This shows that the land is continually undergoing changes, at -one time being raised above the seas, at another time sinking beneath -the waves. - -The beds or 'seams' of coal vary in thickness from a thin film to -several yards, and are separated from one another by layers of hard -clays and flagstones. From the flagstone beds are obtained the square -slabs with which the pavements of our towns and cities are laid. In many -of the quarries near the Cheshire coal-field you may watch the workmen -cutting and shaping these stones. - -The beds of clays and seams of coal make up what are called the 'Coal -Measures'. These in their turn rest upon a foundation of hard rock, -harder than any we have yet examined, called Millstone Grit or -Gritstone. Boys who live in the hilly parts of East Cheshire are very -familiar with it, for very probably the houses in which they live and -the churches and chapels where they worship have been built of this -stone. It is composed of coarse sand and grit, and, like the red -sandstone, is a waterlaid deposit several thousand feet in thickness. -The Pennine Hills, on the borderland of Cheshire and Derbyshire, are -covered with Millstone Grit, which has been thrust upwards by the -crumpling and arching of the rocks beneath it. - -Below the Gritstone are still older rocks of a different character -called the Limestone series. The uppermost beds contain layers of a -sandy substance called Yoredale sandstones. Mixed with them are layers -of shale, a dark bluish grey clay that crumbles into thin fragments when -crushed with the hand, and thin seams of limestone and, occasionally, of -coal. These are the oldest rocks that are found anywhere in Cheshire. -You may see them in the hills east of Macclesfield and Congleton and the -higher parts of Longdendale. Below these beds is a mass of Mountain -Limestone which has been forced upwards into an arch by tremendous -pressure of rocks from either side, and has lifted up the Gritstone -above to a height of nearly two thousand feet. In this way the -highlands of East Cheshire, and indeed the whole of the Pennine Chain, -have been formed. The Mountain Limestone, which consists almost entirely -of animal remains, especially shells and corals, extends right under the -highest hills of Cheshire, and comes to light in the cliffs of the -beautiful dales of Derbyshire. Only at one spot, a quarry near Astbury, -does it appear at the surface in Cheshire. - -The Coal Measures, Millstone Grit, Yoredale sandstones, and Mountain -Limestone make up what geologists call the Carboniferous or Coal-bearing -series, so called because in England our chief supplies of coal are -obtained from this group of rocks. - -But we should have to dig deeper even than the Mountain Limestone before -we could reach the original surface of the earth in Cheshire. Long ages -ago, ages so distant that not even the most learned men of science can -reckon them, our earth was a globe of fiery molten rock. As the surface -gradually cooled it became wrinkled, as a baked apple will when taken -from an oven. Water collected in the hollows into which fragments of -rock were washed down from the ridges, and thus the waters were raised -and formed into seas and lakes. But we shall not find any of these rocks -in Cheshire, though you may see them in great masses in the mountains of -Cumberland and Wales, where they have been forced upwards by the violent -movements always at work in the interior of the earth. It is of these -molten rocks that the mass of stone which was brought by the ice from -Cumberland and left on Eddisbury Hill is composed. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -EARLY INHABITANTS OF CHESHIRE - - -A few years ago some workmen digging on the high ground of Alderley Edge -came across a number of flint stones, which from their shape and the -marks of chipping upon them had clearly been fashioned by the hand of -man. Some of the flints were shaped like a knife blade with a sharp edge -on their entire length, and others of a more or less oval shape had a -keen edge on one of their curves. The former were the knives with which -the earliest men of Cheshire cut the flesh of animals for food; the -latter were the scrapers with which they removed the flesh from the -bones or from the hides that provided them with clothing. - -Flints, however, are not naturally found in any of the Cheshire rocks; -they must be sought for in the districts where chalk hills abound. -Clearly therefore these men must have brought their tools and weapons -with them when they first came into Cheshire from the east or from the -south. Afterwards, no doubt, they bargained for them, giving skins and -furs in exchange. - -Men first made their homes in Cheshire when the glaciers of the Great -Ice Age retreated northwards and the climate became more suitable for -human habitation. A flint arrow-head found during some excavations at -Clulow Cross near Wincle, tells us that men lived then by hunting, -depending for their food on the flesh of wild beasts. They lived in -caves or in holes dug in the ground. The roughly-chipped stone axe in -the Grosvenor Museum was made by these men. - -The Flint men, or men of the Old Stone Age, probably came originally -from the mainland of Europe to which Britain at that time was joined, -the North Sea and English Channel being then dry land. The reindeer, -the mammoth, the wild ox, and packs of hungry wolves and hyenas roamed -over Cheshire in those days. - -These Flint men were succeeded by other races of New Stone men who found -that they could manufacture their necessary tools out of the boulders -embedded in the drift and boulder-clay. The men who dug up the knives -and scrapers of Alderley found near Mottram Common a heap of small -boulders carefully placed in a pit dug in the ground and clearly -selected for some useful purpose. For out of these stones were to be cut -and shaped stone hammer-heads with which they learned to crush copper -ore and axe-heads to cut down trees. Some of the hammer-heads themselves -have been found in this locality, and they are made of a stone similar -to that of the unbroken boulders. The stone 'celt' or axe-head in Vernon -Park Museum shows that they were improving in their skill and -workmanship, for their tools were no longer chipped into their required -shape but ground with hard mill-stones and afterwards smoothed and -polished. Afterwards, as you may see from the specimen in the Grosvenor -Museum, which has a hole cut through it, the New Stone men learned how -to fit handles to their axe-heads. - -In the course of time these primitive dwellers learned to tame and train -animals for their service and use. They were protected from attack by -wild beasts by circles of piled stones or raised earth covered with -turf. Traces of these circles have in recent years been found at -Alderley Edge, but they have been mostly levelled for agricultural -purposes. - -They also taught themselves the art of pottery, making rough jars and -urns of sun-dried clay and sand, jars wherein to store their water, and -urns in which to place the remains of their dead. One of these urns, dug -up at Stretton, may be seen in the Warrington Museum. - -The Stone men were succeeded by tribes of an entirely different race -called Celts. The Celts drove out the earlier inhabitants from their -Cheshire homes, compelling them to seek refuge in Wales and Ireland. -They came not all at once but in successive waves, the earliest arrivals -being the Goidelic or Gaelic Celts, who in their turn were ousted by -the Brythonic Celts, from whom the name of Briton is derived. These are -the ancestors of the Welsh nation. - -The Brythons, or Britons as we may now call them, were a more -intelligent and civilized race than any that had hitherto dwelt in the -land. They were a pastoral people, and brought with them great herds of -cattle, as well as horses and dogs. They could spin and sew, making -their spindles and needles of bone or horn, and grew corn, which they -ground with hand-mills. - -But the Britons must have been continually fighting against fresh -incoming tribes, for on some of the hill-tops of Cheshire you may see -the camps and earthworks which they made for their defence and refuge in -time of war. Suitable positions were chosen, with one side guarded by -precipitous cliffs if possible, the whole being enclosed except on the -steep side by a raised rampart of earth and a ditch. These earthworks -are circular or oval with gaps on either side for entrances. At Bucton -Castle, high above Mossley and the Tame Valley, at Kelsborrow Castle in -Delamere Forest, and Maiden Castle in the Broxton Hills, British -encampments may still be seen. - -The Britons were very particular about the burial of their dead. Over -the graves of their chiefs they erected great round 'barrows'. Many of -these barrows, or, to give them their Latin name, 'tumuli,' may be seen -to-day, and several of them have been opened and examined. In a field -near Oakmere, not far from the high-road that passes through Delamere -Forest, is a cluster of barrows called the 'Seven Lows' which clearly -mark an early settlement of considerable importance. They vary in size -from fifteen to thirty yards in diameter. One of them, when opened, was -found to contain an urn with charred human remains within it. The urn -was inverted, the better to support the weight of soil above it, and was -set in the middle of a floored space over which was a thin layer of -charcoal. This seems to show that a funeral pyre was erected on which -the body was first burnt, the remains being then gathered and placed in -the urn. The barrow was erected over the urn by piling stones and -covering them with soil and turf. Burial urns have been found at Castle -Hill Cob and Glead Hill Cob in Delamere Forest, and at Twemlow where -there is a group of five tumuli. - -In the hilly district of East Cheshire, where rocks are plentiful, the -burial grounds were marked by circles of upright stones. There are some -remains of such circles on the moorland near Clulow Cross. Among the -burnt bones in a barrow at this spot were found a flint[1] knife and -arrow-head, for it was believed that the dead man would require his -tools and weapons after death just as in his lifetime. For the same -reason often the wives and slaves of a chief were sacrificed or cremated -at his death to serve and wait upon him in another world. The barrows -were also used by the tribes as a place of assembly for their religious -rites, when prayers and human victims were offered to their gods and to -the spirits of their dead leaders, who, as they believed, would continue -to watch over them and help them in battle. - - [1] Flint weapons no doubt continued to be used, especially in - remote and hilly districts, even after the arrival of the Celts. - -The Brythonic Celts came to Britain between 1,000 B.C. and 500 B.C., and -were acquainted with the use and manufacture of bronze implements. Hence -the period during which they arrived and lived in Britain is called the -Bronze Age. The bronze 'celt' in the Grosvenor Museum was found in the -camp at Kelsborrow, and when the railway was cut at Wilmslow an urn -containing bones and a bronze dagger was dug up. The urn and dagger are -now in the museum at Peel Park, Salford. - -The river valleys and the lowlands of Cheshire were in those days swampy -and unhealthy, so the Britons lived as much as possible in the higher -parts, which were also more suitable for agricultural pursuits. On the -crests or slopes of hills were tracks or ridgeways for pack-horses, -leading from one settlement to another. On Werneth Low, Eddisbury Hill, -and Alderley Edge, these ancient ridgeways may still be traced. When men -went down to the rivers to fish they carried on their backs light -coracles of plaited reeds covered with skin, such as the fishermen -still use on the Dee between Farndon and Bangor where the water is too -rapid or shallow for boats. - -Roman writers have left us descriptions of the Britons who lived in the -centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ; from them we learn -that, although the British tribes were mainly occupied in fighting -against one another, a certain amount of trade was carried on with -travellers and merchants from other lands, and that they dwelt in -'towns' or collections of wattled huts surrounded by a stockade and -ditch. From the numerous fragments of British pottery that have been -unearthed in the neighbourhood of Chester, we gather that there was a -British town of considerable importance on the site of the later city, -and traders from the Mediterranean, who visited this country, may well -have moored their vessels in the tidal waters of the Dee. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. I - - -In the previous chapters all that we know of Cheshire and its people has -been learned from unwritten records, 'stories in stones', and from such -scanty remains as have been brought to light by excavation and careful -examination of the soil. From this time onwards our knowledge will be -much more extensive and sure, for we shall have _written_ records left -by men who lived in the times of which they wrote. - -Fifty-four years before the birth of Christ the British inhabitants of -Cheshire must have heard of the landing on the southern shores of -Britain of the drilled and disciplined soldiers of one of the greatest -generals that ever lived. Julius Caesar, who first led the Roman eagles -into Britain, has given us in his 'Commentaries' a description of the -Britain of his day and of its inhabitants. Some of the fierce hill-men -of East Cheshire may possibly have fought against him, for he tells us -that the British tribes ceased making war on one another, and united -themselves under a single leader called Cassivellaunus to resist the -invaders. After a decisive victory--at least, according to his own -account--Caesar returned with his legions to the Continent, and ninety -years passed by before the Romans came again, this time to make a long -stay of nearly four hundred years. - -About the year A.D. 50 the Roman axe might be heard hewing a road -through the dense forests which in those days almost surrounded the city -of Chester. A Roman governor, Ostorius Scapula, was busy in the -neighbouring county of Shropshire making war on the sturdy Welsh-Britons -of the borderland of Wales, and fortifying the city which he built under -the shadow of the Wrekin. From this point, slowly but surely, the Roman -soldiers made their way through forest and foe to Chester, or Deva as it -was then called. This was the chief town of a tribe called the Cornavii, -a pastoral people occupying the present county of Cheshire, except the -hilly districts of the north-east, where the Brigantes, a more warlike -tribe than the Cornavii, had their homes. - -The Romans did not, however, capture Chester without a struggle. The -city was well protected on its western and southern sides by the river -Dee, whose waters spread over the Roodee right up to where the walls of -the city now stand. Only from the east could the place be attacked, and -the highest points of Delamere Forest and the Peckforton Hills are still -marked by the British encampments and earthworks where the Britons made -their last stand, and by green earth-mounds or 'tumuli' where the dead -bodies of their leaders were buried. - -If you take up an Ordnance Map you will often find a length of road -running quite straight for some miles. Such roads will nearly always -prove to have been the work of the Romans, for the Romans made their -roads direct from point to point, like modern railways, their chief -object being to enable troops to march rapidly from one military station -to another. Two straight pieces of Roman road enter the city of Chester, -one on the south and the other on the east. - - [Illustration: ROMAN ROADS IN CHESHIRE] - -The Romans were skilful engineers and did their work very thoroughly, -clearing the forest land as they advanced, and draining marshes or -laying stone causeways across them. Bridges were built, though not every -bridge now called Roman was the work of the Romans. The 'Roman bridge' -near Marple was not built until many centuries after the last Romans had -left Cheshire, but it may well mark the spot where, according to -tradition, a Roman bridge had once stood. - -More often, where the roads crossed rivers, fords were marked by stakes, -and the bed of the river carefully laid with stones. In the Museum at -Vernon Park is a paving-stone taken from the Mersey at Stockport where -probably the Roman road crossed the river. The Roman roads were paved -throughout, except where they were hewn out of the solid rock. - -The road through Delamere Forest was part of the 'Watling Street' which -went in an almost straight line from Deva to Manchester, called by the -Romans Mancunium. Stretford is the place where the Roman 'street' -crossed the Mersey. The modern high-road from Chester to Manchester for -nearly its entire length keeps very close to the line of the ancient -Watling Street, only departing from the older road to avoid hills. At -such points the straight track of the Roman road can still be traced in -the fields and woodland. Often in the neighbourhood of Tarvin and -Kelsall has the pickaxe or the spade of the labourer struck against the -Roman paving-stones. - -When an excavation was made at Organsdale, midway between the villages -of Kelsall and Delamere, a portion of the Roman Watling Street, cut in -the solid sandstone, was discovered, still showing the wheel-ruts worn -on the surface by Roman and British carts. In other parts of the forest, -when the crops are in, you may see lines of raised earth and gravel -where the ancient road was laid along an embankment. - -At Northwich, which the Romans called Salinae or the 'saltworks', a -second road, which entered Cheshire at Wilderspool near Warrington, -crossed Watling Street at right angles and ran in a perfectly straight -line to Middlewich or 'Condate'. This road was called by the Saxons Kind -or King Street, and was continued southwards to Nantwich. - - [Illustration: TOMBSTONE TO CAECILIUS AVITUS (GROSVENOR MUSEUM)] - -The Grosvenor Museum at Chester contains a large collection of stones -with figures and inscriptions carved upon them, and other objects from -which we may learn a great deal about the Roman conquerors. The -inscriptions, which are of course in Latin, the language of the Romans, -show that Chester was an important garrison town, and the head-quarters -of the Twentieth Legion. A legion, or division, of the Roman army -contained about five thousand men. - -A number of these relics are tombstones of the legionary soldiers who -were stationed here. You may distinguish them by the opening words DIS -MANIBUS, or shortly D.M., which practically means in English, 'To the -memory of.' The inscriptions then give the name of the soldier and his -native place, his age, and the name of the 'century' or company to which -he belonged. Women accompanied the legion, as you may see from a -tombstone of a centurion and his wife. Another stone of which a picture -is given, shows the ordinary dress, the tunic and belt of a Roman -soldier. In most of the inscriptions on these stones are the letters VV, -which are the initials of the words 'Valeria Victrix', the victorious -Valerian, by which name the Twentieth Legion was known. The badge of the -legion was a boar, and this also appears on many of the stones and tiles -of the buildings put up by the soldiers of this legion. - -These tombstones were discovered in the year 1883 inside the base of the -north wall of the city of Chester while the wall was being repaired. It -is probable therefore that there had been a cemetery outside the city -wall at this point, from which the stones were taken during its -construction. - -The bodies of the Romans were burnt after death, and the ashes placed in -urns of earthenware not unlike those of the Britons. Roman burial urns -have been discovered on Winnington Hill near Northwich and at Boughton. -You may see them in the Chester Museum. - -Here also are a number of Roman altars dedicated, as their inscriptions -show, to the Roman gods Jupiter, Mars, Minerva, &c. On one of them you -can easily make out the words DEO MARTI CONSERV, which mean 'To the god -Mars the Preserver'. The lower portion, which has been broken off, -contained the name of the soldier who dedicated it. Another altar is -dedicated to the 'Genius', or guardian spirit, of the century. On the -sides of the altars are rough carvings of the axe and the knife, the jug -and the dish, used in sacrificial ceremonies. - - [Illustration: ALTAR: GENIO (GROSVENOR MUSEUM)] - -A third group of stones are called centurial stones. These, like our -modern foundation or memorial stones, were built into a portion of wall -or building and gave the name of the 'century' of soldiers by whom the -work was constructed. - -At first the Romans were hard taskmasters. Heavy tribute was demanded -from the conquered Britons, who complained loudly of the miseries of -bondage, and of the insults and injuries put upon them. Gangs of British -slaves were forced to work in cornfield and quarry under the whips of -their Roman rulers, or compelled to fight with one another or with wild -beasts 'to make a Roman holiday'. Rebellions were frequent, and were put -down by the Roman officers with great cruelty; and for many years it -was only the superior arms and military science of the Roman legions -that made it possible to keep in subjection a discontented people. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ROMANS IN CHESHIRE. II - -A piece of leaden water-piping discovered in Eastgate Street, Chester, -bears the name of Julius Agricola. Agricola was made Governor of Britain -in A.D. 78. Tacitus, a Roman historian, who married Agricola's daughter, -wrote a life of his father-in-law and a narrative of his work in -Britain. From his writings we learn that Agricola first turned his -attention to the fierce tribe of the Brigantes who inhabited the hilly -districts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and North-East Cheshire. - -Agricola made the preparations for his expedition at Chester, which -became his head-quarters, and built the fortified outposts of Mancunium -on the Irwell and Melandra on the Derbyshire bank of the River Etherow, -connecting them with one another with new roads. Both Mancunium and -Melandra have been excavated in recent years, and at the latter you may -see the foundations of portions of the wall laid bare, and the base of -one of the principal gateways leading into the fort. - -A Roman camp was usually square, with the corners slightly rounded, as -has been proved by the excavations at Melandra and by the piece of Roman -wall lately discovered at Chester, which shows a distinct curve towards -the Pepper Gate. Roads crossed the camp at right angles. The wall or -'vallum' was protected when necessary by a fosse or ditch, but Agricola -chose his positions with such care that one side at least was usually -already guarded by the waters of some stream. Watch-towers were placed -at the corners and on either side of the gateways. - -Chester still preserves the shape and plan of the Roman fortress. Its -four main streets, which are hewn out of the sandstone on which the -city is built, cross each other at right angles. The Welsh called it -Caer Lleon or Lleon Vawr--the 'Camp of the Legion'. The present walls -are not, however, the work of the Romans, though here and there they -have been proved to have been built on the foundations of the Roman -walls. The lowest courses of the North Wall near the Deanery Field, when -excavated, were found to be faced with massive stones of Roman masonry, -with a Roman 'plinth' running along the base. The stones fit very -closely together and no mortar was used. The inside of the wall was -filled with rubble. - -From time to time portions of Roman wall have been found in other parts -of the city. One big piece is in the cellars of Dickson's seed -warehouse. When the foundations of the offices of the National Telephone -Company in John Street were being excavated a year or two ago, a fine -piece of Roman wall was unearthed. The builders have left it standing -where they found it, and you may now see it in the basement of the -building, protected from future harm by an iron grid. - -On the Roodee is a portion of Roman masonry of finely jointed stones -which is thought to have been the quay of the Roman city. - -In the middle of a Roman fortress was the Praetorium or general's -quarters. Traces of such a building are to be seen in the camp at -Melandra, and at Chester the foundations of a large edifice discovered -in Northgate Street may possibly be a portion of a similar building. - -Inscriptions show us that another legion, called the Legio Secunda, was -stationed at Chester for several years. When Britain was more or less -pacified and required fewer troops this legion was recalled and sent to -the Roman provinces on the Danube. - -Tacitus tells us that Agricola spread civilization among the Britons, -sent the sons of chieftains to Rome to be educated, and even in time -taught the Britons to adopt Roman habits and dress and to speak the -Latin tongue. But he would not at first let them join the Roman legions -in Britain; those who wished to fight for the Roman emperors were sent -abroad to the Roman provinces on the Rhine or the Danube. - -The soldiers of subject races were not for many years after their -conquest allowed by the Romans to fight in their own country. The -tombstones mentioned in the previous chapter prove this, for not one of -them bears the name of any British soldier. A bronze tablet dug up at -Malpas, on which is engraved a decree of the Emperor Trajan, shows that -the soldiers who fought in the Roman army in Britain were not all -Romans, or even Italians, for it speaks of Thracians, Dalmatians, -Spaniards, and men of other nations conquered by Rome. - -For seven years Agricola was a wise and a humane ruler. He removed many -of the burdens put upon the Britons by previous governors, and it was -chiefly due to him that the Romans were able to make their rule -acceptable to the Britons. In time Britons became proud of the name of -Roman citizens. - -We have seen from the character of the remains that Chester was -peculiarly a military city. Thus it differed greatly from many of the -Roman cities of southern Britain, which lost their military character as -the tide of war rolled northwards and westwards. These cities soon -became busy centres of trade and civic life, with all the conveniences -and luxuries of Italian towns. They had their temples and their basilica -or town hall, theatres and public baths, palaces and colonnades of -shops, and handsome villas of Roman officials. But life at Chester, with -the continual arrival and departure of troops and stores, must have been -hard and monotonous, with the din of warfare probably never far distant. -The Welsh were never really subdued by the Romans. - -Yet even at Chester there were buildings of importance, as we can see -from the broken fragments of pillars in the little garden by the Water -Tower, and in the basements of Vernon's Toy Bazaar and other shops in -Chester. - -These pillars were made to support the porches and colonnades with which -the fronts and sometimes the sides also of Roman buildings were adorned. -No doubt you have noticed them in pictures you have seen of ancient -Rome. In a later chapter you will learn that the Englishmen of the -eighteenth century copied the Roman or Italian style of architecture in -their churches, town halls, and other public buildings, and from the -buildings then made you can get some idea of those of a Roman town. - -The pillars were of three different patterns or 'orders', and by -observing carefully their differences you will be able to tell at a -glance to which particular order a modern building belongs. The capitals -of the Doric and Ionic pillars are much simpler in design than those of -the Corinthian, which were often of a very ornamental nature. - - [Illustration: ROMAN CAPITALS: DORIC, IONIC, AND CORINTHIAN] - -The Romans felt the cold and damp of the British climate, so different -from that of their own warm and sunny land. Many of their houses and -public buildings were warmed by 'hypocausts' or heating chambers, and -every city had its public baths with rooms heated by hot air. In Bridge -Street is a hypocaust remaining just where the Romans left it. The -pillars which you see in the illustration are those of another hypocaust -found many years ago in Bridge Street. - -The pillars were set up in rows on a solid foundation, being fixed in -their places by cement. On the top of these a second floor of cement and -bricks, several inches thick, was laid. The space between the two floors -was heated by hot air, introduced through an opening in the side wall -communicating with a furnace or oven. In their own country the bath was -an important event in the everyday life of the Romans. - - [Illustration: REMAINS OF HYPOCAUST, CHESTER] - -The floors of Roman buildings were paved with tiny blocks of brick -called 'tesserae', three to four inches long and one inch wide. A piece -of flooring in the Grosvenor Museum shows that the bricks were laid on a -bed of cement or concrete in 'herring-bone' pattern, that is, with the -bricks at right angles to one another. A large number of tiles used in -roofing have been found all over the city; on many of these you will -see the stamp LEG XX VV of the Twentieth Legion. There was a tile -factory at Holt on the Dee where also many of these tiles bearing the -same stamp have recently been found. - -The Romans taught the Britons many useful trades. 'Veratinum' or -Wilderspool became under the Romans quite a busy manufacturing town, the -forerunner of a modern Warrington or Wigan. The site of the ancient -Roman town has been carefully dug over. Traces have been found of many -pits, hearths, furnaces, and ovens for the manufacture of glass and -pottery, a bronze foundry, and an iron smelting furnace, and an -enameller's workshop. In the museums at Warrington and at Stockport are -many fragments of pottery found here. Most of it is of a rough brown-red -ware, called 'rough-cast', of which the commoner utensils, water-jugs -and bowls and funeral urns, were made. A more ornamental kind is called -'Samian', and is of a darker colour, highly glazed and decorated with -embossed figures of men and animals. Many articles of iron, knives, -padlocks, keys, nails, found on the same spot show that Veratinum was -the Birmingham of the Roman occupation. - -Roman coins have been dug up in large numbers at Chester and other sites -along the Roman roads. Many of them are to be seen in Chester Town Hall -and in our museums. Nearly all the emperors of the first four centuries -are represented upon them. Several emperors came to Britain, and we may -be sure that in their tours of inspection they paid visits to the -important garrison city of the 'great legion'. - -Some of these coins bear the name of Constantine, the first Christian -emperor, who was born at York, and whose mother was perhaps a lady of -British birth. There is unfortunately nothing to show that there was any -Christian church in Roman Cheshire, though many of the Roman soldiers -must have been familiar with the Christian faith. Romans who became -Christians were allowed to worship in the basilica, which in after days, -as we shall see, became the model upon which Christian churches were -built. - -On a house near the East Gate of Chester are carved these words: 'The -fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.' This is the translation of an -inscription on a Roman coin found when the workmen were digging the -foundations of the building. The coins of the Emperor Magnentius show -the monogram of the first two letters of Christ. - -The Roman rule lasted for 370 years. During this period they had -transformed a desolate and barren land, inhabited by a people that were -almost savages, into a fertile and prosperous province; Britannia Felix -the Romans themselves called it. Large tracts of forest land were -cleared and brought under cultivation. Britain became one of the chief -granaries of Rome. In the museums you may see the Roman querns or -handmills with which they ground their corn. - -The Romans worked the copper mines on Alderley Edge; stone hammer-heads -with which the Britons crushed the ore for their Roman masters have been -found there. A 'pig' of lead weighing over a hundredweight, dug up in -the Roodee, shows that lead mines were extensively worked. The lead was -brought to Chester from the mines of Denbighshire and was part of the -tribute paid by the Britons to the Roman emperors. Salt, a scarce -commodity in many countries, was obtained, as at the present day, from -the salt beds of Northwich. - -At the end of the fourth century the Roman empire was overrun by hordes -of barbarians from Northern Europe. The Romans, weakened by luxury and -wealth, were unable to beat back the ruthless invaders. Legion after -legion was summoned from the distant parts of the empire for the defence -of the imperial city itself. About the year A.D. 380 the 'Conquering -Legion' marched out for the last time through the city gates of Chester, -and by 410 no Roman soldiers were left in Britain. - -With sorrow and despair the Britons watched the last soldiers depart. -Their own fighting-men were far away in distant lands, and they knew -that without the protection of the Roman legions on whom they had so -long relied, they were left a defenceless prey of the foes that were -threatening them on all sides. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -SAXONS AND ANGLES COME TO CHESHIRE - - -As the Romans retreated southwards, tribes of Picts, a fierce race -inhabiting the northern parts of Britain followed in their wake -plundering and destroying the cities built by the Romans, and everywhere -falling upon the defenceless Britons. We know little of the doings of -this terrible time, for with the departure of the Romans there descended -upon Britain a veil of darkness that was not to be lifted for 150 years. - -In the latter part of the fifth century the tide of Pictish invasion was -rolled back by other races who landed on our southern and eastern -coasts. These were the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, the rude forefathers -of the English people, who left their homes in Northern Germany to make -new settlements and found kingdoms in our country. You will read -elsewhere of the long and gradual conquest of England by these barbarian -invaders. 'Field by field, town by town, forest by forest, the land was -won' from the British inhabitants. - -According to the story usually told, though I am obliged to admit that -we have very strong evidence for it, it was not until the year 584 A.D. -that any of them reached the part of the country that is now Cheshire. -By that time the West Saxons, one of the most powerful of these tribes, -had fought their way from the English Channel to the River Severn and -Shropshire, where they destroyed the great Roman city of Uriconium. -Under their leader Ceawlin they appear to have made an attempt to reach -Chester, but were met near Nantwich at a spot called Fethanleagh, now -probably the modern village of Faddiley, by Brocmael, Prince of Powys or -mid-Wales. The Saxons were routed and retired quickly to the South. -Chester was saved for a time and became the capital of the Welsh kingdom -of Gwynedd. - -Thirty years later, however, a greater than Ceawlin appeared before the -walls of the Roman city. The Angles, who had founded on our -north-eastern shores the powerful kingdom of Northumbria, crossed the -Pennine Hills under their leader and king Aethelfrith, and descended -upon Cheshire. Once more Brocmael put himself at the head of the Britons -and Welsh. We are told by Bede, the earliest of our English historians, -who wrote in the succeeding century, that 1,200 monks from a great -monastery at Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee accompanied Brocmael after a fast -of three days to the battlefield to offer up prayers for victory. -Aethelfrith watched the wild gestures of the monks and bade his -followers slay them first of all. 'Bear they arms or no,' he said, 'they -fight against us when they cry against us to their God.' Brocmael left -them to their fate and fled from the battle, which ended in the utter -defeat of the Britons. - -The victory of Aethelfrith was followed by the capture of Chester, and -Cheshire became a portion of a kingdom that stretched from the Tweed to -the Dee. But the most important result of the 'Battle of Chester' was -that the northern Welsh Britons or 'Cumbrian' Welsh were now completely -cut off from their kinsmen in Wales. Everywhere the conquered Britons -were driven northwards and westwards to the mountains of Cumberland or -Wales, and the Britons as a united nation ceased to exist. - -For forty years Cheshire was ruled by Northumbrian kings, but during the -latter part of this period another kingdom was gathering strength in the -Midlands of England. This was the kingdom of Mercia or the Marchland. -The Mercian Penda defeated the Northumbrian king and added Cheshire to -the lands over which he ruled. Mercia and Cheshire were frequently -raided by the Welsh, and it was to keep them out that Offa, greatest of -the Mercian kings, built his famous 'Dyke' from Chester to South Wales, -many portions of which you may trace to this day. - -Mercia in turn was conquered by the kings of Wessex, one of whom, -Ecberght, is usually styled the first king of all England. Ecberght and -his West Saxons overran Cheshire and captured the city of Chester in -the year 828. Thus did three kingdoms strive for the possession of -Cheshire, which from its central position must have been the scene of -many an unrecorded fight. - -Numbers of Cheshire villages show by their names their Anglo-Saxon -origin. Davenham, Frodsham, and Warmingham speak to us of the 'hams' or -homesteads that the Saxons made for themselves in their newly won lands. -Bebington, Bollington, and Congleton take their names from the 'tun', -the enclosure or hedge of a farm or village; Prestbury, Marbury, and -Astbury from the 'burh' or fortified house of the headman of a tribe. - - [Illustration: RUNIC STONE, UPTON] - -Goostree is perhaps the 'God's tree' where the land was parcelled out -among the villagers and punishment meted to wrong-doers; Thurstaston, or -the tun of Thor's stone, the place of sacrifice to their heathen god -Thor. - -The ash tree gives its name to several Cheshire villages, Ashton, -Ashley, Astbury, for instance. This fact tells us that the tree was held -in great veneration by the Angles and Saxons. Even to this day the tree -is thought to possess the power of bringing good or evil. A -superstitious Cheshire labourer will not, if he can help it, cut down an -ash tree for fear it should bring him misfortune, and churn staves made -of ash are used by farmers' wives to prevent the butter from being -bewitched. - -It is in fact from the Angles and Saxons that we have inherited the -priceless possession of our English tongue. The oldest traces of our -language in a written form in Cheshire may be seen in the Grosvenor -Museum at Chester. Here on a plaster cast is an inscription written in -strange letters, 'Runes' or 'mysteries' as they are called. This cast is -a copy of an inscribed stone discovered at Upton-in-Wirral when the old -church was pulled down. The stones of this building had previously been -taken from the ancient ruined church at Overchurch. Learned scholars -examined the stone carefully and made out these words: FOLCAE AREARDON -BEC[UN]. [GI]BIDDATH FOR ATHELMUND. The meaning is 'Folk reared tomb, -bid (i.e. pray) for Athelmund'. You can see that the words are English, -though their form has changed considerably during the 1,200 years or -more that have gone by since the runes were carved. - -Fierce and bloodthirsty were these early ancestors of ours, 'hateful -alike to God and men,' as Gildas, a Welsh monk, described them. Yet even -they were taught in time to abandon their strange gods and turn to the -worship of Christ, and through the land in town and village uprose a -cross of wood or stone, the outward symbol of a new and better faith. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE CROSS IN CHESHIRE - - -During the latter years of the Roman occupation there must have been -many among the Roman soldiers stationed in Cheshire who had heard the -message of the Gospel, and, following the example of their emperors, -professed the faith of Christ. But, as we have before stated, there is -no proof that a Christian church existed in Cheshire in those days, -though tradition says that where the cathedral church of Chester now -stands there was a church dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul, which had -previously been a temple of Apollo. - -In Wales and Ireland the Church flourished greatly through the troublous -period of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. We are told that Kentigern, the -first bishop of Glasgow, on his return to Wales landed in Wirral and -founded a church there. In the previous chapter we have seen that at -Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee there was a monastery of great importance, -which after the victory of Aethelfrith of Northumbria was razed to the -ground. - -Yet it was from Northumbria that Christianity was destined to be brought -and preached to the Angles and Saxons of Cheshire. Oswald, the son of -the heathen Aethelfrith, had during his exile in Scotland been converted -by Celtic missionaries. During the reign of this 'most Christian king, a -man dearly beloved of God, and fenced with the faith of Christ', -missionaries from Scotland 'began with great and fervent devotion to -preach the word of faith to those provinces which King Oswald governed, -baptising all such as believed. Therefore churches were builded in -places convenient: the people rejoicing assembled together to hear the -word of God,' The ancient churches dedicated to S. Oswald at Chester, -Malpas, Brereton, Peover, Bidston, and Worleston, are proof of the great -part played by King Oswald in the conversion of Cheshire and of the -high repute in which he was held as a champion of Christianity. - -The tiny hamlet of Chadkirk near Marple suggests to us a famous -missionary who lived at a time when Cheshire had become part of the -kingdom of Mercia. This was Ceadda or Chad, who was sent by the Irish -saint Colomba to preach the gospel to the people of Mercia, and became -in later times the patron saint of the bishopric of Mercia, founded by -King Offa. Chad, who like Oswald had received Christianity from the -Celtic missionaries of North Britain, continued the good work of the -Northumbrian missionaries. At the village of Over were formerly two -stone crosses which may well mark the spots where Chad preached to the -Saxons of Cheshire, baptizing the converts in the river Weaver that -flows hard by. The old church of Over is dedicated to him, as are also -the churches of Farndon and Wybunbury. It is worthy of note that all the -Cheshire churches named after him were built on the banks of streams, -which leads us to suppose that S. Chad, like S. John the Baptist by the -banks of Jordan, chose places where his preaching might be immediately -followed by the ceremony of baptism. - -At Sandbach are two stone crosses which are thought to be closely -connected with the conversion of Cheshire. The story goes that Peada, -son of Penda the heathen king of Mercia, wished to marry the Christian -daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria. To win the maiden the young man -consented to forsake his old religion and become a Christian; whereupon -the crosses were set up to commemorate his conversion and marriage. - -If you look carefully at the Sandbach crosses you will see that the -Angles of Mercia had reached a very high level of art in sculptured -stones. Carved upon them are several scenes in the life of our Lord, the -Nativity in the stable at Bethlehem with the ox and the ass kneeling -before the infant Christ, the Crucifixion with S. Mary and Apostles -below, Christ carrying the Cross, and Christ in glory with S. Peter on -His right hand bearing the keys of heaven. - -Few crosses were, however, carved so elaborately as these Sandbach -crosses. The majority were doubtless of wood, set up in the middle of -the open space round which clustered the huts and wattled dwellings of -the inhabitants. Others consisted of a plain stone shaft set upright in -the ground or on a base of stone steps, sometimes rudely adorned with -scroll-work such as you may see on the fragments of a cross preserved in -the churchyard of Prestbury. Most of them have perished, broken into -fragments where they fell, or have been used for repairs to damaged -buildings. Many were wantonly destroyed in the seventeenth century -during the Civil War. - - [Illustration: ANGLIAN CROSSES AT SANDBACH] - -Crosses were set up by the wayside at the junction of important highways -or in towns at the crossing of the principal streets, as at Chester. -Here in the open air the monks would gather round them bands of -listeners, and preach the Word of God. Afterwards close to the cross was -erected an edifice of wood or wattles in which the services of the -Church were held, and in still later times these wooden churches would -be replaced by stone buildings. Nowhere, however, in Cheshire are there -any churches or even portions of churches remaining which can be said to -have been built by our early Saxon forefathers. - -The church of S. John's, Chester, is said to have been founded by King -Aethelred of Mercia in the year 689. An ancient legend states that -Aethelred 'was admonished to erect a church on the spot where he should -find a white hind'. In the church you may see fragments of an ancient -wall-painting or 'fresco' on one of the pillars of the nave which -illustrates this story. A church certainly did exist here in very early -times, for we read that in later days Leofric, Earl of Mercia, -_repaired_ and enriched the church of S. John's, which may mean that the -earlier wooden church had fallen into decay, and a more substantial -building of stone was erected in its place. - -The house of the Mercian Penda produced yet another name closely -connected with the story of the Cross in Cheshire. Werburga, a -great-granddaughter of Penda, succeeded her mother as head of several -great abbeys. She died at Trentham in Staffordshire towards the end of -the seventh century, and two hundred years later, when the Danes (of -whom you will read more in the next chapter) were harrying the land, her -body was removed to Chester for safe keeping, and placed in the church -of S. Peter and S. Paul which had been re-dedicated to S. Werburga and -S. Oswald. For many centuries crowds of devout pilgrims made their way -to Chester to offer prayers and gifts at S. Werburga's shrine. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN - - -With the capture of Chester (Chap. VII) Ecberght's conquest of Mercia -was complete. Northumbria, Kent, and East Anglia also submitted to him. -But neither Ecberght nor the kings that came after him were to be -allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace, for a new and terrible enemy -now appeared on our shores. - -In the ninth century, the coasts of Britain were ravaged by the Northmen -or Vikings, those - - Wild sea-wandering lords - Who sailed in a snake-prowed galley with a terror of twenty swords. - -The word Vikings or 'wickings' means creek-men, from a Scandinavian word -'wick', 'a creek'. These Scandinavian and Danish sea-pirates left their -homes in the bays and fiords of North-West Europe, and made raids upon -Britain and the neighbouring lands more at first from greed of plunder -than with any idea of conquest. Large numbers of Danes landed on our -eastern coasts and ravaged the midlands. Under their leader Hasting or -Hastein, they seized and occupied the city of Chester. We can imagine -the hasty flight of the monks, for the abbeys and churches were always -the first objects of attack by these heathen invaders. You will read -elsewhere how King Alfred finally saved the greater part of England -from the Danes and converted their leaders to Christianity. - -The little village of Plemstall (or Plegmundstall), near Chester, -reminds us of Plegmund, a Saxon hermit, who took refuge here to escape -the Danes. Plegmund had been a friend and tutor of King Alfred. When -Alfred's work was done, and peace made with the Danes, he called -Plegmund from his lonely retreat in the marshes of the Gowy to be -Archbishop of Canterbury. - -Meanwhile, the Scandinavians had sailed round the north and west coasts -of Scotland, plundering the rich monasteries that had been built by S. -Patrick and his followers, and making new homes for themselves in the -Isle of Man and in Ireland. Towards the end of the ninth century they -crossed into Wales and sailed up the Dee to the walls of Chester, drawn -thither perhaps by the report of the wealth of the great church that had -been built on the banks of the river. But they found only a deserted -city in ruins, and retired to the shores of Wirral, where they settled -and tilled the land, and devoted themselves to the more peaceful -pursuits of agriculture. - -In the Wirral peninsula many of the names of the villages still show -their Scandinavian origin. Thus Shotwick means the south wick or creek. -This village stands at the edge of a strip of land that has been -recovered from the sea. In early times, boats could run along the creek -right up to the rising ground where now stands the village church. - -An interesting name survives in the little hamlet of Thingwall, situated -almost in the centre of the Wirral. Thingwall is the field where the -'thing', that is the tribe, assembled to divide the land and to dispense -justice. You will recognize the same word in the town of Dingwall in the -North of Scotland, and at the present day 'thing' is the Norwegian and -Danish name for Parliament. - -The ending '-by' in the villages Kirby, Irby, Raby, Frankby, and Helsby, -is the Danish name for a township, and we see the word in our modern -word 'by-laws', that is town laws. You will not find this ending in the -names of villages in any other parts of Cheshire. - - [Illustration: NORSE HOG-BACK, WEST KIRBY] - -In the museum in the old school-house by the churchyard at West Kirby -you may see a stone, which, from its shape, antiquaries call a -'hog-back'. The hog-back was a tombstone or grave-slab that marked the -burial-place of some Scandinavian chief. The carved ornamentation as -well as its shape is like that of other similar stones that have been -found in the parts of Britain where the Northmen settled. The stone -gives you some idea of the homes from which these pirates came, for the -carved oval shapes represent little wooden tiles; and the interlaced -lines are the wattles or osiers of which their huts were made. The -heathen Scandinavian liked his place of burial to be as much like home -as possible, which may be taken as a proof that he did not think that -his soul would perish along with his body. In the same museum is another -stone with a head shaped like a wheel, which is also the work of the -Vikings. - -We are, fortunately, able to tell almost the exact time at which the -settlements in the Wirral were made. We read in an old chronicle that in -the year 900 A.D. Alfred's daughter Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, -granted lands in Wirral to one Ingimund who had been driven out of -Ireland. This lady, Ethelfleda, fortified Chester and rebuilt the walls -which had lain in ruins since the departure of the Romans. Perhaps -Ingimund and his followers had already become Christians during their -stay in Ireland. If they had not, we may be sure that Ethelfleda did as -her father had done in his treaty with the Danes, and insisted on their -becoming Christians in return for being allowed to settle in Cheshire. - -It was in the reign of Alfred that many English counties or shires first -received their modern names. Cheshire or Chester-shire, like -Staffordshire and Warwickshire, took its name from the chief city or -fortress which dominated the district and protected it from the ravages -of the Danes. - -Alfred also ordered an English history to be written, in which the chief -events of each year were recorded. This Old English Chronicle, as it is -called, was kept up in the reigns of the successors of Alfred, and is -the principal source of our knowledge of England under the Anglo-Saxon -kings. - -The Chronicle tells us that, in order to prevent any fresh landing of -Danes, Ethelfleda built a castle or 'burh' at Runcorn at the head of the -estuary of the Mersey. The very site of her castle has now disappeared, -for 'Castle Rock', upon which it was built, was destroyed when the Ship -Canal was made. - -Another fortress was erected by Ethelfleda on Eddisbury Hill, the -highest point of Delamere Forest, where, probably, there was a large -camp in British times. Her brother Edward, who succeeded Alfred as King -of England, also fortified Thelwall on the Mersey, as an inscription on -the gable of an inn at Thelwall tells us. For the next twenty years he -carried on a vigorous war against the Danes of the 'Five Boroughs', -Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Stamford, and Lincoln. But in many parts -Saxon and Dane had already settled down side by side, the Danes -abandoned the worship of their heathen gods Odin and Thor, and received -the Gospel of Christ, and in the next century a Danish king was -destined to rule over all the land and to advance greatly the cause of -Christianity. - -Edward's work was done when he received the homage of the chief kings of -Britain, and made the royal house of Wessex supreme. In the year 924, as -you may read in the English Chronicle, 'then chose him for father and -lord the King of Scots ... and all those who dwell in Northumbria -whether English or Danes, and also the King of the Strathclyde Welsh.' - -Chester appears to have rapidly risen in importance, largely no doubt -owing to its central position, and to have become a great and populous -city. The walls were extended beyond the limits of the ancient Roman -city, and a new fortress built where the present 'Castle' of Chester now -stands, to guard the road over the river. - -Henceforth, the city was kept in a state of defence by a custom which -bound every 'hide' in the shire to provide a man at the town-reeve's -call to keep its walls and bridge in repair. A considerable trade with -the seaports of Ireland followed, largely it is to be feared in -connexion with the slave traffic, and the city became a favourite resort -of the English kings. Coins were minted here in the reign of Athelstan. - -Athelstan must often have been in Cheshire, for this favourite grandson -of King Alfred was brought up by the Lady of Mercia, and no doubt -learned from her the ways of a strong and wise ruler. When Athelstan -became king he was attacked by the King of the Scots and the Danes of -Ireland. A great battle was fought, perhaps on Cheshire soil, and the -English Chronicle breaks out into a wonderful song of victory. - - Athelstan King - Lord among Earls, - He with his brother, - Gained a lifelong - Glory in battle, - Slew with the sword-edge, - There by Brunanburh ... - - * * * * * - - Bow'd the spoiler, - Bent the Scotsman, - Fell the ship-crews - Doom'd to the death. - All the field with blood of the fighters - Flow'd, from when first the great - Sun-star of morningtide, - Lamp of the Lord God - Lord Everlasting - Glode over earth till the glorious creature - Sank to his setting. - -Brunanburh has been thought by some writers of history to be the village -of Bromborough in Wirral. We cannot be sure of this, but some day -perhaps the land will give up its secret, when some labourer's spade -shall dig up the javelins and the war-knives of the defeated Northmen. - -'Edgar's field' is supposed to mark the site of the palace of one of the -greatest of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of England. It is related that in the -year 973, Edgar the 'Peacewinner' visited Chester, and received there -the submission of many tributary kings. He assembled an imposing fleet -of ships on the Dee, and was rowed from his palace to the minster of S. -John's by six under-kings, the King of Scots, the King of Cumberland, -the King of Man, and three Welsh princes, he himself taking the helm as -being their head-king. 'Those who come after me', he said, 'may indeed -call themselves kings, since I have had such honour.' - -Guided by his chief adviser, the good Archbishop Dunstan, Edgar also did -much to increase the power and influence of the Church. He gave a -charter in 958 to the church of S. Werburga, and endowed it richly with -lands. The English Chronicle thus speaks of him: - - He upreared God's glory - and loved God's law - and bettered the public peace - more than the kings - who were before him - within man's memory. - - God also him helped - that kings and earls - gladly to him bowed - and were submissive - to all that he willed. - -In Edgar's reign we first hear of the division of the shire into -'hundreds' for the trial and punishment of evildoers. Why this name was -chosen is not quite clear, but the Hundred probably denoted a collection -of a hundred homesteads or hamlets. The Hundred had its 'moot' or -assembly of freemen, held near some sacred spot or conspicuous landmark. -In Cheshire some of them, Bucklow for instance, took their names from -the ancient 'lows' or burial-places. - -Early in the eleventh century fresh invasions of Danes took place, and -in 1016 Cnut Dane became King of England. Cheshire formed a portion of a -great earldom, embracing the whole of Mercia and governed by Earl -Leofric. Cnut, who during his reign visited Rome and had there learnt -much about church building, was a generous friend to the churches, -rebuilding those that had suffered in the wars and erecting many new -ones. The church of S. Olave or Olaf, in the south-eastern part of the -city of Chester, probably owes its foundation to him, for the name shows -that there was a Danish settlement in the city. The city itself was -governed at this time, like other Danish cities, by twelve 'lagmen' or -lawmen who presided over its law-courts. - -Leofric, not to be outdone by his master Cnut, almost entirely rebuilt -the church of S. Werburga in 1057, and if we may judge from the -memorials of his work which he has left in other cities of his earldom, -much of the new church was probably built of stone. It is doubtful -whether he lived to see the completion of his work. In any case, before -many years had passed, the church was again enlarged on a still grander -scale and by a greater race of church builders than any that had gone -before them. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE NORMANS COME TO CHESHIRE - - -In the early months of the year A.D. 1070 the Saxons of Cheshire fled -before the approach of an army of discontented and almost mutinous -troops who had cut their way through the deep snowdrifts of the Pennine -Hills. But neither the severity of the weather nor the hardships of the -march seemed to have any effect upon the stern and indomitable Norman -warrior at their head, who, like the Vikings whose blood flowed in his -veins, set an example of energy and endurance to his half-starved -fainting followers. - -William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, had landed in England three and -a half years previously, and defeated the English King Harold at the -battle of Senlac. But the real 'conquest' was yet to come; and after -swift visits to the west and north of England William crossed the hills -that lay between York and Cheshire and made a dash upon Chester, the one -great city of free England that had not yet bowed to the might of the -Norman invader. - -There were at this time in Chester many English, the wife of Harold -among them, who had fled thither after the defeat of Senlac, prepared on -William's approach to cross the seas to Ireland. In the next century -Gerald 'the Welshman' related the legend that Harold himself was not -killed at the battle of Senlac, but escaped, and, after many wanderings, -took refuge in a hermit's cell near the minster of S. John's, where he -remained until his death. The story was no doubt invented by those who -were unwilling to believe that an English king had been defeated by a -foreigner. - -William captured the city and received the submission of Edric the -Forester and other Saxon leaders. Chester was put in charge of a Flemish -noble called Gherbod, who, however, in the following year returned to -his native land. Then, leaving a trail of fire and sword through -mid-Cheshire, William marched southwards to Salisbury Plain, where he -held a grand review of all his followers and distributed to them their -rewards. You will not see him again in Cheshire. No part of the country -ever needed a second visit from the 'Conqueror'. - -The English who had borne arms against William were treated as rebels -and deprived of their lands and possessions, which were parcelled out -among the Normans. A parcel of land thus granted was called a manor. All -the landowners, including those English who were allowed to keep their -estates, were compelled to take the oath of fealty to King William in -person. In this way William broke up the great earldoms which had been -created by the Danish king Cnut. - -Cheshire, however, in which the Saxon Earl Edwin, Harold's -brother-in-law, owned vast estates, was from the first treated in a very -special manner. Owing to its position on the border of Wales, William -saw that it was very necessary to place a strong military power in this -part of England to protect his newly-won kingdom from invasion from the -west. So he bestowed the county upon his own favourite nephew Hugh -d'Avranches, surnamed Lupus or 'the Wolf', and his heirs, giving him the -title of Earl of Chester. The earl's duty was to repel any attacks that -might be made by the Welsh, and permission was given him even to extend -his earldom, if possible, beyond the Welsh border. Royal rights were -granted to him over all land within the earldom, which was held by him -'as freely by the sword as the king held England by the Crown'. For this -reason Cheshire was called a County Palatine, that is, a county whose -ruler exercises all the powers of an independent prince, save only that -he owns allegiance to his overlord the king. And the sword, the 'sword -of dignity', as it was called, was no light one. You may see it if ever -you visit the British Museum, a mighty two-edged weapon four feet long, -with its inscription in Latin engraved beneath the hilt, 'Hugo comes -Cestriae,' Hugh Count of Chester. - -In the quadrangle of Eaton Hall is an equestrian statue of Hugh Lupus, -an ancestor of the Dukes of Westminster, whose family derives its name -of Grosvenor from Robert the 'gros veneur' or great huntsman of the -Conqueror and nephew of 'the Wolf'. - -An old engraving gives us a picture of the royal state with which Earl -Hugh was surrounded. He is represented sitting on a raised throne and -presiding over his council or parliament, which consisted of the four -chief abbots and the four greatest barons of Cheshire. Behind a barrier -at the lower end of the council-chamber a crowd of humble people are -gathered, bearing petitions or grievances for the earl's hearing and -consideration. For the earl possessed power of life or death over all -offenders, could pardon treason and murder within his own domain, and -give protection or 'sanctuary' to criminals, who, however, paid heavy -fines for this privilege. He also raised taxes, appointed all the judges -and justices of the peace in the earldom, and created his own barons, -who were themselves permitted to hold baronial courts for the trial and -punishment of evildoers. Gilbert de Venables, the Baron of Kinderton, -and his successors held courts at their castle near Middlewich until -late in the sixteenth century, when all these courts were swept away. - -Ordericus Vitalis, a Norman monk who wrote in the early part of the -twelfth century, says that Earl Hugh 'was very prodigal, and carried not -so much a family as an army along with him. He daily wasted his estate, -and delighted more in falcons and huntsmen than in tillers of the soil. -He was much given to his appetite, whereby in time he grew so fat that -he could scarcely crawl.' He was also a lover of minstrelsy and romance, -and invited the best narrators of great deeds to live with him and spur -on to rivalry the young nobles whom he delighted to gather round him at -his court. - -The mass of the English people became dependent on their Norman masters. -The latter had learned the use of the lance and the longbow, and the -fame of their mailclad mounted knights had spread through all Europe. -They kept the English down by building strong castles in their midst. At -Aldford, Shocklach, Doddleston, and Malpas on the Welsh borderland, -where castles were naturally more numerous, little remains to be seen -at the present day but the green mounds on which were erected the keeps -or donjons of the Norman lords. Round the tree-clad hummock at -Aldford--'Blob's Hill' the village folk call it--the moat that -surrounded the Norman castle yet remains, now dry and carpeted in -springtime with primroses, whose waters must often have been dyed with -the blood of Norman, Saxon, and Welshman. - -The Norman castles were of great strength, though not always built of -stone. Many were built on the sites of British encampments or Saxon -'burhs', in which case the old wooden stockade was doubtless allowed to -remain. The central fortress or keep, a square, or sometimes circular, -building with walls of immense thickness, was surrounded by an inner -ward or courtyard in which cattle and provisions could be gathered in -case of attack, and where, on a raised mound in the centre, the baron -held his court. Round this ward were grouped the domestic apartments, -the stables, and the quarters of servants and retainers. Beyond these -buildings was a second or outer ward, the whole being enclosed by walls -with projecting towers at intervals. The castles of the plain were -further protected, as at Aldford, by a deep ditch or moat crossed by a -drawbridge leading to the principal entrance. The keep was the last -place of refuge when the defenders were driven from the walls, and -frequently contained a well of water. In the keep at Beeston Castle is a -well over three hundred feet deep, to which water was perhaps at one -time drawn from Beeston Brook or some other neighbouring stream. - -On the summit of Halton Hill you may still see a portion of the outer -wall of the castle built by Nigel, Baron of Halton and cousin of Earl -Hugh. He was the chief of all the Cheshire barons, was constable of the -city of Chester, and led the Cheshire army, when required, against the -Welsh. Thirty-seven manors, among them those of Congleton, Great Barrow, -Raby and Sale in the county of Cheshire, were included in his -possessions. Other barons created by the Earl of Chester were William of -Nantwich, Vernon of Shipbroke, Fitzhugh of Malpas, Venables of -Kinderton, Hamon Massi of Dunham, Nicholas of Stockport, and Robert of -Montalt or Mold. The last-named shows that the county of Flint was at -that time part of the earldom. The name of the Norman baron was often -added to that of the Saxon village where he dwelt, as in the case of -Dunham Massey, Minshull Vernon. - -The earl himself resided at Chester, where large additions were made to -the stronghold of Ethelfleda, but probably his castle was built largely -of timber, for no stone of it remains, and a hundred and fifty years -later Henry the Third ordered the stockade with which the castle ward -was enclosed to be removed and replaced by a wall of stone. On the -eastern side of the castle was erected a great shire hall where the earl -held his parliament, and an exchequer court where the dues and taxes -were paid to him. - -What these dues and taxes were we may learn from the Great Survey called -Domesday Book, which was made by King William's orders, and completed -about the year 1087. The chief object of the Survey was to find out what -the country was worth, and how much the people could afford to pay in -taxes. The book, which is carefully preserved at the British Museum, is -the most valuable record we possess of the state of England under its -first Norman king. Domesday Book was written in Latin, but translations -have been made by scholars, and may be seen in many of our free -libraries. In the 'Customs of Chester' we are told that the city paid in -rent forty-five pounds and three bundles of marten skins, a third of -which went to the earl and two-thirds to the king. The skins were -imported from Ireland, and show that the Irish pirates of former days -had given place to peaceful traders. The king also claimed two-thirds of -the produce of the brine pits at Nantwich, Northwich, and Middlewich, -the last-named being farmed 'for twenty-five shillings and two cartloads -of salt'. The value of every manor, with the number of 'hides' of arable -land, the extent of meadow land and of woodland, was faithfully -recorded. 'There was not one single yard of land, nor even one ox, one -cow, one swine that was left out.' - -Some Saxon villages had little left to record after the Conqueror's -visit, so that you may learn from Domesday something of the severity -with which William's conquest had been accomplished. Prestbury and many -other Saxon villages are not even mentioned. When Earl Hugh received the -city of Chester it was worth only thirty pounds, 'for it had been -greatly wasted; there were two hundred and five houses less there than -there had been in the time of King Edward' (the Confessor). - -From Domesday we can learn the names of the Saxon freemen who were -allowed to keep their lands. Marton was held by the Saxon Godfric, -probably in return for some service rendered to the invaders, or because -he had at least not taken arms against them; Butley was divided between -the Saxon Ulric and Robert, son of Hugh Lupus. The manor of Brereton was -retained by the Breretons, whose descendants play a great part in the -later history of Cheshire. But such cases are few and far between, and -by far the greater part of the county passed into new hands. - -The story of Mobberley may be taken as a good example of what happened -in most cases to the old English landowners. The very name of the -village brings to our eyes scenes of old English life as the Normans -found it, for Motburlege, as the name is written in Domesday, is the -open space (lege) by the fortified house (burh) where the assembly of -the people was held (mote). 'The same Bigot' (thus Domesday runs)' -_holds_ Motburlege. Dot _held_ it and was a freeman.... The value in -King Edward's time was twelve shillings, now only five shillings.' Such -is the simple story, repeated again and again in the great survey. Dot -was a Saxon lord of sixteen villages, including Cholmondeley, Bickerton, -Shocklach, Grappenhall, Peover, and Dodcot, to the last of which he gave -his own name. Thus, even as Dot's own forefathers had driven out the -Celtic tribesmen who pastured their flocks on the neighbouring commons, -so now it was Dot's turn to be thrust from his ancestral home at -Mobberley and seek a refuge perhaps among the very people whom he had -displaced. - -Bigot received more than one manor. Domesday tells us that he held -Sandbach also. Over the entrance of Sandbach Town Hall you may see his -statuette, placed there to remind you of the days when Cheshire lands -passed from the hands of the English to their Norman conquerors. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE NORMAN ABBEYS AND CHURCHES OF CHESHIRE - - -Among the friends of Earl Hugh who visited him at his castle at Chester -was Anselm the great churchman, who afterwards became Archbishop of -Canterbury. Anselm was at the time prior of the Abbey of Bec, which was -close to Avranches, the earl's own Norman home. Now if there was one -thing on which the Normans justly prided themselves, it was the founding -and building of churches, and the heart of Earl Hugh was set on building -in his own city of Chester a monastery that should rival in splendour -those of his native country. Perhaps, too, the Norman lords thought that -by devoting a portion of their wealth to the service of God they could -win salvation for their souls and atone for the shortcomings and -misdeeds of their stormy lives. So the Cheshire earl sent for his former -friend Anselm to come and aid him in his scheme, and the result of his -visit was that in 1093 the clergy of S. Werburgh's were turned out of -their homes, and the church itself pulled down, and in its place was -erected a monastery of Benedictine monks who were brought over from Bee, -Anselm's chaplain, Richard, being made the first abbot. - -The monks were men who lived a life of prayer, fasting, and study apart -from the world. None might ever leave the precincts of the monastery -without permission. The Benedictines received their name from Saint -Benedict, who lived in the sixth century, and drew up rules for the -daily life and conduct of the monks of the Order. They all slept in the -same dormitory, and all took their meals together in a common room -called a refectory. In the refectory at Chester you may see a lector's -pulpit from which portions of the Scriptures were read aloud to the -monks as they sat at their meals. They gave all their private -possessions to the monastery, and had to obey their superior in all -matters. Every hour of the day and night had its allotted duties of -work, study, or religious services. High up in the wall in one of the -oldest parts of Chester Cathedral is a row of tiny arches, and behind -them a narrow passage, along which the monks went from their -sleeping-chamber to the early morning services in the abbey church. - -To some of the monks was given the work of gardening, agriculture, and -even building. The name of Caleyards at Chester still speaks to us of -the kitchen-garden which the monks tended. Others made copies of -illuminated 'missals' or books of Church services, or wrote histories -and the annals of the abbey to which they were attached. The Chronicles -of S. Werburgh were kept and added to yearly by the monks of Chester; -though the original has been lost, a copy of it, made by a later scribe, -has happily been preserved. - -The most important part of the monastery was of course the church. The -Norman churches were built of stone, and, as they took many years to -build, very few of the founders lived to see the completion of their -work. Probably only the foundations and portions of the walls of the -church of Earl Hugh Lupus were finished during his lifetime. The work of -the Norman builders may be recognized by the round-headed arches, -doorways and windows which they copied from the Roman buildings. The -Roman basilica or hall of justice, in which the earliest Christians were -permitted to worship, was taken as a model for Christian churches. The -capital of a Norman pillar in Frodsham Church proves that they had -studied the architecture of the Romans, for it has the Ionic 'volute' or -spiral scroll on each of its four faces. If you look for the round -arches in the Cathedral of Chester you will be able to make out the -portions which remain of the church built by Earl Hugh and by the -abbots who completed his plans after his death. - -You will see from the Norman church of S. John's at Chester that the -churches were built in the form of a cross with four great semicircular -arches to support a central tower. Similar arches on massive circular -columns separate the nave from the two aisles. An examination of these -columns reveals the fact that the building of the nave was commenced -from both ends at once in order to make more rapid progress with the -work, for the mouldings of the capitals of the outer columns is the -same, but differ from those of the inner ones. Moreover, the masonry of -the latter is more finely jointed than that of the earlier end columns. -This shows that the Normans improved in the quality of their work as -they went on. In the north transept of Chester Cathedral, which is part -of the first Norman church, the stones in the lower parts have wider -joints and are less carefully fitted than those above them. - -The choir and aisles generally ended in a semicircular 'apse'. A -semicircle of dark blue stones set in the floor of the north aisle in -the Cathedral of Chester marks the apse of an aisle of Earl Hugh's -church. - -The village churches were of course not built on the same scale of -grandeur as the churches of S. John and S. Werburgh. Nearly everywhere -the Norman 'lords of the manor' rebuilt the rude and humble churches of -wood and stone that had served the needs of the Saxons before them. But -little remains in Cheshire of these Norman churches, save here and there -a doorway or a window or a capital, that has escaped destruction or the -ravages of time. The Norman architects and builders were few in number, -and must have employed many Saxon workmen in the task of rebuilding. The -latter, as you have already learned, were no mean masons and sculptors, -and the carving of the mouldings and capitals of the doorways of the -village churches was doubtless in many cases done by them. The 'chevron' -or zigzag moulding, and the spirals carved on the face of capitals could -easily be cut with an axe, for the Saxons were not yet acquainted with -the use of the Norman chisel. At Shotwick and Shocklach you may see -doorways, which, from the simplicity of their mouldings, are probably -the work of Saxons, performed under the eye of their Norman masters. - - [Illustration: NORMAN ARCHES, S. JOHN'S. CHESTER] - -Towards the end of the eleventh century the clever Norman masons, who -loved to invent new patterns and vary their work, introduced other forms -of ornamentation such as the 'billet' and 'lozenge' and 'scollop' in -their mouldings, and adorned the capitals and even the pillars with rich -carving. Carved pillars may be seen in the Norman arcade in the -cloisters at Chester. - - [Illustration: CLOISTERS, CHESTER: PORTION OF FIRST NORMAN ABBEY OF S. - WERBURGH] - -The head of a Norman doorway is sometimes filled with a semicircular -stone called a tympanum, usually covered with a carved picture of some -scriptural subject. The tympanum over the door of the Norman chapel at -Prestbury represents Christ seated in glory. - - [Illustration: NORMAN DOORWAY WITH TYMPANUM, PRESTBURY] - -The Norman windows, like the doorways, were round-headed. The tiny -window in the chancel at Woodchurch shows us that they were often mere -slits on the outer face of the wall, widening considerably towards the -inner face in order that the light entering through the narrow opening -might be diffused as much as possible. Very few Norman windows have been -allowed to remain in Cheshire, for nearly all have been replaced by -larger ones of a different style at a later date when more light was -needed. - - [Illustration: NORMAN WINDOW, WOODCHURCH, SHOWING WIDE SPLAY INSIDE] - -The font is sometimes the sole remaining portion of the older Norman -church in which it once stood. In the modern church of Wallasey is an -ancient font, which by the arcade of semicircular arches carved upon it -is evidently the work of the Norman builders, and belonged to the Norman -church that formerly stood on the site of the present building. The font -of similar pattern at Grappenhall was dug up during a restoration three -feet below the floor of the present church, where it had lain for -centuries, and there are Norman fonts at Eastham, Bebington, and Burton. -In addition to those already spoken of, the churches of Bebington, -Bruera, Frodsham, Church Lawton, and Barthomley contain portions of -Norman work in some shape or form. - - [Illustration: NORMAN FONT AT WALLASEY] - -The Norman style of architecture is rarely copied nowadays in the -building of churches, being considered too massive and sombre as well as -costly. Boys who live in Wirral should, however, walk to the village of -Thornton Heath, where they may see a new church built entirely in this -style, with every detail copied faithfully from famous old Norman -churches. - -Other Norman barons were not slow to follow the example of their -overlord the Earl of Chester. In 1150 Hamon de Massey, Baron of Dunham -Massey, built a priory at Birkenhead for sixteen Benedictine monks. The -tolls from a ferry across the Mersey were granted to them for their -support, the charges being 'for a horseman two-pence, for a man on foot -one farthing, a halfpenny for a footman on market days, and a penny when -he had goods or produce with him'. The name of 'Monks Brow' still marks -the landing-place of the ferry on the Cheshire side of the estuary. The -monks were also freed from attendance at the 'Hundred' Court of the -Wirral. The manors of Tranmere, Bebington, Saughall Massey, and -Claughton were also given to the priory, and the priors sat in the -council or parliament of the Earls of Chester. The ruined refectory is -the only portion of the priory now remaining. - -The Abbey of S. Werburgh received grants of land from Earl Hugh's barons -as well as a large number of churches and manors from the earl himself. -In the course of time one-fourth of the entire city of Chester became -the property of the abbey. The abbot also had the right of taking the -tolls at the annual fair held at Chester at the Feast of S. Werburgh. -The fair lasted for three days, during which time even criminals might -visit the city to make their purchases without danger of arrest. - - [Illustration: ARMS OF THE SEE OF CHESTER] - -Chester had in fact rapidly become the chief seat of trade in the -north-west of England, and when the Conqueror ordered the sees of the -bishoprics to be removed from thinly populated centres to the large -towns, Peter, the first Norman bishop of Lichfield, left Lichfield 'a -sordid and desert place' and came to Chester, 'a city of renown,' making -the church of S. John his cathedral. Chester did not, however, keep this -honour long, for Peter's successor removed to the rich monastery of -Coventry. Hence it is that you find three mitres on the arms of the -bishopric of Chester. - -Earl Hugh Lupus died in the second year of the reign of Henry the First. -Three days before his death he had put on the cowl and robe of a -Benedictine monk and entered his own monastery at Chester. He was buried -in the abbey cemetery, and his only son Richard, a boy of seven years of -age, inherited the earldom. - -The Abbey of Combermere was founded for another brotherhood of monks -called Cistercians. Their 'rule' was even more strict than that of the -Benedictines. They wore neither boots nor cowl, and for a portion of the -year were allowed but one meal a day; nor were they permitted even to -speak to one another. In 1178, John, Baron of Halton, to secure the -safety of body and soul previous to making a pilgrimage to Palestine, -built a Cistercian abbey at Stanlaw, a dreary spot on the shore of the -Mersey estuary, and a third house of the same Order was founded at -Pulton on the Dee by Robert Pincerna, butler to Earl Randle II. Stanlaw -was almost wholly destroyed by a huge tidal wave which swept up the -Mersey, and the monks were removed to Whalley on the banks of the -Lancashire Calder. The monks, doubtless, were not sorry for the change, -for by the end of the twelfth century the majority of them had grown -tired of the simple life, and, becoming more luxurious in their way of -living, preferred to build their homes in delectable river valleys, -where they could fish the streams to their hearts' content. - -Pulton Abbey was not more fortunate, and was much too near to the Welsh -to be a comfortable place to live in. The Welsh visits were so frequent -and unpleasant that the monastery was abandoned and the monks placed in -a fine new abbey at Dieulacresse in Staffordshire. - -The monks who kept the abbey records were not always very particular -about the truth of the events they relate. They were very superstitious, -and ready to believe any story that would increase the fame of their -founders, or of their patron saints, to whom they ascribed the power of -performing miracles. The story is told that when Earl Richard was making -a pilgrimage to the holy well of S. Winifred in Flintshire he was -attacked by a band of Welsh insurgents and compelled to take refuge in -a neighbouring monastery. He prayed for aid to S. Werburgh, who is said -to have instantly parted the waters of the Dee by making new sandbanks, -over which the Constable of Chester marched troops to the relief of his -lord. These banks were long after known as the Constable's sands. