THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
COUNTRY RAMBLES, 
 
COUNTRY RAMBLES, 
 
 AND 
 
 fjtsier Halks anir IKiltr Jloters: 
 
 BEING RURAL WANDERINGS IN 
 
 CHESHIRE, LANCASHIRE, DERBYSHIRE, & YORKSHIRE. 
 
 LEO H. GRINDON, 
 
 Atithor of " The Manchester Flora" "Manchester Banks and Bankers" 
 " Lancashire: Historical and Descriptive Notes," and other works. 
 
 If thou art worn, and hard beset 
 With sorrows that thou wouldst forget ; 
 If thou wouldst read a lesson that will keep 
 Thy heart from fainting, and thy soul from sleep, 
 Go to the woods and hills ! No tears 
 Dim the sweet look that Nature wears. 
 
 LONGFELLOW. 
 
 MANCHESTER: 
 
 PALMER & HOWE, 73, 75, AND 77, PRINCESS-ST. 
 LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 
 
 1882. 
 
MANCHESTER : 
 PALMER AND HOWE, PRINTERS, 73, 75, AND 77, PRINCESS STREET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 HE following pages consist, in part, of a reprint 
 of the little volume published in 1858 under 
 the title of Manchester Walks and Wild- 
 Flowers; in part, of brief excerpta from the 
 author's accounts of trips made by the Field 
 Naturalists' Society, as given in their Annual Reports, 
 1860-1881. A very considerable amount of new matter 
 will also be found. 
 
 Giving descriptions in a novel and welcome manner, 
 of pretty places in the neighbourhood previously unknown 
 to people in general, and indicating in various ways the 
 pleasure to be derived from rambles in the country, the 
 little volume spoken of is believed to have assisted, in no 
 slight measure, to awaken and foster the present wide- 
 spread local taste for rural scenes, and for recreation in 
 
vi. Preface. 
 
 the pursuit of practical natural history. It is in the hope 
 that similar results may ensue among the present genera- 
 tion that the book is now partially republished. It has 
 long been unprocurable, and is constantly enquired for. 
 The reprinting presents also a curious and interesting 
 picture of many local conditions now effaced. 
 
 The preface to the original work of 1858 contained 
 the following passages : " No grown-up person who has 
 resided in Manchester even twenty years, is unacquainted 
 with the mighty changes that have passed over its 
 suburbs during that period; while those who have lived 
 here thirty, forty, and fifty years tell us of circumstances 
 and conditions almost incredible. Neighbourhoods once 
 familiar as delightful rural solitudes, are now covered 
 with houses, and densely crowded with population; the 
 pleasant field-paths we trod in our youth have dis- 
 appeared, and in their stead are long lines of pavement, 
 lighted with gas, and paced by the policeman. In a few 
 years it is not improbable that places described in the 
 following pages as rustic and sylvan will have shared the 
 same fate, and be as purely historical as Garratt Wood 
 and Ordsall Clough. The Botany of the district will to 
 a certain extent be similarly affected. No longer than 
 fifteen years ago (i.e. in 1840) the fields by St. George's 
 
Preface. vii. 
 
 Church, in the Chester Road, were blue every March 
 and April with the spring crocus, and on the very spot 
 where Platt Church now lifts its tall and graceful spire, 
 there was a large pond filled with the Stratiotes, or water- 
 aloe. If the past be a prognostic of the future, it is easy 
 to guess what will happen to other things, and to under- 
 stand how in half a century hence our present 'Walks' 
 will have become as obsolete as their author, and the 
 entire subject require a new and livelier treatment. A 
 descriptive history of the suburbs of Manchester as they 
 were fifty years ago, would be a most interesting and 
 valuable item of our local literature. It would be as 
 curious to the lover of bygones as this book of to-day may 
 perhaps appear to the Manchester people of A.D. 1900. 
 How extraordinary would be the facts may be judged 
 from the following extracts from De Quincey, whose 
 youth, it is well known, was passed in the neighbourhood 
 of Manchester. Mark first what he says of the place he 
 lived in. 'And if, after the manner of the Emperor 
 Aurelius, I should return thanks to Providence for all the 
 separate blessings of my early situation, these four I 
 would single out as worthy of special consideration, 
 that I lived in a rustic solitude; that this solitude was in 
 England; that my infant feelings were moulded by the 
 
viii. Preface. 
 
 gentlest of sisters; and finally, that I and they were 
 dutiful and loving members of a pure, and holy, and 
 magnificent church.' And now mark where lay this 
 ' rustic solitude.' He is describing the expected return 
 of his father: 'It was a summer evening of unusual 
 solemnity. The servants and four of us children were 
 gathered for hours on the lawn before the house, listening 
 for the sound of wheels. Sunset came, nine, ten, eleven 
 o'clock, and nearly another hour had passed without a 
 warning sound, for Greenhay, being so solitary a house, 
 formed a "terminus ad quern," beyond which was nothing 
 but a cluster of cottages, composing the little hamlet of 
 Greenhill; so that any sound of wheels coming from the 
 country lane which then connected us with the Rusholme 
 Road, carried with it of necessity, a warning summons to 
 prepare for visitors at Greenhay.' 'Greenhay' was the 
 centre of the modern Greenheys, and the 'hamlet of 
 GreenhilP the predecessor of the present Greenhill 
 Terrace." 
 
 The changes foreboded have to an extent not unim- 
 portant, already come to pass. Almost the whole of the 
 great suburb which includes the Alexandra Park has 
 grown up since about 1860, effacing meadows and corn- 
 fields. In the contemplation of this new scene of busy 
 
Preface. ix. 
 
 life there is pleasure, since it signifies human welfare and 
 enjoyment. In other directions, unhappily, the change 
 has been for the worse, as indicated in the notes to the 
 original portraiture of Boggart-hole Ciough, Mere Clough, 
 and the Reddish Valley. Before deciding to visit any 
 particular place in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 town it will be prudent, accordingly, to read to the end. 
 Never mind. Few things ever go absolutely. Against 
 the losses we are able to put the opportunities for enjoy- 
 ment in localities opened up by recent railway extensions, 
 places quite as charming as the extinguished ones it 
 is simply a question now of a little longer travel. 
 
 The present volume, be it remembered, is neither a 
 gazetteer nor an itinerary. The limits are too narrow for 
 its making pretensions even to be a Guide-book, though 
 the style, often, I am aware, too swift and abbreviated, 
 may give it the semblance of one; it proposes only to 
 supply hints as to where and how to secure country 
 pastimes. While constrained to leave many places with 
 only a touch, others have been treated so admirably by 
 Mr. Earwaker, Mr. Croston, and Mr. Waugh, that to 
 tread the same ground would, on my own part, be alike 
 needless and ungraceful. Others again I have described 
 only within these few months in the "Lancashire," 
 
x. Preface. 
 
 to which work I may be permitted to refer the reader for 
 particulars not here given. 
 
 Except in some few instances, I have not cared either 
 to give minute directions as to paths and gates. One of 
 the grand charms of a rural ramble consists in the sensa- 
 tion, at times, of being slightly and agreeably lost; to say 
 nothing of the pleasure which comes of being called 
 upon to employ our own wits, instead of always asking, 
 like a child, to be led by the hand. 
 
 If, when visited, some of the places seem over-praised, 
 it must further be understood that the descriptions are 
 of their appearance in pleasant weather, in sunshine, 
 and when cherished companions help to make the hours 
 glad. I can say no more than that the descriptions are 
 faithful as regards my own experience, and that I hope 
 earnestly they may become true to the experience of 
 every one else. From this point of view the little book 
 is a kind of record of what I have seen and felt during 
 forty years. 
 
 Nothing has been written for mere "cheap-trippers." 
 The book is addressed to the intelligent, the peaceful, 
 and the cultivated; those who, when they visit the country, 
 desire to profit by its inestimable sweet lessons. In 
 many parts it is addressed especially to the young, who 
 
Preface. xi. 
 
 have ductile material in them, and are the hope of the 
 future for us all. Neither has it been written for learned 
 botanists or antiquaries. The botanical details are 
 simply such as it is hoped may encourage the beginner. 
 My main desire is to be educational, and by this I would 
 be judged. 
 
 Many of the places described or referred to are strictly 
 private. Permission to view them must therefore be 
 asked some days before. Common-sense and the 
 courtesy of civilized beings will prescribe in every case 
 the proper method of procedure. 
 
 I have, in conclusion, to express my thanks to the 
 artists who have so pleasingly illustrated the work, Mr. 
 W. Morton, and very particularly, Mr. Thos. Letherbrow. 
 
 By some odd lapsus calami the passage from 
 Wordsworth on page 139 has been miswritten. The 
 third line should read, "So was it when my life began}'' 
 
 LEO H. GRINDON. 
 
 MANCHESTER, 
 
 MAY ist, 1882. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page 
 
 INTRODUCTORY i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE ASHLEY MEADOWS AND THE LOWER BOLLIN VALLEY. 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ROSTHERNE MERE, TATTON, DELAMERE 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 CARRINGTON Moss, DUNHAM, LYMM 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GATLEY CARRS, WYTHENSHAWE , 68 
 
xiv. Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Page 
 
 NORCLIFFE, ALDERLEY EDGE 84 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMBERMERE, BEESTON CASTLE 93 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE REDDISH VALLEY, ARDEN HALL 100 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 PRESTBURY, POTT SHRIGLEY, GAWSWORTH, ALTON TOWERS. 1 1 1 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 DISLEY, LYME PARK, TAXAL 121 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 MARPLE, CASTLETON, MILLER'S DALE 129 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 KINDER SCOUT, STALEY BRUSHES, SEAL BARK 139 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BOGGART-HOLE CLOUGH, BAMFORD WOOD, HARDCASTLE 
 CRAGS 151 
 
Contents. xv. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. p ag e 
 
 MERE CLOUGH, THE AGECROFT VALLEY 175 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE OLD LANCASHIRE BOTANISTS 194 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ROSSENDALE, WHALLEY ABBEY, CLITHEROE, PENDLE 213 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 RlVINGTON, ASHURST, LATHOM HOUSE 232 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 THE LOCAL ORNITHOLOGY 257 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY IN THE LIBRARY 291 
 
 SUMMARY OF RAILWAY STATIONS AND DISTANCES 303 
 
 INDEX 313 
 
xvi. Contents. 
 
 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 ROSTHERNE MERE. Drawn and Engraved by W. Morton, 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 OLDFIELD, DUNHAM. Drawn and Etched by Thos. 
 
 Letherbrow 64 
 
 BARLOW HALL. Drawn and Etched by Thos. Letherbrow .. 82 
 LYME HALL. Drawn and Etched by Thos. Letherbrow ... 124 
 
 HALEWOOD CHURCH. Drawn by W. Hull, Etched by 
 
 Thos. Letherbrow 168 
 
 HALE HUT. Drawn and Etched by Thos. Letherbrow .. 254 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The meanest floweret of the vale, 
 The simplest note that swells the gale, 
 The common sun, the air, the skies, 
 To him are opening Paradise. 
 
 IDE as may be the circle covered by a great 
 town, we come to the country at last. Let 
 the bricks and mortar stride far as they 
 will over the greensward, there are always 
 sanctuaries beyond sweet spots where 
 we may yet listen to the singing of the 
 birds, and pluck the early primrose and 
 anemone. We need but take our survey from a suffi- 
 ciently high point, to see that the vastest mass of houses 
 ever heaped together by man is still only an encampment 
 in the fields. Like the waves of the sea upon the 
 
 B 
 
Country Rambles. 
 
 shores of the islands, the surge of the yellow corn is still 
 close upon our borders. We need but turn our faces 
 fondly towards rural things and rural sights, and we shall 
 find them. 
 
 Manchester itself, grim, flat, smoky Manchester, with 
 its gigantic suburb ever on the roll further into the plain, 
 and scouts from its great army of masons posted on every 
 spot available for hostile purposes, Manchester itself 
 denies to no one of its five hundred thousand, who is 
 blessed with health and strength, the amenities and 
 genial influences of the country. True, we have no 
 grand scenery; no Clyde, no Ben Lomond, no Leigh 
 Woods, no St. Vincent's Rocks, no Clevedon, no Durd- 
 ham Down; our rivers are anything but limpid; our 
 mountains are far away, upon the horizon ; our lakes owe 
 less to nature than to art; as for waterfalls, we have 
 none but in our portfolios. Still is our town bosomed in 
 beauty. Though the magnificent and the romantic be 
 wanting, we have meadows trimmed with wild-flowers, 
 the scent of the new-mown hay and the purple clover; 
 we have many a sweet sylvan walk where we may hear 
 
 The burnie wimplin' doon the glen, 
 
 and many a grateful pathway under the mingled boughs 
 of beech and chestnut. Next to a fine woman, the most 
 delightful object in creation is a noble and well-grown 
 tree, a group of such trees always reminds us of a bevy 
 of fair ladies; and dull and unthankful must be the man 
 who, in the tranquil and sacred shades of Alderley and 
 Dunham, cannot realise to himself the most genuine and 
 
Value of Common Things. 
 
 heartfelt pleasure that trees and woods can give. If they 
 be not so sumptuous as the oaks of Worcestershire, or so 
 stately as the elms of Surrey, our trees are as leafy and 
 as green, and their shadows fall as softly on the summer 
 afternoon. The great secret in the enjoyment of nature, 
 as in our intercourse with society, is to look at its objects 
 in a friendly light, to make the most of them, such as 
 they are; not invidiously contrasting them with certain 
 other objects at a distance, but recognising that absolute 
 and positive beauty which is possessed by the very 
 humblest Superadd to this the habit of connecting our 
 own feelings and emotions with the forms of nature, and, 
 however wanting in attractions to the mere adulator of 
 "fine scenery," every little flower, every bend of the 
 branches, and sweet concurrent play of light and shade, 
 every pendent shadow in the stream, becomes animated 
 with a meaning and a power of satisfying such as none 
 but those who accustom themselves to look for it here, 
 can find in the most favoured and spacious landscape. 
 Justly to appreciate the wonderful and rare, we must first 
 learn to regard with a tender and intimate affection the 
 common and the unpretending; in the degree that we 
 withdraw from the latter, treating it with indifference or 
 contempt, as surely does our capacity diminish for the 
 former. The common things of earth are the most 
 gracious gifts of God. None of us extract their full 
 value, yet every man holds it in his power to make him- 
 self tenfold happier by a wise use of them. For true and 
 continuous enjoyment of life is not attained by the 
 
Country Rambles. 
 
 gratification of high-flown and artificial wants, connected 
 in large measure with the idea of pounds, shillings, and 
 pence. It is found in the culture of love for common 
 things, the untaxed game that no man can deprive us of, 
 and which constitute the chief part of the beauties of the 
 country. Hence the worth of nature to the poor. If 
 the rich have their gardens and hothouses, here are 
 flower-beds and parks, fresh from God's own hand, with- 
 out money, and without price, and greater than the 
 estates of all the nobles in the kingdom. Hence, too, 
 coming close to home, we may see how little reason we 
 have to lament the absence of the grand and wonderful, 
 since nothing less than total nakedness of surface can 
 take from a place its power to interest and please. 
 
 While adapted to give true pleasure, if looked for in a 
 kindly spirit, no less fertile is our neighbourhood in 
 materials for a large and practical culture of natural 
 science. Most of the sciences may be cultivated by 
 Manchester residents to perfection. For geology there 
 are certainly fewer advantages than invite men to it in 
 the neighbourhood of some other large inland towns. 
 But what scope there is for botany and entomology is 
 attested by the numbers of students of both these charm- 
 ing sciences who have adorned the ranks of our working 
 men during the last half century.* Caley, Hobson, 
 Crozier,f Growth er, Horsefield, among those no longer 
 
 * i.e. since, in round numbers, about 1810. 
 
 + Father of Mr. Robert Crozier, president, since 1878, of the Man - 
 chester^Academy of Fine Art. 
 
The Manchester Flora. 
 
 in this life; Percival, Carter, Evans,* still among us, 
 have reflected honour upon Manchester as a spontaneous 
 working men's college of natural history, such as might 
 deservedly be envied by the proudest institution in the 
 land. These men acquired their knowledge in the 
 scenes we speak of, and from nature's "common things." 
 The plants of the fields and hedgerows, the insects of 
 the moors, were their inspiration and instruction, the 
 source at the same moment of a thorough and pure 
 delight; for while they are the least expensive of 
 pleasures, the naturalist's are also the truest and most 
 abiding. No one inexperienced in botany would imagine 
 how many wild-flowers are found growing about Man- 
 chester. Taking the area which would be marked out 
 by measuring a circle round the Exchange, fifteen miles 
 from it in every direction, six hundred different species 
 were catalogued in i84o.t Buxton's" Guide," printed in 
 1849, included one hundred and fifty others, mostly 
 accidental omissions from the earlier list. Our own 
 "Manchester Flora," 1858, in which everything is brought 
 up to that time, contains over twenty more, though, in 
 consequence of the diversity of opinion as to what plants 
 should legitimately be included, the figures are probably 
 much about the same as in the "Guide," namely, seven 
 hundred and fifty. These seven hundred and fifty com- 
 prise the flowering plants, the trees, and the ferns. The 
 
 * The two last-named now also deceased. 
 
 fin the Flora Mancuniensis, dictated by the Natural History 
 Class of the Mechanics' Institution, then in Cooper-street. 
 
Country Rambles. 
 
 number of mosses, fungi, lichens, and other flowerless 
 plants, usually regarded as a separate subject of study, is in 
 the aggregate probably quite as great, making a total of 
 some one thousand five hundred perfectly distinct forms. 
 Not that they are all equally abundant. We must distin- 
 guish between what botanists call the "Flora" of a given 
 district, and its vegetation. The "Flora" may be large, 
 and yet the mass of the vegetation consist of but few 
 different kinds, the same plants repeated over and over 
 again, as when hills are covered for miles together 
 with heath and whortleberries. Such is the case with 
 Manchester. Though there are seven hundred and fifty 
 different kinds of flowers and ferns contained in our 
 "Flora," probably not half the number go to constitute 
 the general herbage of the district. Some species are 
 very rarely met with, only once in the season perhaps. 
 But this is so much the more pleasing to the botanist, 
 since it keeps his enthusiasm vigorously alive. In 
 addition to the living objects of interest so freely supplied 
 by the fields and woodlands, Manchester naturalists have 
 a singular privilege in the local Free Libraries and 
 museums. The museum at Peel Park is in many depart- 
 ments rich and extensive, and nowhere in the world can 
 we consult books of greater value, or illustrated more 
 magnificently, than are to be had for the asking in Camp 
 Field,* at the Chetham College, and again at Peel Park. 
 All three of these admirable libraries contain works on 
 botany and entomology which it is really melancholy to 
 
 * The "City Library," now in King-street. 
 
Work and Play. 7 
 
 think are so little known by the bulk of our town's 
 people, when they might contribute to an almost endless 
 delight. Let it not be supposed that we are speaking of 
 botany, entomology, etc., as proper to be made the chief 
 business of life. "A man," said Dr. Johnson, "is never 
 so well employed as when he is earning money." Yes. 
 One of the best friends a man has in the world is a 
 good round balance at his banker's, the fruit and reward 
 of his own toil. We speak of them as employments for 
 the intervals of business, which it is quite as important to 
 occupy carefully and diligently as the hours of business 
 themselves. The more delight derived from the con- 
 templation and study of nature a man can pack into his 
 leisure moments, the keener, it is certain, will be his 
 aptitude for his ordinary duties. It is not only delight 
 of spirit either that comes of attention to nature; there 
 are the salutary effects of it upon the body. Rambling 
 in the fields, the town-cobwebs get dusted out of one's 
 lungs, and the whole frame becomes buoyant and elastic. 
 Good as is a bathe in the cold water, scarcely inferior, 
 when the skin is clean, is a good bathe in the blowing 
 wind. 
 
 With these inducements and recommendations to the 
 love of nature so amply spread before us, we purpose 
 introducing our readers to the principal scenes of rural 
 beauty in the immediate neighbourhood, those sweet 
 side-chapels in the grand cathedral which no locality is 
 absolutely without. The experience of half a lifetime 
 has shown us that no trifling source of pleasure is such 
 
8 Country Rambles. 
 
 familiarity with nature as we hope to encourage. Days 
 gone by are made brighter to recollection; the present 
 are filled with the same pleasures; for it is the peculiar 
 property of the happiness induced by the love of nature, 
 that if we are trained in youth to seek and find it, when 
 we are old it will not depart from us; even the future is 
 made cheerful and inviting by the certainty that, leaving 
 us our eyes, nature for her part will never grow old nor 
 look shabby, not even in winter, which is decorated in 
 its own way, but will always, like the Graces, be young 
 and lovely. That which truly keeps life going is sensi- 
 bility to the romance of nature. Youth and age are 
 measured fictitiously if we count only by birthdays. 
 Some things always find us young, and make us young, 
 and though love and kindness may be the best known of 
 these, none act more powerfully than does the sweet 
 smile of living nature. It is in conversing with nature, 
 moreover, that we learn how foolish are affectation and 
 sentimentalism ; how poor we are in leisure for mournful 
 musing and fruitless reverie; that the truest and most 
 precious pleasures are those which are the manliest; how 
 rich we are in opportunities for affection and generosity. 
 The facilities for reaching the most charming and 
 sequestered spots are now so great and manifold that no 
 one need be a stranger to them. It is not as some 
 fifteen years ago,* when they were only to be reached by 
 a long walk, which consumed the half of one's time, or 
 by a specially engaged conveyance, the expense of which 
 
 * i.e. in 1843. 
 
Tea in the Country. 
 
 compelled one's excursions to be like the angels' visits, 
 few and far between. The railways, penetrating every 
 nook and corner, now enable us to reach the very heart 
 of the country in a very little while, fresh and nimble 
 for our enjoyment, and, when over, the same will 
 bring us home again. Honoured for ever be the name 
 of Stephenson! It is in facilitating men's intercourse 
 with nature, and the purest and most ennobling recrea- 
 tions they can enjoy and are capable of, that the social 
 blessings of railways have their highest realisation. Vast 
 is their use to commerce, but still vaster their unreckoned 
 friendship to health and healthy-mindedness. Now, also, 
 there are more persons prepared to supply our wants in 
 the way of "Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy tea" 
 Time was when the alehouse by the roadside, or the 
 weary walk back to town, were the only choice open to 
 our poor hunger and fatigue. But with the Saturday 
 half-holiday, and the impetus it gave to rural visitings, 
 there has sprung up a readiness on the part of country 
 folks to open their doors in a hospitable spirit, which is 
 quite tempting and delightful ; and, most assuredly, 
 nothing forms so pleasant a conclusion to an afternoon's 
 ramble as to sit down in a neat cottage to a comfortable 
 farmhouse meal, with its huge broad piles of bread and 
 butter, and inexhaustible store of green salad and new- 
 laid eggs. There, with the sun shining aslant through 
 the old-fashioned window, the doors open, and the breeze 
 gently peeping in, the cows lowing in the pasture, 
 and the very atmosphere redolent of the country, we 
 
io Country Rambles. 
 
 realise the fine hearty pleasurableness of a good appetite, 
 such as only the open air can induce, and learn the sweet 
 savour of the plainest diet when wisely earned. And 
 this not only because of the relish which comes of the 
 exercise in the fresh air, but of the higher relish born of 
 that mutual satisfaction and kind feeling which always 
 follows a friendly visit to Dame Nature. People never 
 feel more attached to one another than when they have 
 been enjoying the charms of nature together; while the 
 rose mounts to the cheek, the glow comes upon the 
 heart. We should court nature therefore, not only for 
 our own private and personal good, but if we would 
 quicken our reciprocal affections. Especially with regard 
 to this latter point, is it valuable to have some definite 
 pursuit something to attend to in particular when we 
 go out for an afternoon's or evening's walk. A stroll 
 in the fields is at all times good and healthful, but when 
 two or three go out together to look for plants, or in 
 search of curious insects, or to watch the movements, the 
 manners and customs of the birds, quite unconsciously 
 there get established new and pleasing links of sym- 
 pathy, which lead to happiest results, both to head and 
 heart. Some of the firmest friendships that we know of 
 have had their origin in the exchange of ideas over a 
 wild-flower. One of the noblest prerogatives of nature is 
 to make men friends with one another. In the town we 
 stand apart, excited and repelled by selfish and rival 
 interests; but in the tranquillity of the fields and woods, 
 united in delightful and invigorating pursuits, jealousies 
 
Private Museums. 1 1 
 
 are forgotten, every man is an equal and a brother. Not 
 the least useful end either, that flows from culture of love 
 of the country, and particularly of some science having 
 reference to natural objects, is the perennial employment 
 it supplies for leisure hours at home. Half the mischief 
 that boys commit comes of their having no intelligent 
 and useful occupation for their playtime. As large a 
 portion of the lax morality of their elders may be referred 
 to the same cause. A naturalist never has any idle 
 moments; if he be not at work in the country, he is busy 
 with his curiosities indoors. Little private collections of 
 natural objects, such as dried plants, insects, fossils, or 
 shells, are always valuable, and always pretty, and a per- 
 petual fund of interest and amusement. To gather 
 together such things is not only highly instructive, 
 and an agreeable pursuit, through the prolonged and 
 intelligent observation which it demands; it is useful 
 also as feeding the pleasure of possession a noble and 
 worthy one when well directed; and it has the yet higher 
 recommendation of providing a diary and immortal 
 record of past pleasures. A volume of dried plants, 
 gathered on occasions of memorable enjoyment, becomes 
 in a few years inexpressibly precious, an aid to memory, 
 and thus to the perpetuity of those enjoyments, which 
 even pictures give less perfectly, for here we have the 
 very things themselves that were handled and looked at 
 during those bright and fleeting moments. Such a 
 volume of memorial-plants now lies on the table before 
 us, spreading before the mind the souvenirs of forty 
 
12 
 
 Country Rambles. 
 
 years. In another part of this little book will be found 
 instructions as to the method of commencing such collec- 
 tions. Meanwhile, we have cordially to recommend the 
 idea to our readers, especially the young, and invite them 
 to accompany us in these rambles. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ASHLEY MEADOWS, AND THE LOWER BOLLIN VALLEY. 
 SPRING VISIT. 
 