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE EARLS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE - - -In the western porch beneath the tower of Prestbury Church are a number -of fragments of broken grave-slabs of the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries. On nearly all is carved a cross, the head of which is usually -enclosed within a circle, the ends of the limbs of the cross consisting -of a triple lily, the favourite emblem of the Norman sculptors. One only -of these fragments tells us over whose remains the slab was placed. An -inscription, in which the letters VIVYN D are clearly seen, tells us -that this fragment formed part of the tombstone of Vivian Davenport, -Chief Forester of the Forest of Macclesfield. Hunting was the favourite -sport of the Normans, and in Cheshire, as elsewhere, large tracts of -forest land were enclosed for the protection of deer and game, and the -amusement of the Norman knights. The Conqueror himself set the example -by making the New Forest in the south of England, and shortly afterwards -the Earl of Cheshire enclosed the Forests of Mara or Delamere in the -west and Macclesfield in the eastern part of the county. - -The forest laws were very strict. William the Conqueror did not indeed -punish offenders with death, but he ordained that 'whoso slew hart or -hind man should blind him, that none should touch the harts or the -wild-boars, and he made the hare go free. So mightily did he love the -high deer as though he were their father. His rich men bewailed it and -the poor murmured at it, but he was so stark he recked not of them all.' -The forest laws of Rufus were far more severe, and caused fierce hatred -among his poorer subjects. The forests became the haunt of robbers and -outlaws, who clothed themselves in suits of 'Lincoln green', the better -to escape being seen in the greenwood. Foresters were appointed, whose -duty it was to hunt out these lawless and rebellious men, as well as to -preserve the game of the forest. - - [Illustration: Latin Cross, prob. c. 1180 - Norman Floriated Cross, c. 1200 - Double Floriated Cross on Grave-slab of Vivian Davenport, c. 1240 - - GRAVE-SLABS AT PRESTBURY] - -Hugh Lupus made John Done of Utkinton and his heirs Chief Bowbearer and -Forester of his Forest of Delamere. The Dones had the right to kill deer -and game, take swarms of wild bees, the fallen trees, and such small -game as 'foxes, hares, weasels, and other like vermin'; their badge of -office was a black bugle horn tipped with gold. Their hunting-seat or -'Chamber in the Forest' was served by ten keepers and two woodsmen. Some -of their descendants were buried at Tarporley, and on one of the tombs -you may see the badge of the bugle carved. - -Earl Richard, the successor of 'the Wolf', married Matilda, niece of -King Henry I and a daughter of Stephen of Blois. He was drowned with his -wife on his return from France when the ill-fated White Ship went down -in 1119. - -The next earl was Randle of Meschines. He was one of King Henry the -First's chief fighting-men, and led the van at the Battle of Tinchebrai -against the king's elder brother Robert. - -His son, Randle the Second, played a great part in the civil war of King -Stephen's reign. Stephen was quite unable to curb his barons as his -predecessors had done, and the Earl of Chester was unruly and ambitious. -In addition to his Earldom of Cheshire, he had succeeded to vast estates -in Lincoln and the Midlands. His power and influence was so great that -he ruled over an extent of country hardly smaller than the ancient -Earldom of Mercia. Stephen refused to add the city of Carlisle to the -already numerous possessions of the earl, who in anger declared himself -on the side of Stephen's rival Matilda when she took up arms, and became -one of Stephen's most bitter and active enemies. - -The king took Randle prisoner by a stratagem, and the monks of Pulton -Abbey were commanded to pray for the earl's safety. When at length he -was set free, the earl in a moment of gratitude gave the monks -permission to fish the waters of the Dee, and freed them from the toll -which they were accustomed to pay for grinding their corn in the Dee -Mills at Chester. Under the Norman rule the use of handmills, such as -the Saxons had used, was strictly forbidden, and everybody had to send -his corn to be ground in the mill belonging to his lord. - -When the Welsh heard of the earl's captivity they took advantage of his -absence and ravaged the county of Cheshire, but were defeated in a -battle at Nantwich in 1146 by Robert of Montalt. - -Randle died in the same year as King Stephen, and was succeeded by Hugh -Kyvelioc. This second Earl Hugh enclosed large stretches of forest-land -in East Cheshire, and gave the chief forestership to Richard Davenport. -It is Richard's grandson Vivian whose grave-slab we have seen in the -church at Prestbury. - -To Vivian Davenport's office was also joined the office of Hereditary -Grand Serjeant of the Hundred of Macclesfield. The Grand Serjeant -received twelve pounds six shillings and eightpence a year, and a fee of -two shillings and a salmon for the capture of a master-robber, and one -shilling for a common thief. Human life was held cheap in those days. -The robbers when caught were beheaded, and their heads sent to Chester, -where they were publicly shown as a warning to others. Descendants of -the Davenports live now at Capesthorne, and their peculiar crest, a -robber's head with a rope round the neck, recalls the gruesome duties of -their ancestors. - -A portion of the Forest was held by the Venables in return for providing -thirty-three huntsmen on hunting days. The Downes of Taxal held their -land more cheaply on the northern limits of the Forest, which is now -Lyme Park, 'by the blast of a horn on Midsummer Day and one pepper-corn -yearly.' Near Overton is a spot still called Gallows Yard, where the -Downes had power to execute robbers and criminals. In Lyme Park you may -see to this day the red deer that are descended from their wild -ancestors of Macclesfield Forest. - -When Hugh Kyvelioc was Earl of Chester, Henry the Second ruled England -and the greater part of France. He also received at Chester the homage -of the King of Scotland. But in the later years of his reign he found -it hard to keep together the widely scattered parts of his empire. -Rebellions were frequent, and his wife, his sons, and his barons all -took up arms against him. Among his discontented barons none was more -unruly than Hugh Kyvelioc, who stirred up Brittany against Henry, but he -was captured in battle and brought to England. In the great rising of -1173 Geoffrey of Costantin, one of Henry's sons, held the castle of -Stockport against the king. Not a stone of this castle is to be seen -now, but it stood in the highest part of the town near the Parish -Church. - -After Hugh Lupus, the greatest of the Earls of Chester was Randle the -Third, or Randle Blundeville. Like his predecessors, he was constantly -engaged in fighting against the Welsh, on one occasion being besieged in -Rhuddlan Castle until he was relieved by a rabble of vagabonds hastily -gathered from Chester Fair. This Randle was earl for over fifty years, -and was high in favour with three successive kings of England whom he -steadfastly supported. Henry the Second gave him in marriage his own -daughter-in-law, Constance, the widow of his son Geoffrey. The English -historian, Matthew Paris, says that the earl carried the crown at the -coronation of Richard the First, and he was present at the signing of -the Great Charter by King John, whose side he took in the quarrel with -the barons. - -The earl ruled Cheshire wisely, favouring especially the towns in his -earldom. To Chester, Macclesfield, and Stockport he gave charters by -which these towns were freed from certain payments and duties, and were -permitted to govern themselves under a mayor of their own choosing. In -the new Town Hall of Stockport is a stained glass window commemorating -the earl's grant to his baron Sir Robert de Stokeport of the town's -first charter of freedom. - -His gifts to the Church and the founding of abbeys won for him the title -of the 'Good' earl. He did not neglect the poor, for he built and -endowed the hospital of S. John, near the North Gate of Chester, for the -support of thirteen poor people, with three chaplains to minister to -their religious needs. At Boughton, outside the city walls, he founded a -hospital for lepers, whose terrible disease was brought to this country -by travellers returning from Eastern lands. - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries men's minds were deeply stirred -by the hardships and cruelties put upon pilgrims to the Holy Land. Men -of every Christian land and race joined in the Crusades or Holy Wars to -win back Jerusalem, which had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, -enemies of the Christian faith. Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, came -to Chester and preached from the High Cross the duty of all Christian -men to rescue the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre from the power of the -unbelievers. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he did not preach in vain. -Men of all classes dedicated their lives or their wealth to the service -of the Cross. King and baron, soldier and priest, rich and poor alike -put on the sign of the Cross, and sailed to the Holy Land, where they -vied with one another in deeds of chivalry and valour. - -Randle Blundeville joined the Crusades in 1219, and set out with a -number of other English knights for Jerusalem. He distinguished himself -greatly in Egypt, and when he returned the fame of his brave deeds made -him a popular hero, and his adventures were recited or sung in many a -stirring ballad. - -The stone effigy of Sir William Boydell in Grappenhall Church will give -you some idea of a crusading warrior. He is clad in chain armour with a -plain surcoat. His legs are crossed, a sign perhaps that he had taken -the vows of the Cross, and his head rests on his helmet. A shield is on -his left shoulder, by his left side a sword. - -Many Crusaders bound themselves by sacred vows and joined different -'Orders' or companies to which the names Knights Templars, Knights -Hospitallers, or Knights of Saint John, and so on, were given. The -last-named founded a house where the brethren of the Order might live in -their old age at Fulshaw, near Wilmslow. - -When Randle returned to Cheshire he built in the heart of his earldom -the strong castle of Beeston, on the summit of Beeston Rock, from whose -walls he could survey nearly every portion of the county over which he -ruled. He entertained Henry the Second at Chester Castle when Henry made -an expedition against the Welsh, the troops encamping on Saltney -marshes. Henry the Second had high views of the duties of kingship, and -was always busily occupied at home or in his continental dominions. But -Cheshire saw little or nothing of his son Richard, greatest of all -Crusaders, for he spent the greater part of his reign seeking adventures -abroad, and left his people to take care of themselves. - - [Illustration: EFFIGY OF CRUSADER: GRAPPENHALL] - -Earl Randle lived long enough to see the boy king Henry the Third -dismiss his guardians and rule on his own account. Almost his last act -was to refuse to allow the clergy of Cheshire to pay the tenth part of -their incomes to the pope to aid him in his private wars. In 1232 he -died, and was buried with his forefathers in the Abbey Church of -Chester. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY - - -The greatest churches which the Normans planned were on such a scale -that they could not be finished in the lives of their designers. The -work was carried on more or less continuously by the builders and -architects who came after them. But, as time went on, various -improvements were made in the art of building, and new fashions came -into being, and the original plans had often to be altered to meet the -growing needs of the day, or to allow the newest features of style to be -introduced. - -The interior of S. John's Church, Chester, will show you some of the -changes of style which were taking place in the early part of the -thirteenth century. The two rows of _pointed_ arches over the circular -headed arches of the nave tell us that by the time the massive Norman -piers and arches were finished, an entirely different form of arch was -coming into fashion. - -The pointed arch was first used when Norman and Saxon had settled down -peaceably side by side. From the fusing of the two nations, the English -people grew in strength and power. Norman baron and Saxon peasant had -combined to wrest from a wicked king the Great Charter of freedom for -the English people. Hence the new style is appropriately called Early -English. - -The work of church building had often been interrupted. During the civil -war of Stephen's reign, the building of churches was almost at a -standstill; the Crusades, by drawing large numbers of people from the -country, also checked the progress of the work. The raids of the Welsh -often destroyed a half-built Cheshire church. But from the time of Magna -Charta the erection of sacred buildings went forward apace, and was -continued with even greater zeal and activity through the long reign of -Henry the Third. - - [Illustration: RUINS OF S. JOHN'S, CHESTER - Change from Norman round arch to pointed arch] - -The pointed arch was the principal feature of the new style, which is, -therefore, sometimes called the Pointed style. But we must look -carefully at the shape and details before we can be quite sure that an -arch belongs to this period of building. - -The arch must be tall and narrow, the columns on which they rest, round -and slender, often grouped together in clusters of three or more. Often -the columns consist of slender shafts united on one base and under one -capital. The mouldings of the arch, base and capital must be deeply cut -and grooved. The pointed arches of S. John's have all these -characteristic features. The lower of the two rows of pointed arches is -called the triforium or blind story, that is, without windows, for it is -built within the slope of the roof over the side aisles of the church. -The upper row is the clerestory, containing many window lights. A -triforium is only to be seen in the very largest churches. In the ruined -portion of S. John's you may see round and pointed arches side by side. - -The arches of the nave at Prestbury belong to this period. The columns -are very much more slender than the massive columns of S. John's. You -will notice that the capital of one of the columns is covered with -carved foliage which could only have been done with a chisel. Deep -under-cutting is a feature of the Early English style, and shows that -the English masons had improved greatly in their skill. - -Early English windows, like the arches, are long, narrow, and pointed. -From their shape they are called lancets. Sometimes two or more lancets -are grouped together side by side under a single 'dripstone' or hood. At -the east end of the Chapter-house at Chester is a window consisting of -five lancets. - -Several portions of Chester Cathedral, or rather the Abbey of S. -Werburgh as it was still called, were built during this period. In the -north aisle of the choir you may see the point where we pass from the -massive Norman masonry to the lighter and more graceful Early English. -The piscina or basin built in the wall is the place where you must look -for the change. - -At the end of the twelfth century the church of Hugh Lupus was already -in ruins. Earl Randle was in the Holy Land, and, during his absence, the -Welsh were more than usually troublesome. In the early years of the -thirteenth century large sums of money were given to the abbey, and the -abbots began building in the new style. When Hugh Grylle was abbot, the -Chapter-house, in which the business of the abbey was transacted, was -built. The number of monks also increased to such an extent that a new -and larger refectory was needed. - - [Illustration: BOSS FROM RUINS OF S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER - Left of the boss is a strip of dog-tooth moulding] - -This refectory and the vestibule or entrance hall leading to it contain -the most beautiful examples of Early English work to be found in -Cheshire, and boys and girls who live in or near Chester should study -them carefully. In the refectory is the stone pulpit referred to in a -previous chapter, with a staircase and arcade of Early English arches -leading to it. The wall above the arches is pierced with a row of -'quatrefoil' openings, with deeply cut mouldings. - - [Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH DOORWAY, CHESTER] - -In the hollows of the Early English mouldings we sometimes see an -ornament pointed like a dog's tooth. You will see it in the moulding -round a circular opening over the doorway of the vestibule in -the cloisters of the Cathedral. Another ornament which the -thirteenth-century masons invented and put into their work was the -'cusp', a projection made by the meeting of two curves placed end to -end. If you put two cusps into the head of a pointed arch you will find -that you have made a trefoil-headed arch. The triforium arches in the -choir of the cathedral are all of this description. Quatrefoils are made -by arranging four cusps within a circle. - -Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Abbot Simon of Whitchurch -built the Lady Chapel east of the choir. The windows of this chapel are -all lancets, those at the side being arranged in groups of three, while -the east window contains five lights. The Lady Chapel looks very new -now. It has, in fact, been almost entirely rebuilt since Abbot Simon's -day. The mediaeval builders of Cheshire did not select their -building-stone very carefully. You will see from the cloisters how the -red sandstone has weathered and crumbled to ruin. - -The walls of Early English buildings were not so thick as those built by -the Normans, and required to be supported on the exterior by buttresses -which projected further from the walls than the flat Norman buttresses. -You will find Early English buttresses at Audlem and Prestbury. - -Many houses in Chester are built over crypts or underground cellars, -which were made during the reign of Henry the Third, and consequently -show some of the features we have been describing. The oldest of these -crypts is under a shop in Bridge Street. It is lighted by a triple -lancet window having deep splays. The door of the staircase leading to -it has a trefoiled head, and the vaulted stone roof is groined and -ribbed like the roof of the cloisters of the cathedral. The roofs of -Early English churches were groined in the same way, but with wood -instead of stone. - -Many Cheshire churches were, no doubt, rebuilt or repaired in the new -style. At Bruera there is a pointed doorway under a semicircular arch. -Bruera was one of the many churches bestowed on the Abbey of S. Werburgh -by Norman lords. A grant of a manor or a church was often made when a -baron or some member of his family entered the abbey as a monk of the -brotherhood. - -Their descendants did not always approve of these gifts. In the -Chronicle of S. Werburgh, we read that in 1258 Roger de Montalt, Chief -Justice of Chester, tried to recover the churches of Bruera, Coddington, -and Neston, which the lord of Montalt had given to the abbey in the days -of Earl Hugh. Roger entered Neston Church with a body of armed men, and -turned out the monks who had been sent from the abbey to perform the -services, and gave the living to his nephew Ralph. The Chronicle speaks -of the misfortunes that befell Roger as a warning to other would-be -robbers of the Church. His eldest son died within fifteen days, and -Roger himself 'died in poverty within two years, the common people being -ignorant of the place of his burial'. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -GROWTH OF TOWNS IN CHESHIRE - - -Earl Randle 'the Good' had no son to succeed him, and when he died the -earldom passed to his nephew John the Scot, the son of Randle's eldest -sister. John married the daughter of Llewellyn the Prince of Wales, so -that peace was secured for a time between the Welsh and the earl's -subjects. He did not live to enjoy his earldom long, however, and he too -died without an heir. His wife was suspected of causing his death by -poison. - -Henry the Third was at this time King of England. He had looked with -anxious eyes upon the growing power of the Earls of Chester. Now that a -suitable opportunity presented itself, the king decided to take the -earldom into his own hands, his excuse being that he was unwilling that -so fair an inheritance should be divided 'among distaffs', meaning the -sisters of John the Scot. So he gave them each a portion of land and a -husband, and appointed John de Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, as custodian -of Cheshire. - -A few years later Henry bestowed the earldom on his son Edward, and from -that time down to the present day the title of Earl of Chester has -belonged to the son and heir of the reigning monarch. The present -Prince of Wales is also Earl of Chester. One of Edward's first acts was -to confirm to the barons and the people of Cheshire all the liberties -and privileges which Randle had formerly granted them. - -Some of these 'liberties' are set forth in the Charter which John the -Scot gave to the people of Chester: 'Know that I have conceded and by -this my present charter confirmed to all my citizens of Chester that no -merchant should buy or sell any kind of merchandise which has come to -the city of Chester by sea or by land, except these my citizens of -Chester themselves and their heirs, or in accordance with their will, -and except in the established fairs, that is on S. John the Baptist's -day and at the feast of S. Michael. Likewise I have conceded and by this -my present charter confirmed to my citizens of Chester, to have and to -hold their guild merchant, as freely as they held it in the time of my -uncle, Lord Randle, Earl of Chester.' - -Similar charters were given to other Cheshire towns. Earl Randle, who -was one of those who saw King John sign the Great Charter, gave to his -baron, Sir Robert de Stokeport, a charter for his town of Stockport, -with permission to hold markets and fairs, receiving in return the -market dues and tolls. Hamon de Massey gave a charter for a weekly -market to the inhabitants of Altrincham. Congleton received its charter -in the reign of Edward the First from Henry de Lacy, whose statue you -may see on the front of Congleton Town Hall. Macclesfield boasts of -charters received from Randle Blundeville and from Edward the First, -though by the latter the citizens were compelled to grind their corn at -the king's mill and bake their bread in the king's oven, paying a toll -of one shilling each for this privilege. - -In the thirteenth century the merchants and traders of a town formed -themselves into guilds, which drew up sets of rules for the regulation -and protection of their trade and industries. The merchants met at fixed -times in their guild-hall, where they elected the officers of the guild, -an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, and an usher, and where they -transacted the business of the guild. By these laws no merchant could -buy or sell goods in the town unless he was a member of the guild. All -the members subscribed to the guild, and if one of their number fell -into poverty, or was unable to work and provide for himself, he received -a sum of money every year from the common chest. - -The little schoolroom in the churchyard of Nantwich was the old Guild -Hall. The guilds became very rich in time, and bought property and built -homes for poor people who had belonged to the guild, and schools where -their children might be taught. - -The workmen also who worked for the merchants wanted their own guilds, -and craft guilds were formed by the different trades of a city, each of -the guilds receiving a charter of its own. Several charters of this kind -may be seen in the muniment room of the Chester Town Hall. - -In mediaeval towns those who were engaged in a particular trade lived -near to one another in the same street, to which they often gave the -name of their industry. The name of Shoemakers' Row still survives at -Chester to tell us where the shoemakers' shops were to be found. Newgate -Street was formerly Fleshmonger Lane, and was the chief place of -business of the butchers. The Skinners lived in 'Castle Drive', and a -portion of Bridge Street known as Mercers' Row was given over to the -mercers, drapers, and haberdashers. The trade guilds were formed in the -same way as the merchant guilds. Each had its own officers and -meeting-place. The Phoenix Tower takes its name from the crest of one of -the city guilds, which used the tower as its council-chamber. - -While the merchant guild looked after the interests of the trades, the -town itself was governed by a mayor and aldermen, who were responsible -for the good behaviour of the inhabitants. They also fixed the prices at -which food and other necessaries of life were to be sold, and had the -control of all markets and fairs. Commonhall Street takes its name from -the old Common Hall in which the mayor and aldermen of the city met for -their deliberations. The old hall has long since disappeared. The mayor -and the magistrates administered justice in the Penthouse or Pentice, -which used to stand close to S. Peter's Church in the centre of the -city. - -During the two great fairs of the city of Chester a large white glove -was suspended from the tower of S. Peter's as the symbol of welcome to -all strangers to bring their wares into the city for sale. In the church -of S. John's is an ancient grave-slab with glove and scissors carved -upon it. The slab once covered the remains of a glover; glove-making has -always been one of the chief industries of Chester. Another slab shows -by the hammer and horseshoe engraved upon it that it belonged to the -tomb of a smith. - - [Illustration: TOMBSTONE OF A GLOVER, S. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHESTER] - -One of the privileges of the Shoemakers' Guild was that of providing the -ball for the annual game of football played on the Roodee on Easter -Monday. The mayor and all the city guilds came to watch the game, which -unfortunately did not always end happily, for we read that 'great strife -did arise', and many of the players were haled away to be dealt with by -the Mayor at the Pentice court. The saddlers provided a silver bell as a -prize for the winner of a horse-race on the Roodee. - -But the greatest event of the year in mediaeval Chester was the -performance of scenes from the Scriptures--mystery plays, as they were -called--at the Festival of Whitsuntide. The city guilds bore the whole -of the expense and chose the players to perform them, each guild being -responsible for one scene. Thus the painters and glaziers performed the -Shepherds' Watch and the Angels' Hymn; the vintners acted the part of -the Wise Men of the East; the butchers the Story of the Temptation; the -glovers the Raising of Lazarus. Scenes from the Old Testament were -included, the linen drapers performing the story of Balaam and the Ass, -and the watermen of the Dee, appropriately enough, the story of the -Flood. - -The plays were put into English verse by Randal Hignet, a monk of S. -Werburgh's, and no doubt were originally performed by the monks as a -means of instructing the people in the outlines of the Christian faith. -As the abbey church was found to be unsuitable they were performed -publicly in the streets, in order 'to exhort', as a clerk of the Pentice -said, 'the minds of the common people to good devotion as well as for -the common weal and prosperity of the city.' - -Twenty-five scenes in all were played, and the performance lasted for -three days. On the first day the people saw scenes representing the -Creation of the World, the Banishment from the Garden of Eden, the Birth -of Christ and the Vision of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Wise -Men; on the second day the Passion and Resurrection of Christ; and on -the third day stories illustrating the founding of the Christian Church, -the Lives of the Saints, and the final Advent of Christ and the Day of -Judgement. - -The plays were performed on movable stages fitted with wheels. The -stages consisted of two stories, the upper one being left open for the -plays, the lower one covered with curtains that it might serve as a -dressing-room. The first performance took place at the Abbey Gate. The -stages then passed one by one to the Water Gate, where a second -performance was given. The plays were acted for the third and last time -in Bridge Street. - -People crowded into Chester from all the country round on these -occasions, for the pope granted one thousand days of pardon to all who -witnessed the plays. The abbey also grew in wealth, for every one was -expected to visit the Abbey Church and lay some offering at S. -Werburgh's shrine. To provide a passage for the crowds of pilgrims, side -aisles were built round the choirs of famous churches, and behind the -high altar a vacant space left where the shrines of saints were placed. - -The Cheshire towns which grew in importance during the thirteenth -century as a result of the great increase in trade were situated on or -near the great roads of Cheshire, which were still, in the main, the old -roads laid by the Romans. Their position was generally one of great -strength, having been chosen in early times in order that men might be -able to beat off the attacks of enemies. Chester was, as you have -already seen, guarded on two sides by a bend of the river Dee, and was -the meeting-place of Roman roads. Northwich on the Watling Street, -Middlewich on Kind Street, and Stockport were all built at a point where -two rivers meet. Runcorn, Lymm, and Altrincham are on sandstone heights -protected on the north by the Mersey; Macclesfield is astride the main -road in East Cheshire, and Nantwich on the highway into Wales. It was -only by means of the roads that commerce between the towns could be kept -open. The 'Welsh Row' of Nantwich recalls the days when the principal -trade of the town was with the wool-weavers of Wales, a trade that was -too often interrupted by the fierce outbreaks on the border. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -EDWARD THE FIRST AND CHESHIRE - - -Simon of Whitchurch received the Abbey of S. Werburgh from the hands of -another and a greater Simon, the powerful Earl of Leicester, who was -engaged in a grim struggle with the king on account of the king's -extravagance and misgovernment, and the rule of foreign favourites. Both -Henry and his son Edward were, in fact, at this very time prisoners of -the earl, for the battle of Lewes, which ended so disastrously for the -king, had just been fought. In the same year Earl Simon summoned the -famous Parliament in which knights from the shires, and citizens from -the boroughs, sat side by side with the nobles and bishops. - -Edward had not long received the Earldom of Chester from his father when -the Barons' War broke out. Simon de Montfort made an alliance with -Llewellyn the Welsh prince, and Chester, expecting an attack, was put -into a state of defence. Abbot Simon could hardly have commenced -building his beautiful Lady Chapel when he saw his church desecrated and -turned into barracks by Sir William de la Zouche, the Chief Justice of -Chester. - -After the defeat of Henry and Edward at Lewes they were compelled to -hand over to Earl Simon the Earldom of Chester, and Henry de Montfort, -Simon's eldest son, came to Chester and received in his father's name -the homage and oath of fealty of the citizens. Lucas de Taney was left -in charge of the city. - -Edward afterwards escaped from the custody of Earl Simon, and James de -Audley seized the castle of Beeston on his behalf. He also besieged -Lucas de Taney in the castle of Chester for ten weeks, but did not -succeed in taking it on account of the excellent defence made by the -garrison. De Taney surrendered when he heard of the death of Simon de -Montfort at Evesham, where Edward won a great victory. The chief of the -surviving barons were brought as prisoners to Beeston Castle. - -But the great prize for which de Montfort fought and laid down his life -was won. When Edward came to the throne he learned from the mistakes -made by his father, chose his ministers wisely, and gave his people good -laws. His reign saw the growth of a full and free parliament, in which -all classes of free men were represented. Cheshire did not, however, -send any members, but being under the personal eye of the king had still -a separate government of its own as well as its own judges and -law-courts. - -Vale Royal reminds us of the great Plantagenet king, whose motto was -'Keep Troth' and who for thirty-five years did all he could to win the -love of his people. Before Edward became king he went on Crusade to the -Holy Land, where he distinguished himself by recovering the holy city of -Nazareth from the Saracens. On his return he narrowly escaped shipwreck. -In his peril he invoked the aid of the Virgin Mary, and vowed that if he -were saved he would build a monastery in her honour on his return to his -own country. The Chronicle tells us that 'the vessel straightway -righted itself and was miraculously brought safe into port; the sailors -disembarked, the Prince landing last of all, and immediately the vessel -broke in pieces, and every fragment of the wreck vanished under the -water'. - -Edward 'kept his troth' and built a home for one hundred monks of the -Cistercian Order at Darnhall. Four years later he laid the foundation -stone of a stately Abbey at Vale Royal, in the very heart of Cheshire. -Queen Eleanor and a great company of nobles accompanied him. We may not -now hear the Angelus tolling its summons to evening prayer, nor see -jolly monks fishing the streams of the Weaver, but in the last few -months the foundations of the Abbey church where they chanted the mass -have been discovered. - -The abbey took more than fifty years to build, and it was not until the -reign of the third Edward that the monks were able to move from their -temporary lodgings to the new and spacious building. The abbey received -valuable lands in the neighbourhood of Over, Darnhall, and Weaverham, of -which villages the abbot became lord. By the ancient 'customs' of the -manor of Darnhall the villagers were required to attend at the manorial, -now the abbot's court; the abbot had power of life and death over all -his tenants, who had also to grind all their corn at the abbot's mill; -at the death of any native the abbot took all his horses, cattle, and -pigs, and half of his standing and gathered corn. - -Cheshire saw a good deal of Edward the First in the earlier half of his -reign. In the year after the ceremonies at Vale Royal we find him at -Macclesfield, when he began to build the parish church of S. Michael. - -He was the first English king to take in hand the conquest of Wales -seriously. In the reign of Henry the Third the Welsh had taken advantage -of the king's troubles with his barons, and waged a murderous warfare on -the Cheshire border. They advanced as far as Nantwich, and James de -Audley, who owned a large part of the barony of Nantwich, saw his -castles burnt, woods felled, and cattle destroyed. Preparations were -made for a big expedition into Wales, and Prince Edward summoned the -knights and barons of Cheshire to Shotwick Castle on the banks of the -Dee. A grassy knoll, where once stood the castle keep, is all that is -left of the scene of the gathering. - - [Illustration: CHESTER WALL. Roman below; Edwardian above] - -Chester, from its position at the very gates of North Wales, was the -natural meeting-place for the troops, and the starting-point of Edward's -expedition against Llewellyn. Soon after his accession he summoned the -Welsh princes to do homage to him. This they refused to do, and the king -prepared for war. Llewellyn's brother David for a long time fought on -the side of the English, and received the manor of Frodsham as his -reward. - -Edward's first task, however, was to strengthen the defences of Chester -so that it might resist all attacks. The enemy frequently came close up -to the walls of the city, and raided especially the suburb of Handbridge -on the opposite shore of the Dee, naming it Treboeth or 'Burnt Town', a -name that tells its own tale. - -Edward was a great castle-builder, as many of you have learnt from -pictures you have seen of his Welsh castles. The Norman castle of -Chester had been constructed largely of wood. Edward now rebuilt it of -stone, and greatly enlarged it by adding an outer ward or 'bailey'. He -surrounded the whole fortress with 'curtain' walls flanked with towers -and protected with a deep ditch. He also set to work to rebuild the -walls of the city. - -The ancient Roman walls had long since crumbled to their foundations, -though here and there a mass of masonry remained standing, and the Roman -east gate was still in its place. The stones of which the walls had been -built had provided building-material for many centuries. On the east -side from the Pepper Gate to the Phoenix Tower Edward built his wall on -or near the foundations of the Roman wall, portions of which you may -still see on this side of the city. For the most part, however, the new -walls were built outside the older ones, and the area enclosed was much -greater than that of the Roman town. - -The walls were strengthened by a number of watch towers, some of which -were not completed until the time of his grandson Edward the Third, when -Bonewaldeston's Tower and the Water Tower were built. A wall-tax called -'murage' was levied on the inhabitants of Cheshire for keeping the walls -in repair. The citizens of Chester were also made to build a bridge over -the Dee. Edward's chief engineer was named Richard, and in return for -his services he received for a number of years the Dee Mills, so that -for the time being he was the 'Miller of the Dee'. - - [Illustration: WATER TOWER AND CURTAIN WALL, CHESTER] - -After some years of hard fighting the conquest of the Welsh was -complete. At Rhuddlan Castle, on the borders of the ancient palatine -earldom, Edward gave to the conquered Welsh a settled government and a -system of law-courts similar to that which he had already set up for the -English. He returned to Chester to celebrate the peace that he had made, -and accompanied by his queen, with great pomp and ceremony attended mass -and a service of thanksgiving in the Abbey of S. Werburgh. - -The river Dee washed the walls of the Water Tower, and great iron rings, -to which the barges were moored, were fixed in the Tower walls. The -ships brought wines from Gascony and cloth from Flanders, whither the -monks of Vale Royal and Combermere sent the wool of the flocks that -pastured on their meadows. Some of the Flemish weavers left their own -country and settled on the shores of the Mersey near Birkenhead. - -In nearly every field in the pastoral parts of Cheshire are to be found -one or more small round pools, often fringed with willows and reeds. You -know them well, for you have been to them often to watch the tadpoles -and the minnows. But you have not wondered why they are there, and why -there are so many of them. Yet they have something to tell of the -wool-raising in the days of the three Edwards. For they are marl-pits, -and many of them were dug first when the first Edward was king; the -marl, which is a great fertilizer, being taken out of the earth and -spread over the grass-lands on which the flocks were pastured. The -farmers do not use it now, for new and easier ways of enriching the soil -have been found. - -The marl-diggers, or 'marlers' as they were called, had their own -particular feast-day once a year, when they claimed toll of every -passer-by, and in the evening sang their marling songs in the village -ale-house. - - When shut the pit, the labour o'er, - He whom we work for opes his door - And gies to us of drink galore, - For this was always Marler's law. - Who-whoop who-whoop wo-o-o-o-o. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE COMING OF THE FRIARS - - -Three streets in Chester in the neighbourhood of the Church of S. Martin -bear the names of Grey Friars, Black Friars, and White Friars -respectively. During the thirteenth century numbers of begging friars, -clad in simple grey or black or white tunics, came to Chester and -settled in the poorest quarters of the city. Like the early disciples of -Christ, whose lives of poverty they sought to imitate, they carried with -them neither gold nor silver, and walked unshod, begging their food and -shelter as they journeyed from town to town. - -Their simple teaching appealed to the poor, who soon began to look upon -them as their best friends. For they brought the Gospel of Christ to -them in their streets, and tended the sick and the aged amid their -squalid homes. They were forbidden by the rules of their Orders to -receive either money or lands. - -The first to arrive in Chester were the Dominicans or Black Friars, who -settled near the Watergate when Randle Blundeville was earl. The old -palace of the Stanleys formed part of the home of the Black Friars. They -were followed a few years later by the Franciscans or Grey Friars who -also lived by the Watergate, near the spot on which the Linen Hall was -afterwards erected, and in the reign of Edward the First the White -Friars or Carmelites took up their abode in the neighbourhood of White -Friars Street. - -Unlike the monks, the friars had at first no fixed homes of their own, -and preached at wooden crosses set up at the street corners. Afterwards, -with the alms they received from the people and the legacies from rich -men who admired their devout lives, each of the different Orders of -friars built for themselves a permanent dwelling-place or friary, to -which a church in time was added. - -The Church of the Carmelites must have been one of great beauty. Some of -the glazed coloured tiles which formed the pavement of the building may -be seen in the Grosvenor Museum. Excavations have been made at the spot -where the tiles were found, and three feet lower down the workmen came -across broken columns and bases of a large Roman building. Mediaeval -Chester was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman city. A doorway in -an old house called 'The Friars' was part of the Carmelite Friary. - -The friars studied medicine and devoted themselves particularly to the -care of lepers. They also built schools for the children of the poor. -The Dominicans were also skilful engineers, and Edward the First -employed them in making wells and laying water-pipes in the city. - -Unfortunately some of the friars did not live up to their early vows of -poverty, and the rules which S. Francis and S. Dominic had drawn up for -them. When wealth poured in upon them they became jealous of one -another, and quarrels and disturbances frequently arose between them. -The Records of Chester tell of many violent acts on the part of the -Dominicans and Carmelites, the latter of whom, armed with cudgels, were -wont to roam in the night time through the city to the terror of the -inhabitants. - -The monks of the thirteenth century had also become idle and luxurious. -They had, as you have already read, become great landowners, and -received the manorial dues from the manors which belonged to them. The -Abbots of Vale Royal ruled with a rod of iron. The poor people rebelled, -and fights between them and the monks were frequent. They laid their -complaints before the king, and good Queen Philippa interceded for them -as she did for the burghers of Calais, but the abbot was generally able -to prove his 'rights', and the people obtained little satisfaction. The -wealth of the monasteries was also greatly increased by the cultivation -of crops and the sale of their wool. But the richer they became, the -more they neglected their spiritual duties. The poor could no longer -look to them for their spiritual teaching or for charity and good -works, and so gladly turned to the friars who for a time ministered to -their needs so well. - -Monks and friars alike were bitterly attacked in Edward the Third's -reign in a poem written by William Langland. In this poem, which is -called 'The Vision of Piers Plowman', the poet speaks of the ignorance -and sloth of the monks, one of whom is made to confess that he cannot -even chant the Lord's Prayer. - - I cannot the Pater Noster as the priest it syngethe, - But I can Rimes of Robin Hood and of Randall of Chestre. - -A few exceptions there were to the general rule. In his quiet retreat in -the Abbey of S. Werburgh, Ranulf Higden wrote a work called -'Polychronicon', which contained a history of the world from the -Creation to his own day, with geographical descriptions of the different -countries of the world, and the favourite mediaeval legends of Babylon -and Rome. The book is valuable because it is one of the earliest pieces -of literature written in the language of mixed Norman and Saxon which is -our mother tongue to-day. When printing was invented in the fifteenth -century, the Polychronicon was one of the books printed by Caxton the -first English printer. - -Many of the churches in Cheshire show us that the masons and builders of -Edward the Third's long reign made great progress in their art. - -We have seen how the thirteenth-century workmen learned to group a -number of lancets together under one hood, and to shape the lancet heads -like a clover leaf by the addition of cusps. In the fourteenth century -the space above a row of lancet or trefoil-headed lights was filled in -with a number of geometrical figures such as circles and foils. Hence -the name of Geometrical or Decorated has been given to the work of this -period. The large east windows of many of our Cheshire churches are made -up in this way. The patterns of flowing lines thus produced are called -'bar tracery'. There are Decorated windows in the aisles of the choir -and south transept of Chester Cathedral. - - [Illustration: NORTH-WEST VIEW OF NANTWICH CHURCH] - -Windows and arches were now made wider than in the previous century. The -builders of the Pointed period sought after height; those of the -Decorated period aimed rather at breadth and openness. - - [Illustration: GEOMETRICAL WINDOW, SOUTH TRANSEPT, CHESTER CATHEDRAL] - -The fourteenth-century masons studied nature carefully, and put masses -of carved fruit or flowers or leaves in the capitals of their columns. -The arches of the nave of Chester Cathedral prove this fact. - -A favourite ornament of the Decorated period is the crocket, a -projecting bunch of foliage added to pinnacles, the hoods of arches, and -the canopies of niches and tombs. Another device is the ball-flower -carved in the mouldings. The ball-flower is as sure a sign of Decorated -mouldings as the dog-tooth was in those of the Early English period. - - [Illustration: ALTAR TOMBS, MACCLESFIELD] - -The choir of Stockport Parish Church is a beautiful example of the -Decorated style, and the greater portions of Macclesfield, Nantwich, and -Prestbury Parish Churches belong to the same period. In many other -churches you will find some detail, generally a window or a doorway or -an altar tomb, which will show you some of the features of this style. - -In the Early English and Decorated periods a spire was sometimes added -to the tower, as at Astbury and Bebington. The spire grew out of the -pyramid-shaped roof with which the towers of Norman churches were -covered. - -In the low-lying portions of the Cheshire plain, where stone was scarce -but timber plentiful, the framework of a church was often built of wood. -In the village of Warburton, on the banks of the Mersey, is a -fourteenth-century wooden church, which served as the chapel of a priory -that was established here by the Normans. The name itself -('Werburgh-ton') speaks to us of S. Werburgh, the patron saint of the -Abbey of Chester, and a field by the river is still called the Abbey -Croft; the stone coffins within the church once contained the bones of -monks who lived here. - - [Illustration: INTERIOR OF WARBURTON TIMBER CHURCH. FOURTEENTH CENTURY] - -The arches within are made of rough-hewn timber, rudely shaped with the -axe. Lantern pegs of buck-horn from the deer that once roamed the -woodlands of Dunham Massey are fixed on the oak pillars; the roof is -supported by stout cross-beams. The brick tower has been added at a -later day, and the south wall built when the timbers on that side of the -church collapsed. The timber churches of Lower Peover and Marton belong -to the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. -Marton Church was the burial-place of the Davenports, who lived at -Marton Hall. - - [Illustration: THE OLD PRIEST'S HOUSE, PRESTBURY] - -The Davenports had a more splendid home at Bramhall, the oldest portions -of which were built when Edward the Third was king. The great hall at -Baguley was built about the same time. The massive upright posts are -cut from timber more than two feet square, and the spaces between them -filled with wickerwork and plaster. The open roof is supported by a -mighty 'tie-beam' and two uprights called 'queen-posts'[2]. The windows -are tall and the lights narrow, and separated from one another by oak -mullions. - - [2] Sometimes the roof was held up by a single 'king-post' in - place of two queen-posts. The 'king-post' reached from the centre - of the tie-beam to the point of the roof. - -Surely the men who built it had hearts of oak. The building reflects the -rugged character of the men of the days when 'knights were bold' and -'might was right'. In this hall we can picture old Sir William Baggiley -feasting with his family and his retainers, when the summons came from -his king to follow him to the French wars. - -His effigy still rests in the hall that he himself perhaps built. It is -broken and battered, but enough remains to show us that the knights who -fought for Edward and the Black Prince had changed the fashion of their -war dress since the Crusades. A hood of mail still protects the head and -neck, but the suit of mail has given way to plates of steel riveted or -hooked together, so that the whole body is cased in armour. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -A DEPOSED KING - - -When Edward the First completed his conquest of North Wales, and the -Welsh chiefs swore fealty at Chester to the first English Prince of -Wales, the fighting squires of Cheshire found themselves without any -occupation. Edward the Third, ambitious of recovering the French -dominions of the Norman and Angevin Kings of England, provided the -Cheshire men with a fresh field of adventures, with far greater -opportunities of performing deeds of valour and satisfying their thirst -for warfare. - -A number of Cheshire knights followed the king and the Black Prince to -France. The French Chronicler, Froissart, tells us that Sir James Audley -and his four Cheshire squires 'fought always in the chief of the battle' -at Poitiers. One of the four squires was Sir John Delves, who built the -old tower of Doddington Castle, near Audlem. In Barthomley Church is a -monument to Sir Robert Fulleshurst, who also was one of the dauntless -four. - -In the chancel of Bunbury Church is the tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley, who, -by his bold deeds, won for himself the title of the 'Cheshire Hero'. -Over the doorway of the inn at Handley you may see the sign of the three -calves, the ancient coat of arms of the Calveleys. Sir Hugh was the -leader of a famous band of soldiers called the 'Companions', who gave -their services for pay to any leader who required them, and were the -terror of the country people of France for many years. Edward made him -the Governor of Calais, from whence he sacked the seaport of Boulogne, -and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. Indeed, many of his -exploits are anything but deeds of glory. - -When Sir Hugh Calveley returned in his old age to his home in Cheshire, -wishing to atone, perhaps, for his ruthless acts, he founded a college -at Bunbury for a master, two chaplains, and two choristers. Their chief -duty, no doubt, was to pray for the repose of the soul of their -benefactor. - -Cheshire knights and Welshmen fought side by side at Poitiers. When the -Black Prince returned to England he gave the Dee Mills for life to Sir -Howell y Fwyall. - -An inscription on the wall of the Parish Church of Macclesfield tells us -that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd King Edward the Third and the Black Prince -his sonne in all their warres in France, and was at the Battell of -Cressie, and hadd Lyme given him for that service'. The descendants of -the Leghs still live at Lyme Hall, near Disley, where a life-size -portrait of the Black Prince hangs in the entrance hall. Sir Perkin -married the daughter of Sir Thomas d'Anyers, who received a handsome -reward for rescuing the Royal Standard at Crecy from the French. His -body lies beneath the d'Anyers monument in Grappenhall Church. - -The same inscription at Macclesfield tells us that Perkin a Legh 'serv'd -King Richard the Second, and left him not in his troubles, but was taken -with him and beheaded at Chester'. - -Cheshire was very loyal to the unfortunate Richard, who styled himself -Prince of Cheshire, and showed great favour to the ancient earldom. The -victory of Crecy was due to the English archers, and among them none -were more famous than those of Cheshire. On their return from the wars, -Richard's faithful bowmen became his body-guard, and could always be -relied upon whenever he wished to strike a blow at his enemies. 'Sleep -in peace, Dickon,' they would say to him, 'we will take care of thee, -and if thou hadst married the daughter of Sir Perkin of Legh, thou -mightest have defied all the lords in England.' - -Cheshire men got a very bad name, for they were cruel and bloodthirsty, -given to lawless deeds and inspiring terror wherever they appeared. They -were safe in Cheshire, for the county was governed directly by the king, -and did not yet send representatives to Parliament. The House of Commons -itself was overawed by a force of 2,000 Cheshire archers, commanded by -seven Cheshire esquires. When the Commons rose against the misgovernment -of the king, the unpunished robberies and evil deeds of the Cheshire men -were one of the causes of complaint. The bowmen all wore the badge of -the White Hart, Richard's own device. There are at the present day many -inns in the villages of Cheshire that bear the sign of the White Hart, a -reminiscence of the days of Richard and his Cheshire guards. - -The enemies of Richard were determined to depose him, and put in his -place Henry of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt. Richard banished Henry, -and deprived him of his estates and possessions. When Henry landed with -a small force at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, in the year 1399, he was joined -by many of the northern lords, chief among whom was the powerful Earl of -Northumberland and his son, Harry 'Hotspur'. Richard surrendered to his -cousin at Flint, and was brought to Chester 'on a sorry hack not worth a -couple of pounds'. He was confined in the tower over the gateway of the -Castle at Chester before being removed to Pontefract, where he probably -met a violent death, though it was given out that he died of starvation. -Perkin a Legh was executed for his loyalty to Richard, and his head -fixed on a pole on the highest tower of Chester Castle. - -The Cheshire archers struck one more blow in Richard's defence. Hotspur -had been made Justice of Cheshire and North Wales by Henry the Fourth, -to keep down the turbulent Cheshire men and the Welsh insurgents. He -suddenly changed sides, and joined Earl Mortimer and Owen Glendower of -Wales in their revolt against the new king. - -Hotspur gave out that Richard was yet alive at Sandiway, and the chief -barons of Cheshire, the Venables and the Vernons, and the archers of -Macclesfield and Delamere flocked to his standard. The Mayor of Chester -went too, and the parsons of Pulford, Davenham, Rostherne and other -villages, each with his own following. Though they were afterwards told -that Richard was really dead, they were quite content to avenge him, and -the army decked with the badge of the White Hart marched from Cheshire -to join the Welsh leader. - -King Henry met them near Shrewsbury, where a fierce battle took place. -The Cheshire archers fought with great bravery, and even routed a -portion of the king's army. But they were gradually overcome by the more -numerous royal forces, and Henry's victory was complete. Hotspur himself -was killed, and among the slain were 'the most part of the knights and -squires of the county of Chester'. After the battle, the baron of -Kinderton, Sir Richard Venables, was executed, and his estates given to -his brother, a supporter of the king. - -The ancient yew-trees in many of the churchyards of Cheshire will remind -you of the sturdy bowmen who overthrew the mail-clad mounted men of -France at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers. The big yew in the -churchyard of Farndon must have been of great age, even in the days -when Richard's archers cut their bows from its tough and pliant boughs. - - The bow was made in England, in England, - Of true wood, of yew wood, the wood of English bows: - So men who are free - Love the old yew tree - And the land where the yew tree grows. - -In order to encourage archery among workmen and labourers, Richard -forbade the playing of football, tennis, and the like, under penalty of -fine or imprisonment. Among the town-laws of Chester was one which -compelled all children of six years old and upwards to be taught the use -of the bow and arrow, both 'for the avoiding of idleness' and for -service 'in the ancient defence of the kingdom'. Every Easter Monday the -two sheriffs chose teams of archers, and shot a match on the Roodee, the -prize being a breakfast or dinner of calves' heads and bacon, in which -the Mayor and Aldermen also took part. When a man of any well-to-do -family married in Chester, he was expected to give a silver arrow in the -following year as a prize for archery. - -Some of the knights who returned from the French wars found their old -homes burnt or destroyed by marauding Welshmen during their absence. The -castles which they built for their protection were built of stone, and -portions strongly fortified. The massive tower or keep of Doddington is -crowned with a battlement and four square corner turrets; the windows -are mere slits in the walls. Brimstage Tower in Wirral was built in 1398 -by Sir Hugh de Hulse. The parapet or gallery is 'machicolated', that is -to say it projects beyond the walls of the tower, so that molten metal -might be poured through holes in the parapet upon an attacking force -below. - -The more famous Storeton Hall was built about the same time, though -little remains now to show its former splendour. From Storeton came the -powerful Cheshire House of Stanley. In the reign of Edward the Third, -Sir Philip de Bamville was master-forester of Wirral, which at the time -was covered with an extensive forest, so that an old rime said - - From Blacon Point to Hilbre - Squirrels in search of food - Might jump straight from tree to tree, - So thick the forest stood. - -Sir Philip was being entertained by John Stanley. In the evening, when -the festivities were at their height, young William Stanley ran away -with Joan de Bamville, Sir Philip's only child. Through forest and over -moorland they spurred their horses, and stayed not till the wide -Cheshire plain lay between them and their homes. At Astbury Church they -were wedded, and after the old knight's death, the Stanleys succeeded to -the forestership and the estates that went with it. - -Scarcely any churches were built in Cheshire in the latter part of the -fourteenth century, though the chancel of West Kirby was put up in the -reign of Richard the Second. The carved heads on one of the window-hoods -are those of Richard and his queen. Labourers were very scarce, owing to -the ravages of the terrible calamity known as the Black Death, and the -men who returned from the wars had no fancy for doing the work of the -mason and the builder. Men refused to work; wages and the price of bread -rose so high that a limit had to be set to them by law. Even so great a -person as the Abbot of S. Werburgh was fined because his steward charged -too big a price for the abbey corn. - -When the next century dawned and the land had rest for a while under the -Lancastrian king, churches were no longer built in the Decorated style -of the fourteenth century. Another style of church-building prevailed. - -The curious Chester 'Rows' were originally built during the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries, though they have been altered and rebuilt many -times since then. There is nothing quite like them in any other English -city. The 'Rows', or galleries, run continuously for most of the length -of the four principal streets over the shops on the street level, as if -the front rooms on the first floor of all the houses had been taken -out and a thoroughfare made through them. At the ends of the Rows, and -at street corners, you may descend by a staircase to the pavement below. - - [Illustration: CHESTER ROWS, WATERGATE STREET] - -No one can be quite sure how the Rows came to be built on this plan. -Some people have thought that they were copied from the porticoes or -colonnades of shops in Roman towns. Others, again, say that they were -intended to serve as barricades in the street fighting which often took -place when the Welsh attacked the city. Probably, however, neither of -these explanations is correct. - -Many old houses in Chester show that they were at first built with -outside flights of stone steps leading from the street to the first -floor. Under the steps was an entrance to a cellar or storeroom. At some -time or other the steps were removed, except at the ends of the streets, -and a footway laid along the tops of the cellars. The upper stories were -then brought forward, and, resting on columns of wood, made level with -the street fronts of the basement. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE RIVAL ROSES - - -Henry the Fourth belongs partly to Cheshire, for a Duke of Lancaster had -married the heiress of the Lacys, who were descended from Nigel, Baron -of Halton and Constable of Chester. John of Gaunt, the king's father, -was a frequent visitor at Halton Castle, which he used as a -hunting-lodge. - -The French wars broke out again in the reign of Henry the Fifth. Once -more the loyal Leghs and other Cheshire knights followed their king. In -fact the king's body-guard was composed of Cheshire men, among them -being Richard de Mobberley, Ranulf de Chelford, and William de Mere. -Piers Legh, the grandson of Perkin Legh, fell at Agincourt, as you may -read on the brass plate in Macclesfield Church. In the same church is -the altar-tomb of another hero of Agincourt, Sir John Savage, who was -knighted after the battle. - -Henry was stricken down at the very moment of his triumph, and a baby -king succeeded to the throne of England. The royal uncles, who acted as -guardians, quarrelled with one another, and in a few years the English -were compelled to leave France. Foreign wars were followed by strife in -our own country. The Wars of the Roses lasted for the greater part of -the second half of the fifteenth century. - -Queen Margaret, the 'outlandish woman' as her Yorkist enemies called -her, was in Chester in the year 1459. The king was ill, and the queen -conducted the wars herself, and summoned the fighting-men of Cheshire to -rally to her side. The people of Cheshire were not greatly excited over -the wars, which were mainly blood-feuds of powerful nobles. The trading -classes and the artisans of the towns took little part in the fighting, -but the sturdy Cheshire yeomen followed the squires, who ranged -themselves on the one side or the other. Members of the same family -often found themselves opposed to one another. - -A sixteenth-century poet, describing the battle of Blore Heath, which -took place just over the southern border of Cheshire, says: - - There Dutton Dutton kills, a Done doth kill a Done, - A Booth a Booth, and Legh by Legh is overthrown; - A Venables against a Venables doth stand, - A Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand. - -The Red Rose was badly beaten in this battle, in which Lord Audley and -two thousand Cheshire men were killed. - -One of the Booths who fought in the Wars of the Roses is buried beneath -the chancel floor of Wilmslow Church. Set in a marble slab which covers -the grave is a brass plate with figures of Sir Robert de Bothe and Douce -Venables his wife. Similar 'brasses' were common enough in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the monuments of those families -who could afford them. They represent, for the most part, knights and -priests. Few are left now, for numbers were stripped from their places -during the Great Rebellion. Portions of the brass at Wilmslow have been -destroyed or lost, for the figures were at one time set in a handsome -canopy of brass, and the whole surrounded by an inscription, only a -fragment of which remains. - - [Illustration: BRASS OF ROBERT DE BOTHE AND DOUCE VENABLES] - -The brass shows us the costume of a knight and lady of the fifteenth -century. The knight is in plate armour, which, since its first -appearance in the Edwardian wars, had become more and more elaborate and -highly ornamental. If you study this brass and the effigies on the -Savage monuments at Macclesfield you will be able to recognize in other -churches the warriors who fought in the battles of the fifteenth -century. - -Douce Venables was only nine years of age when she was married by her -parents to the twelve-year-old husband whom they chose for her. -Throughout the Middle Ages child-marriages were frequently arranged in -order to make secure the estates which the children were to inherit, and -save them from the greediness of the kings. The sovereign claimed the -right of wardship over all heirs and heiresses who were left orphans in -early life, and took a large sum of money out of their estates when he -gave them away in marriage. If they did not then marry according to his -wishes they had to pay a further sum. We may be sure the kings made all -they could from this source, for wars were expensive and the kings were -always short of ready money. - -The people of Cheshire were glad when the Wars of the Roses were over. -The Roses were united when Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, married -Elizabeth the heiress of Edward the Fourth and of the House of York. On -the porch of Gawsworth Church is a carved corbel consisting of a rose, -within whose petals appear two faces. This is the Tudor Rose, a symbol -of the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York. The porch was -therefore built shortly after the wars were ended. - -The Cheshire Stanleys helped Henry Tudor to win the crown of Richard the -Third on the field of Bosworth, the last battle of the rival Roses. When -Richard saw the redcoats and the harts' heads of the Stanley followers -ranged on the side of his enemies, he knew that he was doomed. - - The Stanley strokes they are so strong, there may no man their blows - abide. - -It was Sir William Stanley who picked up the crown which had fallen from -King Richard's head when he was struck down, and taking Henry aside, set -it on his head. - -Macclesfield suffered severely in this battle. Among the corporation -records of Macclesfield is preserved a letter to King Henry the Seventh, -praying that the town might not lose its charter because it could not -make up the necessary number of aldermen, owing to the heavy slaughter -of the townsmen at Bosworth. - -Lord Derby, the head of the House of Stanley, arranged the new king's -marriage with the Lady Elizabeth, and Sir William Stanley was for a time -high in favour with the king. But one day he asked for too great a -reward--nothing less than the Earldom of Chester, and the suspicious -king chopped off his head. Thus were men often requited for their -services. - -Notwithstanding the squabbles and jealousies of rival kings and princes, -the people as a whole were progressing along more peaceful ways. Trade -was flourishing, and the class of well-to-do merchants becoming yearly -more numerous and important. Wealthy aldermen imitated the good example -of King Henry the Sixth, founder of many schools and colleges. Edmund -Shaw, of Stockport, founded in 1487 a Free School at Stockport for the -children of the burgesses. The master of the school was to be a priest, -'a discrete man, and conning in grammer and able of connyng to teche -gramer.' The art of printing had just been discovered, and now that -books were likely to be within the reach of all, it was necessary first -of all to teach Cheshire boys how to read and understand their own -language. - -The century, that opened with war and bloodshed, closed in peace such as -Cheshire had hardly ever before experienced. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -CHURCHES OF THE MIDDLE AGES - - -Many of the largest and finest churches in Cheshire were built during -the Wars of the Roses, and in the reigns of the early Tudors. This fact -shows us more than anything else perhaps that the wars did not greatly -interfere with the progress and prosperity of the inhabitants of -Cheshire. During this period the churches of Mottram, Malpas, Great -Budworth, Nantwich, Astbury, Grappenhall, Tarvin, Bunbury, Wilmslow, -Witton, Gawsworth, and many others were built or completed. - - [Illustration: ASTBURY, WEST FRONT. PERPENDICULAR] - -If you study any of these churches carefully you will see that the style -was once again changing. Probably the first thing you will note will be -the change in the patterns of the windows. The mullions which divide -the lights are carried right up to the crown of the windows instead of -branching off to right or left in flowing curves. This is the chief -feature from which the new style has received the name of Perpendicular. - -The Perpendicular builders of the latter half of the fifteenth and the -first half of the sixteenth centuries found their windows growing to -such a size that they had to strengthen them with cross-bars called -transoms. Thus the windows, as in the west front of Astbury and the -south transept of Chester Cathedral, for instance, present the -appearance of a number of rectangles placed side by side and piled one -above another. The crown of the windows are also now flattened until -they hardly appear to be pointed at all. - -The clerestories of the Perpendicular churches were filled with rows of -windows until the whole length of the wall was almost continuous glass, -as at Malpas and Astbury. When Bibles and Church services began to be -printed more light was needed, for people went to church to read as well -as to listen. - -The doorways, like the windows, have changed with the times. The heads -are flattened and covered with a square moulded hood. The corner spaces -between the arch and the hood are called spandrels, and are generally -filled in with carved foliage or shields. At the sides are often niches -for the images of saints, or moulded panels. The door of the Rivers -Chapel at Macclesfield is a beautiful specimen of Perpendicular -architecture. - -The walls of Perpendicular churches are generally surmounted by a -parapet which runs round the whole length of a church, as at Malpas. -Sometimes the stone work of the parapet is pierced with panel-shaped -slits or ornamented with rows of quatrefoils. Panels appear on the -buttresses of Gawsworth Church. - -But the great glory of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century churches are -the tall and massive square towers. These are built in stages separated -from one another by a narrow projecting course of stones or by bands of -quatrefoils. The name of the builder often appears on the tower. Round -the tower of Mobberley Church runs a Latin inscription bearing the -names of John Talbot and Margaret his wife, the patrons of the church, -and Richard Plat the master-mason. On the towers of Macclesfield and -Gawsworth Churches are carved rows of shields bearing the arms of -different lords of the manor. Like the body of the church, the tower is -generally crowned with an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the four -corners. - - [Illustration: PERPENDICULAR TOWER, HANDLEY. FIFTEENTH CENTURY] - -In the carved foliage of one of the capitals in the nave of Chester -Cathedral are the letters S. R. They are the initials of Abbot Simon -Ripley, one of the greatest of fifteenth-century builders in Cheshire. -He rebuilt the upper parts of the nave and south transept of the Abbey -Church, and planned the central tower, which was finished by the next -abbot. Simon Ripley also built the old tower and gateway at Saighton -Grange, which had been the residence of the Abbots of S. Werburgh ever -since the time of Hugh Lupus. - -Many of the village churches of Cheshire were built on the sites of -former churches, and often a portion of the older building remains to -prove this. The Norman font at Grappenhall and the little Norman window -at Woodchurch are all that is left to prove that churches existed here -before the present buildings were erected. In such churches you can -often trace the successive buildings and rebuildings, alterations and -additions that have been made from time to time. A single church may -indeed show the chief features of all the styles from the time of the -Conqueror to the Civil War. At Prestbury you may see a Norman doorway in -the little chapel in the churchyard; in the chancel of the church is a -window of pure Early English, and in the nave a pillar of the same -period. There are Decorated windows in the aisles, and a Perpendicular -window at the east end. - -The Cheshire churches are beautiful still; they must have been even more -beautiful in the sixteenth century, before the Puritans of the -Reformation and the Civil War in their mistaken zeal destroyed almost -everything of beauty within and without that could be destroyed. On the -walls of the interior were often painted pictures of Bible stories such -as the Creation, the Crucifixion, or the Resurrection of our Lord. When -the plaster was stripped from the walls of Gawsworth Church some of -these wall-paintings were discovered. Drawings were made from them, -which you may see in the Free Library of Macclesfield. On the wall of -the nave of Mobberley Church some of these paintings still remain, but -their meaning is not very clear. - -The chancel was divided from the nave by a screen of carved oak, with a -long narrow gallery above it called a rood-loft, from the rood or cross -which was placed in the centre of the gallery. The crosses have gone, -but at Mobberley you may see the ancient screen, with an inscription, -and the date 1500 carved upon it. - - [Illustration: SHOCKLACH: CROSS AND NORMAN DOOR] - -Throughout the Middle Ages it was the custom for the lord of the manor -to reserve some portion of the church for his own use, or to add to the -building a chantry or chapel where his own chantry priest might pray -daily for the salvation of his soul. These chapels are generally at the -eastern ends of the aisles. You will know them by the handsome monuments -which were raised over the graves of the founders, for these chapels -were used as the burial-place of the founders and their families. The -Calveleys had a private chapel at Bunbury, the Mainwarings at Over -Peover, the Dones at Tarporley, the Troutbecks in S. Mary's, Chester, -and the Cholmondeleys at Malpas. - -The church porches are on the south side of the church. They are -generally large, for portions of the baptismal service were read there, -and the font is therefore close to the door within the church. In the -corner of the porch at Woodchurch you will see a little stone basin or -'stoup' in which holy water was placed for the use of those entering the -church. At Malpas there is a little room above the porch called a -'parvise'; this was used as a priest's room. Over the door of the porch -are niches for the images of the saints to whom the church is dedicated. - -In the churchyard near the south porch, which was nearly always the -principal entrance to the church, you will generally see a cross or -stump of a cross and steps representing a Calvary. From these steps the -friars used to preach to the people when they travelled through the -Cheshire towns and villages. - -In many of the old churches of Cheshire you will see a stout oak chest, -often black with age, and strongly bound with bands and clasps of iron. -These chests were made to hold the deeds of gift of land and money made -by rich patrons. Beneath the tower of Wilmslow Church is an ancient -chest that was carved out of a solid block of wood. Some of you have -perhaps tried to raise the heavy lid of the chest at Little Peover, but -it is as much as a strong man may do. An old legend says that the maid -who can lift it is indeed worthy to become a Cheshire farmer's wife. In -the museum at Warrington is preserved the old parish chest of -Grappenhall. It is the oldest chest in the county. It is of the rudest -description, consisting merely of a tree trunk, seven feet long, chopped -smooth with an axe, sawn into two portions and hollowed. - - [Illustration: PORCH WITH PARVISE: MALPAS] - -In these chests were also placed the churchwardens' accounts of -expenses, as well as the registers of births, deaths, and marriages -which Henry the Eighth in 1538 commanded to be kept in every parish. -These ancient records are valuable now, and preserved with great care -for from them we can glean much information about the lives of our -forefathers. Many of them have been copied and published by scholars, -and may be read by you in your libraries. Many Cheshire parish registers -date from the times of the Tudors, but a large number were lost or -destroyed during the Civil Wars. - -Churchwardens' accounts help us to picture in our minds the interior of -a mediaeval church. We read of payments made 'for timber bought to make -the pulpit', 'for mending of the Bible book and for the covering of the -same', for strewing rushes on the floor of the church to keep it warm, -and 'for a chain to the Bible'. There are chained Bibles still at -Bunbury, Backford, and Burton. A printed Bible cost a lot of money, and -chains were necessary to prevent it being stolen. - -There were no comfortable cushioned seats for those who worshipped in -mediaeval churches. Wooden or stone benches were ranged along the walls, -and 'kneeling places' were made for those who could afford to pay for -them. In Acton Church the old stone bench running all round the walls of -the nave and chancel still remains. - -In the choir there were stone seats, called 'sedilia', for the priests. -They are set in the wall on the south side of the chancel, and are -generally covered, as at Stockport and Mobberley, with a canopy of Early -English or Decorated tracery. - -In the churches which were closely connected with an abbey or monastery, -wooden stalls were made for the monks. These are often beautifully -carved, and covered with handsome canopies of wooden tracery and -pinnacles. The choir stalls of Nantwich are said to have been brought -from the Abbey of Vale Royal. - -The carved oak stalls in Chester Cathedral are thought by many people to -be the handsomest in England. Many of them still remain as they were in -King Henry the Eighth's days, freed now from the coat of white paint -with which stupid workmen covered them at a later time. The heavy seats -are fitted with hinges, so that they may be raised. On the under side -are quaint carvings of birds and dragons and unicorns, kings, knights -and seraphs, illustrating ancient legends such as Richard Coeur de -Lion pulling the heart out of a lion, or Scriptural subjects and stories -from the lives of the saints. - - [Illustration: Sedilia at Mobberley] - -All Cheshire boys and girls should learn to read and understand the -stories of the Cheshire churches, for in them is bound up the story of -Cheshire men and women of many ages. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE REFORMATION AND THE GREAT AWAKENING - - -On one of the walls of the Parish Church of Macclesfield is a small -brass plate, a few inches square. It is called a 'Pardon brass', and -represents the Pope bowing before Christ, while Roger Legh and his six -sons are in the act of prayer. Beneath the figures is the inscription: -'The pardon for saying of five paternosters, five aves and a creed, is -twenty-six thousand years and twenty-six days of pardon.' We are not -told how much money Roger Legh paid the Pope for obtaining pardon for -his misdeeds, but it was a good round sum, I imagine. - -During the Middle Ages the doctrine grew up that sins committed by one -man might be atoned for by the prayers or penance performed by others, -together with a sum of money, which varied according to the crime. The -price of pardon for robbery was twelve shillings, for murder only seven -shillings and sixpence, and for perjury nine shillings. By the sixteenth -century people began to have an uneasy feeling that the sale of -'indulgences', as these pardons were called, was wrong, and preachers -rose up everywhere to denounce the system. - -This was only one of many evils which was bringing the Church into ill -repute. Reformers, like Martin Luther, showed that the Church believed -many things which did not agree with the teaching of the Bible. -Moreover, churchmen filled all the principal offices of state, and used -their position as a means of amassing great wealth, a portion of which -passed into the hands of the Pope, who was the recognized head of the -Church and whom the clergy were bound to obey. As the clergy would not -reform the Church themselves, the king and his lay ministers decided to -do it for them by Act of Parliament. King Henry the Eighth declared -himself head of the English Church, which, from this time, became -separated from the Church of Rome. - -The king then turned his attention to the monasteries, which had grown -wealthy at the expense of the people. The monks themselves had grown -lazy and careless of their duties, and many of them were living evil -lives. The king decided to turn out the monks and do away with the -monasteries altogether. - -In the year 1536 the king's officers appeared in Cheshire. The first to -suffer was the Abbot of Norton Priory, who resisted stoutly and summoned -all his tenants to his assistance. The king's men were compelled to take -refuge in a tower, but managed to send a message to Sir Piers Dutton, -Sheriff of Chester, by whose aid the abbot was captured and conveyed to -Halton Castle. The priory was sold, and the revenues, plate, and jewels -confiscated to the king. - -Vale Royal fared no better. In this case, at any rate, the monks -deserved their fate. They had long been the terror of the neighbourhood, -and were the friends of the robbers and cut-throats of Delamere Forest. -Abbot and monks were expelled from the abbey, which was handed over to -Sir Thomas Holcroft. The Holcroft crest was a raven, and superstitious -people saw in the fall of Vale Royal the fulfilment of a prophecy of a -Cheshire 'wise man' named Nixon, who said that the abbey would one day -be destroyed and become a raven's nest. - -The Cistercian Abbeys of Combermere and Darnhall, and the Priories at -Mobberley and Birkenhead, were treated in similar fashion, and their -wealth and estates divided between the neighbouring gentry and the king. - -The Abbot of S. Werburgh was the most powerful man in Cheshire, but he -could not save his abbey from the greedy hands of the king's officials. -The wealth of this abbey was reckoned at more than a thousand pounds, a -large sum in those days, equal to a sum at least ten times as great at -the present time. The abbots lived in their fortified manor-houses at -Saighton and Ince, where they kept great state, and supported large -numbers of retainers and dependants. They held a court at Chester, and -frequent quarrels arose between them and the Mayor of Chester as to the -extent of their powers and jurisdiction. - -The people of Chester were probably not sorry to see the abbot stripped -of his power. He did not, like the Abbot of Norton, show violence to the -royal officers, but fell in quietly with their wishes. For this he -received his reward, and returned to Chester within two years, no longer -as abbot, but as dean of a new cathedral. - -Many of the bishoprics of England covered such a vast extent of country -that Henry decided to spend a portion of the wealth which he had taken -from the monasteries, in creating six new bishoprics. Chester was one of -them, and the Abbey of S. Werburgh became the cathedral church of the -new bishopric, a portion of the new buildings being set apart as a -palace for the newly made Bishops of Chester. The first bishop was John -Bird, a Carmelite friar. - -Henry did not go as far in his reformation of the English Church as many -people wished. There were many who 'protested' against practices in the -Roman Church which they thought wrong, such as the worship of images or -of the relics of saints, to which the people were encouraged by the -clergy to pray for help. The Protestants, as the extreme reformers were -called, increased in number daily, and in the reign of Edward the Sixth -got the upper hand. They did away with the old Latin services of the -Church, which the greater part of the poorer classes did not understand, -and wrote a Book of Common Prayer in the English tongue. By an Act of -Uniformity, all the clergy were called upon to use this Prayer Book in -their churches. - -During Edward's reign, the rich jewelled vestments of the priests, the -church plate and crucifixes, and even the church bells, were swept away -and sold for the benefit of the king. Many of our village crosses were -wantonly destroyed during this period. The beautiful Sandbach crosses -were thrown down and broken in fragments. Most of the pieces were -recovered at a later day, and the crosses set up again, but they will -for ever remain a proof of the careless destruction of works of art by -which the period of the Reformation was marked. - - [Illustration: CHESTER CATHEDRAL (before Restoration)] - -When Queen Mary came to the throne she restored the old religion of -Rome. A memorial obelisk on Gallows Hill, Boughton, reminds us of the -dark days when Protestants were persecuted with blind and bitter hatred -by their Catholic enemies, and even suffered death for their beliefs. On -Gallows Hill, George Marsh was burnt at the stake for teaching the -doctrines of the reformed faith. He was tried in the Lady Chapel of the -cathedral, and condemned to death. The citizens of Chester, who had -shown themselves sympathetic to the reformers, were filled with horror, -and, led by one of the sheriffs, tried to rescue him, but failed in the -attempt. The bones of the martyr were collected and laid in the -burial-ground of S. Giles. The sheriff was forced to flee to the -continent until better times. He returned in the more tolerant days of -Queen Elizabeth, and became mayor of the city. - -A settlement was brought about in Queen Elizabeth's reign, which -satisfied all but the extreme men on either side. She was the more -inclined to the Protestant cause inasmuch as she hated the Catholic King -Philip of Spain, who called her 'the heretic queen', and whose spies -were to be found all over England. When the struggle with Spain was near -at hand, Protestants and Catholics forgot their quarrels in face of a -common danger, and the queen had no more loyal subjects than the great -Catholic families of Cheshire. Rowland Stanley, of Hooton-in-Wirral, -gave a large sum of money for improving the defence of the sea-coast, -for it was thought that Philip might land troops in Wirral. - -The Reformation was only part of a great awakening of peoples all over -Western and Central Europe. Scholars studied and brought from Italy -copies of the books of the ancient Greek and Roman writers. The -invention of printing helped the spread of learning, and the Tudor -monarchs encouraged the building of schools and colleges in order that -all classes might have the benefit of a better education. Over the porch -of the King's School, Chester, is a statue of King Henry the Eighth. He -was the founder of the school, which for a long time was carried on in -the ancient refectory of the abbey. - -Some of the wealth taken from the abbeys and monasteries was devoted to -the foundation of schools. The Grammar School at Macclesfield was -endowed in the reign of Edward the Sixth. At Bunbury, Thomas Aldersey, a -haberdasher of London, founded a school, the chantry and college of Sir -Hugh Calveley having been dissolved at the same time as the abbeys. - -Sir John Deane, son of Laurence Deane, of Davenham, gave some property -which had been in the possession of monks for the building of a free -Grammar School at Northwich, 'forasmuch as God's glory, His honour and -the public weal is advanced and maintained by no means more than by -virtuous education and bringing up of youth under such as be learned and -virtuous school-masters.' - -'God's glory' was indeed not the least of the things that Cheshire boys -of the sixteenth century were taught to observe. In the statutes of the -founder of Witton Grammar School it is laid down 'that the scholars -shall thrice a day serve God within the school, rendering Him thanks for -His goodness done to them, craving His special grace that they may -profit in learning to His honour and glory'. - -In the reign of Henry the Eighth the voice of the people of Cheshire was -heard for the first time in the Parliament of the English people at -Westminster. Hitherto, the miniature Parliament of the Norman and royal -Earls of Chester had been considered sufficient for them. Henry now -summoned two knights of the county and two burgesses from the city of -Chester to take their place side by side with the chosen representatives -of the other English shires and boroughs in the national assembly. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. I - - -The chief event with which all boys, I imagine, connect the name of -Queen Elizabeth is the defeat of the Great Armada sent against these -shores by the King of Spain. Doubtless on that summer night in the year -1588 there were watchers by the beacon on Alderley Edge who saw the -'Wrekin's crest of fire' flashing its message northwards. There was no -telegraph in those days, and yet in an hour or two at most the news of -the approach of an enemy was carried by beacon fires from the Channel to -the Cheviots. Cheshire indeed produced no Drake or Hawkins; but Sir -George Beeston, whose tomb you may see in Bunbury Church, commanded the -ship Dreadnought, one of the four ships that broke through the Spanish -line and took an active part in the pursuit and destruction of the -Spanish vessels. - -A few years later Sir Uryan Legh of Adlington Hall accompanied Lord -Howard and Raleigh and the Earl of Essex on an expedition to Cadiz, when -they destroyed the ships in the harbour and for a second time 'singed -the King of Spain's beard'. The town itself was taken by storm, and for -his bravery on this occasion Sir Uryan Legh was knighted. The Leghs were -always to the fore when there was any fighting to be done. A canopied -arch in Prestbury Church marks his last resting-place, but the tomb -itself has long since disappeared. - -One result of the expeditions of Drake and Raleigh was that Englishmen -were inspired with a passion for travel, whether abroad or at home, -partly for the sake of adventure and the pursuit of wealth, partly out -of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. The voyages of the great -navigators, 'itineraries' or diaries of travel, and histories of our own -country and its people were written at this period. These books show -clearly in their pages how intensely proud the Englishmen of Elizabeth's -day were of their country and their queen and her brave seamen, who by -their victories over Spain raised England to the first position among -the nations of the world. - -Michael Drayton wrote a long poem called 'Polyolbion', in which four -hundred lines are taken up with a description of Cheshire, which he -calls the - - thrice happy Shire, confined so to be - twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee. - -He speaks of Chester as - - th' imaginary work of some huge Giant's hand: - which if such ever were, Tradition tells not who. - -The book was illustrated by a number of curious maps, adorned with -quaint figures of men and women representing the rivers, hills, forests, -and castled towns. - -John Speed was born at Farndon on the Dee, and wrote a book called the -_Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain_, which contained the earliest -set of maps published in England. - -Cophurst, an old house near Sutton Downes in the Forest of Macclesfield, -is thought to have been the birthplace of the chronicler Raphael -Holinshed, who wrote a History of England and dedicated it to William -Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great minister of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare -used this book for the plots of some of his plays. - -The triumphs of Francis Drake were celebrated in a long Latin poem by -Thomas Newton of Butley, who placed the small brass tablet on the wall -near the pulpit in Prestbury Church to the memory of his parents. Newton -was for some time the head master of Macclesfield Grammar School. -Another Elizabethan poet was Geoffrey Whitney, who was born at Nantwich. - -An inscription on an old house at Nantwich, bearing the date 1584, shows -that Elizabeth returned the affections of her people and did all she -could for them. The verse reads thus:-- - - God grant our royal Queen - In England long to reign; - For she hath put her helping hand - To build this town again. - - [Illustration: MAP OF CHESHIRE. From Drayton's 'Polyolbion'] - -Nantwich had been almost totally destroyed by fire in the previous year. -The risk of fire was always very great, owing to the fact that nearly -all the houses of the Middle Ages were built of timber and thatched with -straw. - -The black and white timbered halls are the glory of Cheshire. Let us pay -a visit to-day to Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton, perhaps the most -beautiful of them all. The people who live here are proud of their home, -and on certain days of the week allow you to examine at your leisure -many of the rooms in the old house, which remains in almost the same -condition as when the Moretons removed to a new and more spacious house -of brick hard by. - -The framework of the house is all of wood, good solid English oak, and -black with age. The spaces between the beams and props are filled with -plaster and painted white. The principal beams which support the -building are of course upright, firmly laid on a foundation of stone. -Within the squares of this framework other beams are set in sloping -parallel lines, forming patterns of chevron or diamond, or arranged in -rows of quatrefoils and arcades of trefoil-headed arches. The upper -stories and the gables of the roof project beyond the ground floor of -the building, which is thus kept dry. - -We cross the moat by a substantial stone bridge, and enter through a -gateway whose massive oaken lintel and side-posts are covered with rich -carving, and find ourselves in a square paved courtyard. Within the -gateway is a stone horse-block. - -Facing us are two deep bay-windows formed of five sides of an octagon. -Over them you may read the carved inscription: 'God is al in al things. -This window whire made by William Moreton in the yeare of oure Lorde -MDLIX.' The building of the home was regarded by our Elizabethan -forefathers as an almost sacred work, to be carried out with hardly less -reverence than the building of a church. - -A second gateway forms the entrance to the dining-hall on the one hand -and the kitchen on the other. The walls of the dining-room are lined -with wainscoting of panelled oak; the open timbered roof is held up by a -strong central beam; the windows are filled with countless tiny panes of -glass, with bright patches of red and orange and blue where the -coat-of-arms and crest of the Moretons are painted upon them. - - [Illustration: LITTLE MORETON HALL] - -In the kitchen are marks of the growing comfort and luxuries of -Elizabethan days--the rows of pewter plates bearing the Moreton arms, -and a great spice-chest where the fragrant spices of the East, brought -home by travellers, were stored, as well as the sweet herbs, the sage -and rosemary, lavender and thyme, from the herb-garden of the Hall. In -the open fireplace, ten feet wide, an ox might well be roasted; the -smoke from the log-fire was carried upwards from the roof by a -chimney-stack of brick. - -Over the 'screen' or passage that divides the dining-hall and the -kitchen is a musicians' gallery, where the players of the viol and the -harp made music while the squire and his lady supped in the early -evening. - -To the left of the gatehouse through which we first entered is the -chapel, where the chaplain read the daily prayers to the assembled -family. A narrow spiral staircase fixed upon a central newel post leads -to a long gallery at the very top of the house, running the whole length -of one side of the courtyard. This was the ballroom, where Elizabeth -herself may perhaps have danced, as tradition says she did, for we know -that she was fond of visiting her people in their own homes. - -Few sixteenth-century houses were without a secret chamber. Little -Moreton Hall contains two such rooms, cunningly concealed in a corner of -the house. They are entered by sliding panels from an apartment over the -kitchen, and the fugitive could escape his pursuers by an underground -passage leading underneath the moat to the open field beyond. - -At opposite corners of the moat are two green circular mounds, on which -probably once stood two watch-towers to guard the house against attack. -A large number of the old halls of Cheshire were at one time moated for -their protection, though in many cases the moats have been filled up, -now that they are no longer necessary. Peel Hall in Etchells, Irby, -Swinyard Hall, Twemlow, Marthall, and Allostock Hall still retain -portions of their original moats. - - [Illustration: THE GALLERY, LITTLE MORETON HALL] - -Handforth Hall was built, as the inscription over the entrance door -tells us, 'in the year of our Lord God MCCCCCLXII by Uryan Brereton -Knight.' The Tudor builders were not ashamed to put their names to their -work. Within the Hall is a wide oak staircase with a wonderfully carved -balustrade, one of the most beautiful pieces of Tudor woodwork in -Cheshire. Sir Uryan's daughter married Thomas Legh of Adlington, who -built the timber portions of Adlington Hall in 1581. - -As you have already seen in a previous chapter, some of the timber -houses of Cheshire belong to a period much earlier than the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. Just as they reached their highest pitch of beauty and -richness under the Tudors a new style of domestic architecture was -coming in. Bricks, which had been very seldom used since the days of the -Romans, were again employed. The bricks were much larger than those used -by the Romans; in fact they were precisely similar to those of the -present day. They were not, however, laid as they are now, but in the -style called 'English bond', in which one 'course' or row shows all the -long faces and the next one all the short ends. - -These brick mansions were larger and more spacious than the old wooden -ones, and built for comfort rather than defence. They were set in the -midst of broad parks, and surrounded by terraced lawns and gardens -enclosed by walls of clipped yew-trees. Sometimes ornamental fish-ponds, -such as you may see at Gawsworth, were laid out in front of the house; -avenues of limes and Spanish chestnuts imported from abroad were planted -along the roadway leading to the principal entrance. Their general -shape, out of compliment to Queen Elizabeth, was that of the letter E. -Brereton Hall is a good example of this 'Tudor' style. It was built in -1586, the first stone being laid, so it is said, by the queen herself. - -In the eastern parts of Cheshire, where stone is abundant, houses -similar in design were built of this material instead of brick. Arden -Hall, near Stockport, is now in ruins, but enough remains to show the -chief characteristics of an Elizabethan mansion; the turret with -circular stone staircase, the wings with gabled ends, and the bay -windows carried up to the roof. Other Elizabethan houses are Marple -Hall, Poole Hall, Carden Hall in the Broxton Hills, Dorfold Hall, and -Burton Hall in Wirral. - - [Illustration: TUDOR MONUMENTS IN GAWSWORTH CHURCH - The central figure is that of Mary Fitton] - -In Gawsworth Church are a number of monuments of members of the Fitton -family, who lived at the Old Hall at Gawsworth. Mary Fitton was one of -Elizabeth's maids-of-honour, and used to take part in plays for the -amusement of the queen; and it is not at all unlikely that she was a -friend of Shakespeare. It is indeed supposed that she is the 'dark lady' -of whom the poet speaks in his sonnets. From an examination of these -Fitton monuments you can learn what the costume at the end of the -sixteenth century was like. Lady Alice Fitton is surrounded by the -kneeling figures of her two sons and two daughters, the former in plate -armour, the latter wearing the familiar head-dress and ruff which are -such distinctive features in the dress of Tudor ladies. The figures are -carved in alabaster, and have clearly at one time been painted in bright -colours. The picture of Mary Fitton will help you to recognize the Tudor -monuments which are to be seen in many Cheshire churches. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ELIZABETHAN CHESHIRE. II - - -Many attempts were made by the Tudor sovereigns to conquer the Irish. -From time to time expeditions were sent across the sea, and the troops -embarked at various points on the Cheshire coast. The fighting Leghs of -Adlington raised a troop of Cheshire soldiers, and Thomas and Ralph Legh -fell in battle against the Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill. A Cheshire -knight, Sir Edward Fitton, of Gawsworth, was made Governor of Connaught. - -In the later years of Elizabeth's reign a constant stream of ill-clad -and ill-paid soldiers marched through Cheshire on their way to the wars. -The soldiers had to be supplied with food and quarters by the towns and -villages through which they passed, and the cost of billeting the men -in the houses on their arrival at Chester fell very hard on the city -merchants, who were soon brought to great distress. The soldiers were -generally put on board ship at Parkgate, for the channel of the Dee had -become so choked up with sand that only the smallest vessels could reach -Chester. - -The leader of one of the expeditions was the Earl of Essex, who was a -frequent visitor at Lyme Park, where he hunted the stag with his host, -Sir Piers Legh. - -The wars with Spain ruined the oversea trade of Chester, consisting at -this time largely in the export of tanned leather to the French ports of -Rochelle and Bordeaux. In the year 1598, Thomas Fletcher, the Mayor of -Chester, wrote to Lord Burghley that he 'had found the poor city to be -generally very weak and much decayed, especially in the chiefest parts -thereof (the merchants) who have been heretofore the most able to do her -Majesty service'. For eight months there had not been 'one ship nor -small bark laden into any foreign place'. The queen had, some years -previously, given the merchants license to export 10,000 'dickers' (that -is, bundles of ten) of tanned calf-skins within a certain time, but -owing to the wars they were unable to get them away within the given -period, and the merchants asked for the time to be extended. - -An old gabled house in Watergate Street, with its pious superscription -'God's Providence is mine inheritance', reminds us of a more dreadful -scourge than war which visited Chester, and indeed the whole of -Cheshire, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This was the -terrible plague, which attacked rich and poor alike, and stopped the -trade of the city so much that, as one writer says, 'grass did grow a -foot high at the Cross'. Houses that were infected with the disease were -marked with a cross, that none might go near; no merchandise was allowed -to enter the city until it had been unpacked and aired outside the -walls. Death came suddenly, or within a few hours at most; and often 'to -those that merrily dined it gave a sorrowful supper'. God's Providence -House received its name from the fact that its inmates alone of all -the neighbourhood escaped the disease. - - [Illustration: STANLEY PALACE, CHESTER (showing influence of - Renaissance)] - -The Courts could not be held in the plague-stricken city; the Exchequer -Court was removed to Tarvin, and the Assizes were held at Nantwich. The -annual fairs were abandoned to prevent the spread of the disease. -Numbers of victims were carried out from the city and hastily buried in -the 'Barrow Field'. Other Cheshire towns suffered severely. On the -hills, near Macclesfield, are many gravestones of the victims of the -plague; two gravestones near the Bowstones on Disley Moor tell the same -tale. - -Some of the English nobles had residences in Chester. The city gates -were confided to noble families for safe keeping. The East Gate was -guarded by the ancestors of Lord Crewe. The 'Bear and Billet' Inn in -Bridge Street belonged to the Earls of Shrewsbury, who were Sergeants of -the Bridge Gate. The Earls of Derby had charge of the Watergate. The -North Gate, however, the most important entrance to the city, was -entrusted to the mayor and the citizens. - -A narrow court in Watergate Street leads to the Stanley Palace of the -Earls of Derby; the gardens extended down to the river-side. The -architecture is very similar to that of the old timber halls described -in the last chapter, but the row of round-headed panels tells us that -people were beginning to imitate in their timber decorations the -round-headed arches of the Italian style. - -As early as the reign of Henry the Seventh, English architects were -beginning to study the remains of ancient buildings in Rome, and Italian -architects were brought over to England. Henry the Eighth invited a -builder named John of Padua, who designed the north side of Lyme Hall. -The Italians despised the Pointed styles of English architecture, -calling it contemptuously 'Gothic', from the name of the barbarian -Goths, who overran the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries. - -Many of the Cheshire gentry left their homes in the towns to live in new -houses in the country. The old hall of the Sandbach family is now the -principal inn of the town of Sandbach; the ancient home of the Ardernes -in Great Underbank, Stockport, is now a bank; and the house built at -Nantwich by 'Richarde and Marjery Churche' has been turned into a -ladies' school. The Mainwarings lived in a fine house in Watergate -Street, Chester, until a number of little shops were allowed to block up -the front of their home. The Wilbrahams moved from Nantwich to the -spacious Elizabethan hall at Dorfold. - -When the monasteries were destroyed, a large number of people were -thrown out of work, especially in the country districts. The distress -was so great in Queen Elizabeth's reign that Parliament passed a 'poor -law', by which the inhabitants of every parish were compelled to pay -taxes for the support of their own poor. - -This did not, however, prevent rich and charitable men from devoting a -portion of their wealth to the building of hospitals and almshouses, -where the aged poor could live in comfort. In Commonhall Street, -Chester, are the old almshouses founded by Sir Thomas Smith in 1532, and -there are almshouses at Acton, Little Budworth, Macclesfield, Nantwich, -Tarporley, Sandbach, and Stockport, though some of these were built in -later reigns. Nantwich was particularly favoured by benefactors, and -possesses four separate sets of almshouses. - -Sometimes sums of money were left to be spent on providing bread for -those who were unable to work. In the churches at Little Peover, -Mottram, and Woodchurch, you will see some wooden shelves fixed on the -wall near the porch. On these were placed the loaves which were -distributed after the Sunday services. At Bebington and Woodchurch sums -of money were given by a family of the name of Goodacre for the purchase -of bullocks to draw the ploughs of the poor peasants of Wirral. - -Certain days of the year were set apart as public holidays. Every parish -had its 'wakes' or festival of the dedication of the parish church. -These were held on the feast-day of the saint after whom the church was -named. Another festival was that of the 'rush-bearing'. In a former -chapter you have read of the rushes that were spread on the floors of -churches. They were gathered from the fringe of a stream or mere, and -tied into bundles and placed on the rush-cart, which was gaily decked -with ribbons and flowers. A procession was then formed of the villagers, -who accompanied the cart to the church, where a special service was -held. There are still rush-bearing services at Farndon, Aldford, and -Forest Chapel, but in many villages the merry-making too often ended in -disorder and drunkenness, and the custom has been allowed to die out. - -An Elizabethan writer tells us that the people of Nantwich visited the -brine pits on Ascension Day and decked them with flowers and garlands. -Then they offered hymns and prayers of thanksgiving for the blessing of -the brine, on which the prosperity of their town depended. - -May-day was the favourite holiday of the people. The maypole was set up -on the village green, where the Queen of the May was crowned, and -morris-dancers danced to the fiddle and horn-pipe, as they do to this -day at Lymm, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel, and many other Cheshire villages. -Sometimes there were wrestling matches, and combat with sword and -quarterstaff. At Gawsworth are the remains of a tilting-ground where -such encounters took place. The long terraced banks of earth on which -the spectators sat may still be seen. - -The good people of Chester were particularly fond of shows and pageants, -and processions. On Midsummer Day the mayor and aldermen of the city -marched with banners through the streets to S. Oswald's Church. With -them went 'four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, an ass and a dragon, -and six hobby horses'. The giants were made of pasteboard and repainted -every year, and 'dosed with arsenic to keep the rats from eating them'. - -Some of their amusements were, however, of a more degrading kind. The -High Cross of Chester, from which the friars and Wyclif's 'poor priests' -had preached in former days, now became the scene of brutal pastimes. -For at this spot bulls were baited in the bull-ring when a mayor -finished his year of office, the mayor himself paying the expenses. - -The Bear's Head and White Bear Inn at Congleton remind us that the -natives of Congleton were so fond of bear-baiting, that a local proverb -says that they 'sold their Church Bible to buy a new bear'. Few towns or -villages were without a cock-pit, for cock-fighting was a favourite -amusement of all classes. Happily, these degrading sports are now -forbidden by law, and we do not regret their disappearance. - - [Illustration: Cross and Stocks, Warburton] - -Little mercy was shown to those who were guilty of brawling or breaches -of the peace. Often by the lichgate of a Cheshire churchyard, or near -the village cross, you will see the remains of the wooden stocks in -which drunkards were placed and exposed to the jeers and gibes of the -passers-by. In the museums at Chester, Stockport, and Macclesfield, you -will see a still more barbarous form of punishment. The scolding or -brawling woman was compelled to have her head encased in a 'brank' or -skeleton helmet of iron, with a spiked iron piece pressing on the -tongue. A chain was attached to the woman's waist, and she was led -through the town. - -Another instrument of punishment is to be seen in the Museum at West -Park, Macclesfield. It is a girdle or cage, consisting of a number of -iron hoops fastened together by chains which were placed round the body -of a woman, who was then tied to a plank called a 'ducking-stool', and -dipped in a pond. There was also an iron strait-jacket at Macclesfield -for drunkards and lunatics. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE RULE OF THE STUARTS - - -In the 'Stag Parlour' of Lyme Hall is a framed piece of needlework done -by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, when she stayed at Lyme. When she was -deposed by her Scottish subjects she threw herself on the mercy of Queen -Elizabeth, who permitted her to live in England. But plots were made -against the life of Elizabeth, and Mary was suspected of having a hand -in them, and in the end Mary had to pay the penalty of death. - -Mary was a Catholic, but her son James, who succeeded to the English -throne on the death of Elizabeth, had been brought up among the Scottish -reformers. The extreme English reformers, or Puritans as they were now -called, hoped therefore that the king would be friendly to their wishes. -The Puritans were disappointed, but James agreed to one of their -demands, and said that he would have a new translation of the Bible -made. The Authorized Version of the Bible which is read in all Cheshire -churches and chapels to-day is the one noble work due to the first -Stuart king. - -The Puritans were so named because they wished to 'purify' the Church of -certain forms and ceremonies, such as the use of the surplice, and the -sign of the cross at baptism, and even the ring in the marriage service. -They also objected to the rule of bishops, and wished the Church to be -governed by councils of elders or 'presbyters' after the manner of the -Presbyterian Church of Scotland. - -During the reign of Elizabeth many Puritan clergymen had refused to -perform the services of the Church in the way ordered by the Prayer -Book. They were driven out of the Church, and formed separate -congregations of their own. Hence they received the name of -Independents, and they were the earliest of the Nonconformist -dissenters. - -Many Independents suffered so severely at the hands of King James and -his archbishop, that they determined to leave the country and settle in -new homes across the sea. They gave the name of New England to their -colony in America, and thus became the founders of our American -possessions. Among the exiles was Samuel Eaton, a Wirral clergyman. He -returned in the reign of Charles the First, and became a minister in the -chapel attached to Dukinfield Hall, which thus became one of the -earliest places of worship for the Independents in Cheshire. The ancient -chapel now forms a portion of the modern Nonconformist church of -Dukinfield. - -The Catholics were not more pleased with James than the Puritans were. -They were compelled to attend the new services of the Protestant Church. -Those who refused to do so were called 'recusants'. The Bishop of Chester -was ordered by James to hunt out all the Popish recusants in Cheshire -and bring them to trial. The secret hiding-places built in the walls of -many Cheshire halls must often have sheltered these fugitive priests, -for many great families in Cheshire, such as the Stanleys of Hooton and -the Masseys of Puddington, were strongly Catholic. - -Chester was Protestant, and a Puritan Mayor of Chester stopped the -Midsummer show, and broke up the pasteboard giants, and abolished the -bull-ring; for the Puritans disliked shows and processions and sports of -all kinds, and even such harmless pastimes as the May-day dances. - -The Midsummer revels were, however, revived, and held with great pomp -when King James paid a visit to Chester in 1617. His arms are carved in -a panel under one of the front windows of Bishop Lloyd's house. One of -the Fitton family was mayor on this occasion, and the king's sword was -borne by a Stanley. James rode to the minster, where he heard one of the -scholars of the King's School read a Latin address of welcome. 'After -the said oration he went into the choir, and there, in a seat made for -the king at the higher end of the choir, he heard an anthem sung. And -after certain prayers the king went from thence to the Pentice, where a -sumptuous banquet was prepared at the city's cost: which being ended, -the king departed to the Vale Royal: and at his departure the order of -knighthood was offered to the mayor, but he refused the same.' The sale -of knighthoods and baronetcies was one of King James's ways of raising -money, and the Mayor of Chester was not the only one who declined the -honour. - -A zealous Puritan named William Prynne wrote against the performance of -stage plays, dancing, and other amusements. Some things that he said -were thought to refer to the Queen of Charles the First, and he was -tried by the Star Chamber and ordered to pay a fine of L5,000 and to -have his ears slit. There was a branch of the Court of Star Chamber at -Chester, but it was abolished in Charles the First's reign. In one of -the rooms of Leasowe Castle are some oak panels brought from the Star -Chamber at Westminster. - -William Prynne passed through Chester on his way to his prison in -Carnarvon Castle. The Puritans turned out to welcome and cheer him in -the streets, but their leaders were punished by fines and imprisonment -for so doing. - -Neither James nor Charles got on well with their Parliaments. The Tudor -monarchs had for the most part understood the people, and the people in -their turn allowed them to have their own way. But the Stuarts began to -claim powers which the people would not permit. When Parliament refused -to grant money they asked for, the Stuart kings tried to raise money by -means which the people thought illegal. Charles borrowed large sums of -money without the consent of Parliament. Sir Randolph Crewe, of Crewe -Hall, was one of the judges who thought that this was wrong, and he was -dismissed from his office by the king. - -Charles also tried to impose a tax called Ship Money, a tax which had in -former times been levied on the counties on the seaboard for the support -of the navy. Now the king proposed that inland counties also should -contribute for this purpose. Sir William Brereton, a Cheshire knight, -objected strongly to the hateful tax, and was very angry with the people -of Chester for rating some land of his near Chester, called the Nunnery -Fields, for the payment of the money. - -It is not surprising that trouble should arise between Parliament and a -king who refused to obey the wishes of the people over whom he ruled. -The Stuarts believed in the theory known as the Divine right of kings, -that is, that kings are made by God alone, and that from Him alone they -receive their power. But from the time of the great awakening the people -had begun to think for themselves, and the result of this was that they -were now determined that the king should carry out the will of the -nation through the mouth of its Parliament. - -Moreover, Charles was suspected of being a Catholic; at any rate he had -married a Catholic wife, and Parliament was not in a mood to permit a -return to the unhappy state of affairs of Queen Mary's reign. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. I - -THE BATTLES OF MIDDLEWICH AND NANTWICH - - -Charles proclaimed war on Parliament in the year 1642, and both sides -prepared at once for the struggle. Roughly speaking, London and the -south-eastern counties were on the side of Parliament, for they were the -chief centres of trade in the seventeenth century, and felt most keenly -the evils of bad government. The great modern industrial towns of the -northern counties of England were in most cases as yet mere villages. - - [Illustration: THE CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE] - -The king's supporters were drawn chiefly from the north and west. They -were called Royalists or Cavaliers, while the Parliamentarians were -nicknamed Roundheads because they wore their hair cut short, after the -manner of the Puritans, and disdained the flowing curls which were -fashionable at the time. But although the country was thus roughly -divided into two opposing factions, supporters both of king and of -parliament were to be found in nearly every town and village. Indeed it -sometimes happened that members of a single family found themselves on -different sides in the war. The Breretons of Brereton Hall were stout -royalists, but their cousins of Handforth were, as you will see, the -most determined opponents of the king. - -The towns of Cheshire, with the exception of Chester, were largely on -the side of Parliament, while most, but not all, of the great landowners -and their numerous retainers fought for the king. The county was -represented in the Long Parliament by Sir William Brereton, the son of -William Brereton of Handforth Hall. - -Brereton was an ardent Puritan, and at the first signs of approaching -war he put himself at the head of the Parliamentary party in Cheshire, -calling upon all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty -to join him at Tarporley, and soon after was appointed by Parliament -itself as commander of the Cheshire forces. His career was very nearly -cut short at the very beginning of the struggle, for he brought about a -riot in Chester by causing the drum to be beaten publicly in the streets -for Parliament. He was brought to the Pentice but released, and with -difficulty saved from the fury of the citizens, who in later days -complained bitterly that the mayor had preserved the life of one who was -to be the author of so much disaster to themselves. - -In Tarporley Church you may see a helmet and breastplate that were dug -up in the neighbourhood. They were probably worn by some soldier who -fought in one of the earliest battles of the civil war in Cheshire. The -first fighting took place in the southern parts of the county. In -February, 1642, Brereton was attacked at Tarporley by the king's troops -who had marched out from Chester. Entrenchments were thrown up near the -church, but the severest fighting was at the neighbouring hamlet of -Tiverton, where both sides lost heavily. The Royalist troops retired to -Chester and the Parliamentarians to Nantwich, which Brereton made his -head-quarters. From these two places the two parties 'contended which -should most prevail upon the affections of the county to declare for -them and join them'. - -Brereton's task was the capture of the important city of Chester, in -order to prevent assistance reaching the king from Ireland. To this end -he placed troops on the principal roads leading to the city. The roads -from the south were watched by the Nantwich forces, who captured and -occupied Beeston Castle. On the north Warrington Bridge was seized to -prevent help coming from Lancashire or from Scotland, which remained -loyal to Charles. Norton Priory and the Norman castle of Halton, already -in ruins, were fortified and held by the Roundheads. A strong force was -posted at Northwich which commanded the main road through the forest of -Delamere, thus completing a chain of garrisons along the valley of the -Weaver from Nantwich to the Mersey. On the Welsh side the border castles -of Holt on the Dee and Hawarden in the county of Flint were attacked and -occupied by the Parliamentarians, who thus prevented the arrival of -reinforcements from the west. - -In 1643 Brereton won his first great victory by defeating Sir Thomas -Aston, the Royalist leader, at Middlewich, capturing two cannon, four -barrels of powder, four hundred soldiers, and arms for five hundred men. -Sir Thomas Aston marched out from Chester with a strong force of -Royalists one Sunday morning in March. Brereton was at Northwich at the -time, and word was sent to him that the king's forces were at Middlewich -and taking up a strong position there. The Roundheads hurried -southwards, but had not sufficient ammunition to take the town. A fresh -supply was sent for, and on Monday afternoon Sir Thomas Aston found -himself between two fires, for troops from Nantwich also arrived on the -scene. - -The Royalists were driven into the narrow streets of the town, where the -cavalry were penned like sheep and quite useless. The foot-soldiers fled -into the church, where they laid down their arms or were slain. The -church steeples, like the keeps of the Norman castles, were usually the -last places of refuge for the defenders of a town, and many of them -suffered great damage in consequence during the war. Aston escaped with -a remnant of his cavalry, leaving the infantry to their fate. He laid -the blame for his defeat upon his Welsh allies, who were sent to line -the hedges of the roads by which the Roundheads advanced, but who threw -away their arms and fled at the first approach of the enemy. - -Brereton's victory at Middlewich was complete, but some months -afterwards Sir Thomas Aston had his revenge and turned the tables on his -enemy. He was reinforced by troops from Ireland, by whose aid he was -able to drive the Parliamentarian general out of Middlewich. - -The Royalists now appeared to be getting the upper hand, and they -actually laid siege to Nantwich, which was defended by Sir George Booth -during the temporary absence of Brereton. The besiegers were commanded -by Sir Nicholas Byron, the governor of Chester, and an ancestor of the -poet Byron. Brereton returned with Sir Thomas Fairfax, one of the -greatest of Cromwell's lieutenants, and compelled the Royalists to raise -the siege. Thus the fortunes of war inclined now to one side, now to the -other, and the towns continually changed hands. The strong Parliamentary -garrison at Northwich was attacked by Aston, at first without success, -but later in the year Brereton was badly defeated here by his determined -enemy, and the town held by the Royalist troops. - -The event which had most effect on the war in Cheshire was Brereton's -victory in August, 1644, at Tarvin on the road from Chester to -Northwich. Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, nephews of the king, were -attempting to reach Chester with a relieving column. Brereton attacked -and routed them and posted himself astride the main road. Tarvin Church -still shows traces of the fighting here, for a bullet is buried deep in -a brass plate in the chancel. After this success Brereton advanced his -head-quarters to Christleton, only two miles from the gates of Chester. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. II - -A MEMORABLE SIEGE - - -In 1645 word was brought to Chester that the king himself was coming, -and the drooping spirits of the Royalists revived. Charles entered the -city with about three hundred followers who had escaped from the battle -of Naseby, where the main Royalist army had been cut to pieces by -Cromwell's Ironsides. During his short visit to Chester the king was the -guest of Sir Francis Gamull at his home, still called Gamull House, in -Bridge Street. - -Many of you have read the inscription on the Phoenix Tower on the walls -of Chester-- - - 'King Charles - stood on this tower - September 27th, 1645, and saw - His Army defeated - on Rowton Moor.' - -Rowton Moor is no longer moorland. A village now stands on the -battlefield where the last hopes of the loyal inhabitants of Chester -were destroyed. The defeated army consisted of the remnants of the -Royalist cavalry under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was trying to cut his -way through the enemy to reinforce the garrison of Chester. The -Royalists were almost successful, and a sortie was made by the troops -within the city to join hands with Langdale, but the Puritan General -Poyntz, following closely on the heels of the Royalist horse, threw -them into hopeless confusion and drove them helter-skelter in all -directions. During the battle Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, whose tomb is in -the Shakerley Chapel at Little Peover, carried dispatches to the king, -ferrying himself across the river Dee in a tub. Some matchlocks and -firelocks used in this battle have been found on the Heath, and are now -in the Chester Museum. - -This defeat was almost the final blow received by the king in his -struggle with Parliament. On the following day Charles fled into Wales -by an undefended road, asking only that the city might hold out for -eight days longer to enable him to make good his escape. In a tiny -window in Farndon Church are some pieces of ancient painted glass, with -portraits of several of the Cheshire esquires who attended Charles -during his stay in Chester. - -The cordon was now drawn tighter round the doomed city, and a regular -blockade followed to starve the citizens into surrender. When the -Cromwellian troops who had been battering Lathom House in Lancashire -arrived and took up a position on the north side of the walls, the city -was completely surrounded. Dodleston Hall, to the south-west of the -city, was occupied by Brereton to prevent any further escapes into -Wales. The Roundheads made a floating bridge across the river Dee, which -was, however, destroyed by fireships which were turned adrift and were -carried up the river by a strong spring tide. Scaling-ladders were fixed -on the walls, but the Royalists dragged them up into the city in the -night-time. - -The inhabitants were determined not to give in without a struggle. Even -women took a share in the work of defence, carrying baskets of earth to -fill up the breaches made by a night attack upon the city walls. The -city was well protected by the river Dee on its western and southern -sides; a semicircle of mud earthworks was made round the north and east -of the city. Many large houses in the neighbourhood were burnt by the -Royalists to prevent their being used by the enemy. The suburb of -Boughton, with its hall, was entirely destroyed, fighting taking place -almost daily in this quarter. The Royalists also made breaches in the -Dee Bridge. - -When the outworks were carried by the Parliamentarian troops, all S. -John's parish lay at their mercy. The Roundheads turned the church into -a fortress, and planted a battery of guns on the tower, from which they -battered the city walls. In a glass case at the west end of the church -you may see a cannon ball that was fired from the walls and long -afterwards found embedded in the church tower. - -The walls were also fiercely bombarded from Brewers Hall on the opposite -side of the Dee, though a battery of guns placed on the summit of -Morgan's Mount kept the besiegers at bay on the north. The Water Tower -at the north-west corner of the city bears the marks of some well-aimed -shots from the guns of Cromwell's men. - -Within the city the hardships were very severe. Fires were frequent, -especially in the night-time. Cold and bleak December days increased the -suffering, and, worst of all, food was getting scarce, and the pinch of -hunger began to be felt. At length the inhabitants were reduced to -eating the flesh of horses and dogs, and still Sir Nicholas Byron held -out, waiting daily for the help that never came. Famine did its work at -last, and after a siege of eighteen weeks the city surrendered to -Brereton on February 3, 1646. - -One of the conditions of surrender was that the victorious troops should -not do any damage to the city. The fragment of the High Cross, now in -the Grosvenor Museum, shows that in this respect the soldiers of -Cromwell did not keep their word. Sir Francis Gamull, the mayor, -bargained with the Roundheads that the tombs of his family should not be -harmed, and this explains the fact that the Gamull monuments in S. -Mary's-on-the-Hill are almost the only relics of the kind in Chester -that escaped destruction. - -The events of the war were published every week in the Mercurius Aulicus -or 'Court Mercury,' a forerunner of the modern newspaper. In the Free -Library at Birkenhead are preserved some sheets of this paper, on one of -which is related the story of the capture and recapture of Beeston -Castle. After its occupation by the Parliamentary troops a daring -assault was made upon the castle by Captain Sandford and a party of -eight Royalists, who scaled the steep rock on which the castle is built -and called upon the defenders to surrender. Captain Steel, the Puritan -commander, was tried for cowardice in yielding to so small a force, and -condemned to be shot. After the battle of Rowton Moor the castle endured -a seven weeks' siege, and surrendered in November, 1645. Shortly -afterwards Parliament ordered the castle to be dismantled, and it has -been in ruins ever since. Several of the officers who were killed at -Beeston are buried at Tarporley. - -Many of the Cheshire halls, which were held mainly by Royalists, -suffered severely for their loyalty to the king. Crewe Hall was taken by -the Roundheads, retaken by Byron, and finally garrisoned by the soldiers -of Brereton. Huxley Hall was occupied by Colonel Croxton during the -siege of Chester. Puddington Hall, in Wirral, the ancient home of the -Masseys, whose owner, Sir William Massey, remained in Chester till its -fall, was destroyed by fire. - -Adlington Hall, the home of the loyal Leghs, endured a fortnight's -siege, at the end of which time its gallant garrison of one hundred and -fifty men was compelled to surrender and permitted to depart. The marks -of cannon shot used in the bombardment may still be seen upon the -massive oak doors of the courtyard. Wythenshaw Hall was held by -Royalists, but Colonel Dukinfield, a friend and neighbour of Sir William -Brereton, compelled a surrender after a short siege. Cannon balls have -been found in the grounds of the hall. - -Vale Royal, the private residence of the Cholmondeleys since Henry the -Eighth turned out its abbot and monks, was plundered and partly burnt by -the soldiers of General Lambert's army. Sir Peter Leycester, of Tabley -Hall, fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians and was sent to -prison. During his captivity he first planned his famous book of the -History and Antiquities of Cheshire. - -The lot of the unhappy Cheshire squire was indeed pitiable. Royalists -and Roundheads were equally unwelcome guests, treating their host with -scant ceremony, ransacking his house and helping themselves freely to -everything that might be of any service to them. Let Peter Davenport, -the squire of Bramhall, tell in his own words the story of his woes: 'On -New Year's Day, 1643, came Captain Sankey (a Parliamentary officer) with -two or three troopers to Bramhall, and went into my stable and took out -my horses, above twenty in all, and afterwards searched my house for -arms again and took my fowling-piece, stocking-piece, and drum, with -divers other things. Next day, after they were gone, came Prince -Rupert's army, by whom I lost better than a hundred pounds in linen and -other goods, besides the rifling and pulling to pieces of my house. By -whom I lost eight horses, and they ate me threescore bushels of oats.' -Poor Peter was not yet at the end of his troubles, for when the war was -over he had to pay five hundred pounds in order to buy back his own -property, for the estates of the Royalists were confiscated by -Parliament and sold back to their owners for large sums of money. - -The empty niches over the porches of many Cheshire churches tell their -own tale of the damage done by the Cromwellian troops. Sculptured images -were everywhere broken in fragments, lead was stripped from the fonts -and roofs to be turned into bullets. The pipes were taken from the organ -of Budworth Church, and the stained glass windows of Tarvin destroyed by -the Puritan fanatic, John Bruen. The sacred buildings themselves were -used throughout the war as barracks, fortresses, stables, or prisons. - -The destruction of property and of works of art that can never be -replaced was indeed largely the work of the Roundheads; but it was the -Royalists who perpetrated the blackest deed in this long tale of civil -strife. In the winter of 1643 Lord Byron's troopers were plundering the -villages of South Cheshire, burning farms and homesteads, and driving -the country people before them. One of his officers, Major Connought, -entered the village of Barthomley, and many of the panic-stricken -inhabitants took refuge in the tower of the church. Connought and his -brutal followers broke up the pews, gathered together the mats and -rushes strewn upon the floor, and made a bonfire at the entrance to the -tower. Forced from their place of refuge by fire and smoke, the -unfortunate villagers were stabbed and hacked to death as they came out -one by one. This was their Christmastide, the season of peace and good -fellowship and brotherly love, and men, blind with the lust of blood, -were cutting the throats of their brothers as if they were sheep in the -shambles. Happily, such scenes as this were rare, even in those dark -years. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -CIVIL WAR IN CHESHIRE. III - -THE PROTECTORATE AND THE RESTORATION - - -The story is told that a schoolboy, wandering among the tombstones in -the churchyard of Macclesfield, scratched these strange lines on one of -the grave-slabs: - - My brother Harry must heir the land; - My brother Frank must be at his command; - While I, poor Jack, shall do that - Which all the world will wonder at. - -'Poor Jack' was John Bradshaw, whose name is the first on the list of -those who signed the warrant for the execution of the king. On January -1, 1649, Parliament decided that Charles should be tried before a High -Court of Justice, and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, Bradshaw, -the president of the Court, pronounced the death sentence in Westminster -Hall. - -John Bradshaw, the 'regicide', was born at Wibbersley Hall, near Disley. -In the register of the Parish Church of Stockport is the record of his -baptism: 'December, 1602, John, the son of Henry Bradshaw, of Marple, -baptised the tenth. Traitor.' The word 'Traitor' has been added by -another hand, no doubt that of some ardent Royalist. - -He was educated at Bunbury School by Edward Burghall, a notable -Cheshire Puritan, who was afterwards made vicar of Acton, and wrote a -Diary (or copied someone else's Diary) of the Civil War in Cheshire. -Bradshaw also probably spent a short time at the Grammar School at -Macclesfield. He became Mayor of Congleton and Chief Justice of -Cheshire. - -The name of Major-General Thomas Harrison, a native of Nantwich, also -appears on the list of those who signed the death-warrant of the king. - -Memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most -devoted of his followers. In the Stag Parlour at Lyme Hall are some -chairs, said to be covered with portions of the cloak that Charles wore -at the time of his death. Here also are a pair of embroidered gloves -that belonged to the king, and a dagger with his name 'Carolus' engraved -upon it. - -The war was continued by his son, Charles the Second. James Stanley, -Earl of Derby, was made commander of the Royalist forces in Cheshire. In -the year 1651 Knutsford Heath was a scene of bustling activity. Here -were encamped the forces of General Lambert, one of Cromwell's most -trusted lieutenants, consisting of 9,000 horse and 4,000 foot. He was -waiting for the Royalist army, which was marching southwards from -Scotland under the command of Charles himself and General Leslie. -Lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at Warrington to prevent the -passage of the king's army, but arrived too late. Skirmishes took place -at Budworth and High Legh, and Lambert was compelled to retreat to -Knutsford, while the Royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field -of Worcester. - -A few days later, the people of Sandbach were setting up the stalls and -spreading their wares in the market-place for the September Fair. A cry -was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town. They were all -that was left of Leslie's Scottish Cavaliers. Weary of war, their horses -jaded and lame, they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their -homes again in safety. But the townspeople, remembering perhaps the -massacre of Barthomley, were not minded to let them off easily. The -foremost troopers, who alone were armed, were allowed to pass through -the town. Then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and -cudgelled them. Many were wounded and captured, and placed in the town -prison, where perhaps they were not sorry to rest. Others escaped into -the open fields. 'Scotch Commons', as the scene of the encounter is -still called, reminds us of this last event of the Civil War in -Cheshire. The struggle was ended. Charles was an exile, and Cromwell -ruled over the land. - -One of Cromwell's Acts decreed that all who had any communication with -Charles the Second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the -State. The Earl of Derby, who escaped from the rout at Worcester, but -was captured at Nantwich, was tried under this Act and condemned to -death. He escaped from his prison in the castle at Chester, and lay -concealed for a time, it is said, in a secret chamber in the Stanley -Palace near the Water Gate. The 'Martyr Earl' was, however, recaptured -on the banks of the Dee, and beheaded at Bolton. - -Brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the Parliamentary cause with -the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest. Soon afterwards, however, -he left the county of his birth and lived in London until his death in -1661. His body was brought to Cheadle for burial in the Handforth -Chapel. There is, however, no note of his burial in the parish -registers, and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in -which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a -river over which it was being carried. - -The Puritans determined to put an end to the government of the Church by -bishops, and abolished the Book of Common Prayer from the Church -services, putting in its place a new form of public worship. About -thirty of the clergy in Cheshire who refused to perform the new services -of the Church were turned out of their livings. Children were no longer -to be baptized in fonts but from a basin. Hour-glasses were set up in -the pulpits, from which long political sermons were preached to the -people. - -The Puritan mayor of Chester would not permit Christmas and other -time-honoured festivals of the Church to be kept, and music, dancing, -and games were rigidly put down. - -In 1659 an attempt was made by a number of Cheshire gentry to restore -Charles to the throne. Oliver Cromwell was now dead, and had been -succeeded by his son Richard. But the real power was in the hands of the -soldiers, and many people soon became disgusted with military rule. The -leader of the revolt in Cheshire was Sir George Booth, of Dunham Massey. -He had fought on the side of Parliament in the early years of the war, -and was one of the Presbyterian members of Parliament who were turned -out of the House by 'Pride's Purge,' just before the execution of the -king. - -Sir George Booth collected a Royalist force on Rowton Moor, and prepared -to attack Chester. He captured the city and the walls, but failed to -take the castle, whose governor was Colonel Croxton, of Ravenscroft Hall -near Middlewich. Colonel Lambert, however, was summoned with two -regiments from Ireland, and he compelled Booth to retire towards -Northwich. The Royalist force was overtaken at Hartford, and in the -battle which took place near Winnington Bridge on the river Weaver, was -completely routed. - -But the return of the exiled king was not long delayed. Among the -Royalists captured at Nantwich in 1644 was George Monk. After his -release he entered the service of Parliament, and won the esteem of -Cromwell. General Monk now succeeded in persuading Parliament to recall -Charles. Nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in Cheshire. -Church bells rang merrily, maypoles were set up again upon the village -greens, and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops. The long quarrel that had -separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end, and -many a Cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers. -The king had come into his own again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -THE FALL OF THE STUARTS - - -When Charles was restored to the throne the bishops also came back to -their bishoprics. The records of the churches of Chester tell of the -payments made to the ringers for the ringing of the bells when the -citizens joyously welcomed Bishop Walton to the city. A large number of -citizens and mounted soldiers went as far as Nantwich to meet him and -escorted him to the city gates of Chester, where the mayor and -corporation as well as the clergy and gentry of Cheshire received him. -Once more a Christmas was kept in the old time way, and the churches -were decked with holly and evergreens for one of the greatest festivals -of the Church. And truly the bare walls, stripped of everything that was -beautiful, needed some adornment after the ravages and desecrations of -the Civil War. - -But Charles was a foolish king, and spent most of his days in idle and -frivolous pleasures. The people were disappointed with him, for he had -plenty of brains. One of his favourite hobbies was the study of science. -John Wilkins, another Bishop of Chester, was one of a little band of -clever men who helped the king to found the Royal Society for the spread -of knowledge and the study of science. To be a Fellow of the Royal -Society is to this day one of the highest honours that men of science -can obtain. - -The favourite study of John Wilkins was astronomy, and he wrote a book -called the _Discovery of a New World, to prove that there may be another -habitable world in the moon_. Another book of his was called _Mercury; -or the secret and swift Messenger, shewing how a man may privately and -with speed tell his thoughts to friends at any distance_. Thus, had he -lived in a later age, he might perhaps have been the inventor of the -telegraph and telephone. - -Charles secretly favoured the old Catholic religion, and on his -death-bed was received into the Catholic Church. During his reign -another Act of Uniformity was passed, much more severe than the former -one. Sixty ministers of Cheshire churches, who refused to obey the Act, -were turned out of their livings. Among them was Adam Martindale, a -noted Puritan, who was driven from his church at Rostherne. Adam -Martindale wrote the story of his life, with all his trials and -misfortunes, in a book which you may read in many of your public -libraries. - -The Nonconformists were prevented by another Act from holding prayer -meetings within five miles of the town or village where they had held a -living. The gaol at Chester was soon filled with those who were ready to -suffer for the crime of preaching the Gospel in their homes and to their -friends. Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, who had been made Governor of Chester -Castle for his services in the Civil War, sought them out and persecuted -them with great cruelty. - -Still there were many who continued to worship in their own way. For a -long time they held their services secretly in private houses, but, in -1690, the Toleration Act allowed them to build chapels. These they -erected chiefly on the outskirts of towns or in remote villages. During -the later years of the seventeenth century these chapels increased -greatly in number. The Unitarian chapel at Knutsford and the tiny brick -chapel at Dean Row, between the Bollin and the Dean, are among the -earliest of such places of worship in Cheshire. - -Matthew Henry, a learned commentator of the New Testament, whose father -had been turned out of his church at Worthenbury, preached in the chapel -in Trinity Street, Chester. You may still see the seventeenth-century -pulpit from which he addressed his congregation. During the Civil War -the pulpit had become the most important feature of the churches. The -Puritans were in the habit of preaching long political sermons which -they timed with an hour-glass fixed on the wall near the pulpit. At -Shotwick is a pulpit of the kind called a 'three-decker', with a square -box-pew beneath it for the parish clerk. - -As soon as people were permitted to choose their own form of worship -several other religious bodies came into being, each with its own -peculiar teaching and belief, often differing but slightly from each -other, all bent on practising their religion precisely in their own -particular way. Many earnest soldiers in the Parliamentary army of Sir -George Booth, when encamped in the neighbourhood of Knutsford and -Alderley, had held their services in the barn of a farmhouse at Warford. -Their children in after days built the tiny Baptist chapel which still -remains in the village. - -The Quakers were very numerous in the neighbourhood of Stockport and -Wilmslow, and George Fox the founder of their sect, or 'Society of -Friends' as it was called, used often to visit them. Some cottages on -Lindow Moss were once a Quaker chapel, and there is a Quaker -burial-ground in a clump of trees near Mobberley. Many of the -gravestones have seventeenth-century dates upon them. Often the Quakers -were refused burial in the churchyards, and most out-of-the-way places -were chosen for their last resting-place. There are some Quakers' graves -in the woods at Burton in Wirral. - -James the Second, who succeeded his brother Charles, did not try to hide -the fact that he was a Papist. Many people would have preferred the Duke -of Monmouth, a bastard son of Charles the Second, as king. He was known -to be a Protestant, and the people of Cheshire, who were strongly -Protestant, would have welcomed him as they had already welcomed him -once in Charles the Second's reign. - -Three years before James became king, the duke had visited Cheshire and -raised the cry of 'No Popery!' He stayed at Mainwaring House in Bridge -Street, Chester, and supped at the Plume of Feathers Inn. On the -following day the little daughter of the mayor was christened, and the -duke stood godfather, naming her Henrietta. - -The duke then made a triumphal progress through the villages of Wirral. -He stayed at Peel Hall, Bromborough, in order to attend the races at -Wallasey, where he won a prize, which he sent to his little goddaughter -at Chester. Several of the Wirral gentry met in a summer-house at -Bidston, and talked of a rising in his favour. But the country people -did not show so much readiness as had been expected, and all the duke's -doings were secretly reported to the king by Sir Peter Shakerley, the -governor of Chester Castle. Monmouth also stayed at Rock Savage and -Dunham Massey, and witnessed the sports at Gawsworth. Shortly -afterwards, however, he was captured by the king's men at Stafford, and -the plot came to nothing. He was lucky not to lose his head. Charles was -kinder to him than James was when the duke raised the West of England in -1685. - -James was thoroughly hated by the bulk of the people, who grew tired of -the mischievous rule of the Stuarts, and made up their minds to depose -him. They were also determined that never again should a Catholic king -reign over them. James fled to France, and Thomas Cartwright, the Bishop -of Chester, who had made the citizens angry by bringing in again the old -Catholic services of the Church, followed him into exile. - -In the gardens of Gayton Hall are two ancient trees which have been -called William and Mary. William of Orange was the new king who was -invited by the English to succeed James. All who held office in Church -or State were required to take the oath of allegiance to him. Some -refused to do this. They were called non-jurors, and among them were -several of the clergy of Cheshire who had to give up their churches. -James made an effort to regain his lost kingdom, and sailed from France -to Ireland, where he hoped to win many adherents. William assembled his -forces in Wirral, staying at Gayton Hall, the home of William Clegg, -whom he knighted after his visit. - -The 'King's Gap', near Hoylake, reminds us of King William's presence in -Cheshire. On the Lowlands, between Hoylake and Meols, his army lay -encamped, and in the river Dee Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the brave sailor -who rose from 'powder-monkey' to admiral, was waiting with the fleet to -take the troops across to Ireland. Cloudesley Shovel is said to have -received part of his education at the Grammar School of Stockport. - -On the chancel wall of West Kirby Church is a tablet bearing the name of -Baron Johannes Van Zoelen, who died here in 1690. The foreign-looking -name is that of an officer of the Dutch troops of the Duke of Schomberg, -for William employed Dutch and German soldiers to put down James's -rising in Ireland. The soldiers embarked at Hoylake, and a few weeks -later the farmers of Wirral, who had had to feed the army, and who, no -doubt, were glad to see it depart, heard of William's great victory at -the battle of the Boyne. James took refuge again in France. - -Many Cheshire men took part in William's Irish campaign. A regiment was -raised in Cheshire by Sir George Booth, the old Parliamentary leader who -had, after the Civil War, become one of Charles the Second's most -devoted followers and received the title of Lord Delamere for his -services. The regiment was also accompanied by a troop of horse from -Wilmslow and the neighbourhood. - -William was never popular with his subjects. They disliked him because -he was not English. He was cold and silent, and his manners ungracious; -he spoke English with difficulty, and often he seemed anxious to get -back to his own country. But he was devoted to duty and a great soldier, -and he did much for England in checking the power of the French king who -favoured the exiled Stuart. - -William died childless, and was succeeded by Anne, the last Stuart who -sat on the English throne. She had Cheshire blood in her veins, for she -was the daughter of James the Second's wife, Anne Hyde, whose -grandfather, the Earl of Clarendon, was a Hyde of Hyde Hall. - -Queen Anne's children all died young. Before she came to the throne -Parliament had passed an Act of Settlement, by which the crown was -settled on a Protestant, Princess Sophia, granddaughter of James the -First, and her heirs. When Queen Anne died, George, the eldest son of -Sophia, became king. - -The fallen Stuarts made more than one attempt to recover the British -crown. In 1715, when George the First was king, a number of Cheshire -gentlemen, among whom were the Leghs of Legh and Lymm, the Grosvenors of -Eaton, Warrens and Asshetons, and Cholmondeleys met in the hall of the -Asshetons at Ashley to decide whether they should give any help to James -Edward, the 'Old Pretender', James's eldest son, who was raising a -revolt in Scotland. They decided by a majority of one only to remain -loyal to the Protestant King George. - -Thirty years later the inhabitants of East Cheshire saw an army of -rugged Highlanders in bonnets and kilts pass southwards from Stockport -Prince Charles Edward, the 'Young Pretender', had raised his flag in the -Highlands of Scotland and gathered together an army of 'Jacobites', as -the followers of the Stuarts were called. At Manchester the Scots had -been joined by about 200 Lancashire Catholics. But the villagers who -cheered the rebels on the Macclesfield high-road saw them returning -within a week, for they had hardly crossed the hills at Bosley and -descended into the valleys of Derbyshire when the Duke of Cumberland, -commanding an army in the Midlands, scattered them and drove them -pell-mell northwards again. - -In Lyme Hall are some Jacobite wine-glasses, with the White Rose of the -Stuarts stamped on one side, and on the other the Latin word 'fiat', -which expressed the thought that was in the minds of those who used -them: 'May the king come to his own again!' When men were forbidden to -drink the health of the Pretender in public, these 'fiat' glasses were -made by the Jacobites and the toast drunk in silence. - -'Bonnie Prince Charlie' stayed at the house of Sir Peter Davenport in -Macclesfield, and his officers at a house in Jordangate which is now the -George Hotel. Stuart 'Pretenders' were never seen in Cheshire again. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. I - - -During the latter part of the seventeenth century the people of Cheshire -began to repair the damage done to the churches, mansions, and public -buildings during the Civil Wars. It was hardly to be expected that the -art of the builder could flourish during that stormy period. Gothic -architecture had reached its greatest glory under the Plantagenet and -Tudor kings, and when the builders of the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries took up their work again they cast aside the aims and ideals -of the Gothic craftsmen and turned to new models and new sources for -their inspiration. - -The changes which were now made were one of the results of the -Renaissance or Great Awakening of the sixteenth century. The men who -visited Italy and brought back with them copies of the works of the old -Greek and Roman writers, which they printed and gave to the world, -brought also the ideas of Italian architects and plans of Italian -buildings, which had been copied from those of ancient Athens and Rome. -Englishmen of the eighteenth century took these as their models. Like -the Roman workmen, they found it easier to _copy_ than to _invent_. - -If you turn back to Chapter VI you will find that the chief feature of -the Roman, which we will now call the Italian or Classic style, are the -rows of pillars ranged along the front and sides of a building. The Town -Hall of Macclesfield, and the group of buildings which now form the -Castle of Chester, are good examples of the style of architecture which -prevailed during the eighteenth century. The windows are sometimes -round-headed, but more often they are rectangular, with low triangles -above them. - -Unfortunately many ancient buildings, which we would gladly have with us -now, disappeared at this time. Some of them, no doubt, were in such a -ruinous state that it was impossible to repair them, but, generally -speaking, little or no pains were taken to restore them to their former -appearance. The people preferred to pull down and destroy and rebuild in -the new Classic style, which rapidly became a craze. - -The greatest loss was that of the mediaeval castle of Chester, which, -with the exception of 'Caesar's Tower', was pulled down in 1788. The -front entrance to the new castle is in the Doric style. Round the -courtyard are barracks and an armoury, the county gaol and the shire -hall with colonnades of Ionic pillars. - -Many fine Elizabethan halls were destroyed to make way for mansions in -the Classic style. Hooton Hall was built on the site of an old 'black -and white' timber house. Poynton, Tabley, Tatton, Ince, and Doddington -Halls were built about the same time. Other houses were altered or -enlarged. The beauty of Adlington Hall was spoilt by the stone front -with its Corinthian columns, which Charles and Hester Legh built. The -appearance of Lyme Hall was completely changed by an Italian architect -named Giacomo Leoni. His work is adorned with figures of the gods of -heathen Rome, Neptune and Venus and Pan. The Leghs of Lyme brought many -treasures from Italy. The stained glass in the east window of Disley -Church was brought by them. - -The roundheaded 'Italian' windows in the tower of Rostherne Church tell -us that they are the work of eighteenth-century builders and -'restorers'. The ugly tower cuts a sorry figure when compared with the -beautiful perpendicular towers of Mobberley, Cheadle, Budworth, Witton, -Alderley, Middlewich, and others in the neighbourhood. The tower of -Great Barrow Church, with urns in the place of pinnacles, and the porch -of Frodsham, are out of keeping with the Gothic character of the rest of -the buildings. - -The eighteenth-century restorers had little taste or sense of beauty. -Within the churches ugly wooden galleries were placed over the aisles, -and the walls, pillars, and pews coated with layers of paint or -whitewash. Even the carved woodwork of the choir stalls of Chester -Cathedral was painted. The open timber roof of Alderley Old Church was -hidden by a flat ceiling of lath and plaster. A portion of the old -timber church at Warburton was repaired with common bricks, and -sometimes whole churches were rebuilt with the same material. - - [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CHESTER CASTLE] - -In place of the handsome Decorated altar tombs, with their effigies of -knights and dames, great tablets of marble brought from Italy were fixed -on the walls. On them were carved skulls and cross-bones, sometimes an -entire skeleton, with funeral urns like those in which the Romans placed -the ashes of their dead. Scrolls with long rambling inscriptions told of -the virtues of the dead. These were often written in Latin, as if the -homely English of the mother tongue was not good enough for the -purpose. - - [Illustration: ROSTHERNE. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOWER] - -The poets of the eighteenth century imitated the style of the poets of -ancient Rome. Their poems are full of the wit and satire found in Horace -and Juvenal. Man, not Nature, was nearly always the subject of their -poems. Two lines of Alexander Pope, the greatest of the -eighteenth-century poets, are carved on the tombstone of Sir John -Chesshyre in Runcorn Church:-- - - A wit's a feather and a chief's a rod: - An honest man's the noblest work of God. - - [Illustration: CHANCEL: FRODSHAM (Eighteenth Century)] - -Sir John Chesshyre was a lawyer, and built the little library near -Halton Castle in 1733 for the books which he left for the use of -Cheshire scholars and students. - -Clubs were formed by the poets and wits and 'men of fashion' of the -eighteenth century. They met in the taverns and coffee-houses of the -towns, and scratched their smart sayings on the window-panes with their -diamond rings. They rather prided themselves on their eccentric habits -and their superiority over other men, who had neither the time nor the -money to waste on frivolous amusements. - -In a little wood near Gawsworth is a lonely grave with a plain flat -stone, beneath which, - - Undisturbed, and hid from Vulgar Eyes, - A Wit, Musician, Poet, Player, lies. - -The grave is that of Samuel Johnson, a dancing master, 'afterwards -ennobled with the grander title of Lord Flame,' as the inscription tells -us, who was buried here at his own desire. - -Neston and Parkgate, twin towns on the southern shore of Wirral, were -visited by many fashionable people in the eighteenth century. They spent -the summer here for the bathing and the fresh breezes that blow from the -Irish Sea and the hills of Wales. It is to be feared that Parkgate was -also the resort of less respectable folk, for in some of the old houses -you may still see the huge holes in which smugglers stored their -unlawful cargoes. It was dangerous work, for the 'King's Yacht', as the -revenue cutter was called, patrolled the waters of the Dee, and the -officers had orders to shoot down all whom they caught in this illegal -traffic. It is from this boat that the 'Yacht Inn' at Chester takes its -name. - -Neston and Parkgate were the starting-points for the Irish mails. The -coaches from London and Liverpool put down their passengers here for -Dublin. One of the most beautiful poems in the English language, the -'Lycidas' of John Milton, was written in memory of Edward King, a friend -of the poet, who was shipwrecked on his way from Ireland to Parkgate. - -The London coaches that brought travellers to Chester and Parkgate -frequently got into difficulties in the low-lying parts near the River -Dee. The roads were very bad, and the coach often had to be hauled out -of the mud by a team of horses borrowed from some neighbouring farm. - -The passengers sometimes found themselves without their purses and their -jewels at the end of their journey. The roads were frequented by -highwaymen--'gentlemen of the road', they called themselves--who held up -the coach and demanded money. With pistols levelled at their heads, the -travellers were generally glad to escape with their lives. - -One of the most famous of these highwaymen was Dick Turpin, whose -escapades, I imagine, are known to most Cheshire boys, though I hope -they have no wish to follow the career of this rascally thief. - - Once it happened in Cheshire, near Dunham I popped - On a horseman alone, whom I speedily stopped; - That I lightened his pockets you'll readily guess-- - Quick work makes Dick Turpin when mounted on Bess. - -The robbery spoken of in these lines was committed on the high-road -between Altrincham and Knutsford, and Turpin rode so fast to the inn at -Hoo Green, where he showed his watch to some Cheshire squires, that he -was never suspected of the crime. This and many other stories of Turpin -are told by Harrison Ainsworth, the novelist, whose father lived at -Rostherne. - -Knutsford claimed a highwayman of its own, one Higgins, who lived on -Knutsford Heath as an ordinary gentleman of means, and was very friendly -with the sporting squires of the neighbourhood. His favourite amusement -was to waylay the ladies who went to the county balls and 'assemblies' -at the George Hotel, and rob them of their diamonds. But he, like most -others of his profession, was found out at last, and paid with his life -the penalty of his crimes. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. II - - -The people of Cheshire were not all thieves and robbers in the -eighteenth century. If the rich and the idle were given to folly and -extravagance, and poorer men also too often lost the little they -possessed through gambling and cock-fighting, the heart of the people -was sound, and only waiting to be stirred to newer life and better -ideals. - -In the latter half of the century a great preacher came to Cheshire, and -stirred deeply the hearts of men by denouncing the follies of the age, -and the lack of religious feeling which had spread over all classes of -society. His name was John Wesley, the founder of the Wesleyan and -Methodist bodies. At first he met with much opposition, and his meetings -were broken up by the mob, but in time the people were struck by his -earnestness and flocked to hear him. The chapel at Chester where he -preached was so crowded that it could not hold all who wished to listen -to him. In his Diary he tells us of his visits to Knutsford, Stockport, -and other Cheshire towns. But Wesley and his followers often found -themselves unable to preach in the churches, so they built for -themselves chapels, little square brick buildings, all over the county. - -Another fervent preacher of the time was Captain Scott, who left the -army to be a missionary among his own countrymen, whom he gathered round -him in the streets or the inn-yards of the villages where he stayed. The -Mill Street Chapel at Congleton is one of the many chapels founded by -him in Southern Cheshire. - -Many Cheshire men were fighting in the wars into which England was drawn -in the eighteenth century. In the reigns of Anne and the three Georges -war succeeded war, and the intervals of peace were few and short. France -and Spain were our enemies, each of whom looked with jealous eyes upon -the growing power of England, and, still more, her vast colonial -empire. From Canada in the West to India in the East battles were fought -on land and on sea to maintain for England the supremacy of the sea and -her colonies. - -Many churches in Cheshire tell the story of Cheshire soldiers and -sailors who distinguished themselves in these wars. In the church of -Pott Shrigley you may see a memorial tablet of Peter Downes, whose -ancestors were foresters of the forest of Macclesfield. Peter Downes -entered the navy and was killed in a fight between the _Leander_, an -English man-of-war, and the French ship _Genereux_. - -Peter Dennis, who was born at Chester and was a scholar at the King's -School, became an Admiral of the Fleet. He was in command of the -battleship _Centurion_ in a battle fought off Cape Finisterre. -Afterwards he was knighted and made commander-in-chief of the -Mediterranean fleet. - -The battleships in which these sailors fought were very different to the -monster ironclads of the present day with which you are familiar. The -eighteenth-century vessels were the old 'wooden walls' of England, big -sailing ships called 'three deckers', with three rows of guns pointing -outwards from their sides. There is a model of one of them, the _Royal -George_, over the inner door of Vernon Park Museum. - -Robert Clive was the son of a Shropshire squire, and was educated at the -little school in the Cheshire village of Allostock. Clive went to India -and became a soldier. The English and French were fighting for the -mastery of India, and it is to Clive's victories that we owe in a great -measure our Indian Empire. - -In the last few years of the eighteenth century the dangers which -threatened England from France were much nearer home. In 1794 King -George the Third was obliged to ask Parliament for a large increase in -our home army. Cheshire raised a regiment of six troops, with Colonel -Leicester, of Tabley Hall, as its commander. - -Shortly afterwards a call for Volunteers was made in Cheshire, as in -other parts of the country, to defend the shores of our own land from -attack. The armies of Napoleon were conquering everywhere, and an -invasion of England was expected. Knutsford Heath presented the same -busy scene that it had done 150 years before, when Lambert's troops were -encamped upon it. For Knutsford was the appointed meeting-place of all -the Cheshire forces--Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers--and the beacon -that was kept in readiness on Alderley Edge was to give the signal. - -The danger was not over for many years, for the war lasted well into the -nineteenth century, ending only when Napoleon and the French were -defeated by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. Duke Street and -Wellington Street in Stockport keep alive the memory of the 'Iron Duke', -Napoleon's conqueror. - -A friend of the Duke of Wellington was Stapleton Cotton, Viscount -Combermere, whose statue stands in front of the gates of Chester Castle. -He was a descendant of the Cotton to whom the Abbey of Combermere was -given when Henry the Eighth plundered the Cheshire monasteries. The Duke -of Wellington frequently stayed at Combermere; on one of his visits he -planted an oak tree which you may still see in the Park. On the tomb of -Stapleton Cotton in Wrenbury Church you may read the names of the many -battles in which this gallant soldier took part. - -The wars of the eighteenth century and the final struggle with Napoleon -would have ruined this country but for a great increase in the wealth of -the people, which made them able to bear the cost. - -To understand the sources of this wealth, and the way in which it was -made, we shall have to go back again to the middle of the eighteenth -century, and tell the story of a great Industrial Revolution, a -revolution without war and bloodshed indeed, but one that brought with -it the greatest changes perhaps that Cheshire had yet seen. What these -changes were, and how they affected the lives of Cheshire men and women, -you will read in the succeeding chapters. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. I - - -The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century laid the foundation -of modern manufacturing England. With remarkable rapidity great -industries came into being, and new methods of making all kinds of -manufactured goods. And the first cause of this revolution was the -discovery of coal, or rather the discovery of what you could do with -coal. For coal was all at once in great demand to provide the power of -steam, and in 1769 James Watt, the discoverer of the power of steam, -showed that the steam engine could be used to drive machinery hitherto -worked by hand. - -Coal was first found in Cheshire about the year 1750. A colliery was -opened at Denhall in Wirral, where coal is worked to this day. In East -Cheshire coal was found by an accident. A farmer near Poynton had to -fetch his water from a considerable distance, and asked his landlord, -Sir George Warren of Poynton Hall, to sink him a well on his land. While -the workmen were boring the well they came across a seam of fine coal -quite near to the surface. Many other collieries have since that time -been started in the same neighbourhood, and now coal is taken out of the -earth nearly all the way from Stockport to Macclesfield. There are pits -at Norbury, Middlewood, and Bakestonedale. The coal-field extends -northwards also, and all along the Tame valley there are pits, and -especially in the neighbourhood of Dukinfield, where some of the -workings reach a depth of over two thousand feet below the surface of -the land. - -The earlier Cheshire canals were made as a result of the discovery of -coal. The Duke of Bridgwater, who owned rich coal-mines at Worsley near -Manchester, made very little profit out of them on account of the -expense of carrying the coal by carriage to the shipping ports. A clever -engineer named James Brindley was the first to suggest to him the -making of a canal by which barges might take the coal to the river -Irwell. This was the first canal made in England, and was finished in -the year 1761. - -The Bridgwater Canal was afterwards extended and carried over the Irwell -by an aqueduct. It enters Cheshire at Stretford, and passing through -Altrincham and Lymm extends a distance of twenty-four miles to Runcorn, -where it descends by a series of locks to the tidal waters of the -Mersey. - - [Illustration: AN OLD CANAL: MARPLE] - -The canal turned out so successful that the manufacturers in the -Potteries of Staffordshire asked Brindley to make a canal across the -Cheshire plain to unite the rivers Trent and Mersey. This was the -beginning of the Grand Trunk Canal, which now winds through the heart of -England and connects the great industrial towns of Lancashire and -Cheshire with the metropolis. - -At Harecastle the canal is carried under the hills that separate -Cheshire from Staffordshire by a tunnel nearly three thousand yards -long. At first the boatmen pushed their barges through the tunnel by -'legging' along the roof. This was such a laborious and troublesome way -that another engineer named Telford, the great road-maker, afterwards -built a second tunnel large enough for horses to tow the barges through -it. - -The Ellesmere Canal connects the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, -and thus cuts off the Wirral peninsula from the rest of the county. When -this canal was being made, layers of fine sand and sea shells were -found, proving that at some not very remote period the estuaries of the -Mersey and the Dee were connected with one another. - -In the east of Cheshire the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canal enters -the county at Dukinfield. One portion goes southward to Macclesfield and -the other crosses the river Goyt at Marple by an aqueduct a hundred feet -above the river. The Shropshire Union Canal connects the Dee and the -Severn; and thus all the great rivers of the north midlands, the Mersey, -Dee, Severn, and Trent, are united with one another by this network of -Cheshire canals. - -The canals proved a blessing not only to the coal owners and -manufacturers, but were also used by the people of the country villages -in order to travel from one part to another. Passenger barges called -'fly-boats' enabled the country women to take their butter and cheese to -the market towns. - -James Brindley was a man of humble birth, and for several years worked -as a labourer on a farm, amusing himself in his spare moments with -making wooden models of machinery with a pocket-knife. He was so clever -that he was often called in by the mill-owners of Macclesfield and -Congleton to repair their machinery. When he was first employed by the -Duke of Bridgwater he was paid only half a crown a day. He was a very -practical man, and gained his knowledge not from books but from his own -experiments. When he was called to the House of Commons to explain his -scheme for carrying a canal over the Mersey, which many people laughed -at as absurd, he took with him a Cheshire cheese which he cut in halves -to represent the arches of the bridge, and made a complete model of his -proposed work which greatly amused his audience, and at the same time -proved that he was well able to overcome his difficulties. - -The rivers also were dredged and made suitable for navigation wherever -possible. An artificial channel was made for the waters of the Dee which -had become choked with silt and sand, and small ships could once more be -towed as far as Chester. The Weaver was made navigable from Winsford to -the Mersey, so that salt, which was taken out of the earth in ever -increasing quantities, could be taken to Runcorn in barges at a much -smaller cost than on wagons. - -Salt is necessary in every home for cooking and other household needs. -But still greater quantities are required for alkalis and other -chemicals, the making of which is the chief occupation of the workpeople -of Runcorn and Weston Point. Thousands of tons are also exported every -year to other countries where salt is scarce. - -Salt has been worked in the towns on or near the Weaver from Roman days. -The earlier way was simply to mine it as we do coal now. Some of the -mines at Northwich cover many acres, and when lit up by electric -coloured lights are very beautiful. The roof of a mine is held up by -columns of salt which are left in position for that purpose, but they -frequently give way and the buildings above them are wrecked. - -The coarser kinds of rock-salt are still taken out in lumps. You may -often see pieces in the Cheshire fields which farmers have put there for -cattle to lick. For salt contains health-giving properties, and -salt-mining is not injurious to health as coal-mining is. Brine baths -have been made at Nantwich for people suffering from certain diseases. - -In the Middle Ages, wells or brine-pits were sunk and the water carried -in leather buckets to the salt-houses. Edward King, a Cheshire -historian, who in the seventeenth century wrote a book called _Vale -Royal_, says that 'at Northwich there was a salt spring on the bank of -the River Dane, from which the brine runneth on the ground in troughs of -wood until it comes to the "wich-houses", where they made salt. Some old -leaden salt-pans may still be seen at Northwich, pieces of charcoal -still sticking to them on the under side, showing that the brine had -been heated over wood fires.' - - [Illustration: THE MILL TOWNS OF N.E. CHESHIRE] - -Modern science has found better and easier ways of making salt. The -white salt which you use daily is still obtained by evaporation. The -brine is first pumped into a reservoir and taken by pipes to large -shallow salt-pans heated by furnaces beneath them. As the water -evaporates the crystals are formed and scraped from the sides and the -bottoms of the pans. You may see specimens of the different kinds of -salt in the Salt Museum at Northwich. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. II - - -In the year 1785 cotton was brought into the Mersey from the United -States of America. Long before that time so-called 'cotton' stuffs had -been made in Cheshire villages. But these fabrics were not really cotton -at all, but a mixture of wool and flax. The flax was brought from -Ireland, and woollen manufacturers tried for a long time to keep it out. -In the parish records of Prestbury you may read of an Act passed in -Charles the Second's reign forbidding any one to be buried in anything -but a woollen shroud. - -At first there were no cotton-mills, such as you see now in the populous -towns of East Cheshire. The raw cotton was given out to poor people, who -spun it and wove it in their own cottage homes. Nearly every cottage -became a small factory, the fathers, mothers, and children all taking -part in the work. The machinery was simple and made of wood. The -spinning was done by the women and children in the house, the weaving -by the men in a weaving-shed of one story built in the yard. - -As time went on, the machinery was improved by the inventions of clever -men, so that one loom would do as much work as several had done -previously. The workpeople did not like the new machines, for often a -number of people were thrown out of work by them, and frequently the new -spinning and weaving-frames of the inventors were wrecked by a furious -mob. - -The earlier and simpler machines, such as the spinning-wheel and the -hand-loom, were worked by hand. But the new discoveries made it possible -for one wheel to turn eighty or a hundred spindles at once by means of -horse-power or a water-wheel, and the hand-loom similarly gave place to -a power-loom. But in remote villages the old-fashioned methods survived, -and even to this day you may still occasionally see a hand-loom at work -in cottages in the highlands of East Cheshire. - -Then great factories began to be built, huge buildings of brick and of -many stories, chiefly on the banks of Cheshire streams, or on the -canals, by which the raw cotton could be brought in barges to the very -doors. You may look down from the churchyard of Mottram into the valley -beneath and count a score of them. Steam was applied, and the whole of -the machinery of the factories was driven by this new force. Great towns -sprang up like mushrooms. Hyde and Stalybridge and Dukinfield, from -being tiny villages, soon became great busy hives of the cotton -industry. - -The cotton had also to be bleached and the calicoes printed, and mills -for the purpose were built along the streams, whose waters provided the -steam-power which worked the machinery of the mills. From Taxal to -Stockport, along the banks of the now polluted Goyt, is an almost -continuous line of great mills, the bleach-works of Whaley Bridge, the -print-works of Furness Vale and Strines, the cotton-mills of Disley, -Marple, and Mellor. The Mellor mills were built as early as 1790 by -Samuel Oldknow, and were at one time in the hands of Peter Arkwright, -who was one of a famous family of inventors, and who made many changes -in the machinery of his works. - -Thus the positions of modern manufacturing towns have not been chosen, -as were those of the towns of the Middle Ages, by their ability to beat -off the attacks of enemies. For war is no longer the principal business -of the inhabitants of Cheshire. The 'cotton' towns have come into being -just in those parts where the conditions are favourable to the cotton -industry. In the first place the climate is damp, owing to the nearness -of the Pennine hills, on which the wet winds from the south-west drop -their moisture; and cotton can only be spun and woven in such a climate, -for a dry climate would make the threads break. Secondly, there is a -plentiful water-supply from the numerous streams that flow from the -hills, and lastly, the towns are close to big coal-fields from which -they may obtain the fuel for the engines that work the machinery of the -mills. - -In the pretty model village of Styal, on the banks of the Bollin, is a -house which is still called by the name of 'Prentice House. Here once -lived a number of young girls and boys, orphans many of them, who worked -in the picturesque ivy-clad building, strangely unlike a mill, at Quarry -Bank. They were 'apprenticed', that is, bound to their master for seven -years. During that time they were well fed and clothed by their -employer, and certain times were set apart for learning to read and -write and sew. On Sunday mornings they walked together to the church at -Wilmslow. The girls were dressed in straw bonnets and plain grey -dresses, the boys in fustian coats and breeches of corduroy. - -They were kindly treated, but the hours in the mill were long. They rose -at five, and their breakfast of porridge and milk was eaten in the mill. -Half an hour was allowed for dinner, and not until half-past eight did -their long day of toil come to an end. At Christmas prizes were given to -those who had been most obedient and industrious during the year. - -The young people of Quarry Bank were on the whole happy in the service -of Samuel Greg their master, but the lot of the apprentices in other -mills was often very different. The harshness and cruelty of some -employers led to the passing of Acts of Parliament which shortened the -hours of labour and fixed severe penalties for ill-treatment. A later -Act forbade altogether the employment of children under a certain age. - - [Illustration: STYAL MILL] - -In the middle of the eighteenth century the silk industry took root in -Cheshire. We first hear of it in Stockport, where a mill was started for -the winding and throwing[3] of silk. John Clayton, of Stockport, built a -mill at Congleton, and the industry spread rapidly to the neighbouring -villages of Sutton, Rainow, and Bollington. - - [3] i.e. twisting the fine threads into yarn. Those who were - engaged in this particular process were called 'throwsters', just - as spinster meant originally one engaged in spinning. - -The first silk-mill in Macclesfield, which is now the chief seat of the -silk industry in Cheshire, was opened by Charles Roe in 1756. Roe Street -is named after him. He made a fortune and built Christ Church. Over the -altar you may see his bust in marble, and over it a figure of Genius -with a cogwheel in her hand. In the museum at West Park are some models -of silk-looms. - -There was a silk-mill at Knutsford, as the name Silk Mill Street tells -us. In Mobberley also nearly every cottage had its spinning-wheel. The -cottagers fetched the raw silk from Macclesfield and took back the spun -yarn to be woven into pieces at the Macclesfield looms. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -THE RAILWAYS OF CHESHIRE - - -After the making of canals came the railways, and the mighty power of -steam, that had wrought such a vast change in the cotton industry, was -to be the moving force of the new invention. - -Late in the summer of 1830 the people who lined the river banks from -Runcorn to Latchford saw a trail of smoke travelling slowly across the -nine arches of Sankey Viaduct and the peaty plains of the Mersey. The -smoke was that of Stephenson's 'Rocket', the steam locomotive that was -drawing one of the first passenger trains in England. - - [Illustration: CHESHIRE. RAILWAYS] - -Cheshire had its 'Rocket' too in those days, the stage coach that left -the 'Black Boy' Inn at Stockport and passed through Cheadle, Lymm, and -Warrington to Liverpool. And the old 'Rocket' was very jealous of its -new namesake, for it was thought that with the coming of the railways -the coaches would be driven off the road. The canal companies also saw -themselves threatened, and did all they could to hinder the spread of -the new way of travelling. - -Some years were to pass before the inhabitants of Cheshire saw railways -laid through their own towns and villages. The farmers of Wirral rubbed -their eyes when the first train seen in Cheshire carried its human -freight along the southern shore of the Mersey. Many of them had -doubtless never seen one before, and not a few of the more ignorant fled -in terror from the puffing, panting thing, which they looked upon as the -invention of the evil one. - -It is hard indeed to think of Cheshire without its railways. Before -their coming, almost the only way of moving from one place to another -was by means of the stage coaches that rattled along the principal -highways, putting down at the nearest wayside inn the passengers who -lived in villages off the main roads. Goods and merchandise were carried -on pack-horses or slow lumbering wagons. - -Some of the most important main lines of English railways now pass -through Cheshire, for the Cheshire plain is the broad gateway that leads -to the busy and populous towns of South Lancashire. Within the space of -half a century the county was covered with a network of lines, and -to-day it is impossible to find a spot that has not a railway passing -within a very few miles of it. - -The earliest railways avoided the hilly districts, and for many years -there were no lines in East Cheshire. The main line of the London and -North Western Railway crosses the southern border of Cheshire where the -hills are low, and picks its way through the Cheshire plain, keeping -closely to the level valley of the Weaver, and leaving the hills of -Delamere and Frodsham on the west. It crosses the Mersey into Lancashire -at Warrington. - -The cotton spinners of Stockport wanted a quick route to London, and so -a branch line was made through Alderley, which joined the main line at -Crewe. Some of the old country towns would not have the railway too -near, so we find Sandbach nearly two miles away from its station. -Another branch westwards left the main line at Crewe for Chester and -Holyhead, to carry the Irish mails; and a third branched off at Preston -Brook for Liverpool, being carried over the Mersey by a big iron bridge -at Runcorn. - -There were only a few houses at Crewe when the railways were made. The -station was in the village of Church Coppenhall, but the shorter and -more convenient name of Crewe was chosen from Crewe Hall. The little -village rapidly became a big town, for it was chosen to be the -head-quarters of the London and North Western Company. Big engine and -carriage works were built, and iron foundries for the making of boilers -and steel rails. It is now one of the most important railway centres in -England, giving employment to many thousand workmen. - -But one line was not enough to carry all the traffic from the great -manufacturing towns to the Midlands and the south of England. Other -railway companies accomplished the difficult task of crossing the -Pennine Hills, and Cheshire was thus brought into touch with Yorkshire -and the north-midland shires. The Midland Railway tunnelled under the -hills at a height of eight hundred feet above sea-level, and descended -rapidly to Stockport by the Goyt valley. The Great Northern enters -Cheshire by the tunnel near Penistone, and follows the Etherow down -Longdendale till it also reaches Stockport. The Staffordshire Railway -from the Potteries burrows through the hills at Harecastle on its way to -Congleton and Macclesfield. All these railways vied with one another in -quickening the speed of their trains, and their rivalry soon caused the -fares for passengers and rates for goods to become cheaper. - -There is one railway which, more than any other, Cheshire boys and girls -may call their own. The Cheshire Line is not one of the great 'trunk' -lines to London, but is confined to South Lancashire and the county from -which it takes its name. This railway crosses the county from Altrincham -to Chester, never more than a few hundred yards from its great ancestor, -the Watling Street. - - [Illustration: RAILWAY VIADUCT OVER GOYT VALLEY] - -The populous towns of North-east Cheshire are also served by branches of -the Great Central and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. The coast -towns of the Dee have their 'Wirral Railway', and through the heart of -Wirral Great Western expresses rush to their terminus at Birkenhead. - -The railways teach us that time is money, and this fact is constantly -brought home to us by seeing new lines made to shorten the distance -between two points, so that men may get to their places of business more -rapidly. The Midland Railway have in the last few years straightened -their line by a short cut through Cheadle Heath, that their express -trains to Manchester may avoid delay at Stockport; and the new London -and North Western line from Wilmslow to Manchester, though it saved less -than three miles, was yet thought worth the cost. - -The railways have brought town and country into closer touch with one -another, and both have gained. Farmers and market gardeners can send -their produce quickly and cheaply to the great markets of Stockport and -Birkenhead. Coals and salt, machinery and manufactured goods, can be -distributed easily from the great towns that produce them. Moreover, -many people whose daily life is spent in the crowded cities are able to -live away from their places of business and, for a portion of the day at -least, breathe the purer air of the country. - -Two residential districts of Cheshire are supported mainly by the -merchants and manufacturers of Manchester and Liverpool. In East -Cheshire, Altrincham and Bowdon, Knutsford, Alderley, Cheadle, and Lymm -are practically suburbs of Manchester. In the Wirral, Hoylake, West -Kirby, and New Brighton owe their present prosperity to the business men -of Birkenhead and Liverpool who have built their homes on the Cheshire -seaboard. - -In all these places you may see the mingling of the old and the new, the -older portions clustering round the parish church, the brand new villas -and mansions of the rich spreading on all sides into the surrounding -country. New towns spring up round the railway stations, as at Alderley -Edge, which is two miles from the older village of Nether Alderley. - -With the railways came also the 'penny post', for letters could now be -carried cheaply and quickly to and from all parts of the country. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -PROGRESS AND REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY - - -Twenty years before steam locomotives were used to draw passenger trains -over the earliest railways in Cheshire, a steam packet boat had been -built to ply between Liverpool and the Cheshire port of Runcorn. This -boat was called simply 'The Steam Boat', and was the first steamer ever -seen in the River Mersey. The sailing packets were frequently becalmed, -but the new ship could make her voyage in all weathers. - -A number of steam-tugs were built soon afterwards to tow the big -sailing-ships that entered the Mersey to the ports to which they were -bound, and the first steam ferry-boat crossed the Mersey from Liverpool -to Tranmere. In a few years the Cheshire shore of the Mersey was lined -with docks and quays at Birkenhead, Seacombe, Woodside, Tranmere, and -Eastham. At the last-named port Liverpool passengers could get on the -coach for Chester and the midland towns. - -In 1819, the year in which Queen Victoria was born, the Savannah, the -first steamship that crossed the Atlantic, was seen in the River Mersey. -The Savannah took twenty-eight days over the passage, lowering by many -days the record of the fastest sailing-vessels hitherto. This was -thought a great feat in those days, but the huge 'ocean greyhounds' that -the boys and girls of Wirral see riding at anchor off Birkenhead, now -make four or five crossings in the same period of time. - -Just as Crewe owes its rapid rise to the coming of the railways, so -Birkenhead's prosperity dates from the beginnings of steam navigation. -Both of these towns are growths of the nineteenth century. At the -beginning of the century Birkenhead was a small village of less than a -hundred inhabitants. It is now Cheshire's greatest town, and contains a -population of more than 100,000, or, if we include the populous suburbs -which have sprung up on either side of it, nearly twice this number. - - [Illustration: BIRKENHEAD & THE MERSEY] - -The old village clustered round its ruined priory, which is still in the -heart of the modern town. A triangular piece of land, now covered by the -streets of New Brighton, Liscard, Wallasey, and Seacombe, was cut off -from Birkenhead and the rest of Wirral by a broad and swampy river -called Wallasey Pool. Mr. Laird, the founder of the famous shipbuilding -company of that name, bought some land on the edge of the Pool. He saw -that here was a firstrate place for dockyards and wharves, which would -be protected from south-westerly gales by the natural rampart of Bidston -Hill and the high ground of Oxton. - -In a few years Wallasey Pool was turned into a huge basin capable of -holding hundreds of big ocean-going ships. In the 'Great Float', as this -basin is now called, you may see ships of every nation. Twenty pairs of -lockgates connect it with the Mersey, and there are ten miles of quays -with a network of quay railways laid along them. - -The big ship-building yards of Messrs. Cammell and Laird give employment -to many hundreds of the working-men of Birkenhead. Here are built some -of our largest merchant vessels, as well as ships for the British Navy, -chiefly gunboats and torpedo boat destroyers. One of the Lairds was -Birkenhead's first member of Parliament. You may see his statue in front -of the Birkenhead Town Hall. - -Two other men whose names are closely linked with the shipping of the -Mersey will always be remembered by the people of Wirral. William Inman -and Thomas Ismay were the founders of fleets of ocean liners. With a -portion of the wealth that he derived from his business, Inman built -churches for the villages of Upton and Moreton. Ismay lived at Dawpool -Hall, and is buried in the churchyard of Thurstaston. - -The first street-tramway in Europe was laid along the streets of -Birkenhead, from Woodside Ferry to the Park, by an American called -Train. The cars were built at Birkenhead, and drawn by horses; the -length of the line was less than two miles. Now tram routes are spread -all over Eastern Wirral, and are to be found in the streets of all -large towns. But the horses are gone, and the cars are now driven by the -cheaper and more serviceable method of electricity. Our tram-cars are -one of the greatest conveniences in the busy life of a town. - -Prior to the year 1832 Chester was the only Cheshire town which had its -own members of Parliament. The county returned two members, one for the -north division and the other for the south. The big manufacturing towns -which had increased so rapidly in size and population had no -representatives, while numbers of small towns and villages in other -parts of England returned one and sometimes even two members to the -House of Commons. The workers of the busy industrial districts felt that -this was very unfair, and demanded to be allowed to be represented. -After a long struggle Reform Bills were passed, and now Stockport is -allowed to choose two members, and Stalybridge and Birkenhead one each. -The number of county members has also been increased from two to eight, -one from each of eight divisions, to which the names Hyde, Macclesfield, -Altrincham, Knutsford, Crewe, Eddisbury, Northwich, and Wirral have been -given. - -Until the passing of the 'Reform Bills' only those who possessed -property were allowed to vote, the great majority of the people of -Cheshire had no say in the government of the country at all. The Reform -Bill of 1832 gave the vote to many more people, to every man in fact who -paid a rent of ten pounds or more a year for his house. Thus much of the -power which had previously belonged to the rich passed into the hands of -the poorer classes. - -One of the first results of the Reformed Parliament was the passing of a -number of Factory Acts. The cry of the children at work in the mills had -long been heard through the land, and the people were indignant at the -cruelties put upon them by some mill-owners. As early as the year 1802 -Sir Robert Peel, a Lancashire manufacturer, had persuaded Parliament to -pass an Act to improve the condition of the factories. The Reformed -Parliament now made it illegal to employ children under nine years of -age, or to make boys and girls under thirteen work for more than twelve -hours a day. Later Acts have still further shortened the hours of work -for women and children, and in many other respects have made the lot of -all the working classes more tolerable. Manufacturers are now compelled -to keep their factories clean and wholesome, and fit to work in. Factory -inspectors are appointed to see that the laws are carried out, and those -whose lives are spent in dangerous occupations, such as coal-mining or -the making of chemicals, are protected by strict rules which lessen the -danger to life and limb. - -The greatest evil from which the poorer classes suffered in the early -years of the nineteenth century was the high price of bread. This was -due to the heavy duty put on corn imported from foreign countries. In S. -Peter's Square, Stockport, is a statue of Richard Cobden, who for six -years was Stockport's member of Parliament. Cobden saw that the poverty -of the working classes could not be lessened until this corn-tax was -removed. He pleaded eloquently on their behalf, and in the end he was -successful. The growers of corn grumbled, but as Cheshire is not so much -a corn-growing as a pastoral county, the farmers of Cheshire were not -greatly hurt. - -Cobden also persuaded Parliament to take away or to lessen the duties on -imported raw materials, such as cotton, wool, and silk, on which the -prosperity of the Cheshire workers so much depended. The result was that -the manufacturers were able to pay the people who worked in their mills -better wages. Thus, with cheaper bread and wages higher, the lot of the -industrial classes became brighter. Soon also the duties on manufactured -goods brought to Cheshire from abroad were removed, and the system of -Free Trade, under which Cheshire has become rich and prosperous, came -into being. - -Among the leaders of the working classes were some who wanted far -greater changes. In the museum at Vernon Park are some iron pike-heads -taken from these men when they tried to arm the people and urge them to -fight for their 'rights'. The aims of the Chartists, as these reformers -were named, were set forth in a document which they called the People's -Charter. Among other things, they demanded votes for all men, yearly -Parliaments, vote by ballot, and payment of members of Parliament. But -the bulk of the people took alarm, for it was thought that if every man -had a vote, too much power would be put into the hands of the working -classes. The Chartists were tried for causing riots, and many were put -in prison. One of the Chartist leaders was James Stephens, who is buried -in Dukinfield churchyard. - -In 1861 a great disaster befell the cotton trade. In that year civil war -broke out in America between the Northern and the Southern States of the -Union. The Southern States were the seat of the cotton-growing -plantations, which were worked by millions of negro slaves. The English -people had put an end to slavery in their own colonies, and the Northern -States of America wished to do the same. When the Southerners desired to -extend the cotton industry to other new States, the Northern States -refused to allow it, and war broke out. - -The war brought much distress to the cotton workers of Cheshire, for the -ports of the Southerners were blockaded by the warships of their -enemies, and the ships which had brought their cargoes of raw cotton to -the Mersey could do so no longer. The result was a cotton famine. The -looms were idle, and thousands of workpeople were thrown out of -employment in Stockport, Stalybridge, and the other towns and villages -which depended for their daily bread on a constant supply of the raw -material. - -Attempts were made by ships sent from England to run the blockade of the -ports of the Southern States. At Birkenhead a ship called the _Alabama_ -was built in the dockyard of Messrs. Laird for the use of the cotton -planters. The ship entered the harbours in the night-time or during -fogs, and succeeded several times in bringing small supplies of cotton. -She was caught at last, but not before she had destroyed sixty or -seventy vessels of the Northern fleet, and she very nearly brought about -a war between England and America. - -The war lasted four years. Then peace was restored, and the cotton was -once more brought to the starving spinners and weavers of East Cheshire. -During the famine the poor had been supported by sums of money raised in -the large towns of England, and many years passed before the cotton -industry reached its former prosperity. - -The memory of the hard days of the cotton famine has been handed down to -the grandchildren of those who suffered. Within the last few years the -cotton merchants and manufacturers have started an association for -growing cotton in our own English colonies, so that the workers may not -depend entirely on the cotton produced by foreign States. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV - -THE REIGN OF A GREAT QUEEN - - -Many of the changes described in the last three chapters were but -partially accomplished in Cheshire, when a young princess of eighteen -years became Queen of England. The power of steam was known, but the -Cheshire railways were not yet laid, and those who wished to attend the -coronation of Queen Victoria had to use the stage or the family coach -and take a day and a half over the journey. - -Telegraph and telephone were also quite unknown, and the penny post had -not yet come into being. That was to follow in the wake of the railways. -During her reign all our main roads were lined with telegraph wires, and -cables laid at the bottom of the seas sent our messages to the uttermost -parts of the earth. The news of distant events, which formerly took -weeks or even months to reach us, may now be read in our newspapers -within a few hours at most. - -Inventions without number followed the discovery of electricity. The -shops and warehouses of large towns, railway carriages and ocean liners, -and the homes of the well-to-do are lighted with it. Electric launches -flit along the shores of the Mersey. Tram-cars are worked by -electricity, which also sets in motion the dynamos that work the -machinery of mills and workshops. The pressing of an electric button -sets free the big ships when they take the water for the first time in -the dockyards of Birkenhead. - -The wonderful progress made by the engineers of the nineteenth century -is seen in the making of the Manchester Ship Canal, the greater part of -which lies within the county of Cheshire. For many years Manchester's -great ambition was to become a port. The winding and shallow bed of the -inland waters of the Mersey could not be navigated by ocean-going -vessels, and a ship canal was wanted in order that the bales of cotton -might be brought direct from the United States and other cotton-growing -countries to the place where the raw material is distributed. Thus time -would be saved, as well as the expense of unloading at Liverpool and -putting the cargoes on the railways, whose rates were very high. - -It was therefore decided to ask Parliament for powers to make a wide and -deep canal, capable of carrying ships of several thousand tons burden. -The railway and canal companies and the Liverpool merchants who -controlled the navigation of the Mersey were afraid that the trade of -Liverpool would be injured, and opposed the scheme vigorously. But -Parliament was wise enough to see what a boon the canal would be to the -cotton towns and the district through which it was to be laid, and -passed the bill for its making. In the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria -the work was begun. - -Many millions of money were required for such a vast undertaking, and -more millions were asked for as the work went on. After seven years of -perseverance in the face of tremendous difficulties, the canal was -opened by the queen. - -The canal is thirty-five and a half miles long, and, roughly speaking, -two-thirds of it are in Cheshire. The entrance to the canal is at -Eastham, where great locks were built. From Eastham to Runcorn, a -distance of thirteen miles, the canal is tidal and laid along the -foreshore of the Mersey estuary, and protected by an embankment. At -Runcorn 'Gap' the canal and the Mersey, which here becomes very narrow, -are separated by a concrete wall nearly one mile in length. - -The rest of the waterway lies inland. Latchford serves as a port for -Warrington, and the locks here always present a busy scene. At Irlam -locks the canal enters Lancashire, and its waters are at this point -forty feet above sea-level. The canal is fed by the River Irwell, whose -waters flow down the canal from Salford to Irlam. - -The railways are carried over the canal by lofty bridges, which had to -be made very high to allow the masts of ocean ships to pass under them. -Bays or sidings, where ships may pass each other, occur at intervals. -Wharves and docks have been built at many points along the canal, which -some day may be expected to appear one long seaport. - -Ellesmere Port, where the Ellesmere Canal and Ship Canal unite, has -become a thriving place in recent years, and the trade of Runcorn has -also been greatly increased by the canal. Large alkali works have been -built at Weston Point, the most suitable place that could have been -found for them, because they are equally near to the Lancashire -coal-field on the one hand and to the salt beds of Cheshire on the -other. The salt is brought in the form of brine direct from Northwich to -the works by pipes laid underground, a great saving of money, for salt -is heavy and costly to carry. - -Though the cotton industry was the one that was expected to gain most -from the canal, the traffic is by no means confined to this commodity. -Grain and cattle are brought from the United States and from South -America, timber from Canada, and hides from the Argentine, and big -cargoes of bananas, oranges, and apples, pass up the canal. In addition -to this oversea traffic, the canal also has a great share of the -coasting trade of the West of England, of which slates from Carnarvon, -and china clay from Cornwall may be taken as the best examples. - -The triumphs of engineering and mechanical skill have improved our means -of travelling from one place to another. The great engines that are now -turned out from the locomotive sheds at Crewe are as vastly superior to -the Rocket (models of which are now but a curiosity in our museums) as -the twentieth-century motor-cycle is to the velocipede or wooden -'bone-shaker' that your fathers rode. Horse carriages are fast -disappearing and giving place to the motor-car, and hansoms to the -taxicab. The science of aviation is turning the inventive powers of men -into new channels, and 'flying men' are showing to the world that the -conquest of the air is but a matter of time. - -Before the reign of Queen Victoria, few of the children of the poorest -classes were able either to read or write. Such education as these could -receive was given in the Sunday Schools, which Robert Raikes had started -in 1781. The children were hard at work in the mills all the week. -Teachers volunteered for the work, which was carried on in cottages or -disused factories. In 1805, Stockport built the big Sunday School which -still remains, and a hundred thousand children have been grateful for -the simple teaching given to them. - -The Education Bills of Queen Victoria's reign brought knowledge within -the reach of all. Education is cheap for the middle classes, free for -the poor. Schools have been built where none existed before. Money has -been found to help any Cheshire boy or girl to receive the very highest -education, and to open up the way from village school to university. The -municipalities have built their own municipal schools in the chief towns -of Cheshire, and technical schools where you may learn a trade. At the -Agricultural School at Holmes Chapel you may be instructed in the newest -and most scientific ways of farming. - -The people have learnt to study the laws of health, and to understand -the value of light and fresh air. Towns are cleaner and your homes -healthier. Open spaces, parks and playing-fields, brighten the lives of -the children in the towns, and by making them stronger, fit them the -better for the hard work that lies before them. - -Port Sunlight shows how much can be done by those who study the needs of -the working classes. This 'garden city', with its avenues of dainty -cottage villas, is the home of those who work in the big soap-works on -the Mersey. Here everything is done that can make for the comfort and -well-being of the inhabitants. There are schools for the children, and -'institutes' for the young men and women, libraries and reading-rooms, -savings banks to encourage thrift, games, clubs, swimming-baths and -gymnasium for the strong, a hospital for the sick and infirm, ambulance -and fire brigade and a life-saving society, and societies for the study -of literature and science. - -You are not all as fortunate as the dwellers of Port Sunlight. But some -day many of you will perhaps see the slums of great towns cleared away, -and you will take care that sunlight is let into dark places. You will -have learned how foolish it is to overcrowd the towns and herd together -in close and mean streets, and you will have the power to say that these -things ought not to be. - -The Cheshire County Council was created by Queen Victoria. Its members -are elected, and the Council allows large parishes to elect a Parish or -District Council to manage their own local affairs. But Stockport, -Chester, and Birkenhead do not send members to this Council, for their -populations are so big that they are considered as counties in -themselves. The County Council also controls the education of the -county, keeps roads and bridges in repair, directs the cleansing of the -small towns and villages, and provides a pure water-supply. - -New boroughs were made at Crewe, Hyde, and Stalybridge in Queen -Victoria's reign, with a mayor and corporation to direct their affairs. -Macclesfield, you will remember, was a borough in very early times. -Altrincham and Over too, once had their mayors, though they have them no -longer. Their mayors seem to have been men of very humble position, and -to have been looked down upon by their neighbours. You have perhaps -heard of the Cheshire saying: - - The Mayor of Altrincham, - And the Mayor of Over-- - The one is a thatcher, - The other a dauber. - - [Illustration: MODERN GOTHIC: S. MARGARET'S, ALTRINCHAM] - -The work of the borough councils has become very heavy during the last -fifty years. Gas, water, electricity, libraries, education, public -health, baths, markets, and police, have their own special committees to -look after them. The handsome Town Halls of Chester and Stockport, the -latter opened only a few years since by the present King George the -Fifth, had to be built to accommodate the small army of clerks who -assist in the government of a great city. - -The reign of Queen Victoria was not all one of peace. The war with -Russia, and the terrible mutiny of her Indian subjects with its tale of -horrors and its glorious heroism, brought woe to many a home in -Cheshire. The obelisk by the roadside between Aldford and Farndon -reminds us that the soldiers of Cheshire were often called upon to fight -our battles and too often find a grave in distant lands. Colonel -Barnston, of Crewe Hill, to whose memory this monument was set up, -fought at the siege of Sebastopol. In the Indian Mutiny he was wounded -while gallantly leading an assault at the relief of Lucknow, and died of -his wounds at Cawnpore. Numbers of memorial tablets in the Cathedral of -Chester speak of the lives that were cheerfully laid down by Cheshire -men in the service of their queen and country. - -Your fathers will tell you how bonfires were lighted on the beacons and -hill-tops of Cheshire to celebrate the Jubilee or fiftieth year of the -reign of Queen Victoria. Still greater was the rejoicing some ten years -later, when she surpassed in length of reign all previous sovereigns of -England. Nearly every town and village has some memorial of her: a cross -in the village street, a drinking-fountain by the wayside, new bells for -the parish church or a lich-gate for the churchyard, a village 'hall' or -a public recreation ground, these are but a few examples that prove the -love and reverence that Cheshire men and women felt for the great queen -whose only thought was ever for the welfare of her people. - -Yet her last years were saddened by the long and costly war in South -Africa, still unfinished when she died. The call to arms was once more -heard from east to west of Cheshire; from town and country, -'reservists' who had thought to end their days in peace were sent -oversea to defend the South African dominions of the queen. The brave -'Cheshires'--the fathers of some of you were among them--served -throughout the war. A gallant Cheshire officer was one of the first to -win distinction. Lieutenant Congreve, of Burton Hall, was one of three -who volunteered to rescue the guns at the battle of Colenso. He was shot -down in the attempt, but was able to crawl to a sheltered place, and -lived to receive the reward that all soldiers strive to merit--the -Victoria Cross. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV - -FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF CHESHIRE - - -Throughout the Middle Ages, until the end of the Wars of the Roses, war -was the chief, almost the only occupation of the leading men of -Cheshire. A few entered the Church, Richard de Vernon, for instance, who -was Rector of 'Stokeport' early in the fourteenth century (his tomb is -in the chancel of Stockport), and William de Montalt, Rector of Neston. -One of the Bebingtons, William de Bebyngton, even became Abbot of S. -Werburgh's Abbey. - -The descendants of the barons who settled in Cheshire in the days of the -Conqueror followed the Norman and Plantagenet kings to the Crusades or -the French wars. Few of them stayed at home for any length of time, and -when they returned, they generally found that some score had to be -settled with the Welshmen, who had been making havoc of their lands -during their absence. So that whether at home or abroad, fighting was -always their chief business. - -Cheshire has been called the 'seed-plot of gentility'. The Cheshire -gentry prided themselves on marrying within their own county. A Cheshire -proverb says: ''Tis better to wed over the mixen than over the moor,' -meaning the moorland that separates Cheshire from her neighbours. The -result of this intermarriage was that the number of great Cheshire names -did not greatly increase, and soon there became - - As many Masseys as asses, - Leghs as fleas, - And Davenports as dogs' tails; - -to quote another Cheshire saying. - -One of the oldest Cheshire families is that of the Wooley-Dods of Edge -Hill, who trace their descent from the Saxon Dot, who was a great man in -Cheshire before the Normans came. The Grosvenors, whose ancestors came -over with the Conqueror, live at Eaton Hall, and own vast estates in -Western Cheshire. The present head of the family is the Duke of -Westminster. The Mainwarings, whose forefathers fought in the Crusades, -are at Peover, and the crest of the felon's head of the Davenports still -survives at Capesthorne, though the Davenports of Marton and Bramhall -are no more. - -Many old families of Cheshire have long since died out. The last of the -Masseys of Puddington (they had lived there since the days of Rufus) -died in the Stuart rising of 1715. There are no Pooles at Poole Hall nor -Venables at Kinderton. The last of the Savages of Rock Savage, whose -tomb is in the Rivers Chapel at Macclesfield, died in the seventeenth -century. - -Dutton village and Dutton Hall bear the name of a famous family that was -allied by marriage with most of the great families of Cheshire. Duttons -live no longer at the Hall, for the last male heir died in the reign of -James the First. They were descended from a squire of Robert Lacy, -Constable of Chester. When Earl Randal was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle -by the Welsh, the Constable and Dutton, his henchman, hastily gathered -together a motley rabble of fiddlers and mountebanks from Chester Fair -and went to his assistance. The Earl was rescued, and from that time -forward to the Duttons was given the charge of all minstrels and -fiddlers in the county. There are Duttons in Chester now; one was a -mayor of the city quite recently. - -Neighbours and kinsmen of the Duttons were the Dones or Donnes of -Utkinton, hereditary foresters of the Forest of Delamere. Many of them -are buried at Tarporley. The name of the last Lady Done is still called -to mind in the neighbourhood where they lived. The Cheshire proverb is -the highest praise that can be given to a young Cheshire housewife, and -'Lady Done' is a pet name for modest and thrifty girls, as 'Little Lord -Derby' is for brave and honourable boys. - -Lancashire claims the Earls of Derby now, but they are descended from -the Stanleys, perhaps the most famous of all Cheshire families, by the -marriage of Sir John Stanley and Isabella, heiress of the Lancashire -Lathoms. The Stanleys settled at Storeton in Wirral in the fourteenth -century. Many men of mark, churchmen and scholars, statesmen and -soldiers, belonged to this family. A Stanley helped to win the battle of -Bosworth for Henry Tudor, and a Stanley led the Cheshire troops in the -famous charge at Flodden Field, - - When shivered was fair Scotland's spear - And broken was her shield. - -One branch of the family settled at Hooton, but the last of this line -lost his estates by gambling and extravagance. The Stanleys of Alderley -received knighthood from James the First; they are Barons of Alderley -now. This family has given a bishop to Norwich and a still more famous -dean to Westminster. The bishop was educated at the Grammar School of -Macclesfield. - -The Egertons are descended from the standard-bearer of Henry the Eighth, -who made him a knight after the 'Battle of the Spurs'. One of them rose -to be Lord Chancellor in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, -and was made Baron Ellesmere. The first Earl Egerton of Tatton was made -a peer by Queen Victoria largely for the help he gave in the making of -the Ship Canal. - -The Jodrells, buried in Taxal Church, were descended from an archer who -served under the Black Prince. Perhaps he cut his bow from the very yew -tree that still stands in the churchyard. One of them fought in the -Peninsular War, but the name has disappeared from this part of Cheshire -now. - -Several Cheshire noblemen sit in the House of Lords to-day, their family -name disguised under the more showy title of a peerage. A Booth became -Lord Delamere at the Restoration, and the Viscounts of Combermere are -the descendants of the Cottons, who helped Henry the Eighth to plunder -the Cheshire monasteries. The Ardernes are represented by the Earl of -Haddington; Lord Newton lives at Lyme Park, the ancient home of the -Leghs, and the Earl of Crewe at Crewe Hall. Lord Ashton of Hyde has only -recently taken a seat in the House of Lords. He was made a baron at the -coronation of King George the Fifth. - -When great industries took root in Cheshire new names appeared, and some -of the most honoured families in Cheshire now are those that have been -closely associated with the workers of the county. We hear a great deal -nowadays of 'the dignity of labour', and we think it no disgrace to rise -to position and power by a life of toil. The Gregs of Styal and the -Brunners of Northwich, the Levers of Wirral, and many others, have -endeared themselves to the people of Cheshire by the example of their -own labours and the pains they have taken to make the lives of those who -live about them and work for them brighter and happier. - -A simple cross in the graveyard of the Unitarian Chapel at Knutsford -bears the name of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. The people of Knutsford -have a warm corner in their hearts for her, for in a way she has made -their town famous for all time. One of the books she wrote--_Cranford_ -she called it--speaks of the people of Knutsford as she knew them in the -earlier days of Queen Victoria. The book tells you much of the quiet -life of a country town before the coming of the railways and the busy -hubbub of the later nineteenth century, and all Cheshire children should -read it. Mrs. Gaskell wrote several other books, all of which show her -sweet sympathy and kindliness towards those whose lives are cast in -lowly surroundings. - -If you have not heard of _Cranford_ you have probably read a book whose -title you know better than the name of the writer. _Alice in Wonderland_ -was written by a man who spent much of his early life in Cheshire. -'Lewis Carroll', though that is not his real name, is the name under -which he wrote the humorous stories that have delighted young people and -old alike. - -John Critchley Prince, the workman poet of Hyde, lived in the days when -the poorly-paid workers of Cheshire were struggling for a better -existence. While working in a factory at Hyde he found time to write -poems which speak of the charms of home, the brotherhood of all mankind, -and the hopes and ambitions of his fellow men. Prince was thriftless and -intemperate, and much of his life was spent in misery, but his talents -were great, and the people of Hyde have done him honour. He is buried in -Hyde churchyard. - -In the chancel of Stockport Parish Church is a tablet to the memory of -John Wainwright, the organist who composed the tune for 'Christians, -awake', the beautiful Christmas hymn 'whose sound is gone out into all -lands where the praise of our Lord is sung', as the inscription runs. -The words of the hymn were written by Byrom, a Manchester man. - -Cheshire produced a famous hymn-writer in Bishop Heber. Reginald Heber -was born in the rectory of Malpas in 1783. He gave himself up to -missionary work in foreign lands, and was made Bishop of Calcutta. 'From -Greenland's icy mountains' and 'Brightest and best of the sons of the -morning' are two of the hymns that came from his pen. - -Charles Kingsley must have loved Cheshire. Though he was not a Cheshire -man by birth, he claimed descent from the Kingsleys of Vale Royal. He -was a great lover of nature, and, while he was Canon of Chester, founded -the Natural History Society in Chester, whose home is in the Grosvenor -Museum, and encouraged the people of Cheshire to take an interest in the -story of their county, and to study the ways of plants and of the wild -creatures of the fields and the forests. His pathetic ballad of the -Sands of Dee, 'O Mary, go and call the cattle home,' will always be a -favourite with the village people of Wirral. - -Tabley Hall was the home of another celebrated naturalist. Here lived -Lord de Tabley, one of the greatest students of Cheshire flowers, and a -lover of all wild living things. His grave is in the churchyard of -Little Peover, and over it trails a bramble, which was his favourite -plant and one of which he made a special study. In the gardens of Tabley -Hall is a bramble-bed, still tended carefully, which he laid out from -the choicest briars he could find. - -Lord de Tabley was a poet as well as a lover of flowers and birds. -Perhaps you will some day read his poems, and be charmed by his -descriptive pictures of the ways of his feathered friends, the -'starlings mustering on their evening tree', the 'swallows beating low -before a hint of rain', the 'plaintive plovers', and the 'wide-winged -screaming swift'. - -Lord de Tabley's example is one which all Cheshire boys and girls should -learn to copy. Those who are proud of their county will not do anything -to make it less beautiful. Like him, they will cherish and protect the -plants and birds and all the wild creatures that have been put into -their keeping; for such things are the common heritage of the people of -Cheshire, and, once destroyed, can never be replaced. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI - -CONCLUSION - - -We have traced the story of Cheshire from prehistoric times. For long -ages the story was one of war and bloodshed, of conquest and defeat, of -the coming and the passing of many nations, each in turn yielding to a -more powerful foe. Cheshire has seen more of the strife of nations than -most counties of England. Her position on the map of the British Isles -has willed that this should be. - -When the latest struggle for the possession of our country was ended, -and the Normans lorded it over the conquered Saxons, we saw Cheshire -made into a bulwark to keep in check the nations that surrounded her -on north and west. For 200 years this was her mission. She was a kingdom -within a kingdom, with an earl or viceroy to rule over her, and a -Parliament and laws of her own. More centuries passed by before a Tudor -king permitted her to take her place in that greater English Parliament -and to help to frame laws under which she, along with the rest of -England, should be governed. - - [Illustration: DEE BRIDGE AND MILLS: CHESTER] - -But Cheshire was not denied the greatest of all good gifts. We saw the -lamp of Christianity burn brightly from Hildeburgh's Isle to Chadkirk, -and some of the earliest Gospel teachers were sent by the very Welsh and -Irish nations over which Cheshire was afterwards set as sentinel and -watch-dog. Feebly the light sometimes glimmered in days of stress and -storm, but it never went out; and after the Tudor monarch had shaken off -the shackles of Rome, and the minds of men had been stirred by a great -awakening, its early brightness was restored in a purified religion that -gave freedom of conscience to all men. - -Then came the horrors of civil war, when Cheshire men fought for the -liberty to believe what they thought to be right, and rose in their -wrath at the unlawful misdeeds of the Stuart kings, when patriots rose -in defence of the ancient liberties that are the inheritance of all -Englishmen. This was the last blood shed in Cheshire. - -In the last hundred years the people of Cheshire have seen the face of -Cheshire greatly changed. They have helped to create great industries, -and they have witnessed the wonderful discoveries of the power of steam -and electricity, and all the conveniences and comforts of modern life -that have followed in their train. In ways too numerous to speak of, -their lives have been made brighter and happier. - -The Princes of Wales are the Earls of Chester still. King Edward the -Seventh, when he was Prince of Wales, came to Chester and opened the new -Town Hall. The citizens of Chester knew him well, for he was often a -guest at Eaton Hall, the home of the Grosvenors, the descendants of the -Conqueror's 'mighty huntsman'. William the Norman harried Cheshire with -the sword, and the people of Cheshire fled before him. King Edward -brought not a sword but peace in his hand, and the people loved him, for -he was one of the world's great peace-makers. - -In one of the earliest chapters of this book you have read of the -'making of Cheshire'. We have brought the story of Cheshire down to the -present day, but Cheshire is not yet 'made'. Many and wonderful changes -there have been since our ancestors shot wild beasts with their flinty -arrow-heads, and devoured raw flesh in the pits and caverns of Alderley -Edge. The people of Cheshire, who have struggled through long centuries -to win for themselves light and liberty, have never turned their faces -backwards. With steadfast purpose and unfaltering steps they march -forward on the way of progress. - -The 'making' still goes on; and there is plenty of work to do for the -Cheshire boys and girls of to-day, that they may help to make their -county a better place to live in than they found it. - - Enough, if something from our hands have power - To live, and act, and serve the future hour. - -The great families of Cheshire whose names recur so often in these pages -were proud of the mottoes written beneath their crests and coats of -arms. The words inscribed on the village cross which the boys and girls -of Eastham pass on their way to school, are the best mottoes that all -Cheshire school-children can take for their own: - - 'Fear God. Honour the King. Work while it is yet day.' - -And the day is very short. As the lines on a tombstone in Little Peover -churchyard remind us: - - A little rule, a little sway, - A sunbeam in a winter's day, - Is all the greatest of us have - Between the cradle and the grave. - - - - - - INDEX - - - Acton, 126. - Adlington, 141, 161. - Aethelfrith, 44. - Aethelred, 50. - Agricola, 36-8. - _Alabama_, the, 203. - Alderley Edge, 15, 18, 25, 42. - Aldford, 20, 61. - Alfred the Great, 51. - Almshouses, 147. - Altrincham, 88, 208. - Anne, Queen, 171. - Anselm, 64. - Archery, 110. - Architecture, Saxon, 50; - Norman, 65-71; - Early English, 81-6; - Decorated, 101-4; - Perpendicular, 120-2; - Elizabethan, 137-42; - Eighteenth-Century, 173-6. - Arden Hall, 142. - Armada, Spanish, 134. - Astbury, 45, 104. - Aston, Sir Thomas, 156. - Athelstan, 55. - - Baguley, 106. - Baldwin, Archbishop, 79. - Barnston, Colonel, 210. - Barrows, 27. - Barthomley, 162. - Bebington, 71, 104, 147. - Beeston Castle, 61, 160. - Beeston, Sir George, 134. - Benedictines, 64. - Birkenhead, 12, 198-200. - Birkenhead, Priory, 71; - Shipping, 200. - Black Death, 112. - Booth, Sir George, 157, 166, 171. - Boulder clay, 20. - Bradshaw, John, 163. - Bramhall, 106. - Branks, 149. - Brasses, 115. - Brereton Hall, 141. - Brereton, Sir William, 153, 155-60, 165. - Bridgwater Canal, 184. - Bridgwater, Duke of, 183. - Brindley, James, 183, 185. - British remains, 27. - Brocmael, 43. - Bromborough, 56. - Bronze Age, 28. - Broxton Hills, 27. - Bruera, 86. - Bucton Castle, 27. - Budworth, Great, 119, 162, 164. - Bunbury, 108, 134. - Bunter Sandstone, 18. - Burial urns, 27, 34. - Byron, Sir Nicholas, 157. - - Caesar, Julius, 29. - Calveley, Sir Hugh, 108. - Canals of Cheshire, 183-5, 205. - Carboniferous Rocks, 24. - Carroll, Lewis, 215. - Ceawlin, 43. - Celts, 26-8. - Chad, 48. - Chadkirk, 48. - Charles I, 153, 158. - Charles II, 164-6. - Charters, 78, 88. - Chartists, 202. - Cheshire, Canals, 183-5, 205; - Meres, 15; - Plain, 10; - Rivers, 12-14; - Railways, 192-7. - Chesshyre, Sir John, 177. - Chester, Battle of, 44; - Castle, 55, 62, 96, 174; - Caleyards, 65; - Cathedral, 130; - Customs of, 62; - King's School, 133, 152; - Plays, 90-1; - Phoenix Tower, 89, 158; - Roman city of, 36-8; - Rows, 112; - S. John's Church, 50, 66, 81, 160; - S. Mary's on the Hill, 160; - S. Olaf, 57; - S. Oswald, 47; - S. Werburgh's Abbey, 64, 72, 83; - Siege of, 158-60; - Situation of, 10; - Trade, 55, 144; - Walls, 37, 96; - Water Tower, 98. - Chests, Church, 124. - Christianity, Introduction of, 47-51. - Christleton, 20. - Chronicle, Old English, 54. - Circles, Stone, 28. - Cistercians, 73. - Civil War, 153-66. - Clive, Robert, 181. - Clulow Cross, 25, 28. - Cnut, 57. - Coaches, 178. - Coal measures, 22. - Coal-fields, 183. - Cobden, Richard, 202. - Combermere, Abbey of, 73. - Combermere, Viscount, 182. - Congleton, 88, 148. - Congreve, Lieutenant, 211. - Connought, Major, 162. - Constable's Sands, 74. - Conversion of the English, 47-8. - Cotton famine, 203; - manufacture, 188. - Cotton, Stapleton, 182. - County Council, 208. - Crewe, 195, 208. - Crewe, Sir Randolph, 152. - Crosses, 48. - Crusades, 79. - - Danes, Invasion of, 57. - Davenport, Peter, 162. - Davenport, Vivian, 74. - Dean Row, 168. - Decorated Architecture, 101-4. - Dee Mills, 77, 98. - Dee, River, 12. - Delamere, Forest of, 15, 27, 74. - Dennis, Peter, 181. - Derby, Earls of, 213. - de Tabley, Lord, 216. - Deva, 30. - Dissolution of the Monasteries, 129-33. - Domesday Book, 62-4. - Done, John, 76. - Downes, Peter, 181. - Drayton, Michael, 135. - Dukinfield, 151, 183. - Dunham Massey, 62. - Duttons, 212. - - Earls of Chester, 59, 74-81. - Early English Architecture, 81-7. - Eastham, 205. - Eaton Hall, 59. - Eaton, Samuel, 151. - Ecberght, 44. - Eddisbury, 20, 54. - Edgar, 56. - Edward the Elder, 54. - Edward I, 93-8. - Edward III, 96. - Edward VI, 130. - Edward VII, 218. - Edwin, Earl, 59. - Eleanor, Queen, 94. - Elizabeth, Queen, 134-50. - Elizabethan Houses, 137. - Ellesmere Canal, 206. - Erratics, 20. - Estuaries, 14. - Ethelfleda, 53-5. - Etherow, River, 12. - - Factory Acts, 201. - Faddiley, 43. - Farndon, 48, 159. - Fitton, Mary, 143. - Flagstones, 23. - Flashes, 15. - Flint implements, 25. - Forest, submerged, 23. - Forests of Cheshire, 74. - Friars, Coming of the, 99. - Frodsham, 65, 96, 174. - - - Gaskell, Mrs., 213. - Gawsworth, 120, 143, 178. - George I, 172. - George V, 210. - Gherbod, 58. - Gilds, 88-91. - Glacial Drift, 20. - Goyt, River, 12, 22, 189. - Grappenhall, 79. - Greg, Samuel, 190. - Grosvenors, the, 60, 218. - - Halton Castle, 61. - Handforth Hall, 141. - Handley, 121. - Harecastle, 185. - Harold, King, 58. - Harrison, Thomas, 164. - Hastein, 51. - Heber, Bishop, 215. - Henry I, 76. - Henry II, 80. - Henry III, 87. - Henry IV, 109, 114. - Henry V, 114. - Henry VII, 117. - Henry VIII, 125-30, 146. - Henry, Matthew, 168. - High Legh, 20. - Hotspur, 110. - Hoylake, 170. - Hugh, Earl, 59-73. - Hugh Kyvelioc, 77. - Hyde, 208. - Hyde, Anne, 171. - - Industrial Revolution, 183-92. - Ingemund, 53. - Inman, William, 200. - Irish Wars, 143. - Ismay, Thomas, 200. - Italian architecture, 146, 173-6. - - Jacobites, 172. - James I, 150, 152. - James II, 169-70. - John the Scot, 87. - Johnson, Samuel, 178. - - Kelsborrow, 27. - Kentigern, 47. - Keuper Sandstone, 18. - King, Edward, 186. - Kingsley, Charles, 215. - Kirby, West, 53. - Knights Hospitallers, 79. - Knights Templars, 79. - Knutsford, 164, 182, 192. - - Labyrinthodont, 18. - Laird, Thomas, 200. - Lambert, General, 164. - Latchford, 206. - Leghs, the, 108, 143, 161, 174. - Leicester, Sir Peter, 161. - Leofric, 57. - Limestone rocks, 23. - Llewellyn, 95. - Longdendale, 12. - Lyme, 77, 146, 172. - Lymm, 18. - - Macclesfield, Church, 94, 108, 120; - Forest, 74; - School, 133. - Maiden Castle, 27. - Malpas, 124. - Mancunium, 36. - Margaret, Queen, 115. - Marian persecution, 132. - Marling, 98. - Marsh, William, 132. - Martindale, Adam, 168. - Mary, Queen, 132. - Mary, Queen of Scots, 150. - Massey, Hamon de, 71. - Melandra Castle, 36. - Merchant Guilds, 88. - Meres, 15. - Mersey, River, 12. - Middlewich, Roman station of, 34; - Battle of, 156. - Midsummer Games, 151. - Millstone Grit, 23. - Mobberley, 63, 127. - Monk, George, 166. - Monmouth, Duke of, 169. - Moreton Hall, Little, 137. - Mountain Limestone, 23, 24. - Murage, 96. - Mural paintings, 122. - - Nantwich, 89, 92. - Nantwich, Battle of, 157. - Neolithic Age, 26. - Neston, 87, 178. - Nigel of Halton, 61. - Norman abbeys, 64, 71-3; - architecture, 65-71; - castles, 61; - churches, 65; - conquest, 58. - Normans, Coming of the, 58. - Norse settlements, 52. - Northwich, 19, 32, 157, 188. - Norton Priory, 129. - - Ordericus Vitalis, 60. - Oswald, 47. - Over, 48. - - Palaeolithic Age, 25. - Palatine, County, 59. - Parish registers, 125. - Parkgate, 178. - Peada, 48. - Penda, 48. - Peover, Little, 106. - Permian rocks, 22. - Perpendicular Architecture, 120-2. - Picts, 43. - Placenames, 45, 52. - Plegmund, Archbishop, 52. - Plemstall, 52. - Port Sunlight, 207. - Prestbury, 69, 75. - Pretenders, Stuart, 172. - Prince, John Critchley, 215. - Prynne, William, 152. - Pulton Abbey, 73. - Puritans, 150, 165. - - Quakers, 169. - Quarry Bank, 190. - - Railways, 192-7. - Randal Hignet, 91. - Randle Blundeville, Earl, 78-81. - Randle II, Earl, 76. - Randle Meschines, Earl, 76. - Ranulf Higden, 101. - Reformation, 128-33. - Renaissance, 173. - Restoration, 166. - Richard, Earl, 76. - Richard I, 80. - Richard II, 109. - Richard III, 117. - Rivers of Cheshire, 12-14. - Roe, Charles, 192. - Roger de Montalt, 87. - Roman altars, 35; - bricks, 40; - buildings, 38; - capitals, 39; - coins, 41; - forts, 36; - hypocausts, 39; - pottery, 41; - roads, 30; - tombstones, 34. - Romans, Coming of the, 29. - Roses, Wars of the, 115. - Rostherne, 174. - Rowton Moor, 158, 166. - Runcorn, 18, 54, 186. - Runes, 45. - Rupert, Prince, 157. - Rushbearing, 147. - - Salt, 18, 186. - Samian ware, 41. - Sandbach, 64; - battle of, 164; - crosses, 48. - Sandstone, New Red, 16-18. - Saxons, Coming of the, 43. - Scandinavians, 51-3. - Scott, Captain, 180. - Seven Lows, 27. - Shakerley, Sir Geoffrey, 159. - Ship Canal, 12, 205-6. - Ship money, 153. - Shocklach, 68, 123. - Shotwick, 15, 68, 95. - Silk manufacture, 192. - Simon de Montfort, 92. - Simon of Whitchurch, 92. - Simon Ripley, 122. - Speed, John, 135. - Stalybridge, 208. - Stanlaw, 73. - Stanley Palace, 146. - Stanleys of Cheshire, 99, 112,117, 164, 213. - Steam, Introduction of, 189. - Stephen, King, 76. - Stockport, 12, 32, 88, 104, 202, 210. - Stocks, 149. - Stone Age, 25. - Storeton, 18. - Stretford, 32. - Styal, 190. - Sunday Schools, 207. - - Tame, River, 12. - Tarporley, 155. - Tarvin, 20, 157. - Thelwall, 54. - Thingwall, 52. - Thornton Heath, 71. - Timber Houses, 137-41. - Tramways, 200. - Turpin, Dick, 179. - - Vale Royal, 93, 129. - van Zoelen, Baron, 171. - Veratinum, 41. - Victoria, Queen, 204-11. - - Wainwright, John, 215. - Wakes, 147. - Wales, Conquest of, 94. - Wallasey, 14, 70, 169. - Walton, Bishop, 167. - Warburton, 105. - Warford, 169. - Warren, Sir George, 183. - Watling Street, 12, 32. - Weaver, River, 14, 19, 186. - Wellington, Duke of, 182. - Werburga, Saint, 50. - Wesley, John, 180. - West Kirby, 53, 171. - Wilderspool, 32. - Wilkins, John, 167. - William the Conqueror, 58. - William Rufus, 75. - William III, 170. - Wilmslow, 115. - Wirral, 9, 22, 52, 197. - Witton, 133. - Woodchurch, 69, 147. - - Yoredale rocks, 23. - - -Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M.A. - - - - - Some Oxford Books - on - HISTORY - - -_General._ - -THE TEACHING OF HISTORY, by C. 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