 O Proserpina, 
 
 For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let'st fall 
 From Dis's wagon ! 
 
 Pale primroses 
 
 That die unmarried, ere they can behold 
 Bright Phoebus in his strength. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 HE part of the country round Manchester 
 which supplies the greatest number of 
 different wild-flowers, and of rare kinds in 
 particular, is unquestionably the neighbour- 
 hood of Bowdon. Next in botanical interest 
 come the Reddish valley, extending from 
 Stockport to near Hyde, the Disley hills, and 
 the delightful woods in the neighbourhood of Marple; and 
 next to these again, and perhaps equalling them, Worsley, 
 Tyldesley, the northern side of Prestwich, and the 
 vicinity of Clifton. Bowdon, however, with the adjacent 
 districts of Lymm and Cotterill, stands ahead of all. It 
 holds precedence, too, in respect of its early seasons. 
 
14 Country Rambles. 
 
 While other portions of our district are scarcely giving 
 signs of vernal life, at Bowdon the spring flowers are 
 often open and abundant, and this quite as markedly in 
 the fields as in the gardens. The former is the more 
 valuable and interesting part of the testimony thus borne 
 to the mildness of Bowdon, since the life of cultivated 
 plants is always in some measure artificial, or under the 
 influence of human direction, whereas the occupants of 
 the hedgerows are pure children of nature. In the 
 pleasant little nook called Ashley meadows, lingering 
 with its very latest campanula and crimsoned bramble- 
 leaf, Autumn seems hardly gone before Spring prepares 
 to change all again and once more to green. Dunham 
 Park offers nothing important for several weeks after the 
 Ashley meadows have flowers to show. The total, 
 indeed, of the botanical productions of the former place 
 is not a fifth of what may be found within a mile of 
 Ashley Mill. It is well to note this, because many 
 people suppose that a scene delightful in its picturesque is 
 correspondingly rich in wild-flowers. Generally, no doubt, 
 it is so, since the picturesque in scenery is almost always 
 connected with great unevenness of surface, precipitous 
 descents, rocks, and tumbling waters, these usually 
 coming in turn, of geological conditions, such as are 
 highly conducive to variety in the Flora. But when the 
 charm of a scene depends, not on cliffs and cataracts, but 
 simply on the agreeable intermixture of differently-tinted 
 trees, a gently undulating surface, sweet vistas and 
 arcades of meeting branches, and the allurements held 
 
The Ashley Meadows. 1 5 
 
 out to the imagination by green forbidden paths and 
 tangled thickets; then, as in Dunham Park, the primi- 
 tive causes of floral variety being absent, the flowers 
 themselves, though they may be plentiful in their 
 respective kinds, are necessarily few as to distinct species. 
 It does not follow that where the variety is considerable 
 we are to look below the turf for the explanation. 
 Meadows and pastures are always more prolific than 
 ground covered with forest-trees (except, perhaps, in the 
 tropics), the reason being partly that such trees offer too 
 much obstruction to the rays of the sun, and partly that 
 their immense and spreading roots block up the soil and 
 hinder the growth of smaller plants. The Ashley 
 meadows, after all, like all other places abounding in 
 wild-flowers, are the miniature of a romantic scene. For 
 in landscape, as in history, wherever we go, we have only 
 the same ideas on a larger or smaller scale, the great 
 repeated in the little, the little repeated in the great. 
 Here is the mighty forest, clinging to the mountain side ; 
 here the extended plain, watered by its winding river; 
 here the terrible chasm and deep ravine, all, however, 
 in that delicate and reduced measure which, while it 
 gives us the type of nature universally, enables us to see 
 the whole at one view. 
 
 To get to the Ashley meadows, go by the railway to 
 Bowdon, then along the "Ashley Road" for about a mile, 
 and then down the lane on the left hand, which leads to 
 Mr. Nield's model farm. After passing through the field 
 by the farm, there is seen a small wood upon the right, in 
 
1 6 Country Rambles. 
 
 which are many beautiful treasures, and descending a 
 little, we are in the meadows, the Bollin flowing at the 
 farther edge, and the mill, with its weir and water-wheel, 
 at the extremity. The very earliest spring flowers to be 
 gathered here are those of the hazel-nut, the willow, the 
 alder, and the poplar. People unacquainted with botany 
 often suppose that the latter and other timber-trees 
 belong to the flowerless class of plants. They fancy that 
 flowers occur only upon fruit-trees, and upon ornamental 
 shrubs, such as the lilac and laburnum. The mistake is 
 a perfectly natural and excusable one, seeing that the 
 established idea of a flower is of something brilliant and 
 highly coloured. A visit to the Ashley meadows in the 
 month of April soon shows that there are other flowers 
 than these. The hazel is by that time overblown, being 
 in perfection about February ; but the other trees men- 
 tioned above are covered with their curious blossoms, 
 which in every case come out before the leaves. Those 
 of the alder and poplar resemble pendent caterpillars, of 
 a fine brownish red; the willow-blooms are in dense 
 clusters, green or lively yellow, according to their sex. 
 For plants, like animals, have sex, and though in most 
 cases male and female co-exist in the same flower, it 
 happens with some, especially with the timber-trees of 
 northern latitudes, that the flowers are of only one sex, 
 some of them being male and others female. Occasion- 
 ally the entire tree is male only or female only the 
 condition of the willow and the poplar, the yellow flowers 
 of the former of which are the male, and the greenish 
 
Spring Wild-flowers. 17 
 
 ones the female. On the hedge-banks below these trees 
 may be gathered the dogs' mercury, an herbaceous plant 
 of distinct sexes, readily recognised by its dark green, 
 oval, pointed leaves. Soon after the appearance of these, 
 the banks and open sunny spots become decked with the 
 glossy yellow blossoms of the celandine, a flower resem- 
 bling a buttercup, but with eight or nine long and narrow 
 petals, instead of five rounded ones. Mingled with it 
 here and there is the musk-root, a singular but unpre- 
 tending little plant, green in every part, and with its 
 blossoms collected into a cube-shaped cluster, a flower 
 turned to each of the four points of the compass, and one 
 looking right up to the zenith. The roots, as implied in 
 the name, have the odour of musk. On the moister 
 banks, such as those at the lower edge of the wood, 
 grows also the golden-saxifrage, a pretty little plant, with 
 flat tufts of minute yellowish bloom. Yellow, in different 
 shades, prevails to a remarkable extent among English 
 wild-flowers, and especially those of spring. The rich 
 living yellow of the coltsfoot is a conspicuous example. 
 The coltsfoot flowers, like those of the poplar tree, 
 open before the leaves, enlivening the bare waysides in 
 the most beautiful manner, or at least when the sun 
 shines; for so dependent are they upon the light, that it 
 is only when the sun falls warm and animating that they 
 expand their delicate rays, slender as the finest needle, 
 and reminding us, in their elegant circle and luminous 
 colour, of the aureola round the head of a saint in 
 Catholic pictures. At first sight, the coltsfoot might b.e 
 c 
 
1 8 Country Rambles. 
 
 mistaken for a small dandelion. It is easily distinguish- 
 able from that despised, but useful plant, by the scales 
 upon its stem, the stalk of the dandelion being perfectly 
 smooth. The leaves and flowers of the dandelion open, 
 moreover, simultaneously. The coltsfoot, like the flower 
 it imitates, holds high repute among the "yarb doctors," 
 who know more of the genuine properties of our native 
 plants than it is common to give them credit for. 
 
 On the banks of the Bollin and its little tributaries 
 grows also that curious plant, the butter-bur. Appearing 
 first as an egg-shaped purple bud, by degrees a beautiful 
 cone or pyramid of lilac blossoms is opened out, bearing 
 no slight resemblance to a hyacinth. Here, again, as 
 happens with many spring flowers, and, strange to say, 
 with two or three autumnal ones, the blossoms are ready 
 before the leaves, which do not attain their full size till 
 after midsummer. Then they hide the river -banks 
 everywhere about Manchester with a thick and deceitful 
 jungle, often lifted on stalks a yard high, and in their 
 vast circumference reminding one of rhubarb leaves. 
 After these earlier visitants come the furze, the purple 
 dead-nettle, and the primrose; and in the hedges, again 
 without leaves, the sloe or black-thorn, its milk-white 
 bloom conspicuous from a long distance. The name 
 /#<;/-thorn, so oddly at variance with the pure white of 
 the flowers, refers to the leaflessness of the plant when in 
 bloom, the o//V<?-thorn, or "May," being at the corre- 
 sponding period covered with verdure. But it must not 
 be imagined that these plants follow just in the order we 
 
Spring Wild-flowers. 19 
 
 have named them. To a certain extent, no doubt there 
 is a sequence. Every one of the four seasons, whether 
 spring, summer, autumn, or winter, resembles the total 
 of the year as to the regularity in the order of its events. 
 The glowing apple and the juicy pear follow the lily and 
 the rose, and are followed in their turn, by the aster 
 and the ivy-bloom. Similarly, in smaller compass, the 
 crocus retires before the daffodil, and the daffodil before 
 the auricula; to expect, however, that every particular 
 kind of flower should open at some precise and undevia- 
 ting point of time, even relative, would be to look for 
 the very opposite of the delightful sportiveness so 
 characteristic of the ever-youthful life of nature, which is 
 as charming, not to say as great and glorious, in its 
 play and freedom, as in its laws and inviolable order. 
 The spring flowers arrive, not in single file, but in troops 
 and companies, so that of these latter only can succession 
 be rightly predicated, and even here it is greatly affected 
 by differences of shelter, soil, and aspect. Nor are those 
 we have enumerated the whole of what may be found. 
 At least a dozen other species arrive with the earliest 
 breath of spring, and with every week afterwards, up to 
 midsummer, the beautiful stream quickens unabatingly. 
 Thoroughly to master the botany even of so limited an 
 area as that of Ashley, requires that it be made our 
 almost daily haunt. It is proper to add, that none of the 
 flowers named are rare about Manchester, or anywhere 
 in England. Almost all our first comers are universally 
 diffused. 
 
2O Country Rambles. 
 
 The phenomena of spring, as regards the vegetable 
 world, must not be viewed as beginning with the season 
 in question. Spring, while the harbinger and preparation 
 of the ensuing seasons, is itself the consummation of a 
 long series of wonderful processes, wrought in the silence 
 and darkness of winter, and largely beneath the surface 
 of the earth. We never see the actual beginning of any- 
 thing. Covered up though they be, by the cold snow, 
 the artizans of leaf and flower are diligently at work even 
 from the close of the preceding summer, and only wait 
 the vernal sunbeam to unfold the delicate product of 
 their labours. This is strikingly exemplified in "bulbous 
 roots," such as those of the tulip and crocus, in which 
 the future flower may easily be made out by careful dis- 
 section with a penknife. The hazel puts forth its infant 
 catkins as early as September, while the rich brown 
 clusters of the same season are but ripening, and the 
 autumn yellow of the leaves is in the distance. Soon 
 after this it is quite easy to find the incipient female 
 alder-bloom of the season to come, and the rudimentary 
 golden catkins of the next year's sallow. Thus is the 
 history of the flower beautifully in keeping with that of 
 its winged image the butterfly, which, like the flower in 
 the bud, has been forming all along, in the grub and 
 chrysalis, the bud-state of the perfect insect. 
 
 The river approaches the Ashley meadows by an 
 exceedingly pleasant route, generally known as the lower 
 Bollin valley. The whole course of the stream, from 
 beyond Macclesfield downwards, is interesting, and at 
 
The Bollin Valley. 2 1 
 
 Norcliffe it begins to meander through the prettiest rural 
 scenery near Manchester. The gentle rise and fall of 
 the ground on either side, the plentiful and comely trees, 
 the innumerable windings and turnings that bring with 
 every successive field a new and pretty prospect, the 
 sound of th,e rushing water, the birds saturating every 
 grove and little wood with their cheerful poor man's 
 music, the flowers no longer ambitious, for every bank 
 and meadow is brimful and overflowing, really it almost 
 makes one fancy, when down in this beautiful valley, that 
 we have got into those happy regions old Homer tells of, 
 where the nepenthe grows, and the lotus, that wonder- 
 ful fruit which, when people had once tasted, they forgot . 
 their cares and troubles, and desired to remain there 
 always, and ceased to remember even home. The 
 difference is here, that after going thither, we love home 
 all the better for our visit, since the heart, though it may 
 be unconsciously, always grows into a resemblance of 
 what it contemplates with interest and affection. No 
 senseless fiction is it after all, about the lotus-fruit. 
 Every man has his lotus-country somewhere; the poet 
 has only turned into ingenious fable the experience of 
 universal human nature. 
 
 The middle portion of the valley, or that which, 
 ascending it, lies about half way between Ashley and 
 Wilmslow, is occupied by Cotterill Clough, a place of the 
 highest celebrity with the old Lancashire botanists, being 
 not only picturesque in every portion, but containing 
 a great variety of curious and unusual wild-flowers. 
 
22 Country Rambles. 
 
 Many are found here that grow nowhere else in the 
 neighbourhood, and the very commonest attain the 
 highest state of perfection. Hobson, Crozier, Horsefield, 
 and their companions above-named, used to come to 
 Cotterill regularly, both in summer and winter, gather- 
 ing flowers in the former season, mosses in the latter, 
 and not more for the riches of the vegetation, than, as 
 Crozier once told me, for the singing of the innumer- 
 able birds. The journey, both to and fro, was entirely 
 upon foot, and the men were often here by breakfast 
 time. Being a game preserve, there has always been 
 some difficulty of access to the clough, and of late years 
 this has been considerably increased. But gamekeepers, 
 after all, are only men, and "a soft answer turneth away 
 wrath," so that none need despair if they will but act 
 the part of wisdom. 
 
 The approach to this pretty valley is made in the first 
 instance from Peel Causeway station, pursuing the lane 
 for a little while, then electing whether to continue, past 
 Bank Hall and its seventeen yew trees, or to strike 
 through a field-path upon the left, thence along the crest 
 of a gentle acclivity, from which is obtained the best 
 view we are acquainted with, of Bowdon. Although 
 requiring some watchfulness, so as not to go astray, the 
 upper path is decidedly the best to take. One point 
 alone needs specially careful observation, that is, after 
 crossing the little ravine, and emerging into another lane, 
 to turn down it to the right, and upon arriving at a 
 cottage upon the left, to take the path immediately 
 
Cotterill. 
 
 behind. This leads over the fields, Alderley Edge a few 
 miles in front, and Cloud-end rising grandly upon the 
 horizon, then down a steep rough lane into a dingle 
 called Butts Clough, beyond which there is a green- 
 floored lane, leading to Warburton's farm, which being 
 passed, we bear to the right, and in ten minutes more 
 dip into the valley, and very soon tread the margin of the 
 stream. About a mile and a half further up, we come to 
 Castle Mill, an old-established and celebrated corn- 
 grinding concern and immediately opposite, the wooded 
 slopes of Cotterill, entered by crossing a single field. 
 The time to select for a first botanical visit to this charm- 
 ing spot should, if possible, be the end of April, or at 
 least before the expiration of May. The chief rarities of 
 the place belong to a somewhat later period, but there 
 are several that grow here abundantly, and are in perfec- 
 tion at the time named, which, although less uncommon, 
 it were a pity not to secure. Such are the goldilocks 
 and the arum. The former, a very graceful kind of 
 butter-cup, its name translated from the Latin one, 
 auricotmis, fringes the bank at the foot of the wood for a 
 long distance with its light feathery herbage and shining 
 yellow flowers; the other grows under the trees, and 
 among the brushwood, and in the part of the clough 
 through which the path leading to Ringway from Castle 
 Mill makes its way, thus being reachable without more 
 trespass than of twenty forgiven yards. Few persons 
 fond of cultivating plants in their parlours are unacquain- 
 ted with that truly splendid flower, the African lily, or 
 
24 Country Rambles. 
 
 Richardia Ethiopica, which, opening a great white vase 
 on the summit of its stem, resembles an alabaster lamp 
 with a pillar of flame burning in the centre; the leaves 
 lifted on long stalks, and shaped like the head of an 
 arrow. Keeping the figure of this noble plant before the 
 mind's eye, as the type for comparison, there is no 
 difficulty in identifying the arum of Cotterill Wood. The 
 latter is essentially the same in structure, but rises to the 
 height of only some six or eight inches instead of thirty, 
 with leaves proportionately smaller, and the flower, 
 instead of white and vase-like, of a pale transparent 
 green (though often mottled, like the leaves, with purple 
 stains), and curving over the pillar in the centre like the 
 cowl of a monk. The pillar is of a rich puce or claret 
 colour, and occasionally of a delicate light amber. In 
 the south of England, where the plant abounds, the dark 
 ones are called "lords," and the amber-coloured, "ladies." 
 Newbridge Hollow, the Ashley Woods, and several other 
 places about Bowdon, share the possession of this 
 remarkable plant, which is, without question, the most 
 eccentrically formed of any that grow wild in the British 
 Islands. It is found also near Pendlebury, at Barton, 
 Reddish, and several other places, but very scantily, a 
 circumstance worth notice, because illustrating so well 
 what the learned call botanical topography. The floras 
 of entire countries are often not more strongly marked by 
 the presence or absence of certain species than the por- 
 tions even of so limited an area as that of Manchester 
 half-holiday excursions. Here, too, grows in profusion 
 
The Forget-me-not. 25 
 
 the sylvan forget-me-not, the flowers of an azure that 
 seems sucked from heaven itself. People confound it 
 sometimes with the germander-speedwell, another lovely 
 flower of May and June. But the leaves of the speed- 
 well are oval instead of long and narrow, like those of 
 the forget-me-not; and the flowers are not only of quite 
 a different shade of blue, but composed of four distinct 
 pieces, the forget-me-not being five-lobed, and yellow in 
 the centre. The consummate distinction of the forget- 
 me-not is the mode in which the flowers expand, and 
 which, along with its unique and celestial tint, is the true 
 reason of its being used as the emblem of constancy. 
 Possibly enough, the pathetic legend of the knight and 
 the lady by the water-side may have had a fact for its 
 basis, but the flower was representative of constancy long 
 before the unlucky lover met his death. The world, 
 truly seen and understood, is but another showing forth 
 of human nature, an echo of its lord and master, reitera- 
 ting in its various and beautiful structures, colours, and 
 configurations, what in him are thoughts and passions, 
 and in the forget-me-not we have one of the foremost 
 witnesses. This is no loose and misty speculation; but 
 to the earnest student of nature who looks below the sur- 
 face of things, a determinate and palpable fact, the 
 source of the most fascinating pleasures that connect 
 themselves with the genuine knowledge of plants and 
 flowers, and of the objects of nature universally. The 
 peculiarity referred to consists principally in the curious 
 spiral stalk, and the store of secret buds, a new flower 
 
26 Country Rambles. 
 
 opening fresh and fresh every day as the stalk uncoils. It 
 may be added, as furnishing another example of the 
 variety in the distribution of plants, that the forget-me- 
 not, like the arum, is wanting on the Prestwich side of 
 the town, while the sylvan horsetail, so abundant in Mere 
 Clough, is comparatively a stranger to the valley of the 
 Bollin. To young people who have the opportunity of 
 exploring the respective places, independently of the 
 large local knowledge they acquire, it is a most instruc- 
 tive employment to note these phenomena, for they 
 are all more or less intimately connected with the 
 grandest and widest laws of physical geography the 
 great, as we have shown before, represented in the little 
 and no science will be found in after life more 
 thoroughly entertaining or more practically useful. Be- 
 sides these more choice and remarkable flowers, there are 
 in Cotterill Wood at this period anemones and bluebells 
 without end; while in the upper part, accessible by the 
 path before-mentioned, and which should on no account 
 be left unvisited, the firs and larches are at the acme of 
 their floral pride. The flowers of these trees, like those 
 of the hazel and alder, are some of them only male, 
 others only female. The female flowers in due time 
 become the seed-cones, announcing them from afar; the 
 male flowers likewise assume the cone form, but as soon 
 as the purpose of their being is accomplished, they wither 
 and drop off. In the larch, the females are of a delicate 
 pink, contrasting exquisitely with the tender green of the 
 young tufted leaves, and conspicuous from their large size, 
 
Primroses at Cotterill. 27 
 
 the males being comparatively small, though noticeable 
 from their immense abundance. In the firs, on the other 
 hand, we are attracted rather by the male flowers, which 
 are of a beautiful reddish buff, and on the slightest blow 
 being given to the branch, shed clouds of their fertilising 
 dust. 
 
 The Cotterill portion of the Bollin valley, while the 
 primroses are in bloom, has no parallel in our district. 
 Certain distant places, no doubt, are equally rich in this 
 general favourite the Isle of Wight, for instance, and 
 the same is said of the Isle of Man, but for Manchester 
 lovers of primroses, Cotterill is a very paradise. All the 
 woods and lanes are full, every bank and sheltered slope 
 is yellow with them, everywhere primroses, primroses, 
 primroses, great handfuls, and bunches, a score every 
 time we pluck, till wonder is exhausted and out of 
 breath, and primroses and nature seem to mean 
 the same thing. Such was the spectacle on the 
 8th of May when this was written the glow of bloom, 
 which lasts in the whole perhaps for a month, being 
 then at its height. On one occasion it was as early as 
 April 27th. We now come to 1882. So great has been 
 the havoc made by collectors of roots for gardens, and 
 for sale in the market-place, that except in forbidden 
 parts, and somewhat higher up the valley, the primrose 
 is now almost as scarce as at the time referred to it was 
 plentiful. Great havoc has also been wrought during the 
 last quarter of a century by the mattock of the farm- 
 labourer, which has likewise diminished very considerably 
 
28 Country Rambles. 
 
 the ancient abundance of some of the less common 
 plants, where exposed, such as the goldilocks and the 
 forget-me-not, though higher up the valley, like the prim- 
 roses, these are still to be found in fair quantity. Never 
 mind : the anemones, the golden celandine, so glossy 
 and so sensitive, the cuckoo-flowers, the marsh-marigold, 
 and a score of others, are untouched, and will remain 
 untouched. There is something a great deal better 
 than simple possession of the rare and strange, and 
 that is the happy faculty of appreciation of the lovely 
 old and common, a faculty that needs only culture to 
 become an inexhaustible mine of enjoyment. Every 
 man finds himself richer than he imagines when he puts 
 the real value upon what Providence has given him. 
 
 For the return, we may either mount the hill, and get 
 into the lanes which pass through Hale or Ringway, and 
 so to Altrincham; or we may follow the downward 
 course of the stream, by the path enjoyed in coming, as 
 far as Warburton's farm, already mentioned. Arrived 
 here, for variety sake, the better course is not by the 
 tempting green lane, but through the fields below and to 
 the left, which are full of every kind of rural beauty, and 
 here and there gemmed with cowslips. Different paths 
 take us either past the river again, and so by way of Ashley 
 to Bowdon, or into the road that leads to the Downs. 
 The latter is the shortest, but the Ashley way is the 
 pleasanter. The distance in the whole is a trifle over 
 that by the road, or, omitting fractions, four miles. All 
 the way along the birds are in full trill ; with this great 
 
Cotterill Entomology. 29 
 
 charm in the sound, that independently of the music, the 
 songs of birds are always songs of pleasure. We sing in 
 many moods, and for many purposes, but the birds only 
 when they are happy. No notes of birds have an under- 
 tone of sadness in them. Beautiful, too, in the early 
 summer, is it to mark here the glow of the red horizontal 
 sunlight, as it lies softly amid the branches of the golden- 
 budded oak, and the milk-white blossoms of the tall wild 
 cherries. Oh ! how thoughtless is it of people to let 
 themselves be scared away from Botany by its evil but 
 undeserved reputation for "hard names," when, with a 
 tenth of the effort given to the study of chess or whist, 
 they might master everything needful, and enter intel- 
 ligently into this sweet and sacred Temple of Nature. 
 
 The interest of the Bollin valley is quite as great 
 to the entomologist as to the botanist. By the kindness 
 of my friend, Mr. Edleston, I am enabled here to add 
 the following list of the Lepidoptera, which will be read 
 with pleasure by every one acquainted with the exquisite 
 forms and patrician dresses of English butterflies. 
 
 "The meadows," he tells me, "near the river Bollin, 
 from Bank Hall to Castle Mill, produce more diurnal 
 Lepidoptera than any other locality in the Manchester 
 district, as the following select list (1858) will suffice to 
 prove": 
 
 Gonepteryx Rhamni Brimstone 
 
 Pieris Brassicce Large White 
 
 ,, Rapes Small White 
 
 ,, Napi Green- veined White 
 
Country Rambles. 
 
 Anthocaris Cardamines 
 Hipparchia Janira 
 ,, Jithonus 
 
 , , Hyperanthus 
 
 Ccenonympha Pamphilus 
 Cynthia Cardui 
 Vanessa Atalanta 
 
 lo 
 
 ,, Urtica 
 Melitaa Artemis 
 Chrysophanus Phlceas 
 Polyommattts Alexis 
 Thanaos Tages 
 Pamphila Sylvanus 
 Procris Statices 
 Anthrocera Trifolii 
 
 ,, Filipendidce 
 
 Sesia Bombyliformis 
 Heliodes Arbuti 
 Euclidia Mi 
 
 ,, Glyphica 
 
 Orange Tip 
 
 Meadow Brown 
 
 Large Heath 
 
 Wood Ringlet 
 
 Small Heath 
 
 Painted Lady 
 
 Red Admiral 
 
 Peacock 
 
 Small Tortoise-shell 
 
 Greasy Fritillary 
 
 Small Copper 
 
 Common Blue 
 
 Dingy Skipper 
 
 Large Skipper 
 
 Green Forester 
 
 Five-spot Burnet 
 
 Six-spot Burnet 
 
 Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk 
 
 Small Yellow Underwing 
 
 Mother Shipton 
 
 Burnet 
 
 The past twenty-five years, it is to be feared, have told 
 as heavily upon the Lepidoptera as upon the primroses 
 and the cowslips, the latter also now far between. The 
 birds, likewise, have greatly diminished in numbers, 
 partly in consequence of the extreme severity of the trio 
 of hard winters which commenced with that of 1878-9. 
 We have also to lament the death of Mr. Edleston. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ROSTHERNE MERE. 
 
 When the month of May 
 Is come, and I can hear the small birds sing, 
 And the fresh floures have begun to spring, 
 Good bye, my book ! devotion, too, good bye ! 
 
 CHAUCER. 
 
 HE path to the Ashley meadows offers the 
 best point of departure also for far-famed 
 Rostherne, for although the distance is some- 
 what less from the "Ashley" station, the old 
 route past Bowdon vicarage remains the 
 most enjoyable. Going behind it, through 
 a little plantation, we proceed, with many 
 curves, yet without perplexity, into the lane which 
 looks down upon the eastern extremity of the mere; 
 then, crossing the fields, into the immediate presence, 
 as rejoiced in at the margin of the graveyard of the 
 church, which last is without question one of the most 
 charmingly placed in England, and in its site excites no 
 wonder that it was chosen for the ancient Saxon con- 
 secration, as declared in the primitive name, Rodestorne, 
 
32 Country Rambles. 
 
 "the lake (or tarn) of the Holy Cross." The peculiar 
 charm of Rostherne Mere, compared with most other 
 Cheshire waters of similar character, comes of its lying so 
 much in a hollow, after the manner of many of the most 
 delicious lakes of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and the 
 romantic parts of Scotland; the area of the surface being 
 at the same time so considerable that there is no 
 suggestion, as sometimes with smaller meres when lying 
 in hollows, of the gradual gathering there of the produce 
 of rain-torrents, or even of the outcome of natural springs. 
 At Rostherne one learns not only what calmness means, 
 and what a broken fringe of diverse trees can do for still 
 water. Contemplating it from the graveyard, we seem to 
 have a fragment of the scenery of our beautiful world as 
 it showed, begging pardon of the geologists and the 
 evolutionists, "When the morning-stars sang together, 
 and all the sons of God shouted for joy." The depth of 
 the water is remarkable. About a third of the distance 
 across, from near the summer-house, it is over a hundred 
 feet, thus as nearly as possible two-thirds of the depth of 
 the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, where the 
 lead sinks lowest; and a third of what it is anywhere 
 between Dover and the Eddystone lighthouse, so that 
 our lovely Rostherne Mere may well assert its claim to be 
 of almost maritime profundity. The area of the surface 
 is one hundred and fifteen statute acres. In the church 
 there is a monument which it is worth all the journey to 
 see, Westmacott's sculptured marble in memory of 
 Miss Beatrix Egerton. 
 
Tatton Park. 33 
 
 Rostherne, in turn, is the pleasantest way of pedestrian 
 approach to Tatton Park, so liberally opened to visitors 
 by Lord Egerton, on compliance with certain rules. 
 Visitors bent on seeing Tatton only, should go part way 
 from Bowdon by vehicle; for here, as at Cotterill, we 
 want, as in a picture-gallery, every minute, and to let too 
 much time be consumed in mere travel is a mistake. To 
 make a too hasty and thoughtless use of our opportunities 
 of pleasure is in any case to throw away the half of them ; 
 the pleasure of the country beyond all others requires a 
 calm and unhurried step, a free and unwistful mind and 
 eye, such as cannot possibly be if, by waste or extra- 
 vagance, we are "tied to time," only when, by a wise 
 economy of our resources in this respect, we liberate 
 ourselves from care about trains and timebills, do we 
 catch nature's sweetest smiles. The boundary measure- 
 ment of this beautiful park is upwards of ten miles, and 
 of its two thousand one hundred and thirty-five acres no 
 fewer than four hundred are occupied by woods and 
 plantations, with seventy-nine acres of water. Here we 
 may stroll beneath green vaults of foliage, and be 
 reminded of the aisles of cathedrals. Here we may con- 
 template the viridis senectus of glorious old oaks that 
 have watched the flow of generations. Here, in autumn, 
 we learn, from a thousand old foresters from beech, and 
 chestnut, and elm that brave men, though overtaken by 
 inclemencies there is no withstanding, still put a good 
 face upon their fallen fortunes, and, like Caesar, who 
 drew his purple around him, die royally; and at Christ- 
 
34 Country Rambles. 
 
 mas, when the wind seems to mourn amid the denuded 
 boughs, here again we feel how grand is the contrasted 
 life of the great, green, shining, scarlet-beaded hollies 
 that in summer we took no note of. The gardens, 
 including conservatories and fernery, access to all of 
 which is likewise liberally permitted, are crowded with 
 objects of interest one hardly knows whether inside 
 their gates, or outside, is the more delectable. The park 
 was up till quite recently, the playground of nearly a 
 thousand deer, and still (1882) contains many hundreds. 
 The sight of them is one of the pleasures of the return 
 walk to Knutsford, to which place Tatton Park more 
 especially pertains. 
 
 Knutsford, an admirable centre, is reached imme- 
 diately, by train. But it must not be overlooked 
 that there is a very pleasant field-way thereto from 
 Mobberley, and that the path to Mobberley itself, one of 
 the most ancient of the Cheshire villages, is always 
 interesting, starting, that is to say, from Ashley station. 
 Every portion of it is quiet and enjoyable, and those who 
 love seclusion would scarcely find another so exactly 
 suited to their taste. Soon after entering the fields, the 
 path dives through a little dell threaded by the Birkin 
 (an affluent of the Bollin), then goes on through lanes 
 which in May are decked plenteously with primroses. 
 The way, perhaps, is rather intricate, so much the better 
 for the exercise of our sagacity. Let not the "day of 
 small things" be despised. The Birkin is one of the 
 little streams that in the great concourse called the 
 
Mobberley. 3 5 
 
 Mersey does honour at last to the British Tyre. Drayton 
 notices it in the Poly-olbion (1622) 
 
 From hence he getteth Goyte down from her Peakish spring, 
 And Bollen, that along doth nimbler Birkin bring.* 
 
 The church, as would be anticipated, presents much 
 that is interesting to the ecclesiologist. Near the chancel 
 stands the accustomed and here undilapidated old village 
 graveyard yew, emblem of immortality, life triumphing 
 over death, therefore so suitable, this particular one at 
 Mobberley the largest and most symmetrical within a 
 circuit of many miles. Across the road, hard by, an ash- 
 tree presents a singularly fine example of the habit of 
 growth called "weeping," not the ordinary tent-form 
 seen upon lawns, but lofty, and composed chiefly of 
 graceful self-woven ringlets, a cupola of green tresses, 
 beautiful at all seasons, and supplying, before the leaves 
 are out, a capital hint to every one desirous of learning 
 trees as they deserve to be learned. For to this end 
 trees must be contemplated almost every month in the 
 year, when leafless as well as leafy. A grand tree is like 
 a great poem not a thing to be glanced at with a 
 thoughtless "I have read it," but to be studied, and with 
 remembrance of what once happened on the summit of 
 mount Ida. 
 
 On the Cotterill side of Mobberley, or Alderley way, 
 
 * Song the eleventh, p. 171, facing which is a map of Cheshire, 
 showing the rivers, out of every one of which rises a sort of tutelary 
 nymph, in design droll beyond imagination. Vide the Chetham 
 Library copy. 
 
36 Country Rambles, 
 
 the country resembles that in the vicinity of Castle Mill, 
 consisting of gentle slopes and promontories, often 
 wooded, and at every turn presenting some new and 
 agreeable feature. The little dells and doughs, each 
 with its stream of clear water scampering away to the 
 Bollin, are delicious. The botany of Cotterill is also 
 recapitulated in its best features; mosses of the choicest 
 kinds grow in profusion on every bank, Hypna, with 
 large green feathery branches, like ferns in miniature; 
 Jungermannias also ; and the noblest plants of the hart's- 
 tongue fern that occur in the district. One of the dells 
 positively overflows with it, excepting, that is, where the 
 ground is not pre-occupied by the prickly shield-fern. 
 Burleyhurst Wood, close by, contains abundance of the 
 pretty green-flowered true-love, Paris quadrifolia, more 
 properly trulove, the name referring not to the sentiment 
 itself, but to the famous old four-fold symbol of engage- 
 ment which in heraldry reappears in "quartering." All 
 the spring flowers open here with the first steps of the 
 renewed season; and most inspiring is it, at a time when 
 on the north side of the town there is nothing to be seen 
 but an early coltsfoot, to find one's self greeted in these 
 sweet and perennially green woods, by the primrose, the 
 anemone, the butter-bur, and the golden saxifrage, and 
 not as single couriers, but plentiful as the delight they 
 give, mingling with the great ferns bequeathed by the 
 autumn, as travellers tell us palms and fir-trees intermix 
 on tropical mountains, while the Marchantia adds 
 another charm in its curious cones ? and the smooth 
 
Tab ley Park. 37 
 
 round cups of the Peziza glow like so many vases of 
 deepest carnelian. In the aspect of vegetation in early 
 spring, as it discloses itself at Mobberley and at equal 
 distance north of the town, there is the difference of a 
 full month. Such at least was the case in 1858, the year 
 in which these lines were written. There is no occasion 
 to return to Ashley by the same path. Mobberley station 
 is scarcely more than a mile from the village, and of 
 course would be preferred when the object is to reach 
 the latter promptly. 
 
 Knutsford, celebrated as the scene of Mrs. GaskelPs 
 "Cranford," commands many pleasant walks, and is the 
 threshold not only to Tatton, but to several other parks 
 and estates of great celebrity. Booth Hall, with its 
 noble avenue of lindens, the winding sylvan wilderness 
 called Spring Wood, and its ample sheet of ornamental 
 water, decked with lilies, and in parts filled with that 
 most curious aquatic, the Stmtiotes, is of considerable 
 historic interest; Toft, a mile to the south, with its 
 stately avenue, now of elms, in triple rows ; and Tabley, 
 about a mile to the west, the park once again with a 
 spacious mere, also have high claims upon the attention 
 of every one who has the opportunity of entering. 
 Tabley is peculiarly interesting in its ancient hall, which 
 stands upon an island in the upper portion of the mere, 
 and dates from the time of Edward III. Only a remnant 
 now exists, but being covered with ivy, it presents a most 
 picturesque appearance. When will people see in that 
 peerless evergreen not a foe, but an inestimable friend, 
 
38 Country Rambles. 
 
 such as it is when knives and shears, and the touch of 
 the barbarian are forbidden ? It is the ivy that has pre- 
 served for the archaeologist many of the most precious 
 architectural relics our country possesses. Where ivy 
 defends the surface, nothing corrodes or breaks away. 
 
 Toft Park gives very agreeable access to Peover, a 
 place which may also be reached pleasantly from Plumb- 
 ley, the station next succeeding Knutsford. Not "rich" 
 botanically, the field-path is still one of the most inviting 
 in the district. The views on either side, cheerful at all 
 seasons, are peculiarly so in spring, when the trees are 
 pouring their new green leaves into the sunshine, and the 
 rising grass and mingled wild-flowers flood the ground 
 with living brightness. In parts, towards the end of 
 May, there is hereabouts an unwonted profusion of 
 Shakspeare's "Lady-smock." We admit, admiringly, 
 that it "paints the meadows with delight:" to the first 
 impression, when gathered and in the hand, it scarcely 
 seems "silver-white." A single spray in the hand is 
 unquestionably lilac, faint and translucent, but still lilac, 
 exquisitely veined. Beware. Shakspeare, when he talks 
 of flowers may always be trusted. At all events his only 
 error is that curious one in Cymbeline* Viewed from a 
 little distance, and obliquely, the effect of a plentiful carpet 
 of this lovely wild-flower is distinctly and decidedly "silver- 
 white." In all things a good deal depends upon the angle 
 
 * On her left breast, 
 
 A mole, cinque -spotted, like the crimson drops 
 I' the bottom of a cowslip. 
 
Northwich. 
 
 39 
 
 at which we look, and never is the rule more needed 
 than when the subject is one of delicate tint. They were 
 keen observers, depend upon it, who in the Middle 
 Ages gave name and fame at the same moment to the 
 pretty flowers that still preserve the ancient association 
 with "Our Lady," the Virgin Mary. Lower Peover 
 church is one of the few examples extant of the old- 
 fashioned timber structure, the greater portion of the 
 interior being constructed of oak, while externally, 
 excepting the stone Elizabethan tower, it is "magpie," 
 or black and white, like so many of the old Cheshire 
 halls and ancient manor-houses. An epitaph in the 
 graveyard is not without suggestiveness : 
 
 Peaceable Mary Fairbrother, 
 1766. Aged 90. 
 
 For the return walk there is a cheerful route through 
 fields and lanes to Knutsford, entering the town behind 
 the prison; or, for variety, there is Lostock Gralam 
 station. 
 
 Pushing a few miles further, we find ourselves at 
 Northwich, a place at which there is little occasion to 
 delay, unless it be wished to inspect one of the salt- 
 mines, permission to do so being asked previously of the 
 proprietors. At Whitsuntide the public are in a certain 
 sense invited, and truly, a more interesting and wonderful 
 spectacle than is furnished by the Marston mine it would 
 be hard to provide for holiday pleasure. But at present 
 we are seeking enjoyment upon the surface, and to this 
 end the journey should now be continued to Hartford, 
 
40 Country Rambles. 
 
 the station for Vale Royal. "Vale Royal" is essentially 
 the name of the immense expanse of beautiful, though 
 nearly level, country over which the eye ranges when we 
 stand amid the ruins of Beeston Castle. It is still worthy 
 of the praise lavished on it in 1656. "The ayre of Vale 
 Royall," says the old historian of that date, "is verie 
 wholesome, insomuch that the people of the country are 
 seldom infected with Disease or Sicknesse, neither do 
 they use the help of Physicians, nothing so much, as in 
 other countries. For when any of them are sick, they 
 make him a posset, and tye a kerchief on his head; and 
 if that will not amend him, then God be mercifull to him ! 
 The people there live to be very old : some are Grand- 
 fathers, their fathers yet living, and some are Grandfathers 
 
 before they be married They be very gentle and 
 
 courteous, ready to help and further one another; in 
 Religion very zealous, howbeit somewhat addicted to 
 Superstition: otherwise stout, bold, and hardy: withal 
 impatient of wrong, and ready to resist the Enemy or 
 Stranger that shall invade their country. . . . Likewise 
 be the women very friendly and loving, in all kind of 
 Housewifery expert, fruitful in bearing Children after 
 they be married, and sometimes before. ... I know 
 divers men which are but farmers that may compare 
 therein with a Lord or Baron in some Countreys beyond 
 the Seas." A considerable portion of this great expanse 
 is represented in the still current appellation of Delamere 
 Forest, a term not to be understood as meaning that it 
 was at any time covered by timber trees, either indigenous 
 
Delamere Forest. 41 
 
 or planted, but that it was "outside," ad foras, a wild, 
 uncultivated and comparatively barren tract as opposed 
 to districts that were well farmed and sprinkled plentifully 
 with habitations. Trees there were, doubtless, and in 
 abundance, but the bond fide woods occupied only a part 
 of the "forest" in the aggregate. An idea of such a 
 forest as Delamere was in the olden time is very easily 
 formed. We need do no more than think of that 
 imperishable one, "exempt from public haunt," where 
 Rosalind found her verses, with its stream-side where the 
 
 Poor sequester 'd stag, 
 
 That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt 
 Did come to languish. 
 
 The " forest," so late as two centuries ago, comprised no 
 fewer than eleven thousand acres of wood and wilderness. 
 Much has now been brought under cultivation, so that 
 only about eight thousand acres remain untilled, and of 
 these about one-half have been planted with Scotch fir, 
 whence the peculiar and solemn aspect which masses of 
 conifers alone can bestow. 
 
 Entering this part of the "Vale," we are at once 
 attracted to the beautiful park, woods, and waters, distin- 
 guished particularly as "Vale Royal," or in full, Vale 
 Royal Abbey, the mansion, the ancient country seat 
 of the Cholmondeley family being nearly upon the site 
 of the famous monastic home founded in 1277 by 
 Edward I. Lord Delamere liberally permits access to 
 the grounds, the approaches to which are eminently 
 sweet and pleasant. The railway should be quitted at 
 
42 Country Rambles. 
 
 Hartford, quiet lanes from which place lead into the 
 valley of the Weaver.* Thence we move to the margin 
 of Vale Royal Mere, with choice, upon arrival, of one of 
 the most charming sylvan walks in Cheshire, obtained by 
 going through the wood, or a more open path along the 
 opposite shore. To take one path going, the other return- 
 ing, and thus to secure the double harvest, of course 
 is best. So, for the final homeward journey, which should 
 not be by way of Hartford, but via Cuddington. A 
 drive through the glorious fir-plantations which abut upon 
 Vale Royal carries the privileged to another most 
 beautiful scene, Oulton Park, the country seat of the 
 Grey-Egertons. Here again is a sheet of lilied water; 
 here, too, are some of the noblest trees in Cheshire, in- 
 cluding one of the most remarkable lindens the world 
 contains. 
 
 For the visitor to Delamere Forest there is after all no 
 scene more inspiring than is furnished by Eddisbury. 
 Cuddington station will do for this, but the walk is rather 
 too long; it is best to go direct to "Delamere," thence 
 along the road a short distance, and so to the foot of the 
 hill. In the time of the Heptarchy, it was an important 
 stronghold. Rising to the height of five hundred and 
 eighty-four feet above the sea, when in A.D. 914 that 
 
 *This noted Cheshire river rises upon Buckley Heath, near 
 Malpas, going thence past Nantwich and Winsford. At Northwich 
 it joins the Dane; soon afterwards there is confluence with the 
 Peover, the united waters eventually entering the Mersey, not far 
 from Frodsham. 
 
Eddisbury. 43 
 
 admirable lady, Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred, and 
 widow of Ethelred, king of Mercia, sought to establish 
 herself in positions of great strength, her feminine 
 sagacity at once pointed to Eddisbury as impregnable. 
 Ethelfleda, says the old chronicler, was " the wisest lady in 
 England, an heroic princess; she might have been called 
 a king rather than a lady or a queen. King Edward, 
 her brother, governed his life, in his best actions, by her 
 counsels." We have admirable women of our own living 
 among us women in every sense queenly by nature : 
 let us never forget, in our gratitude to God for the gift of 
 them, that in the past there were prototypes of the best. 
 Continued in her rule, by acclamation, after the death of 
 her husband, Ethelfleda, "the lady of the Mercians," 
 reigned for eight years. Rather more than eleven acres 
 of the green mound we are now speaking of were 
 defensively enclosed by her, partly with palings, partly with 
 earthworks, traces of which remain to this day. Frail 
 and perishable in its materials, the "city of Eddisbury," 
 as historians call this once glorious though simple settle- 
 ment, in the very nature of things could not last. A 
 good river, essential to the prosperity of an inland town, 
 it did not possess. After the death, moreover, of Ethel- 
 fleda, who went to her rest in 920, the subsidence of the 
 Danish invasions reduced the importance of such for- 
 tresses, and so, by slow degrees, the famous old "city" 
 disappeared. The name of Eddisbury occurs, it is true, 
 in Domesday Book, but apparently as a name and 
 nothing besides. Places like Eddisbury are to England 
 
44 Country Rambles. 
 
 what the sites of Nineveh and Palmyra are to the world. 
 Standing upon their greensward, the memory of great 
 things and greater people passes before the mind in long 
 and animating procession. The once so great and 
 powerful "Queen of the East," proud, chaste, literary 
 Zenobia, was not nobler in her way than Saxon Ethel- 
 fleda. Thinking of her, pleasant it is to note how the 
 little wild-flowers, the milk-wort and the eyebright, the 
 unchanged heritors of the ground, are virtually just as 
 she left them. Upon these, in such a spot, Time lays no 
 "effacing ringer." "States fall, arts fade, but Nature 
 doth not die." Not without interest, either, is the fact 
 that from the name of the people or kingdom she ruled 
 so well, comes that of our chief local river. The Mersey 
 was the dividing line between Mercia and Northumbria, 
 and of the former it preserves memorable tradition. All 
 the way up the stream till we get to the hill country, the 
 topographical names further illustrate the ancient Saxon 
 presence. The view from storied Eddisbury is of course 
 very extensive and delightful, including, to-day, the 
 venerable Cathedral of Chester, Halton Castle, and the 
 broad bosom of the river, not to mention the boundless 
 champaign to the south and east, and afar off, in the 
 quiet west, grey mountains that seem to lean against the 
 sky. 
 
 The "Delamere Hotel," to which all visitors to these 
 regions very naturally bend their steps, is the place to 
 enquire at for the exact way to the borders of Oakmere ; 
 most pleasing, after Rostherne, of the Cheshire waters. 
 
O a km ere. 45 
 
 For here, in the autumnal sunshine, the soft wind is 
 prone so to waft over the dimpling surface that it 
 becomes covered with lucid ripples, while at the margin, 
 if the "crimson weeds" of the mermaids' country are not 
 present, there are pretty green ones that "lie like 
 pictures on the sands below," 
 
 With all those bright-hued pebbles that the sun 
 Through the small waves so softly shines upon. 
 
 The borders of Oakmere abound with curious plants. 
 One of the rarest of British grasses, the Calamagrostis 
 stricta,) grows here. The locality is also a noted one for 
 the Utricularia minor, though we do not find that 
 interesting fern of the Vale Royal wood, the Lastrea 
 Thelypteris. 
 
 Contemplating this lovely mere, whether from Eddis- 
 bury, or its own borders, and remembering the many 
 similar waters close by,* a group, after that one to which 
 Windermere leads the way. without parallel in our island, 
 it is impossible not to feel curious as to their history. 
 The simple fact appears to be that all, or nearly all the 
 Vale Royal meres are referable to the existence, under- 
 neath, of great salt-crystal beds which give occupation 
 to the people of Northwich. The surface-soil of the 
 Cheshire salt district consists of a few feet of drift-sand 
 or clay. Below this there is a considerable depth of 
 "New red marl," and below this there is good reason to 
 
 * In addition to the meres already mentioned, there are Pickmere, 
 Rud worth Mere, Flaxmere, Doddington Mere, Combermere, and. 
 several others. 
 
46 Country Rambles. 
 
 believe there is a nearly continuous bed or deposit of the 
 crystal. The "new red sandstone" rock in which these 
 deposits are embedded, is very porous and much jointed. 
 Water is constantly filtering into them from above; the 
 salt crystal, exposed to its action, slowly dissolves into 
 brine, which, as the height is at least a hundred feet 
 above the sea level, slowly drains away. Then the over- 
 lying strata gradually sink; depressions are caused, of 
 less or greater magnitude, and in course of time these 
 become basins of water. Mr. Edw. Hull, the distin- 
 guished geologist, considers that should the process go 
 on, the whole of the valley of the Weaver will some day 
 be submerged. Most of the salt sent from Cheshire is 
 prepared fr_om this natural brine. To extract the crystal 
 is not so cheap as to let the water do the mining, then to 
 pump up the solution, and evaporate it. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CARRINGTON MOSS. 
 
 "Will you walk into my parlour?" said the spider to the fly : 
 "'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy." 
 
 OLD SONG. 
 
 HOULD any of our unknown companions in 
 these rambles be vegetarians, they will please 
 here take notice that Carrington Moss is 
 in the summer-time a scene of ravenous 
 slaughter such as cannot but be exceedingly 
 painful and shocking to them. It will 
 appear the more repulsive from the high 
 character for innocence ordinarily borne by the destroyers, 
 who are the last beings in the world we should expect to 
 find indulging in personal cruelty, much less acting the 
 part of perfidious sirens. Having given this warning, 
 our friends will of course have only themselves to blame 
 should they persist in following us to the spectacle we 
 are about to describe; and now it only remains to say 
 that the perpetrators of the deeds alluded to are plants ! 
 People are apt to look upon plants simply as things that 
 
48 Country Rambles. 
 
 just grow up quietly and inoffensively, open their flowers, 
 love the rain, in due time ripen their seeds, then 
 wither and depart, leaving no more to be recorded of 
 their life and actions than comes of the brief span of the 
 little babe that melts unweaned from its mother's arms. 
 This is quite to mistake their nature. So far from being 
 uniform, and unmarked by anything active, the lives of 
 plants are full from beginning to end of the most curious 
 and diversified phenomena. Not that they act know- 
 ingly, exercising consciousness and volition, this has 
 been the dream only of a few enthusiasts, but taking 
 one plant with another, the history of vegetable life is 
 quite a romance, and scarcely inferior in wonderful cir- 
 cumstance to that of animals. So close is the general 
 resemblance of plants to animals, as regards the vital 
 processes and phenomena, that it would be difficult, if 
 not impossible, to point out a single fact in connection 
 with the one that has not a counterpart, more or less 
 exact, among the other. The animal world is a repeti- 
 tion in finer workmanship of the vegetable. As for 
 harmlessness and inoffensiveness in plants, these are the 
 very last qualities to be ascribed to them. Pleasant are 
 fragrant flowers, and sweet fruits, and wholesome herbs, 
 but these tell only half the tale. No wild beast of the 
 forest rends with sharper teeth than grow on thorn-trees 
 of different kinds; if the wasp darts its poisoned sting 
 into our flesh, so does the nettle; if snakes' bites be 
 mortal, so is the venomous juice of the deadly night- 
 shade. Not in the least surprising is it, then, that we 
 
Latin Plant-names. 49 
 
 should find certain plants indicating a propensity to prey. 
 Animals of lower degree as regards every other disposi- 
 tion of life, why should they not participate in this one ? 
 That they do so is plain. Though as a rule, plants 
 feed upon watery and gaseous matters, supplied by the 
 earth and atmosphere, the members of at least two curious 
 tribes, the Sarracenias, and the Droseracetz or " Sundews," 
 depend not alone on solutions of manure, or other long- 
 since-decayed organic substances, prepared by chemical 
 action, but collect fresh animal food on their own behalf. 
 The latter include the plants that may be seen engaged 
 in their predatory work upon Carrington Moss. 
 
 Before entering upon the consideration of them, we 
 may take the opportunity, furnished by this long word 
 Droserace<z, of saying a little about the "hard names" so 
 often charged upon botanical science. It is continually 
 asked what need is there to call flowers by those excru- 
 ciating Latin titles. Why cannot they have plain English 
 names ? Why must all our names be 
 Like the verbum Graecum, 
 Spermagoraiolekitholakapolides, 
 Words that should only be said upon holidays, 
 When one has nothing else to do ? 
 
 Many make it a ground of abstaining from the study 
 of botany altogether, that the names are so hard to learn, 
 as if every other science and species of knowledge, 
 including history and geography, were not equally full of 
 hard words. But look now at the simple truth of the 
 matter. Very many of the common or "English" names 
 of flowers are in reality their botanical or Latin ones, as 
 E 
 
50 Country Rambles. 
 
 fuchsia, laburnum, camellia, geranium, iris, verbena, 
 rhododendron, so that it is not a question of language 
 after all. To be consistent, these names should be left 
 to the professional man, and "English" ones be manufac- 
 tured in their place; it is clear, however, that they can 
 quite easily be learned and spoken, Latin though they 
 are, and if some can be mastered and found simple 
 enough, of course others can. Besides, what would it 
 advantage us to substitute really English names for them? 
 Nothing would be gained except a synonym, by saying, 
 as we might, "crimson-drop" instead of fuchsia, or 
 " golden-rain" instead of laburnum; while very much 
 would' be lost in precision by using a name of obscure 
 and uncertain origin, and upon which even one's own 
 neighbours might not be agreed, instead of a term fixed 
 by the great leaders in the science of botany, whose 
 judgment all respect, and which is accepted by every 
 nation of the civilised world. It is quite as necessary to 
 call plants by determinate scientific names as to call a 
 certain constellation Orion, and a certain island Spitz- 
 bergen. Botanists do not call plants by Latin names 
 simply out of pedantry, or to make their science difficult, 
 but for the sake of clearness and uniformity. None of the 
 botanical names are so hard as it is fancied; the Lan- 
 cashire botanists in humble life have no trouble with them; 
 the real difficulty is in not caring anything about the ob- 
 jects they are applied to. We do not find those who make 
 so much outcry about the Latin names particularly anxious 
 to learn the English ones either. The English names are 
 
The Sundews. 5 1 
 
 not thrown overboard by their Latin companions. All 
 true botanists, so far from rejecting or despising English 
 names, love them and continually use them, substituting 
 the Latin synonyms only when scientific accuracy requires. 
 Let us now proceed to the sundews, first describing 
 the way to their habitation. All the mosses about 
 Manchester possess these curious plants, but Carrington 
 Moss is the most readily accessible, lying only a little 
 distance south-west of Sale. From the station we go for 
 about a mile in the direction of Ashton-upon-Mersey, 
 then turn up one of the lanes upon the left, and look out 
 for a grove of dark fir-trees, which, being close upon the 
 borders of the moss, is an excellent guide. The edge of 
 the moss is being drained and brought under cultivation ; 
 all this part, along with the ditches, must be crossed, and 
 the higher, undisturbed portion ascended, and as soon 
 as we are up here we find the objects of our search. 
 Among the heather are numberless little marshes, filled 
 with pea-green Sphagnum, and containing often a 
 score or two of the sundews, some of them with round 
 leaves, about a third of an inch across, and growing 
 in flat rosettes of half-a-dozen; others, with long and 
 slender leaves that grow erect. Every leaf is set round 
 with bright red hairs, which spread from it like eyelashes, 
 while similar but shorter hairs cover the surface. When 
 the plant is full-grown and healthy, these hairs exude 
 from their points little drops of sticky and limpid fluid, 
 which, glittering like the diamonds of Aurora, show 
 the reason of the poetical English name, sundew. 
 
52 Country Rambles. 
 
 Directly that any little fly or midge comes in contact with 
 the sticky drops, the unfortunate creature is taken captive, 
 just as birds are caught with bird-lime. Held fast in its 
 jewelled trap, the poor prisoner soon expires; and then, 
 either its juices or the gaseous products of the decom- 
 position, appear to be absorbed by the plant, and thus 
 to constitute a portion of its diet. This is rendered the 
 more probable by the experiments of the late Mr. Joseph 
 Knight, of Chelsea, who fed the large American fly- 
 catcher, the Dioncea, with fibres of raw beef, and found 
 the plant all the better for its good dinners. Certainly it 
 cannot be asserted positively that the Drosera is nourished 
 by its animal prey, but it is difficult to imagine that so 
 extraordinary and successful an apparatus is given to 
 these plants for the mere purpose of destroying midges, 
 and that the higher purpose of food is not the primary 
 one. On the larger leaves may generally be seen relics 
 of the repast, shrivelled bodies, wings, and legs, remind- 
 ing one of the picked bones that strew the entrance to the 
 giant's cavern in the fairy tale. Sundew plants may be 
 kept in a parlour, by planting them in a dishful of green 
 moss, which must be constantly flooded with water, and 
 covering the whole with a glass shade. Exposed to the 
 sunshine, their glittering drops come out abundantly, but 
 the redness of the hairs diminishes sensibly, owing, 
 perhaps, to their being denied their natural prey. The 
 flowers of these singular plants are white, and borne on 
 slender stalks that rise to the height of three or four 
 inches. The roots survive the winter, 
 
Carrington Wild-flowers. 53 
 
 Carrington Moss is further remarkable for the profuse 
 growth of that beautiful flower, the Lancashire asphodel, 
 which, at the end of July and the beginning of August, 
 lights it up with flambeaux of bright yellow. Here also 
 grow the Rhyncospora alba, the cranberry, the Andromeda, 
 and the cotton-sedge, all in great abundance; and on the 
 margin, among the ditches, luxuriant grasses peculiar to 
 moorland, and the finest specimens of the purple heather 
 that are anywhere to be seen so near Manchester. 
 The rich sunset-like lustre of this sturdy but graceful 
 plant renders it one of the loveliest ornaments of our 
 country when summer begins to wane into autumn. 
 Branches, gathered when in full bloom, and laid to dry in 
 the shade, retain their freshness of form and pretty colour 
 for many months, and serve very pleasingly to mix with 
 honesty and everlastings for the winter decoration of the 
 chimneypiece. Intermixed with the heather grows the 
 Erica tetralix, or blushing-maiden heath, an exceedingly 
 elegant species, with light pink flowers, collected in dense 
 clusters at the very summit of the stalk. The immediate 
 borders of the moss, and the lanes approaching it, are 
 prolific in curious plants. To go no further, indeed, 
 quite repays a visit. July is the best time. Then the 
 foxgloves lift their magnificent crimson spires, and the 
 purple-tufted vetch trails its light foliage and delicate 
 clusters beneath the woodbines; and the tall bright 
 lotus in coronets of gold, and the meadow-sweet, smelling 
 like hawthorn, make the lady-fern look its greenest, while 
 in the fields alongside stands, in all its pride of yellow 
 
54 Country Rambles. 
 
 and violet, the great parti-coloured dead-nettle, which 
 here grows in luxuriant perfection. Up to the very end 
 of autumn this district is quite a garden to the practical 
 botanist. Where cultivated and uncultivated land adjoin, 
 just as where land and sea come in contact, there is 
 always found the largest variety and plenty, alike of 
 vegetable and of animal life; and nowhere is this more 
 marked than on the borders of Carrington Moss. The 
 cottages near the moss are but few. Tea may be pro- 
 cured nevertheless, if we are content to run the risk of 
 there being no milk, which, like fish by the sea-side, is 
 often a scarce thing even in the heart of the country; 
 but on a pleasant summer evening, when everything else 
 is fair and contenting, he must be a grumbler indeed who 
 would let this spoil his enjoyment. Half a loaf enjoyed 
 with one's friends, far away in the sweet silence of nature, 
 and a happy walk home afterwards, with loving faces right 
 and left, is better, ten times over, than a luxurious meal 
 got by coming away prematurely. All this part of the 
 country is remarkable also for the luxuriance of its culi- 
 nary vegetables. The rhubarb is some of the finest 
 grown near Manchester, and it is quite a treat to look at 
 the beans. 
 
 Another way to the moss, available for residents at 
 Bowdon, is through Oldfield, and by Seaman's Moss 
 Bridge, where we cross the Warrington railway, to 
 Sinderland, looking out when thus far for a lane upon the 
 right, bordered first by birch-trees and afterwards by 
 oaks. All these lanes, like those on the Ash ton side of 
 
Origin of the Mosses. 55 
 
 the moss, are remarkably rich in wild-flowers and ferns, 
 the latter including the royal fern, or Osmunda, and in 
 early summer show great plenty of the white lychnis, 
 called, from not opening its petals till evening, the 
 vespertina. The pink-flowered lychnis, the "brid-e'en" 
 or "bird's eye" of the country people, is, like the telegraph 
 office, "open always." Here we may perceive the use of 
 Latin or botanical names; for "bird's eye" is applied to 
 many different plants in different parts of England, so 
 that a botanist at a distance who might chance to read 
 these lines could not possibly tell what flower was meant, 
 whereas, in "Lychnis vespertina" there is certainty for all. 
 Whoever is fond of blackberries and wild raspberries 
 would do well to make acquaintance with these pretty 
 lanes; whoever, too, is fond of solitude a state not fit 
 for all, nor for any man too prolongedly, but a true friend 
 to those who can use it. If we would thoroughly enjoy 
 life, we should never overlook the value of occasional 
 solitude. It is one of the four things which we should 
 get a little of, if possible, every day of our lives, namely, 
 reading, good music, sport with little children, and utter 
 seclusion from the busy world. 
 
 The number of mosses and moors in the neighbour- 
 hood of Manchester makes it interesting as in the case 
 of the Cheshire meres, to know something of their origin. 
 The wonderful discoveries of geology, with regard to the 
 crust of the earth, and the successive deposition of the 
 strata of which it is composed, claim our attention 
 scarcely more than the history of the surface, which has 
 
56 Country Rambles. 
 
 undergone changes quite as momentous to the welfare of 
 man, and no part of that history is more curious, perhaps, 
 than that of the mosses. Wherever a moss now extends 
 in wet and dreary waste, it would seem that there was 
 once a plain or expanse of tolerably dry land, more or 
 less plentifully covered with trees and underwood, but 
 subject, by reason of the depressed level, to frequent 
 inundation, just as we see the fields at Sale and Stretford 
 flooded every now and then at the present day. The fall- 
 ing of the older and weaker trees, in consequence of the 
 long-continued wetness, and the want of a steady and com- 
 plete outlet for the accumulated waters, would soon cause 
 the place to assume the character of a marsh, neither 
 land nor lake, and now semi-amphibious plants would 
 not be slow to spring up, for wherever such conditions of 
 surface are exchanged for dry ones, plants of that nature 
 appear as if by magic. The morass thus formed and 
 occupied, would in a single season become knee-deep in 
 the very same kind of mixture as that which now forms 
 the outer skin of Carrington Moss, viz., heather of 
 different kinds, cotton-sedges, and bog-moss. Every 
 successive year the original mass of roots and stems 
 would be left deeper and deeper beneath by the new and 
 upward growth of the vegetation above; till at last, 
 saturated with wet, and pressed by the weight of the 
 superincumbent matter, it would acquire the compact 
 form which is now called "peat." The original moisture 
 of the place, instead of diminishing, would be incessantly 
 reinforced from the clouds, and the lapse of a few cen- 
 
Origin of the Mosses. 5 7 
 
 turies would pile up on the surface of the once dry ground, 
 a heap many yards in vertical thickness of half-decayed, 
 half-living heath and moss, with sundews, cotton-sedges, 
 and asphodels on the top. The branches of the trees 
 drowned and entombed at the beginning, would remain 
 where they fell, slowly decaying, but retaining their 
 character well enough to be recognised, and hence 
 wherever a moss is now drained, and portions of the 
 original deposit are dug out, there are generally found 
 mixed with it branches and fragments that in a 
 measure may be likened to fossils. Carrington Moss, in 
 parts where drained, is strewed with such bits of the 
 silver birch, declared by the shining whiteness of the 
 bark. The trees that these bits belonged to no doubt 
 grew tall and leafy on the spot that is now their 
 sepulchre and memorial. Flowers and seeds of bog 
 plants are also found low down in the moss, almost as 
 fresh as if newly fallen. In the middle, these vast 
 vegetable tumuli are often twenty or thirty feet deep. 
 In any part a walking-stick may be plunged in for its full 
 length, and though by stepping and standing on the 
 denser tufts of heather, it is quite easy to walk about 
 dryshod, it is quite as easy by uncarefulness, especially 
 after wet weather, to be in a pool of water up to the 
 ankle in a few minutes. There is no danger in walking 
 upon the mosses, merely this little risk of getting wet- 
 footed, which is more than compensated by the curious 
 objects that may be found upon them. In winter and 
 dull weather they are desolate enough, but on a summer 
 
58 Country Rambles. 
 
 afternoon full of reward. Owing to their immense 
 capacity for absorption, many mosses swell into mounds 
 higher than the surrounding country, as happens at Car- 
 rington; and after heavy rains this enlargement is so 
 much increased that distant objects are concealed from 
 view until evaporation and drainage have caused sub- 
 sidence to the ordinary level. Before Ashton Moss 
 (between Droylsden and Ashton-under-Lyne) was drained, 
 trees and houses were often lost to view for many days, 
 by persons residing on the opposite side. 
 
 That this is the true origin of the mosses is rendered 
 fairly certain by the circumstance of works of human art 
 having often been found at the bottom. When Ashton 
 Moss was drained, there were found under the peat a 
 Celtic axe and some Roman coins;* and in another part, 
 at the foot of one of the old stumps of trees, a quantity of 
 charred wood, betokening that a fire had once been 
 lighted there. The coins would naturally suggest that 
 some old Roman soldier had had a hand in the kindling, 
 and the well-known fact of the extensive felling of 
 trees by the Romans, both in road-making, and to aid 
 them in the subjugation of the country, has led to the 
 belief with some, that to these people may partially be 
 attributed the origination of the mosses. The trees and 
 scattered branches encumbering the ground, are supposed 
 to have checked the free passage of floods and other 
 water, which, becoming stagnated, gradually destroyed 
 
 * See a description of these coins in the Ashton Reporter, of 
 March I4th, 1857. 
 
The Moors. 59 
 
 the growing timber, and eventually led to the results de- 
 scribed above. Baines (History of Lancashire, iii. 131) 
 says of Chat Moss, that it was originally the site of an 
 immense forest, but was reduced to a bog by the Roman 
 invaders, at a period coeval with the first promulgation 
 of the Christian religion. It would probably be no error 
 to assert with Whitaker, that the whole of the country 
 round Manchester, and not merely the site of Chat 
 Moss, was, at the time of the Romans, covered with 
 trees. One thing is quite certain, namely, that the forma- 
 tion of the mosses is comparatively recent, and probably 
 much within one thousand eight hundred years. They 
 appear to rest universally on a clayey substratum, and it 
 is very interesting to observe that where the peat is wholly 
 removed, for the purpose of fuel, as upon Holford Moss, 
 near Toft and Peover, the clay surface being then laid 
 bare, birch-trees spring up unsown. The seeds of these 
 trees must have been lying there since they ripened, 
 unable to vegetate previously for want of air and the 
 solar warmth. It is quite a familiar phenomenon for 
 plants to spring up in this way from seeds that have been 
 buried for ages, especially on earth laid bare by cuttings 
 for railways and similar works ; so in truth it is no more 
 than would be expected in connection with the clearing 
 away of peat, and the restoration of the under-surface. 
 The tree next in frequency to the birch, as a denizen of 
 the old silva, appears to have been the oak. 
 
 "Moors" are a more consolidated form of mosses. 
 Seated, most usually, on higher and more easily drained 
 
60 Country Rambles. 
 
 ground than the mosses, they have in some cases 
 preserved a drier nature from the first; in others, they 
 have become drier in the course of time, through the 
 escape of their moisture by runnels to lower levels; and 
 in others again, they have allowed of easy artificial drain- 
 ing, and conversion to purposes of pasturage and tillage, 
 or at least over a considerable portion of their surface, 
 and have thus disappeared into farm-land. The most 
 extensive and celebrated mosses about Manchester, still 
 undrained, are Chat Moss, Carrington Moss, and Clifton 
 Moss, near the Clifton railway station, on the left hand of 
 the Bolton-road. Fifteen years ago (i.e. in 1843), White 
 Moss and Ashton Moss might have been included in the 
 list, but both of these are now largely brought under 
 cultivation. The most celebrated moors are now nearly 
 all under the power of the plough, as Baguley Moor and 
 Sale Moor, while Newton Heath is covered with houses. 
 The above chapter was written in 1858. The story of 
 the sundews has now become an old familiar one, having 
 been placed prominently before the world by Dr. Hooker 
 during the 1874 meeting of the British Association, when 
 the novelty of the theme attracted universal attention to 
 it. It has been dealt with also by Mr. Darwin and many 
 of his disciples. The facts described have all been 
 verified, though there is still considerable difference of 
 opinion in regard to the digestive process. This question 
 is one we cannot pretend to go further into at present; 
 it remains for the rising generation of Manchester, and 
 other local physiologists, to recognise the value of the 
 
Carrington. 61 
 
 opportunities they possess in having the plants them- 
 selves so close at hand. Upon Carrington, however, the 
 Droseras seem to be less plentiful than they were forty 
 years ago. The draining at the margins appears to have 
 favoured the growth of the heather, as well as to have 
 rendered the moss less swampy. If deficient here, there 
 are plenty elsewhere, the sundews being to peat-bogs 
 what daisies are to the meadows. Since 1858 the 
 approaches to the moss from the Manchester side have 
 also been a good deal altered, and enquiry must now be 
 made of residents in the neighbourhood when seeking 
 the most convenient means of access. 
 
 Extending so far in the direction of Dunham, the 
 wooded slopes of which latter are plainly visible from 
 all parts, wet Carrington, 
 
 Water, water, everywhere, 
 And not a drop to drink, 
 
 excites new relish for the shades of its beautiful park. 
 Few are the inhabitants of our town to whom Dunham 
 is unknown, and who fail upon every new visit to find in 
 it a poem and a jubilee. The greater number of the 
 trees were planted by George, second Earl of Warrington. 
 He was born in 1675, and died in 1758, so that his 
 exemplary work may be considered to date from the time, 
 as to its beginning, of Queen Anne, and the oldest of the 
 trees to have been growing for nearly two centuries, 
 since, of course, it would not be acorns that were placed 
 in the soil, but saplings, already stout and hearty. 
 Wandering amid the rich glooms they now afford, 
 
62 Country Rambles. 
 
 occasional breaks and interspaces disclosing green 
 hollows filled with sunlight, or crested knolls that seem 
 like sanctuaries; delicate pencillings of lighter foliage 
 throwing into grand relief the darker and heavier masses, 
 in this sweet land there is never any sense of sameness, 
 we are awakened rather to the power there is in perfect 
 sylvan scenery, as well as in that of the mountains, and 
 the sea-margin, to elevate and refresh one's entire spiritual 
 nature. Very pleasant is it when we can simultaneously 
 thank God for creating noble trees, and let the mind rest 
 upon a fellow-creature as the immediate donor. Many 
 of the old Dunham oaks date considerably further back 
 than the time indicated. England is dotted all over with 
 individual trees, the age of which is rightfully estimated 
 by centuries, and Dunham Park is not without its 
 reverend share. 
 
 Emerging from the park, past the old mill beloved 
 of sketching artists there are pleasant footways across 
 the meadows that conduct eventually to Lymm. To 
 trace them was, in the bygones, a never-failing enjoyment. 
 Now we go to Lymm direct by train, finding there, as 
 of old, one of the most beautiful of the Cheshire waters ; 
 in this case, however, of origin very different from the 
 Vale Royal meres. The water at Lymm, romantic and 
 picturesque as are its surroundings, is simply a vast 
 reservoir, brought into existence by the construction of 
 the viaduct at the foot. The site now occupied by the 
 water was originally a little vale, down which flowed a 
 streamlet called the Dane. Becoming very narrow where 
 
Lymm. 63 
 
 the roadway now is, to throw a barricade across was easy. 
 The construction of this gave distinctiveness also to the 
 "dell," the pretty hollow, full of trees, into which, when 
 the water is high, the overplus, creeping under the road 
 by a concealed channel, springs so cheerily. Ordinarily, 
 it must be confessed, there is little more than a thin 
 trickle, but after a day or two's heavy rain, down it 
 comes, with a joyous double leap, in great sheaves and 
 waving veils, the more delectable since the cascade in 
 question is the only one in this part of Cheshire, or 
 anywhere upon the Cheshire side of the town. 
 
 The pleasantest time to visit this beautiful neighbour- 
 hood is the very end of July. The wild cherries are 
 then ripe, and glisten like coral amid the green leaves ; 
 and in the water there is a rosy archipelago of persicaria 
 blossom. Beyond the plantation, at the upper extremity, 
 the surface is often so still and placid that every flower 
 and leaf upon the banks finds its image beneath, the 
 inverted foxgloves changing, as the calm gives way to 
 ripples, into softly twining spirals of crimson light. 
 When the shores are laid unusually bare through drought, 
 they furnish abundance of the beautiful shells of the 
 fresh-water mussel, Anodonta cygnea, often four inches in 
 length, externally olive-green, and possessed inside of 
 the pearly iridescence so much admired in sea-shells. 
 Many, however, are broken, the swans being fond of the 
 contents. To see the water to its full extent, visitors 
 should continue along the hillside, opposite the church, 
 and as far as the grove of trees. With permission of the 
 
64 Country Rambles. 
 
 proprietor, it is a great gain, on arrival there, to cross 
 by the rustic bridge, and, turning to the left, ascend the 
 little valley called " Ridding's Brook." The botany of 
 this part is truly rich, in March the slopes are yellow 
 with the wild daffodil, and in late summer the bank is 
 gay with purple lythrum. The special interest of the 
 valley lies, after all, in its curious dropping and petrifying 
 spring. At the further extremity, upon the right, the 
 steep clay bank, instead of receding, is hollowed 
 underneath for the length of a hundred yards or so, the 
 upper edge projecting to a considerable distance beyond 
 the base, so as to overhang the stream, and form a 
 sloping roof to it. The surface is completely covered 
 with luxuriant moss, and from the land overhead comes 
 an incessant filter of water, which at once nourishing the 
 moss and entangled in it, causes it to hang down in long 
 vegetable ringlets. At a distance they seem soft, but 
 examination shows that every drop has brought along 
 with it a particle of earth, which being deposited in the 
 very substance of the moss, is gradually converting it 
 into stone. Every cluster, externally so green and living, 
 is in its heart a petrifaction. 
 
 Very pleasant walks, of entirely different character, 
 are to be found also, when at Lymm, along the great 
 alluvial flat bordered by the river, and which reaches to 
 Thelwall. Thelwall was once a port for ships ! When 
 founded by Edward the elder, about the year 923, the 
 stream was so much wider and deeper that, according to 
 tradition, the Danish invaders came this way in vessels, 
 
War bur ton. 65 
 
 landed, and established a camp or fortress at Mickley 
 Hill, the mound, now covered with fir trees, which marks 
 the point where the Bollin enters. Up to about 1855, 
 or before the water was so defiled, the Mersey at this 
 part, and more particularly near Statham, was to the 
 sportsman supremely attractive. It was visited in the 
 winter by many curious birds, including the sheldrake, 
 the widgeon, the teal, and occasionally the wild swan. 
 Lymm village contains several objects of archaeological 
 interest. Near the centre are the remains of an ancient 
 cross, the lower steps of which are cut out of the 
 solid rock; and close by, upon an eminence, is Lymm 
 Hall, an ancient building, once, like most others of its 
 kind, protected by a moat. Lymm church tower is as 
 high above the sea-level at the base as Bowdon old 
 tower is at the top. The shrubs in the gardens, owing to 
 the altitude, are often reached, in tempestuous weather, 
 by the salt of the Irish Sea. Near Lymm there are many 
 other very interesting places. Oughtrington Hall and 
 Agden Hall, in the Dunham direction; High Legh, with 
 its ancient and beautiful little church, covered with ivy; 
 and Warburton, again noted for its church, are all, in their 
 respective ways, full of attraction. Warburton church is 
 one of the three in Cheshire which, as at Peover, were 
 built in the quaint old "black and white" or "magpie" 
 style. Only a portion, however, of the original remains 
 at Warburton, new structures, very odd in complexion, 
 having been added at various times. The stone part is 
 dated 1645, the tower, about a century old, and 
 F 
 
66 . Country Rambles. 
 
 fortunately now ivy-mantled, is of brick ! The yews are 
 no doubt contemporaneous with the foundation, say 
 about seven hundred years of age. 
 
 Latchford, the station next beyond Thelwall, is a good 
 point of departure for Hill Cliff, the lofty and beautiful 
 eminence upon which Warrington so prides itself. The 
 view from the summit is considered by many the most 
 varied and extensive in Cheshire justly so, perhaps, 
 since upon the east it extends to Alderley, and upon the 
 west to Moel Famma. Another route to Hill Cliff is by 
 the original line to Warrington, through Eccles, from 
 Victoria station, the same which leads on to Norton for 
 Norton Priory, Norton Park, and Halton Castle; to 
 Frodstfam, for its glorious hills, and to Chester. The 
 views from the Frodsham hills cover, like those from 
 Hill Cliff, a most charming variety of scene, Halton 
 Castle, Weston Point, Rock Savage, the Aston Woods, 
 and the winding Weaver, with its many craft, being all 
 embraced at once. The best way of procedure, in order 
 to enjoy the hills thoroughly, is to take the Helsby 
 portion first, beginning at the station of that name, then 
 to cross the valley and ascend the Overton part. If con- 
 sidered too much for a single day, there is amply enough 
 for a couple of separate visits. Norton Park, made up 
 of undulating and flowery glades, with the Priory in the 
 centre, is little less enjoyable than Tatton, though the 
 spectacle of the dire mischief wrought by the fumes 
 from the adjacent alkali-works, apparently irreparable, is 
 very sad; Halton Castle has its chief attraction in the 
 
Dunham Massey. 67 
 
 record, for the precincts, of well-known historical events ; 
 the interest of the river consists in its identification with 
 one of the most important branches of the local com- 
 merce. Before going so far in search of enjoyment, it is 
 wise to remember that long before reaching even Lymin, 
 the line via Broadheath gives access to quiet fields that in 
 summer evenings are rich in pleasant influence, those in 
 particular which lie west of Dunham Massey. A very 
 delightful rural neighbourhood, almost contiguous, has 
 also now been opened up by the " Cheshire Midland." 
 Urmston, Flixton, and Glazebrook are centres from which 
 it is difficult to move unprofitably. Very much of course 
 depends upon the amount of disposition to be pleased 
 that we carry with us, and upon one's progress in the 
 culture of that finest of the fine arts the art of seeing. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 GATLE Y C ARRS. 
 
 We live by admiration, hope, and love, 
 And even as these are well and wisely fixed, 
 In dignity of being we ascend. 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 HERE is not a more delightful ride out of 
 town, at any season of the year, than through 
 Rusholme and Didsbury to Cheadle. The 
 country is on either hand fertile and 
 pleasantly wooded, and in many places 
 embellished with handsome grounds, while 
 gardens and shrubberies succeed one another 
 so fast that the road seems completely edged with them. 
 The variety of trees presented to view is greater than 
 upon any other road out of Manchester. In the five 
 miles between Ducie-street and Abney Hall, we have 
 counted upwards of forty different species, some of them 
 by no means frequent in these parts, while others are 
 uncommonly fine examples of their kind. The finest 
 sycamore, and, after the great horse-chestnut between 
 Singleton and Besses-o'th'-Barn, perhaps the finest tree 
 of any sort near Manchester, as regards either symmetry 
 
The Didsbury Road. 69 
 
 or altitude, stands upon the lawn of Mr. T. H. Nevill's 
 house at Didsbury, the second on the Manchester side 
 of the College. Oak, willow, elm, poplar in three 
 different kinds, lime, ash, and beech, both green and 
 purple, are also represented very fairly. There are 
 examples, too, of walnut, of negundo, and of tulip trees. 
 A noble specimen of the last-named stood not far from 
 the Didsbury sycamore until about 1855, and was covered 
 with flowers every season ; but, like the cedar in the 
 grounds adjoining Mr. Callender's late residence at 
 Rusholme, which was another of the finest trees on the 
 road, fell a victim about that time to the axe of 
 "improvement." Each was a cruel case of what Miss 
 Mitford well calls "tree murder." Such trees cannot be 
 replaced in less than three generations ; the sycamore at 
 Mr. Nevill's is already over a hundred years old; so near 
 to Manchester, it will probably be impossible ever to see 
 the like of them again; let us hope, then, that what remain 
 will be cherished. Cut them down when they become 
 ruinous, if you will, though nothing makes a more 
 beautiful ornament of true pleasure-grounds than the 
 torso of an ancient tree from which the living glory has 
 departed, but spare them as long as vigorous life 
 endures. So numerous are the lilacs, laburnums, chest- 
 nuts, thorns, both white and red, and other gay-blossomed 
 contributors to this charming arboretum, that from the 
 end of May till the middle of June the road is one long 
 flower-show. Before these commence their gala, there 
 are the apple and pear trees; earlier yet the silver 
 
70 Country Rambles. 
 
 birches, covered with their pendent catkins; and in the 
 autumn we seem to have flowers over again in the scarlet 
 berries of the holly and mountain ash. 
 
 Not only is the road beautiful in itself, but to residents 
 upon the Greenheys and Chorlton side of the town, the 
 opportunities which it provides of access to scenes of 
 rural beauty are peculiarly advantageous. Stretford way, 
 there is nothing worth mention till we reach Dunham. 
 There are plenty of quiet lanes, it is true, and the farm 
 land is well cultivated; but in landscape, the whole of 
 the great plain intersected by the Bowdon Railway is 
 totally and admittedly deficient. With Didsbury, on the 
 other hand, we enter a country fit for a Linnell. We 
 may turn down by the church to the river-side, and follow 
 the stream through pleasant fields to Northen; or we 
 may push forward another mile, cross the Mersey at 
 Cheadle Bridge, and strike into a scene of such singular 
 and romantic beauty, and so thoroughly unique in its 
 composition, that we know of nothing in the neighbour- 
 hood to liken it to. This is the place called "Gatley 
 Carrs." It is easily found. Immediately the bridge is 
 crossed, take the broad path through the meadow on the 
 right, and look out for the chimney of Mr. Jowett's corn- 
 mill. Go through the mill-yard, and over the brook, 
 then through another field or two into a lane red with 
 refuse from a tile-croft, and in a little while there will be 
 seen, again upon the right, a cluster of cottages and 
 barns. These surround a bit of sward called " Gatley 
 Green," which must be traversed, and after a hundred 
 
Gatley Carrs. 71 
 
 yards further walk by a runnel of water, we have the 
 Carrs straight before us. The term "Carr" is of Gothic 
 derivation, and denotes an expanse of level land, near a 
 river, covered with alders or other water-loving trees. 
 Such is the character of the scene here. An extensive 
 and verdant plain, smooth and level as a bowling-green, 
 stretches from our feet away to some undiscoverable 
 boundary, its further portion covered with tall poplars, 
 entirely bare of branches for half their height, and leafy 
 only towards their summit, the trunks standing just near 
 enough together to form a grove of pillared foliage, and 
 just far enough apart for every tree to be seen in its 
 integrity, and for the sunshine to penetrate and illuminate 
 every nook. They are not the kind of poplar commonly 
 understood by the name the slender, spire-like tree, 
 which is quite exceptional even among poplars but one 
 of the species with ample and spreading crowns. The 
 number of trees is immense at a rough guess, perhaps a 
 thousand. They were planted by the late Mr. Worthing- 
 ton, of Sharston Hall ; the timber, though almost useless 
 to the joiner, being well adapted for cutting into the thin, 
 narrow strips called " swords," upon which it is customary 
 to fold silks. The path commanding this beautiful view 
 runs along the upper margin of the plain. It is some- 
 what elevated above the grass, and keeps company with 
 a stream, the opposite bank of which rises still higher, 
 and is covered with oaks and ferns. The superiority of 
 position thus afforded, though trifling, gives to the plain 
 the aspect of a vast amphitheatre, and so calm and 
 
72 Country Rambles. 
 
 delicious is the whole scene, so tranquil and consecrated 
 the look of the untrodden wood, that it seems surely one 
 of the sacred groves of the Druids, and one can hardly 
 think but that presently we shall see the priests enter in 
 grand procession, in their white robes and ancient beards, 
 and carrying the golden knife that is to sever the misletoe 
 bough. In the evening there come effects of yet rarer 
 charm, for then the declining sun casts long interlineations 
 of shadow across the level, and lights up every leaf from 
 underneath. 
 
 The botany of the Carrs corresponds in extent with 
 that of Mobberley, though in many respects quite 
 different. The greatest curiosity, perhaps, is the tooth- 
 wort, or Lathr&a, that singular plant which, disliking the 
 solar ray, lives recluse in woods and groves, often half- 
 concealed in dead tree-leaves, and scarcely lifting its 
 cadaverous bloom above the surface. Here also grows 
 the Poa nemoralis. The meads yield occasional specimens 
 of a pretty rose-coloured variety of the creeping bugle, 
 and are so rich in wild-flowers in general as to form, 
 along with the woods beside the stream, quite a natural 
 botanic garden. The further part of the wood, towards 
 Sharston, is, no doubt, the abode of many plants of 
 interest, and only wants searching out. The reputation 
 of a given locality for rare plants comes not infrequently 
 of some one of ardour having gone to work upon it; 
 innumerable places, were they thoroughly explored, 
 would rise from unimportance into fame. Happily, as 
 regards Gatley Carrs, Mr. Edward Stone, son of the 
 
The Moon-daisy. 73 
 
 able and well-known chemist, whose collection, both of 
 indigenous and exotic plants, in his garden at Cheadle, 
 has done so much good service to the cause of botany, 
 is devoting himself to the task. 
 
 The stream above-mentioned curves, after a little 
 while, to the right, and the path changes to the opposite 
 side. It is at this point that the extent of the wood is 
 developed, and that we turn to go homewards. If time 
 permit, it is well to continue awhile along the middle 
 path in front, and visit first the Upper Carrs, which, as 
 seen from the terrace that runs all the way from Cheadle 
 to Baguley, are remarkably beautiful. The wood, as here 
 disclosed, is full of invitation, and where the branches 
 stand asunder, we see great prairies, the green grass 
 all a-glow with red sorrel blossom, and dotted with 
 islands of radiant white, where that giant of field flowers, 
 the great moon-daisy, shows its pride. This noble 
 ornament of our meadow-land, called on the other side 
 of the Tweed the "horse-gowan," is one of the class of 
 flowers called "compound," being made up of some 
 hundreds of "florets" or miniature flowers, enclosed in 
 a kind of basket. An average specimen has been 
 found to contain five hundred and sixty, and a fine 
 one no fewer than eight hundred. The florets are 
 disposed in exquisite curving lines, exactly resembling 
 the back of an engine-turned watch. What has the 
 ingenuity of man ever devised that has not its proto- 
 type somewhere in nature ? The chalice holding this 
 remarkable flower is of the most elegant construction, 
 
74 Country Rambles. 
 
 and in form like an acorn-cup. Moving on by the brook- 
 side, after crossing it at the bridge, we soon enter a 
 spacious meadow upon the left, and find ourselves again 
 in sight of the Mersey. On the bank of the stream, just 
 before quitting it, may be seen the wild red-currant, 
 making, with its neighbours, the wild raspberry and the 
 wood strawberry, a show of native fruits without parallel 
 in this neighbourhood. The meadow is of exuberant 
 fertility, owing to the annual flood from the river. 
 Leaving it, we come next to a rising ground, planted 
 with white willows, and from this emerge into a lane, 
 and so over the brow of the hill to Northen churchyard. 
 Northen, of course, becomes a resting-place, and a very 
 pleasant one it is. Both church and churchyard deserve 
 examination. The former contains a neat monument 
 to the memory of Mr. Worthington, the planter of the 
 poplars in the Carrs, and another with an epitaph 
 attributed to the pen of Alexander Pope.* Several 
 pretty memorials of the dead occur likewise among the 
 tombstones outside. On one fragment there is seemingly 
 written with green moss, the graving in the stone being 
 entirely filled up with the plant 
 
 ANNE - DOVG 
 
 H T A R - O F - 
 
 HVMFREY S A 
 
 VAGE DYED 
 
 * The epitaph, Mr. Kelly kindly points out to me, is veritably 
 Pope's, but was originally written for the Hon. Robt. Digby and his 
 sister Mary. It was altered and abridged to suit the monument 
 which now bears it, one to the memory of the Hon. Penelope 
 Ducie Tatton, who died Jan. 31, 1747. 
 
Nor then. 75 
 
 On another are the following pretty lines : 
 
 The cup of life just with her lips she pressed, 
 Found the taste bitter, and declined the rest ; 
 Averse then turning from the face of day, 
 She softly sighed her little soul away. 
 
 From Northen to Manchester the ways are many. 
 One is to walk two miles and a half along the lanes to 
 Sale Moor station; a second, to follow the southern 
 bank of the river to Jackson's boat; a third, is to cross 
 the fields into the Cheadle road, and catch the townwards 
 omnibus, a distance of less than a mile; and the last, to 
 our own mind much the pleasantest first along the 
 northern bank for about a mile, and then across the fields 
 towards Platt and Rusholme. The commencement of 
 the last-named is exceedingly delightful, the water flow- 
 ing on the left, woods and pastures upon the right, in 
 the evening sweetly enlivened by the cuckoo. Nothing 
 in the year's round of pleasure is more heart-soothing 
 than an hour in these quiet fields immediately after 
 sunset, while it is too light for the stars, but the planets 
 peer forth in their beautiful lustre, and the darkness 
 quickens our ears to the slightest sound. The nightingale 
 alone is wanting to complete the effect, but we have no 
 nightingales near Manchester. There is nothing for 
 them to eat, and they stay away. The bird sometimes 
 mistaken for the nightingale, from its singing at the same 
 hours, and running through a variety of notes, is the 
 sedge-warbler. 
 
 Enjoying this sweet neighbourhood in early summer, 
 and while it is yet broad day, one can hardly fail to 
 
76 Country Rambles. 
 
 notice the tribe of grasses, at least up to the time of 
 haymaking. No fewer than sixty-three different kinds 
 may be collected about Manchester, and fully a third of 
 these in the meadows. The remainder are inhabitants 
 of the woods and ponds, while a few grow exclusively 
 upon the moors. Attaining their perfection in May and 
 June, easily collected, and not withering on the way 
 home, the grasses are the very best plants to begin with 
 in forming a collection of dried flowers. We have 
 spoken before of the pleasure that attends this pursuit : 
 the utility, to anyone who takes the slightest interest in 
 nature, is quite upon a par. How pleasant at Christmas 
 to turn over the pages of one's Hortus Siccus, freshening 
 our remembrance alike of the beautiful and diversified 
 shapes of the plants, and of the days and scenes where 
 they were gathered ! A more interesting or instructive 
 pursuit for a young person, of either sex, than to set 
 about collecting specimens of the grasses, ferns, and 
 wild-flowers in general, that they meet with in their 
 country walks, is in truth scarcely to be found. The 
 attraction it gives to the country is prodigious, and surely 
 it is more sensible when out in the fields thus to employ 
 one's self than to wander along listlessly for want of an 
 object, and perhaps get into mischief. The method 
 to pursue is exceedingly simple. First get together a 
 quantity of old newspapers, and fold them to about 
 eighteen inches square. Then buy a few quires of 
 Bentall's botanical drying paper, and procure also three 
 or four pieces of stout millboard. Such is the apparatus ; 
 
How to Dry Plants. 77 
 
 nothing more is wanted; and next we must gather our 
 specimens, selecting, to begin with, such as are of slender 
 make and comparatively juiceless texture. Pieces of 
 about a foot long are large enough, but if the plant be 
 less than ten or twelve inches in height, it should be 
 taken root and all. Having the boards and papers in 
 readiness, lay one of the former as a foundation, and to 
 serve as a tray; upon this place a folded newspaper, and 
 upon this a sheet of Bentall, and then the specimen 
 intended to be dried. Over the specimen should come 
 a second sheet of Bentall, then another newspaper, and 
 so on till the whole collecting is deposited. All being 
 in order, it remains only to place a heavy weight 
 upon the top of the pile, so as to press the plants flat, 
 and prevent the air entering to shrivel them. The 
 easiest weights to use are common red bricks, but, as 
 bricks look untidy in a parlour, and are unpleasant to 
 handle in their naked state, they should be tied up neatly 
 and separately in smooth brown paper, and then not the 
 most fastidious or weak-fingered can object to them. In 
 this condition the pile should be left till the next day, 
 when it should be turned over, layer by layer, and the 
 specimens transferred into dry Bentall. The newspapers 
 need not be changed unless the plants are succulent 
 ones, and their moisture has penetrated. The weight 
 should then be replaced, and the pile again be left to 
 itself for three or four days, when the specimens will be 
 found perfectly dry, their forms scarcely altered, and 
 their colours, except in special cases, almost as bright as 
 
78 Country Rambles. 
 
 when growing. For very delicate plants, instead of 
 Bentall, it is best to use sheets of clean white cotton- 
 wadding, with tissue paper, to prevent the specimens 
 clinging to the cotton when of adhesive nature. When 
 quite deprived of their juices, the specimens should 
 be transferred into sheets of white paper, and neatly 
 fastened down, not with gum arabic, which is apt to 
 smear and look untidy, but with a solution of caout- 
 chouc in naphtha, sold in the shops under the name of 
 "indiarubber cement." The great advantage of this is 
 that if any should exude from below the specimen, it 
 may, when dry, be rubbed off like a pencil mark. The 
 name of the plant, and the date and place where 
 gathered, should be written underneath. Giving a 
 summer to the work, it is surprising how soon a large 
 and beautiful collection of plants will accumulate, and 
 how rapidly we feel ourselves progressing in botanical 
 knowledge. Taking ordinary care, there is no reason 
 why plants should not look nearly as green and pretty 
 when dried as when living. If an herbarium be only a 
 heap of Latin hay, as sometimes happens, it is not that 
 the art of preserving plants is deceptive, but that the 
 collector has been clumsy or neglectful. Nor are dried 
 plants, as some esteem them, mere vegetable mummies, 
 wretched corpses devoid of all instructiveness or value, 
 for they are far more lively than drawings, and answer 
 all our questions with readiness. Many good botanists, 
 it is true, have done without such collections, showing 
 that they are by no means indispensable to the study of 
 
Wythenshawe. 79 
 
 botany. But none who have taken the trouble to form 
 them ever regret it, while all confess their inestimable 
 service. Even if the herbarium served no scientific 
 purpose whatever, there is always the pleasure of finding 
 in it a garden all the year round. 
 
 Here spring perpetual leads the laughing hours, 
 And winter wears a wreath of summer flowers. 
 
 Via Northen is the pleasantest route to the beautiful 
 district of which the centre is Wythenshawe Hall, a 
 remarkably fine building of the time of James the First, 
 and at present the seat of Mr. Thomas Wm. Tatton. It 
 is approached through a piece of ground called the "Sax- 
 field," upon which tradition says there was once a terrible 
 fight between Saxons and Danes ; old maps mark the 
 place with crossed swords. We have not much of 
 historical interest pertaining to the neighbourhood of 
 Manchester, but what there is seems to concentrate 
 about Northen. The Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, 
 crossed the river in 1 745, at a place not very far below 
 Cheadle Bridge, and it is curious that the Prince 
 Consort's visit, in 1857, when he came to open the 
 Art-Treasures Exhibition at Old Trafford, should have 
 been made by way of the very bridge alluded to. In 
 1644 Wythenshawe was besieged by a party of Cromwell's 
 soldiers, who planted a battery on the side overlooking 
 Northen, and threw many cannon-shots against the 
 house. During some alterations in the garden a 
 few years since, and the conversion of a pond-bottom 
 into flower-beds, several of the balls were found; and 
 
80 Country Rambles. 
 
 another, which entered by the drawing-room window, 
 and smashed the wood-carving on the opposite wall, is 
 shown to visitors privileged to view this beautiful hall. 
 The carving was not replaced, so that the blank space 
 preserves a distinct memorial of the attack. The siege 
 was conducted by the celebrated Colonel Robert Duken- 
 field, the most conspicuous soldier, after Sir William 
 Brereton, in the Cheshire history of the Civil War. It 
 occupied some time, and was only brought to a close by 
 getting two pieces of ordnance from Manchester, the 
 same probably from which the balls above alluded to 
 were discharged. During its progress, one of the maid- 
 servants inside, for her amusement, took aim with a 
 musket at an officer of the Parliamentary forces, who was 
 carelessly lounging about, and managed to kill him. He is 
 supposed to have been the "Captayne Adams," stated in 
 the Stockport register of burials to have been "slayne at 
 Withenshawe, on Sunday, the 25th." In the course of 
 alterations in the grounds during the last century, six 
 skeletons were discovered. They were lying close together, 
 and are reasonably supposed to have been those of soldiers 
 who perished during the siege. Cromwell afterwards 
 stayed at the hall, and slept in a room still called, from 
 his occupation of it, " Oliver Cromwell's room." The 
 bed, which is dated 1619, is of elegantly carved wood, 
 the furniture and mirrors matching it, and of the same 
 age. The wood-carving at Lyme Hall is usually con- 
 sidered to show the best local work of the period, but 
 that at Wythenshawe, in the opinion of many, is still 
 
Baguley Old Hall. 81 
 
 finer. The gardens surrounding the hall are full of 
 curious trees, many of them remarkably good and shapely 
 specimens, especially an Arbor vitce, consisting of a tall 
 green pyramid, surrounded by minarets, like a spire 
 with pinnacles round the base, and exquisitely beautiful 
 when swayed slopingly by the wind. In 1858 there 
 sprang up in a piece of newly-turned land at the back 
 of the hall, many hundreds of the Rumex sangtiineiis , 
 its large oval light-green leaves traced and pencilled in 
 every direction with the richest crimson. The ordinary 
 green-juiced form of the plant is common enough, but 
 the crimson-juiced is one of the rarities of our Flora. 
 
 Further again, for those who care for rural pleasures 
 and the legacies of the past, there is the interesting 
 district of Baguley and its old hall. Only one large 
 apartment of the latter remains, the greater portion of the 
 structure having, at some remote period, been destroyed 
 by fire; the buildings which surround and prop up the 
 ancient piece are comparatively new. Baguley Old Hall 
 is well worth a visit, and may be reached, if more con- 
 venient to excursionists, by way of Sale Moor station, 
 and a walk of two or three miles along the lanes. In 
 the interior, it will be observed that the doorways are 
 formed of oaken boughs that were curved at one 
 extremity, so that when sliced and reared on end, with 
 the curved portions directed one towards the other, they 
 would form arches. These arches are exceedingly 
 curious, and, along with the numerous armorial bearings, 
 form quite a noticeable feature of the place. A walk 
 G 
 
 
82 Country Rambles. 
 
 across a few fields leads to Baguley Mill. The lanes are 
 full of fragrant roses ; the high hedges shelter innumerable 
 veronicas; and by the sides of the little water-courses, 
 close to the mill, grows abundance of the hart's-tongue fern. 
 To attempt the whole in the space of a single afternoon, 
 of course is not practicable, especially if one is verging 
 towards that inexorable period of life when gravitation 
 begins to get the better of a man sooner than he has 
 been accustomed to; nor is it intended to recommend 
 so much. Gatley Carrs suffice for one walk; the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood of Northen and the river banks 
 provide another; and Baguley via Sale will pleasantly 
 supply objects for a third. There is a fourth, moreover, 
 well commenced at Didsbury, but keeping in the direction 
 of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, so as eventually to reach Barlow 
 Hall, the local residence of Mr. William Cunliffe Brooks. 
 The archaeological interest of Barlow Hall we have not 
 room here to enlarge upon. It must suffice to invite 
 attention to Mr. Letherbrow's beautiful etching of the 
 best fragment in preservation, the period of which is 
 believed to be that of the reign of Henry VIII., when 
 the hall was occupied by the very ancient and historical 
 family of de Barlow, allied by marriage to the still more 
 celebrated Stanleys, as shown by the heraldry of the 
 window. 
 
 No chapter of the original little volume of 1858 calls 
 for so many obituary notices, now in 1882, as this one 
 descriptive of Gatley Carrs. The magnificent, not to say 
 unique, Didsbury sycamore was cut down a year or two 
 
Railways. 83 
 
 after the publication. The great horse-chestnut, near 
 Singleton has disappeared.* Mr. Callender died in 1872. 
 Mr. Stone, sen., is also "with the majority," and the Carrs 
 themselves no longer deserve the ancient appellation, 
 having been crossed by a railway embankment. A good 
 deal remains no doubt that is pretty and pleasing, but the 
 picture drawn above exists no longer. That a locality 
 once so beautiful should have been thus rudely dealt 
 with is unfortunate, few will deny. But nothing that 
 contributes to the prosperity of a great nation, or to the 
 public welfare, is at any time to be deplored. Such 
 changes simply illustrate anew the primaeval law that 
 great purposes shall always demand some kind of 
 sacrifice. 
 
 * It may be well to say that this grand old tree stood by the lodge 
 gates of Polefield Hall, a few hundred yards through the village of 
 Holyrood, or Rooden Lane, on the right towards Besses-o'-th'-Barn. 
 Unlike the Didsbury sycamore, which was in the prime of its princely 
 life, the Singleton horse-chestnut had become decrepid, and during 
 the rigour of the winters beginning in 1878 received injuries from 
 which it could not possibly recover. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BY THE NORTH-WESTERN LINE THROUGH STOCKPORT. 
 
 Oh, my lord, lie not idle : 
 The chiefest action for a man of great spirit 
 Is never to be out of action. We should think 
 The soul was never put into the body, 
 Which has so many rare and curious pieces 
 Of mathematical motion, to stand still. 
 
 WEBSTER. 
 
 EFORE the opening of the "Manchester and 
 Birmingham" a title now forgotten, the line 
 having been absorbed into the London and 
 North-Western the road through Rusholme, 
 Didsbury, and Cheadle was the accustomed 
 highway to Congleton, via Wilmslow, to 
 which latter place the hand still points at certain corners 
 within a mile or two of All Saints' Church. The 
 Cheadle people occasionally made use of it for pic-nic 
 carriage parties to a fir-crowned steep just beyond 
 Chorley, a wilderness scarcely inhabited, and, save for 
 its checking the speed of travellers from Knutsford to 
 Macclesfield, scarcely recognized in the local geography. 
 How vast the revolution promoted in 1842 ! The wilder- 
 
N ore life. 85 
 
 ness soon became decked with mansions and gardens ; it 
 blossomed as the rose; and "Alderley Edge" is now 
 little less than a suburb of Manchester. 
 
 The old carriage-way being superseded by the rail, 
 and much that is delightful being reached by train long 
 before getting to Alderley, we will now accordingly make 
 new departure for fair Cheshire by way of Stockport. 
 Arrived at Wilmslow the old-fashioned, the Bollin re- 
 appears, this particular point being in truth the head of 
 the valley through which the stream, as before mentioned, 
 pursues its sinuous and rapid course to Ashley. The 
 country upon the right is full of quiet lanes and pretty 
 meadows, none of which are more pleasing than those 
 containing the path to the margin of Norcliffe. If 
 permission can be obtained to visit the glen ipsissima, 
 they are like the vestibule of a temple. Norcliffe was 
 laid out in 1830 by the late Mr. R. H. Greg. Selecting 
 everything that he planted with consummate taste and 
 judgment, the slopes are rich with trees which in point of 
 value and variety have no equal in this part of England . 
 Beautiful from the first, the scene at the present moment 
 is more charming than ever before; for tree-planting is 
 one of those essentially noble and generous works the 
 glory of which a man can rarely expect to see unfolded 
 in his own lifetime : like a great poem, it reaches afar, 
 and covers the generations that succeed. The very 
 striking feature of Norcliffe, the main and characteristic 
 one, consists in the profusion of the Conifers. The 
 pine, the fir, the cedar, in their many and always princely 
 
86 Country Rambles. 
 
 forms, are represented in this delicious spot by upwards 
 of forty species' and varieties, many of them having very 
 numerous examples, all presenting, in the best manner, 
 the symmetrical outlines so remarkable in coniferous 
 trees, and holding positions with regard to their imme- 
 diate neighbours such as awaken the most agreeable ideas 
 of harmony. There is no taller Deodara in the neigh- 
 bourhood than one of the specimens near the lawn, nor 
 is there anywhere in this neighbourhood a more comely 
 Norway spruce, the top already seventy feet above the 
 turf, and covered annually with cones, which the'squirrels 
 are glad of, the spring never finding one that the little 
 creatures have overlooked. 
 
 Norcliffe is equally remarkable in respect of its rhodo- 
 dendrons, the purple splendour, early in June, tossed up 
 like a floral surf. These last, being like the conifers, 
 evergreens, Norcliffe, if nothing else, is a place of 
 perennial verdure. Almost, as on the banks of old 
 Clitumnus 
 
 Hie ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus sestas ! 
 The walk through the sylvan part of the glen, tortuous, 
 and rarely on level ground, brings many beautiful wild- 
 flowers into view. Here, in the month of May, is the 
 wood-millet lightest and daintiest, after the Briza, of our 
 native grasses and yet more plentifully the sweet wood- 
 ruff, holding up in every corner its little handfuls of 
 snow-white crosses. Access to Norcliffe, the grounds 
 being strictly and in every portion private, is, of course, 
 only by favour. But the honoured name of Greg has 
 
Overs ley Lodge. 87 
 
 always been a synonym for liberality, and leave to enter 
 when properly sought is not likely to be refused. The 
 same may be said of the picturesque and delightful 
 grounds, a mile further down the valley, which appertain 
 to Oversley Lodge, the residence of Mr. Arthur Greg. 
 The treat here is the wilderness-walk, a portion of which 
 was cut only in 1881, along the side of the principal cliff. 
 During the progress of the clearing a new locality was 
 found for the truelove.* So certain is the reward, not 
 only in important shape, but in little and unexpected 
 ways, of every man who first makes a path through the 
 forest, whether with the axe or with the more subtle 
 tools that are not wrought upon human forges. Spring 
 is the time, above all others, if it can be managed, for 
 these beautiful Oversley woods; for then we have the 
 opening green leaves in a thousand artistic forms, and in 
 endless shades; the violets also, and the satin-flower; 
 and, full of promise, the so-comfortably-wrapped-up ferns 
 that in September will show how nature revels in trans- 
 formations. The Oversley woods abut very closely upon 
 Cotterill, approaching which place there is scenery not 
 inferior in its modest and singular sweetness to that of 
 the vicinity of Castle Mill. The public approach is from 
 Wilmslow, treading first the western margin of Lindow 
 Common, then going through various lanes, and in 
 front of "Dooley's farm." The greensward portion 
 of the country now soon entered is generally distin- 
 guished by the name of the Morley Meadows, and the 
 
 * See above, page 36. 
 
Country Rambles. 
 
 sylvan part by the somewhat odd title of "Hanging- 
 banks Wood." The phrase is designed, it would seem, to 
 convey an idea analogous to that involved in the name 
 of the famous " Hanging -gardens " of ancient Babylon, 
 signifying terraces of wood and blossom disposed in 
 parallel order upon some gentle slope. This is the part 
 of the Bollin valley referred to in an early chapter (p. 27) 
 as the asylum, it is to be hoped indefinitely, of the 
 primrose. Here, too, Ophelia's "long-purples" live again, 
 while under the shadow of the trees we descry her 
 "nettles," those beautiful golden yellow ones that do not 
 sting, and which blend so perfectly with the orchis and 
 the crow-flower. One fears almost to descend to the 
 edge of the stream, for willows are there that grow 
 "aslant," and that have "envious slivers" as of old. 
 Once in these lovely meadows it is easy to find the way 
 into the lower Bollin valley, and thence to Ashley and 
 Bowdon. But the double walk is rather long, and 
 prudence says return to Wilmslow. Norcliffe and 
 Oversley, it should be added, are reached as regards 
 carriage-way, by a nearly straight road from Handforth. 
 
 Lindow Common, famed from time immemorial for its 
 bracing air, extends from Wilmslow to Brook Lane. 
 There is nothing particular to be seen upon it, except by 
 the naturalist, who, in one part or another, finds abun- 
 dance to give him pleasure. The locality is remarkable 
 alike for its sundews and the profusion of wild bees; it 
 is one of the best known to entomologists for the class 
 Andrenidae. 
 
Alder ley Edge. 89 
 
 Women, it has been remarked, need no eulogy, since 
 they speak for themselves. Something similar, descrip- 
 tively, might be said of Alderley Edge. Whatever smoke- 
 engendered thoughts may occupy the mind for twenty 
 minutes after contemplating Stockport, they are effectually 
 dispelled by the sight of the piny hill, a medley of nature 
 and art, that shows so proudly in front as soon as the train 
 crosses the Bollin. A grand undulating mass of sand- 
 stone, rising boldly out of the plain, of considerable 
 elevation, the highest point being six hundred and fifty 
 feet above the sea, and, reckoning to the out-of-sight 
 portion which overlooks Bollington, quite two miles in 
 length, must needs be impressive. Alderley gathers 
 charm also from its great smooth slants of green, rough 
 and projecting rocks, and trees innumerable, three or 
 four aged and wind-beaten firs upon the tip-top, giving 
 admirable accentuation. Every portion in view from the 
 railway is accessible by paths, usually easy, these intro- 
 ducing us to many a deep and sequestered glade that in 
 autumn is crowded with ferns, or leading to the crest of 
 the hill, the views from which compensate all possible 
 fatigue of climbing. The simplest route to follow is that 
 by the old road running to Macclesfield. From the 
 lower part of this we may take one of the bye-roads that 
 lie to the left, and thus get eventually to the somewhat 
 rough and scrambling, but still quite practicable and 
 pleasant, track which leads along the face of the great 
 westward incline. This huge slope, called the "Hough," 
 may be ascended also from beneath, keeping along the 
 
9O Country Rambles. 
 
 foot for about a mile, then turning up through a field. 
 Green shades and leafy labyrinths here tempt to a never- 
 slackening onward movement, especially in that part 
 where a great curve in the mountain-mass gives rise to a 
 kind of bay, grassy always, and that in spring teems with 
 anemones. The prospect from the Hough is everywhere 
 magnificent, extending to Delamere Forest and the 
 Overton hills, which, like Coniston " alt maen," have a 
 profile never doubtful. The intermediate broad, flat 
 space is the now familiar North Cheshire plain. Should 
 a canopy of smoke be distinguishable, it will indicate 
 Manchester. To enjoy this wonderful prospect perfectly, 
 it is best to adventure to the edge of " Stormy Point," or 
 the Holywell Rock that noted crag which, in case of 
 need, would serve well for a new Tarpeian. Another 
 quite different way to the top of the Edge is to proceed 
 a short distance along the Congleton road, or that which 
 leads, in the first instance, towards old Alderley village; 
 then to turn up. a lane upon the left, which, passing 
 through a grove of fir-trees, terminates in the Maccles- 
 field road, near the "Wizard." It is behind this noted 
 hostelry, commemorative in its name of the local legend, 
 that the sylvan loveliness of Alderley Edge is felt most 
 exquisitely, nature seeming here to have been left more 
 to her own sweet wantonness; while the views, extending 
 now over a totally different country, hills instead of a 
 plain, add to our previous enjoyments the always welcome 
 one of surprise. Curling round this glorious promontory, 
 we gradually progress towards the "Beacon," the highest 
 
Birtles. 9 1 
 
 point, and' in a few minutes, descending thence, are once 
 again in the public thoroughfare. 
 
 Alderley Park, the seat of Lord Stanley, lies near the 
 village, upon the left of the turnpike road. Strangers 
 very rarely enter the gates. The wonder to those who 
 do is that so little should have been made of natural 
 advantages scarcely excelled anywhere in Cheshire. The 
 best features are the magnificent beech-trees and the 
 sheet of ornamental water, called Radnor Mere, upon 
 the margins of which grow two of the most interesting 
 of the British sedges, the Car ex ampullacea and the 
 Carex vesicaria. The gardens have long been noted 
 for their mulberry trees. 
 
 Beyond this again is Birtles, the neighbourhood of 
 which supplies a very pleasant walk. Mounting the hill 
 on the southern side, or where the latter gently melts 
 away into the level, the road in question leads eventually 
 to the "Wizard," at which point, if more convenient, the 
 walk may be commenced. If begun at the base, we 
 turn up by the four-armed guide-post, a little beyond 
 Alderley church. The walk is somewhat long, therefore 
 better deferred till winter, selecting a day when the frost 
 is keen and the atmosphere bracing. A winter forenoon, 
 when the atmosphere is motionless, and icicles hang from 
 the little arches that bridge the water-courses, is every 
 bit as enjoyable as the most brilliant of summer evenings, 
 let only the heart be alive and the eyes trained to seeing. 
 Over and above the rich healthfullness of this Birtles 
 walk, all the way up to the crown of the Edge, and round 
 
92 Country Rambles, 
 
 about amid the trees in winter, for the artist of pre- 
 Raphael vision, there is bijouterie; the chaste and 
 tender arabesque given to rock and aged bough by green 
 moss and grey and golden lichen, gems of nature that 
 when the trees are leafy are apt to be skipped, but when 
 all else is cold and bare, like faithful affection, "make 
 glad the solitary place." 
 
 Between Alderley and Chelford, pushing still further 
 along the Congleton road, we find yet another of the 
 Cheshire meres, this one, in itself in the time of water- 
 lilies, worth all the travel. Reeds Mere, famous in local 
 fairy tale, is to the painter and the poet, when the lilies 
 are out, a floral Venice. Virtually, it is in Capesthorne 
 Park, the seat of one of the younger branches of the very 
 ancient Davenport family. To get to the water's edge, if 
 time be short, the nearest point to start from is Chelford, 
 but the road above indicated is so charmingly wooded, 
 that not to go that way is distinctly a loss. Chelford 
 village may be reached by a field walk, commenced first 
 below Alderley church, crossing the meadow slantwise 
 and leftwards, and so past Heywood Hall, going pre- 
 sently through a plantation of Scotch firs. Hard by 
 there is another charming seat, with spacious park, rare 
 trees, and ornamental water Astle Hall, the residence 
 of Captain Dixon. In the grounds we are reminded of 
 Norcliffe, for here, too, is shown the love of Conifers 
 which always indicates good taste. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BEESTON CASTLE. 
 
 This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 
 Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
 Unto our gentle senses. 
 
 This guest of summer, 
 The temple-haunting martlet, doth approve 
 By his lov'd mansionry, that the heavens' breath 
 Smells wooingly here. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 HEN for our country pleasure an entire day 
 can be commanded, Crewe, ten or twelve 
 miles from Chelford, and thirty-one from 
 Manchester, marks the way to Combermere 
 Abbey and Beeston Castle places alike of 
 singular interest, though of totally different 
 character. To reach Combermere, it is 
 needful to continue a little distance along the line which 
 diverges from Crewe for Shrewsbury, booking to and 
 alighting at Wrenbury. Two or three different routes 
 may be taken thence, in any case by pleasant fields and 
 lanes not difficult to discover. The shortest way is to go 
 first across Mr. Wilson's broad acres of model farm-land, 
 
94 Country Rambles. 
 
 cereals right and left ; then along a lane with a mill-pond 
 upon the left; then through a corridor of trees upon the 
 right, the floor, green as their boughs, bordered like a 
 missal, shortly after issuing from which we arrive at the 
 beautiful water referred to in the Abbey name. More 
 than a mile in length, covering one hundred and thirty- 
 two acres, and much too irregular in outline to be seen 
 at once in its full extent, Combermere, with its adjacent 
 woods, yields, as a picture only to Rostherne. The paths 
 in every direction are full of landscape. Though the 
 country is flat, we do not perceive it to be so, and what may 
 be wanting in grandeur, is found in tranquillity and repose. 
 The mansion, of which there is an admirable view across 
 the mere, occupies the site of the ancient monastery a 
 Benedictine, founded in 1133. Strictly modern, plain 
 and substantial, there is nothing about the exterior to 
 preserve the memory of monastic times; inside, however, 
 old and new are let shake hands, the library being an 
 adaptation of the ancient refectory. The walls, the 
 galleries, and the principal apartments contain great store 
 of Indian trophies and curiosities, brought home by the 
 renowned Sir Stapleton-Cotton, whose bravery in the 
 Peninsular War, and afterwards at the siege and capture 
 of Bhurtpore, gained for him the title first of Baron, and 
 then of Viscount, now held by the Lord Combermere, 
 his son. 
 
 A similar short ride from Crewe, now by the line which 
 continues to Chester, conveys us to Beeston, the walk 
 from which station to the castle, occupying less than 
 
Beeston Castle. 95 
 
 half an hour, is again by lanes and fields. Lancaster 
 Castle, excepting its incomparable gateway-tower, and 
 a small portion inside, has been so much altered in order 
 to adapt it for modern uses, that the past is lost in 
 the present. Clitheroe Castle is all gone, excepting the 
 keep. Beeston, happily, though itself only a relic, has 
 suffered nothing at the hands of the modern architect. 
 Even time seems to look on it leniently. As a memorial 
 of the feudal ages, it is in our own part of England 
 supreme and uncontested, and in any case one of the 
 most charming resorts within the distance for all in 
 Manchester who care for the majestic, the antique, and 
 the picturesque. This famous and far-seen ruin is seated 
 upon the brow of a mighty rock, which, rising out of the 
 meadows on the eastern side by a regular and at first 
 easy, but afterwards somewhat steep incline, terminates, 
 on the western side, in an abrupt and absolutely vertical 
 precipice, the brink of which is three hundred and sixty- 
 six feet above the level of the base, or of almost precisely 
 the elevation of the High Tor at Matlock, and of the 
 loftier parts of St. Vincent's. Hence, in the distance, 
 viewed sideways, as for example, from Alderley Edge, 
 the outline is exactly that of a cone-shaped mountain 
 toppled over and lying prostrate. The broad green 
 slope, dry and velvety, furnishes an unsurpassed natural 
 lawn for rest and pic-nic. Mounting it to the summit, 
 the ruins, which now consist chiefly of ivied bastions, 
 tower above our heads with an inexpressible and mourn- 
 ful grandeur that recalls the story of Caractacus in the 
 
96 Country Rambles. 
 
 streets of ancient Rome. The mind runs back to the 
 time when the walls were alive with armed men, and 
 shouts rose from the turrets, now discrowned. Not that 
 the castle was ever actually assaulted, for a glance at the 
 entrance is enough to convince any one that as a military 
 post in the feudal times it was impregnable. Of military 
 incidents connected with Beeston, there is indeed no 
 record whatever. All that history has to tell is of one or 
 two changes in the holding, brought about by treachery 
 or want of vigilance. But from the time of the building, 
 in 1 2 20, by Randulph de Blondeville, sixth Earl of 
 Chester, on his return from Palestine, there can be no 
 doubt that for four centuries the old castle was the scene 
 of much that was imposing. 
 
 Everything has vanished now, and for ever. Up on 
 that wonderful crag to-day, where the scene is so still, 
 and the "heavens' breath smells wooingly," we feel far 
 more profoundly than in streets and cities, how grateful 
 is the dominion of peace compared with the turbulence 
 of war. For, looking over the westward parapet, at our 
 feet is Vale Royal, a warm and smiling plain that 
 stretches, literally, to the rim of the landscape. Randulph 
 looked upon those far away Welsh mountains, the Frods- 
 ham hills, the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, all 
 so beautiful as ingredients in the magnificent prospect. 
 To-day we have that which he did not see, and probably 
 never imagined. Scattered over this glorious map are 
 villages, homesteads, orchards, gardens innumerable; the 
 vast breadth of bright emerald and sunny pasture laced 
 
Sunset at Beeston. 97 
 
 with hedgerows that in spring are blossom-dappled, and 
 streams, of which, although so distant, we get twinkling 
 glimpses among the leafage. If it be autumn, the scene 
 is chequered with the hues of harvest, every field plainly 
 distinguishable, for one of the peculiar charms of the 
 view from Beeston Castle rock, granting a favourable 
 day, with lucid atmosphere, is that while the country is 
 brimful, every element is well-defined. Later still, we 
 may watch October winding its tinted way through the 
 green summer of the reluctant trees; this, no doubt, it 
 did just in the same sweet old amber-sandalled fashion five 
 centuries ago, but the trees did not then, as now, cast 
 their shadows upon liberty and civilisation. Two periods 
 there are when Beeston calls upon us to remember, with a 
 sigh, that there are forms of beauty in the world in which 
 we may not hope to revel many times, perhaps, in their 
 perfection, not more than once or twice. One is mid- 
 winter, when in the great hush of the virgin snow the 
 landscape becomes a world carved in spotless marble; 
 the other, when the corn is waiting the sickle, and the 
 vast plain is steeped in sunset such as August only 
 witnesses. Watched from this tall rock, the wind- 
 sculptured clouds that an hour before were glistening 
 pearl slowly change to purple mountains, while the 
 molten gold boils up above their brows; these go, and 
 by and by there are left only bars of delicate rose, and 
 veils of fading asphodel, and at last we are with old 
 Homer and the camp before Troy, "when the stars are 
 seen round the bright moon, and the air is breathless, 
 H 
 
98 Country Rambles. 
 
 and all beacons, and lofty summits, and forests appear, 
 and the shepherd is delighted in his mind."* So that, 
 adding all together, the value of the grand old stronghold 
 has in no wise died out, but only taken another shape. 
 Instead of inspiring awe and terror, it supplies the heart 
 with noble enjoyments, and with new and animating 
 incentives to seek the rewards that attend love of the 
 pure and beautiful. 
 
 When at Beeston, on descending from the castle, we 
 visit, as a matter of course, Peckforton, a mile beyond, 
 the residence of Lord Tollemache. 
 
 This splendid edifice restores, in the finest possible 
 manner, the irregular Norman style of architecture pre- 
 valent in the reign of Edward I. Occupying a space of 
 not less than nine thousand square yards, and not more 
 remarkable for the superb proportions than for the perfect 
 finish of every part, in Cheshire it has no equal. Peck- 
 forton has peculiar interest also in the circumstance of 
 the walls being entirely devoid of paint and paper, thus 
 presenting a contrast to the dressed surfaces favoured in 
 
 * Iliad, Book viii. , at the end, thus gloriously rendered by the 
 most spirited and poetical, if somewhat rugged, of his translators, 
 Chapman, A.D. 1596: 
 
 And spent all night in the open field, fires round about them shined, 
 As when about the silver moon, when air is free from wind, 
 And stars shine clear, to whose sweet beams, high prospects, and 
 
 the^ brows 
 
 Of all steep hills and pinnacles, thrust themselves up for shows, 
 And even the lowly valleys joy, to glitter in their sight, 
 When the unmeasured firmament bursts to disclose her light, 
 And all the signs in heaven are seen that glad the shepherd's heart. 
 
Peckforton. 99 
 
 modern times that for the moment is overwhelming. 
 The hill upon which it -stands is covered with natural 
 wood, and in the remote parts gives way to heathery 
 wilderness. To pursue this for any considerable distance, 
 when half the day has already been given to Beeston, 
 of course is not possible. Begun early enough, we find 
 it almost continuous with the heights reached by way of 
 Broxton. 
 
 After the bastions and the gateway of Beeston Castle, 
 the curiosity of the place is the ancient well, sunk through 
 the rock to Beeston Brook, a depth of three hundred 
 and seventy feet, but now quite dry. A trayful of lighted 
 candles is let down by a windlass for the entertainment 
 of visitors who care to see the light diminish to a speck. 
 On the way to Peckforton, it must not be overlooked, 
 either, that in a pretty garden upon the right will be 
 found Horsley Bath, limpid water perpetually running 
 out of the rock, and in restorative powers, if the legends 
 be true, a genuine "fountain of rejuvenescence." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE REDDISH VALLEY AND ARDEN (OR HARDEN) HALL. 
 
 What exhibitions various hath the world 
 
 Witness'd of mutability in all 
 
 That we account most durable below ! 
 
 Change is the diet on which all subsist, 
 
 Created changeable, and change at last 
 
 Destroys them. COWPER. 
 
 T speaks not a little for the vigorous and 
 buoyant life of the immediate neighbourhood 
 of our town that so few examples are to be 
 met with of decay and ruin. Turn whichever 
 way we will, we find new houses, new factories, 
 new enterprises, but scarcely an instance of 
 wasting away and dilapidation. The nearest important 
 relic of the feudal times is Beeston Castle, just described; 
 and the nearest memorial and sepulchre of those brave, 
 good men who, while the rulers of our country were 
 fighting and oppressing, conserved within the convent 
 walls learning, religion, charity, and a hundred other 
 things that kept the national civilisation moving until the 
 
Arden Hall. 101 
 
 aurora of the Reformation, is Whalley Abbey, also more 
 than thirty miles away. Excepting a few old houses of 
 little significance, everything about us is intact, occupied 
 usefully, and a fine testimony to the intelligence and the 
 energy of the province. Let a stranger visit any part of 
 the country within the radius indicated, and he will feel 
 that he is in a place where life is concentrated: every- 
 thing bespeaks nerve; whatever has died seems to have 
 been succeeded on the instant by a more powerful thing. 
 Like a laurel-tree, we are dressed in this district in the 
 foliage of perennial and vehement vitality; while there 
 is plenty of solid stem to mark honourable antiquity, 
 the leaves that have gone have but made way for new 
 and larger ones. 
 
 These reflections have been suggested by a visit to 
 Arden Hall, the solitary exception to the strong, unyield- 
 ing life of the vicinity. Upon this account alone it is a 
 place of interest. The situation, also, is one of the most 
 delightful ever selected for a country residence. The 
 locality may be described, in general terms, as on the 
 Cheshire bank of the river Tame, about half-way between 
 Stockport and Hyde. The Tame separates Lancashire 
 from that odd bit of Cheshire which, running up in a 
 kind of peninsula at its north-east corner, terminates 
 with Mossley and Tintwisle, the Etherowe forming its 
 boundary on the opposite side, and dividing it from 
 Derbyshire. Few would suppose it possible, but the 
 county of Cheshire is at this point scarcely more than 
 two miles across! The ruin itself is easily found, the 
 
IO2 Country Rambles. 
 
 way to it being by Levenshulme and Reddish,* inquiring 
 there for the Reddish paper-mills, which lie in the valley 
 on the Lancashire side of the river, and are approached 
 by a steep descent, with beautiful views of the surround- 
 ing country in front and upon the left. Crossing the 
 river by the mills, mounting the hill, going through a few 
 fields and a grove of trees, right before us, sooner than 
 expected, stands the hall, a large, tall square building of 
 grey stone. At first sight, it appears to be in tolerable 
 preservation. The remains of the old sun-dial are still 
 visible, the diamonded casements of some of the windows 
 are perfect, and the exterior generally is undefaced. But 
 the illusion soon passes away. Penetrating to the inside, 
 the great hall a noble apartment, some eleven yards by 
 eight is found heaped with rubbish and fallen beams ; 
 the ceiling, once ornamented with pendent points, is all 
 gone, except a small portion in one corner; it seems a 
 wonder that the roof still cares to stay. A slender turret, 
 rising above the rest of the fabric, includes a circular 
 staircase, leading to the gallery of the upper floor. Here 
 the diamonded casements reappear, looking full into the 
 western sky, and over the trees and river winding at the 
 foot of the steep; and here we discover the loveliness 
 of the site. Abundantly wooded, strewn with fertile 
 meads, and opening out in every direction pretty views 
 of distant hills, with yet more distant ones peeping over 
 
 their shoulders, there is not a more picturesque valley 
 
 _j 
 
 * At which last-named place there is now also (1882) a railway 
 station. 
 
Arden Hall. 103 
 
 east of Manchester, that is to say, not until we are fairly 
 into Derbyshire, than is spread before the windows of 
 forsaken Arden. There is not a spot upon its slopes 
 where we may not pause and admire, and wish for our 
 friends. As at Beeston, the mind quickly travels back 
 to the lang syne. Out of those windows, through the 
 open casements, how often have the eyes of fair girls 
 gazed, in sweet summer evenings, long and peacefully, 
 upon the woods and winding water, and painted sunset, 
 one generation after another, all gone now, their ancient 
 home crumbling to dust but the woods and winding 
 water and sunset the same. The poets talk of nature's 
 sympathy with man; there is nothing so marked as her 
 lofty indifference to him. 
 
 Archaeologically, Arden is interesting as a fine specimen 
 of the domestic architecture of the sixteenth century, and 
 is remarkable for its unusually large bay windows. The 
 waterspouts are inscribed 1597. The history of the 
 estate and its proprietors dates, however, as far back as 
 the time of King John, and though no direct evidence is 
 within reach, there is reason to believe that an earlier 
 building once stood near, and that the present ruin is 
 the second hall. John o' Gaunt is said to have been an 
 inmate of the original. The family history may be seen 
 at length in Ormerod's "Cheshire," in the third volume 
 of which work, p. 399, is a drawing of the hall as it 
 appeared before relinquished to decay. Visitors to the 
 Art-Treasures Exhibition of 1857 will recollect Mr. 
 C. H. Mitchell's pretty water-colour view of the same 
 
 
IO4 Country Rambles. 
 
 place, and there are few, perhaps, of our local artists who 
 have not sketched it. It would appear from the date of 
 Ormerod's work (1819), where the hall is described as 
 containing furniture and paintings, that it has been 
 deserted only since the death of George III. Until 
 recently one of its curiosities was a stone pulpit, in which 
 it is said Oliver Cromwell once preached. The rustic 
 legend of the place is that, once upon a time, long before 
 powder and shot were invented, there lived hereabouts a 
 doughty baron. On the opposite side of the valley was 
 a similar castle, held by a rival baron, who returned his 
 neighbour's jealousy with interest. These two worthies 
 used to spend their time in shooting at one another with 
 bows and arrows, till at last, tired of long range, and 
 such desultory warfare, the Baron of Arden collected his 
 dependents, dived down into the valley, scaled the 
 opposite heights, slaughtered his enemy, and so utterly 
 demolished his castle, that now not a vestige of it is 
 discoverable. 
 
 There is generally some good foundation for such 
 legends. Upon the eastern side of the hall, some 
 distance from the moat, traces of ancient earthworks 
 are discoverable, extending towards the present "Castle- 
 hill," and which probably protected some simple fortifi- 
 cation. Flint arrow-heads and other relics of primitive 
 weapons found in the soil of the adjacent fields sustain 
 the conjecture, and in truth a better seat for a manorial 
 stronghold it would not be easy to select. The appellation 
 of the ancient fortress when superseded by a building of 
 
Arden Hall. 105 
 
 more peaceful character, would naturally be transferred 
 to the latter, and after the lapse of a little time, nothing 
 more than the name would survive to tell the story. 
 Originally it was Arderne, as in the reference by Webb, 
 in 1622, to another seat of the family, "A fine house 
 belonging to Henry Arderne, Esq." In any case, the 
 prefix of an H appears to be erroneous, if nothing worse. 
 The last of this name was the Richard Pepper Arderne, 
 born at the old hall, and educated at the Manchester 
 Grammar School, who in 1801, three years before his 
 death, was raised to the peerage, with the title of Baron 
 Alvanley. Arden Hall is not only remarkable in being 
 built wholly of stone, when so many other mansions of 
 the period were timber, but in the high-pitched roof of 
 the tower a feature rarely observable in such edifices. 
 
 Leaving the hall, the road descends rapidly towards 
 the river, here crossed by a stone bridge, shortly before 
 reaching which there are some cottages upon the left. At 
 one of these, with the name "Thomas Ingham" over the 
 door, a nice tea may be obtained. It is not a very 
 attractive place to look at, but the parlour (at the back) 
 is as comfortable as any lady could desire ; the provision 
 is excellent, the attendance prompt and respectful, and 
 the charge so moderate that it seems wonderful how it 
 can pay. Forget not that in visiting such places the 
 obligation is mutual. Excursionists have no sort of claim 
 upon private houses, and should be glad to recompense 
 with liberality the kindly willingness to accommodate, 
 save for which they might have to plod for miles hungry 
 
io6 Country Rambles. 
 
 and tired. Tea disposed of, we have a walk homewards 
 even more pleasing than the first, by taking, that is, the 
 contrary or Lancashire side of the river, and thus passing 
 through the very woods admired an hour previously from 
 the hall and the crest of the hill. The way is first over 
 the stone bridge, then for a little distance up the hill, 
 descending thence into the field-path, found by means of 
 a large circular brick structure in one of the meadows, 
 seemingly the ventilation mouth of a coal-mine. There 
 is a path quite close to the river, if preferred, entered 
 almost immediately after crossing the bridge, but the 
 water after wet weather is apt to be disagreeable, and in 
 autumn there is a thick and laborious jungle of butter- 
 bur leaves. The hill-side at this point is decidedly the 
 best place for viewing the hall, which crowns the tall cliff 
 immediately in front of it. It is hard to think, as we 
 contemplate its lovely adjuncts, how so romantic a site 
 could have been deserted. The woods hanging the hill- 
 sides with their beautiful tapestry, the river creeping 
 quietly in the bottom, but seen only in shining lakelets 
 where the branches of the trees disentangle themselves, 
 and make a green lacework of light twig and leaf, just 
 dense enough to serve as a thin veil, and just open enough 
 to let the eye pierce it and be delighted; the perfect 
 calm of the whole scene, and the sweet allurement of the 
 path with every additional step, how came they to be 
 ignored? Approaching Reddish the woods are unfenced, 
 and the path lies almost beneath the trees. At the end 
 of May these woods are suffused with the brightest blue 
 
The Reddish Valley. 107 
 
 in every direction, the bloom of the innumerable wild 
 hyacinth, which clusters here in great banks and masses, 
 so close that the green of the foliage is concealed. The 
 ground being a slope, and viewed from below, the effect 
 is most singular and striking. Shakspeare speaks of 
 "making the green one red;" here we have literally the 
 green made blue. In the same woods grows the forget- 
 me-not, in abundance only exceeded in the Morley 
 meadows. One might almost fancy that the nymphs of 
 ancient poetry had been transmigrated into these sweet 
 turquoise-coloured flowers. Among the specialities of 
 the Reddish valley, mentioned before as eminently rich 
 in plants of interest, are the bird-cherry, Prunus Padus, 
 and that curious fern the Lunaria. The first is quite 
 a different thing from the ordinary wild cherry of 
 Mobberley, Peover, Lymm, and the Bollin valley, having 
 long, pendulous clusters of white flowers, like those of the 
 laburnum, and with a smell of honey. It is seen not 
 only as a tree, but sometimes forms part of the hedges. 
 The lunaria grows in the meadows, and is in perfection 
 about the end of May. In August and September the 
 river-banks here are gay also with the fine crimson of 
 the willow-herb, the young shoots of which, along with 
 the flowers, drawn through the half-closed hand, leave 
 behind them a grateful smell of baked apples and cream. 
 The upper portion of the valley, nearer Hyde, was 
 very diligently and successfully explored in 1840-42 by 
 Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, then resident at Apethorne, a 
 townsman whom we have not more reason to be proud of 
 
io8 Country Rambles. 
 
 as a naturalist of the most varied and accurate informa- 
 tion, and as one of the most scientific and successful 
 prosecutors of microscopical research, than as a singularly 
 skilful artist in photography, and this without letting the 
 colours grow dry upon the palette from which he has 
 been accustomed to transfer them to coveted drawings. 
 It was Mr. Sidebotham who first drew the attention of 
 Manchester naturalists to the fresh-water algae of our 
 district, and who principally determined their forms and 
 numbers. He also it was who collected the principal 
 portion known up to 1858 of the local Diatomacece. 
 During the five or six years he devoted to the botany of 
 Bredbury, Reddish, and the banks of the Tame generally, 
 he added no fewer than twenty-five species to the Man- 
 chester Flora, many of them belonging to the difficult 
 genera Rubus and Carex. His walks were not often 
 solitary. What a broiling day was that on which we 
 first gathered in the Reddish valley the great white 
 cardamine! what a sweet forenoon that vernal one 
 when we stood contemplating the thousand anemones ! 
 Nature seems to delight again in upsetting everything 
 human ! One cannot even bestow a name, but she tries 
 to undermine it. No epithet is more appropriate, as a 
 rule, to this most modest of the anemone race, the wild 
 English one, than its specific name, nemorosa, "inhabit- 
 ing the groves;" every reader of classical verse recalls, 
 as the eye glides over the word, the nemus which grew 
 greener wherever Phyllis set her foot in it. Giving her 
 the least chance, see, nevertheless, how the wayward 
 
The Wood Anemone. 109 
 
 lady to whom we owe everything, laughs alike at ourselves 
 and our nomenclature. We call the flower nemorosa, 
 conclude that all is settled, and straightway, as in that 
 sweet and still forenoon in the Reddish valley (1840), 
 she flings it by handfuls over the sward, and leaves the 
 grove as she then left the Arden woods, without a blossom 
 and without a leaf. Similar curious departure from the 
 accustomed habitat of the wood anemone has since been 
 observed at Cheadle and at Alderley. 
 
 No slight pleasure is it in connection with botany that 
 plants and events thus link themselves together, recalling 
 whole days of tranquil happiness spent with valued friends 
 in the green fields. Associations with trees and flowers 
 seem almost inevitably pleasant and graceful ones; at all 
 events, we never hear of the reverse. When orators and 
 poets want objects for elegant simile and comparison, 
 they find trees and flowers supply them most readily; and, 
 on the other hand, how rarely are these beautiful produc- 
 tions of nature used for the illustration of what is vicious 
 and degrading, or in any way mixed up with what is vile 
 and disgraceful. Trees and flowers lead us, by virtue of their 
 kindly influences on the heart and the imagination, to a 
 disrelish and forgetfulness of the uncomely, and to think 
 better of everything around us; so that a walk in the 
 fields, over and above its invigorating and refreshing value, 
 acts as a kindly little preacher, and shows us that we may 
 at all events read, if not 
 
 Honi soit qui mat y pense, write, 
 
 In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white. 
 
1 1 o Country Rambles. 
 
 The lapse of twenty-four years has not tended to 
 improve the aspect of the Reddish valley. The main 
 features are the same, but the brightness is sadly dimmed. 
 Everything now, in 1882, illustrates the operation of town 
 smoke and hurtful vapours, not to mention the devas- 
 tating influences which come of human travel. The wild- 
 flowers have shared the fate of those in other suburban 
 localities; the old hall has sunk further towards decay; 
 the Inghams, happily, are extant. Mr. Sidebotham, 
 for his own part, practices, amid the refinements of his 
 Bowdon home, all that he cultivated originally upon the 
 banks of the little river, and with the added success that 
 arises upon unbroken assiduity. He tells me now of his 
 researches into the entomology of Dunham Park, where 
 not long ago, for one or two successive seasons, in July, 
 a curious beetle occurred in plenty, a fact immensely 
 remarkable, since only one other of its kind has ever 
 been noticed elsewhere in England, this upon an oak in 
 Windsor Forest as far back as 1829 ! The insect was first 
 detected by Mr. Joseph Chappell, a working mechanic 
 at Sir Joseph Whitworth's, and one of the most careful 
 observers of nature now in our midst. 
 
 The first photographs ever shown in Manchester were laid before 
 a meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society by the late 
 Mr. J. E. Bowman, in November, 1838. I remember the occasion 
 well, and the interest taken in them by Dr. Dalton. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ALONG THE MACCLESFIELD LINE. 
 
 It is fine 
 
 To stand upon some lofty mountain-thought, 
 And feel the spirit stretch into a view : 
 To joy in what might be if will and power 
 For good would work together but one hour. 
 Yet millions never think a noble thought, 
 But with brute hate of brightness bay a mind 
 Which drives the darkness out of them, like hounds. 
 
 J. P. BAILEY. 
 
 *& 
 
 TOCKPORT, the uninviting, in whatever 
 direction we look to escape from it, is a 
 point of rare value for departure for scenes 
 of interest this mainly because of its 
 standing on the threshold of the hills which 
 a little further on become members of the 
 English Apennine, the grand range stretching from 
 Derbyshire to the Cheviots. Soon after passing Edgley, 
 while the original line pursues its course to Wilmslow 
 and Alderley, great branches strike out upon the left, 
 one primarily for Macclesfield, the other for Disley and 
 Buxton. Each in its turn leads to scenes of delightful 
 
1 1 2 Country Rambles. 
 
 beauty, and that before the time of railways were scarcely 
 known. Alighting at Bramhall, we secure the added 
 pleasure of a visit to the very celebrated old hall of that 
 name the most admirable example in our district of the 
 "magpie" style of architecture, and not more charming 
 in its external features than rich in interest within. The 
 oldest portions date from soon after the middle of the 
 fourteenth century, and are thus as nearly as possible 
 contemporaneous as to period of building with the choir 
 of York Minster. These very aged portions are found 
 chiefly in connection with the entrance to the chapel. 
 Massive beams and supports, hard as iron, refusing the 
 least dint of the knife, and presenting the peculiar surface 
 characteristic of the work of their time, attest very plainly 
 the profound significance of "heart of oak." Everything, 
 moreover, in this grand old place is so solidly laid 
 together, so compactly and impregnably knit, that it 
 seems as if it would serve pretty nearly for the base of 
 another Eddystone or Cleopatra's needle. In the most 
 tempestuous of winter nights, Bramhall has never been 
 known to flinch a hair's breadth so, at least, the late 
 Colonel Davenport used to assure his friends, the writer 
 of these lines included. No portions of the building 
 appear to be of later date than the time of Elizabeth, 
 the domestic architecture of whose reign is nowhere in 
 England better interpreted. The situation of Bramhall 
 is on a par with its artistic qualities. No dull soul was 
 it who more than five hundred years ago selected for his 
 abode the crest of that gentle declivity, trees far and 
 
The Kerridge Hills. 1 1 3 
 
 near, a stream gliding below, and views from the upper 
 windows that reach for many miles across the undulating 
 and sweetly variegated greensward. The romantic bit at 
 present is the ravine hard by, saturated in spring with 
 tender wild-flowers, the wood-sorrel in myriads. 
 
 Prestbury, a few miles beyond, also has great attrac- 
 tions for the antiquary, the chancel and south aisle of the 
 church being of about A.D. 1130, while the school-house 
 in the graveyard is entered by a doorway with apparently 
 Norman mouldings. The tower is about A.D. 1460. If 
 in search more particularly of rural pastime, we take the 
 contrary side of the line, and so through the lanes and 
 fields to the delicious Kerridge hills. Remarkable for 
 their very sudden rise out of the plain, these green and 
 airy hills command views, like those obtained at Alderley, 
 of truly charming extent and variety. Tegsnose, at the 
 southern extremity, is thirteen hundred feet above the 
 sea-level the little building just above Bollington, called 
 "White Nancy," plainly visible from the line near 
 Wilmslow when the sunlight falls on it, is nine hundred 
 and thirty feet; no wonder that from this last, since 
 there is nothing to intercept, the prospect in favourable 
 weather reaches to Liverpool, and even to the sweet 
 wavy lavender upon the horizon that indicates North 
 Wales. 
 
 Bollington is now reached also by a line (part of the 
 
 Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire system,) which 
 
 diverges for Macclesfield at Woodley Junction. This 
 
 perhaps gives nearer approach to the Kerridge hills ; in 
 
 I 
 
114 Country Rambles. 
 
 any case, it is the best to take for the extremely beautiful 
 adjacent neighbourhood, which for its little metropolis 
 has the village of Pott Shrigley. Before the opening 
 of the line in question, the station for this part was 
 Adlington, on the London and North-Western. Grand 
 as the prospects have already been, above Pott Shrigley, 
 excepting only the "castled crag" at Beeston, all are 
 surpassed. No lover of the illimitable need go to 
 Cumberland or Carnarvonshire for a sight more glorious. 
 Alderley Edge, rising out of the plain below, seems 
 only a mound. The plain itself stretches away far 
 more remotely than the eye can cover, no eminence of 
 magnitude occurring nearer than the Overton hills. The 
 towers and spires of Bowdon and Dunham are plainly 
 distinguishable ; and close by, in comparison, is the fine 
 western extremity of the Kerridge range, with "White 
 Nancy," the hill itself on which we stand, or rather 
 seat ourselves, remembering the picture in Milton, 
 
 See how the bee, 
 
 Sitting assiduous on the honeyed bloom, 
 Sucks liquid sweet, 
 
 just such a one as suggested that other immortal portrait, 
 
 Green, and of mild declivity, the last, 
 As 'twere the cape of a long ridge of such, 
 Save that there is no sea to lave its base, 
 But a most living landscape. 
 
 The time to go to this glad pinnacle is at the end of 
 May or the beginning of June, mounting the hill in the 
 first instance, by the immediate route from the station. 
 
Pott Shrigley. 115 
 
 When the time arrives to descend, dip westwards, curve 
 round by the water, and through the fields which lead 
 into the Disley road, thence into Pott Shrigley village. 
 No description can convey a perfect idea of the loveliness 
 of this part of the walk at the season indicated. The 
 long-extended survey of hill and dale, the innumerable 
 trees, clothing the slopes at agreeable distances with the 
 most picturesque of little woodlands, bright and cheerful 
 in their unsullied raiment of leaves that are only yet 
 learning the sweetness of sunshine ; the rise and fall of 
 the ground; the incessant turns and sinuosities of the 
 pathway, every separate item is a treat, and yet the 
 ravishing spectacle of all, at the season referred to, has 
 still to be named. This consists in the inexpressible, the 
 infinite multitude of the bluebells, which far surpasses 
 that of the old Reddish valley. They saturate every 
 slope and recess that is in any degree shady, and diffuse 
 themselves even upon the otherwise bare hillsides, not 
 in a thin and niggardly way, but with the semblance 
 of an azure mist. In many parts, at the edges of the 
 little groves, where the ground is steep, they seem to be 
 flowing in streams into the meadows beneath, and where 
 there are breaks among the nearer trees they actually 
 illuminate the opening. When the spectacle of the blue- 
 bells comes to an end, the walk continues along a 
 beautiful green arcade, straight, level, and uninterrupted 
 into the village. 
 
 By whichever of the two routes we prefer to go to 
 Macclesfield, that ancient and celebrated town becomes 
 
1 1 6 Country Rambles. 
 
 in itself a new and excellent starting point. If desiring 
 to go beyond, the London and North- Western should be 
 chosen. The massive heights on the way to Buxton, 
 including the well-known and far-conspicuous mamelon 
 called Shutlings Low, are accessible only by carriage or 
 on foot. North Rode, on the other hand, is but a few 
 minutes' continued railway journey, and for this, if we 
 come at all, the longest day is all too short. Just in front 
 rises Cloud-end, the mighty promontory seen from the 
 fields near Butts Clough (p. 23), covered with trees, 
 the Vitis Idcea filling the open spaces, and plenty of nuts 
 in the neighbouring hedgerows. Keeping the mountain 
 to the left, descending the green lane, and passing, " on 
 sufferance," through North Rode Park, agreeable scenery 
 on each side all the way, the end is that beau-ideal of a 
 rural retreat, pretty Gawsworth. The ancient trees, the 
 venerable church, the dignified old residences, all speak 
 at once of a long-standing and undisturbed respec- 
 tability such as few villages can now assert. In the 
 graveyard stand patriarchal yews, one of them, reduced 
 to a torso, encased in ivy, and protected on the weaker 
 side by a little wall of steps, intended seemingly to make 
 it useful as a tree-pulpit. Six great walnut-trees form part 
 of the riches of the Hall, another pleasing old "magpie;" 
 water also is near at hand, thronged with fishes that 
 sport near the surface, and gliding through the sunbeams 
 gleam like silver. To return to Macclesfield there is no 
 need to retrace one's steps to North Rode, the walk being 
 short and pleasant, and rendered peculiarly interesting 
 
Marion. \ \ 7 
 
 by its beech-trees, a long and noble avenue, if con- 
 templated through an opera-glass never to be forgotten, 
 for then the half-mile of leafy colonnade is brought 
 close to the eye, a green and moving stereoscopic 
 picture. 
 
 When at Gawsworth it is a pity to let slip the oppor- 
 tunity of visiting Marton, for the sake alike of its fine 
 old hall, ancient church, and renowned oak. The hall, 
 like so many others in this part of the country, is a 
 black and white of the time of Elizabeth, supplying, in 
 the material, yet another illustration of the ancient plenty 
 in Cheshire of magnificent trees; Lancashire, though it 
 contains many old halls and manor-houses of the same 
 character, presenting a far more considerable proportion 
 of stone ones. In the old "magpies," very generally, so 
 vast is the quantity of wood that one is disposed to 
 exclaim Surely when this house was raised a forest must 
 have been felled. Inside there are many very interesting 
 relics, as one would expect in a primitive seat of the old 
 owners of Bramhall. The church, built in 1343, is in 
 the style of Peover and the oldest portion of Warburton, 
 the aisles being separated from the nave by oaken pillars. 
 As for the "Marton oak," it needs only to say that in 
 dimensions it is an acknowledged rival of the Cowthorpe, 
 the circumference at a yard from the ground being fifty 
 feet, and at the height of a man more than forty feet. It 
 can hardly be called a "trunk," if by that word we are 
 to understand a solid mass of timber, the inner portion 
 having long since decayed, leaving only a shell, though 
 
1 1 8 Country Rambles. 
 
 the branches above are still vigorous and clothed every 
 season with unabating foliage. 
 
 Three or four miles beyond North Rode ancient 
 Congleton comes in view, opening the way, if we care 
 to enter Staffordshire, to Biddulph Grange, renowned for 
 its gardens. Mow Cop, just on the frontiers, awaits those 
 who love mountain air. Trentham Park, fifteen miles 
 further, or about forty-three from Manchester, is the seat, 
 as well-known, of the Duke of Sutherland; and not far, 
 again, from this is the Earl of Shrewsbury's Alton 
 Towers. To reach the latter, we diverge from North 
 Rode along the Churnet Valley line, the same which 
 leads, in the first instance, to the beautiful neighbourhood 
 of Rushton, famed for its ancient church, the untouched 
 beams of the same date as Beeston Castle; then past 
 Rudyard Lake and the delicious woods appertaining to 
 Cliffe Hall. The view from Rushton churchyard is one 
 for painters. The valley, receding southwards, encloses 
 the smooth expanse of Rudyard, which, though no more 
 than a reservoir, has all the winning ways of a Coniston 
 or a Windermere, seeking to elude one's view by reliance 
 on friendly trees. In the north and east the hills rise 
 terrace-wise, range beyond range, each remoter one of 
 different hue, Shutlings Low, that beautiful mamelon, 
 towering above all, and more effectively than as con- 
 templated from any other point we know of. After this 
 comes the lovely walk through the woods themselves, 
 the water visible, intermittently, all the way, with at last 
 pause for rest, in Rudyard village. It is not a little singular 
 
Alton Towers. 119 
 
 that Rudyard, like the reservoir at Lymm, should have 
 for its parent a river Dane, though here the stream does 
 not vanish, the Rudyard Dane being the boundary of 
 the two counties, Cheshire and Staffordshire. 
 
 Alton Towers, a trifle further, illustrate in the finest 
 manner what can be achieved by the skill of the land- 
 scape gardener. At the time of Waterloo the grounds 
 were simple rabbit-warren, and the site of the present 
 mansion was occupied by only a cottage. Worthily is it 
 inscribed, just within the garden gate, "He made the 
 desert smile," the he being Charles, the sixteenth earl, 
 under whose directions the work was executed. The 
 framework consists of two deep and winding valleys, 
 which lose themselves in a third of similar character. Over 
 their slopes have been diffused terraces, arbours, ivied 
 grottoes, trees and shrubs innumerable, green cypresses 
 that rise like spires among the round sycamores, and 
 rhododendrons that in May, looked at across the chasm, 
 seem changed to purple sea-foam. Wherever practicable, 
 there have been added waterfalls and aspiring fountains, 
 and threading in every direction there are moss-grown and 
 apparently interminable sylvan paths. From many points 
 of view, the scene is one no doubt that would have 
 captivated Claude or Salvator Rosa. Still, it must be 
 confessed that the impression, after survey, which lingers 
 longest in the mind is of something not simply lavish, 
 but inordinate. Very beautiful, without question, as an 
 essay in constructive art, therefore invaluable educa- 
 tionally, one falls back, nevertheless, when departing, on 
 
I2O Country Rambles. 
 
 the thought of tranquil Norcliffe, that never tires. The 
 earl, it may be interesting to add, to whom the Alton 
 grounds owe their existence, represented by lineal 
 descent the famous Talbot of the Maid of Orleans' 
 story. When we part with him, we may run on, if we 
 please, to Rocester Junction, and thence to Ashbourne, 
 the threshold of Dovedale, there to chat with immortal 
 Izaak Walton. 
 
 Shutlings Low, the old familiar and far-seen mamelon 
 above-mentioned, the only one we know of in Cheshire, 
 is considered also to be the highest ground in the county, 
 the summit reaching an elevation of over seventeen 
 hundred feet. The view which rewards the rather stiff 
 climb is like that from the crest of Mow Cop, not only 
 vast in compass, but very agreeably new, from command- 
 ing as much as the eye can embrace of Staffordshire. 
 The ascent is best made from Wild Boar dough, itself 
 the most picturesque of the many wild ravines which 
 betoken the near neighbourhood of Derbyshire. For 
 pedestrians the walk from Macclesfield to Buxton is also 
 a glorious one, Axe Edge intervening, with at about a 
 hundred feet below its topmost point the celebrated 
 hostelry, reputed to exceed in elevation even the 
 "Travellers' Rest" in Kirkstone Pass, and which in 
 name commemorates faithful Caton, Catonficfele. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 DISLEY AND MARPLE WAY. 
 
 So shalt thou keep thy memory green, 
 
 And redolent as balmy noon 
 With happiness, for love makes glad ; 
 
 Child-natures never lose their June. 
 
 S. E. TONKIN. 
 
 HEN the L. and N. W. opened its branch 
 from Stockport to Buxton, June i5th, 
 1863, every one loving the country had 
 visions of immense delight among the 
 sweet and then scarcely known hills of 
 Disley and Marple. Previously, they were 
 no more than an element of the scenery 
 observed from the Buxton coach. Since then we have 
 better understood the meaning of those grateful lines, 
 
 You gave me such sweet breath as made 
 The things more rich. 
 
 For if the fronts of these beautiful hills be sometimes 
 rugged, there are none that the western breezes better 
 love to caress, nor are there any that welcome the sun- 
 
122 Country Rambles. 
 
 shine with a more strenuous hospitality. Disley and 
 Marple count not with the places which the sunshine 
 only flatters ; they are always cheerful and pretty, whether 
 it be the hottest day of July, or winter, or spring. Even 
 after a storm, be it ever so vehement, they recover them- 
 selves as rapidly as a child's cheek after the tears. How 
 great and affable, too, their landscapes ! how bright their 
 lawn-like pastures, where tricolour daisies bloom all the 
 year round : there are woods moreover, in the recesses, 
 where we may bathe our eyes in the sweet calm that 
 comes only of green shade, and that like the airy summits 
 up above, give at the same moment both animation and 
 repose. 
 
 Disley is known to most of us as the first station after 
 Hazel-grove, and the point from which departure is taken 
 for Lyme Park. Intermediately there is a delightful 
 walk, reaching the greater part of the distance, upon the 
 right-hand side of the line, through the sylvan covert 
 called Middlewood. The wood is not "preserved." It 
 is semi-private, nevertheless, so that permission to pass 
 through ought to be asked; it is rare, even then, to hear 
 any voices except our own and those of the birds. 
 Either to ascend, or to proceed by train direct to Disley, 
 and enter the wood at the head, is, in its way advan- 
 tageous. The latter is, perhaps, the better course, since 
 we then accompany the stream, one of the very few so 
 near Manchester still unpolluted. The water is the same 
 as that which flows past Bramhall, running thence to 
 Cheadle, where its bubbles swim into the Mersey. 
 
Lyme Park. \ 2 3 
 
 Middlewood, unfortunately for its primitive charm, has 
 recently shared the fate of Gatley Carrs, so that the path 
 is now very inconveniently obstructed, and the Bramhall 
 part of this pretty brook, instead of being the inferior, is 
 to-day, perhaps, after all, the most pleasing. Com- 
 parisons may be spared. The meadows it traverses were 
 never wanting in any substantial element of pastoral 
 charm, and if a thing be good absolutely, what need to 
 ask for more ? The way to them is via Cheadle Hulme, 
 then to Lady Bridge, as far as Bramhall-green, there 
 crossing the road, and stepping anew upon the grass, 
 where the path returns to the water-side. Hence, we go 
 on to Mill-bank farm, told at once by its three great 
 yews, and for the return may take Hazel-grove. 
 
 The broad green slopes and expanses of Lyme Park, 
 though they partake of the loneliness of the neighbouring 
 moors, are, as indicated above, pleasant at every season 
 of the year. Nature, in truth, is always good, no matter 
 what the season is, if the people are so who seek it. As 
 we traverse them, in the south-west the eye rests upon 
 the great plain that stretches to Bowdon; upon the left, 
 on a swelling height, is the far-seen square grey tower 
 called Lyme Cage, clearly intended, when built, for a 
 huntsman's refuge; and passing this it is not far to the 
 hall, upon which, being in a hollow, one comes so 
 suddenly as to be reminded of the adventures of the 
 knights-errant in tales of chivalry. A very fine quadrangu- 
 lar gritstone building, partly Corinthian, partly Ionic, 
 some portion is nevertheless of the time of Elizabeth. 
 
124 Country Rambles. 
 
 The interior is also very various, in many portions stately 
 and richly ornamented, and literally crowded almost 
 everywhere with works of art, including a rude picture of 
 the original hall in the time of King John, with portraits, 
 heraldry, tapestry, stained glass, and wood-carving enough 
 to satisfy the most ravenous. The rare mosaic of fact 
 and fiction currently accepted as the family history of the 
 Leghs is well sustained by the armour and other anti- 
 quities, not the least interesting of which is the font in 
 the chapel, in which for ages the youthful scions of the 
 house have been baptized. There is very little timber in 
 the park, though on the borders not wanting. The most 
 remarkable feature, as regards trees, is an avenue of over 
 seventy lindens. 
 
 The supreme part of Disley is that which lies on the 
 contrary side of the station, consisting in the green and 
 lofty crest called Jackson Edge. This is reached by 
 going a short distance along the Buxton road, then 
 mounting a steep ascent upon the left, cottages on either 
 side, and eventually through a lane upon the right. Due 
 west from the summit, like a garden viewed from a 
 balcony, the plain seen from Lyme Park is displayed 
 even more variously. When satisfied, we may curl round 
 by the stone-quarries, then through the fir-wood, and so 
 back into Disley village, a little tour just enough for 
 those who not being very strong of limb, still go shares 
 with the strongest in zest for mountain breath and 
 extended prospects ; or we may leave Disley again 
 behind, and, crossing a few meadows, mount glorious 
 
Tho. Letherbrow. 
 
Mar pie Ridge. 125 
 
 
 Marple Ridge.* Here the prospect becomes wider and 
 more varied still : filling one also with astonishment that 
 so much can be commanded at the cost of so little 
 labour. The fact is that the railway does half the climb- 
 ing for us, the line from Hazel Grove to Disley being 
 almost a slope. Standing with our backs to Disley 
 village, on the right towers the great green pyramid 
 called Cobden Edge; then come the hills that rise 
 above Whaley Bridge and Taxal, Kinder Scout resting 
 upon their shoulders. In front are hills again, Werneth 
 Low, always identified by the sky-line fringe of trees; 
 Stirrup-benches and Charlesworth Coombs, and the three- 
 hill-churches always remembered by their corresponding 
 initial, Marple, Mellor, and Mottram, with Chadkirk 
 and Compstall in the valley. Southwards, Lyme Cage 
 and Lyme Hall, the latter half-hidden among its trees, 
 are discoverable; and due west is the great plain 
 now familiar, that one which includes Vale Royal, and 
 reaches to Chester. Let all who make a pilgrimage 
 hither remember, as when they visit Gawsworth, to bring 
 their opera-glasses, which however useful when there is 
 curiosity as to a cantatrice, have nowhere a more excel- 
 lent use than on the mountain-side. Cobden Edge, 
 from its greatly superior altitude, overlooks even Marple 
 Ridge! To reach it, after leaving Disley station, cross 
 the wood a little beyond the hotel, and go down a steep 
 
 * It may be permitted here to note that when on Jackson Edge 
 we are close to the home of the accomplished authoress of the well- 
 known and always welcome letters "From the Lyme hills," 
 
1 26 Country Rambles. 
 
 lane, arriving presently at a slit in the wall upon the 
 right, through which it is necessary to sidle as best one 
 may. The canal has then to be crossed, and the river 
 Goyt, after which there is a little glen leading the way 
 to the path up the hill. On the top, all the grandeurs of 
 Marple Ridge are renewed five-fold. Alderley has nearly 
 subsided into the plain. Beeston Castle is conspicuous. 
 Some say they can descry the great Ormes-head. Pursu- 
 ing the road along the crest of the hill, we soon arrive at 
 Marple village; or descending from it, upon the right, 
 get almost as soon into the beautiful valley of the Goyt. 
 Both, however, since 1867, have been rendered so much 
 more easily accessible by means of the Midland railway, 
 that they may be left for another chapter, the more 
 particularly since a few miles' continued ride from Disley 
 brings us to another charming neighbourhood that one 
 which comprises the above-mentioned Whaley Bridge and 
 Taxal. 
 
 The most manageable of the many pleasant walks 
 within reach of the latter, is that one which leads to 
 Taxal church, following the high road till a white gate 
 upon the right opens into meadows descending into a 
 dell, where the swift and limpid waters, if they do not 
 exactly make "shallow falls," at all events invite the 
 birds to sing their madrigals. Quitting the dell, the 
 path is once again upwards, soon reaching the church, 
 and after leaving this, through the grove of trees and 
 along the foot of the reservoir, the overflow from which 
 often seems a rushing snowdrift. This fine sheet of water 
 
Taxal. 1 2 7 
 
 is one of several similar storages prepared for the Peak 
 Forest Canal, and supplies an admirable illustration of 
 the service rendered to scenery by business enterprise, 
 which if it sometimes destroys or mutilates, as in the case 
 of Gatley Carrs, compensates in the gift of broad and 
 shining lakes. An excellent characteristic of the great 
 Lancashire and Cheshire reservoirs is that ordinarily, when 
 in the country, like this one at Taxal, they resemble, as 
 nearly as possible, natural meres. Established, as at 
 Lymm, by damming up the narrow outlet of some little 
 valley through which a stream descends, the water, as it 
 accumulates, is allowed, as far as practicable, to determine 
 its own boundaries ; hence, excepting the one inevitable 
 straight line required for the dam, though this can some- 
 times be dispensed with, the margin winds, the banks 
 become shore-like, and the landscape is exquisitely 
 enriched. No landscape is perfectly beautiful without 
 water, and nowhere has so much been done undesignedly 
 for scenic beauty than in our two adjacent counties. The 
 same is true of the addition given by noble railway-arches 
 to hollows filled with trees. Scenery impregnated with 
 the outcome of human intelligence and human skill must 
 needs, in the long run, always take deepest hold of our 
 admiration, for the simple reason that human nature is 
 there; just as the most precious and delightful part of 
 home is that which is superadded by human affection. 
 From the high grounds above the water the outlook 
 is wonderfully romantic ; when upon the crest of the 
 hill there is an inviting walk also under the trees. For 
 
128 Country Rambles. 
 
 the vigorous, the best part of Taxal is after all upon the 
 Derbyshire instead of the Cheshire side of the river, 
 mounting continuously for two or three miles, and so 
 eventually reaching Eccles Pike a grand, green, round 
 hill in the middle of a huge green basin. Beyond 
 Whaley Bridge come in turn Doveholes and Buxton. 
 
 At Buxton, once the El Dorado of local naturalists, 
 the visitor finds picturesque beauty and historical associa- 
 tions, even if he be not in search of the recruited health 
 which this celebrated old town is supposed to be always 
 so willing to supply. Plenty of exhilarating rambles may 
 be found within the compass of an afternoon, the hills 
 being lofty, while for those who cannot climb there is the 
 romantic valley of the Wye, called Ash wood Dale. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 BY THE MIDLAND LINE. 
 
 But the dell, 
 
 Bathed in the mist, is fresh and delicate 
 As vernal cornfield, or the unripe flax, 
 When through its half-transparent stalks at eve 
 The level sunshine glimmers with green light. 
 
 S. T. COLERIDGE. 
 
 HE opening of the Midland line through 
 Marple, like that of the L. & N. W. through 
 Disley, was hailed with immense delight by 
 all lovers of country rambles. Access thereto 
 previously was possible only on foot, or by 
 canal, and in either case the journey was 
 rather long. Chadkirk, soon reached, is a 
 celebrated old village thought by some to preserve the 
 name of the once greatly-honoured patron-saint com- 
 memorated also in Chadderton, Chaddock, Chatburn, 
 and Chat Moss; by others, to refer to one "Earl Cedda." 
 Be that as it may, the tradition of the old missionary's 
 once abiding here still clings to Chadkirk, and a clear 
 spring by the roadside, upon the left, going up the hill 
 near the church, and now lined with mosses, is to this 
 K 
 
130 Country Rambles. 
 
 day "St. Chad's well." The earliest ecclesiastical notice 
 of the place does not occur till temp. Henry VIII. The 
 hill itself, Werneth Low, is one of the highest in Cheshire, 
 and the first of several such in that odd piece of the 
 county which runs away to the north-east, stretched forth, 
 as an old topographer says, "like the wing of an eagle." 
 Like all the other eminences hereabouts, it commands 
 very noble and extensive views. So complete, in truth, 
 is the look-out in all directions from the summit, that to 
 walk from end to end, is like pacing a watch-tower. The 
 plains of Cheshire and South Lancashire lie to the west; 
 Lyme, Marple, and Disley are seen to the south; and 
 eastwards there are inviting bits of Derbyshire, here 
 separated from Cheshire by the Etherowe, the opposite 
 side charmingly clothed by the Ernocroft woods, while in 
 the distance rise the vast moorlands of Charlesworth and 
 Glossop. If bound for Werneth Low it is best, perhaps, 
 after all, to quit the train at Woodley, or to make our 
 way to that place from Parkwood. In any case, until 
 Werneth Low has been ascended, knowledge of our local 
 scenery is decidedly immature. 
 
 The long and beautifully wooded glen extending from 
 Romiley to Marple is Chadkirk Vale, and the stream, 
 not as some suppose, the Mersey, but the above-named 
 Goyt. That it is marked as the Mersey in Speed, and 
 again in the Ordnance map, no doubt is true. White 
 also calls it the Mersey, all who do this considering that 
 the Mersey begins with the confluence of the Etherowe 
 with the Goyt, about half-a-mile below Compstall bridge. 
 
Marple Dell. 131 
 
 But the real point of commencing is where the Goyt is 
 joined by the Tame, that is to say, a little below Port- 
 wood bridge, in the north-western suburb of Stockport. 
 The ramble up the vale is in every portion delightful, 
 closing in a deep ravine or clough called Marple Dell, 
 the upper extremity spanned by the three great arches of 
 "Marple Aqueduct." The height of this celebrated work 
 from the bed of the river is nearly a hundred feet; yet, 
 to-day it is overtopped by the Midland viaduct, from 
 which, as we glide past, the dell is seen half as much 
 again below. Aqueducts are common enough, and so 
 are viaducts, but it is seldom that we have the oppor- 
 tunity of contemplating at the same moment a twofold 
 series of arches of equal grandeur, the viaduct consisting 
 of no fewer than thirteen. Everywhere right and left of 
 the Goyt, hereabouts, there are unforbidden and usually 
 quiet and shady paths, some of them possibly entered 
 more readily by the ancient foot-roads from near Bred- 
 bury and Hazel-grove, but all converging towards Marple 
 village. Three or four of the most interesting little cloughs 
 or dells within the same distance of Manchester are 
 here associated, the prettiest, perhaps, being those called 
 Dan-bank wood and Marple wood. Lovely strolls are at 
 command also by aiming for Otterspool Bridge, these 
 chiefly through meadows and by the rapid river, which, 
 when not perplexed by shifting islands and peninsulas, 
 decked with willow-herb and butterbur, glides with a 
 stilly smoothness quite remarkable for one so shallow. 
 At Otterspool the rush of water is sometimes very strong. 
 
132 Country Rambles. 
 
 In the olden times it was similar at Stockport, though 
 now subdued by the constant casting in of dirt, if there 
 be truth, that is, in the record that in 1745, when the 
 Stockport bridge was blown up in order to check the 
 retreat of the Pretender, it ran beneath the arches "with 
 great fury." Upon the western banks of the Goyt, not 
 very far from Chadkirk. perched upon a romantic natural 
 terrace, there is another very interesting and celebrated 
 Elizabethan mansion, Marple Old Hall, the more 
 pleasing since, though subjected in 1659 to rather con- 
 siderable alterations, it appears to retain all the best of 
 the original characteristics. It is now draped also, in 
 part, with luxuriant ivy. The historical incidents con- 
 nected with Marple Hall are well known, those, at 
 least, which gather round the name of Cromwell. To 
 our own mind there is something better yet, the 
 spectacle in the earliest months of spring of the innu- 
 merable snowdrops, these dressing the woods and slopes 
 with their immaculate purity, almost to the water's edge. 
 Proceeding direct to Marple by the Midland, the 
 choicest of the many walks now at command begins with 
 descent of the hill upon the left, then, as soon as the 
 river is reached, keeping as near it as may be practi- 
 cable, through the lanes and meadows as far as 
 "Arkwright's Mill." No Ancoats mill is this one. 
 Originally called "Bottoms Mill," it was erected in 1790 
 by the celebrated Mr. Samuel Oldknow, of whom so 
 many memorials exist in the neighbourhood, including a 
 lettered tablet in Marple church, and who would seem 
 
Strawberry Hill. 133 
 
 to have been associated with Arkwright in many of his 
 most important undertakings. The mill in question was 
 built, as Mr. Joel Wainwright correctly states,* upon the 
 lines of the famous one at Cromford. Embosomed in a 
 romantic valley, and surrounded by fine trees, among 
 which are walnuts for in tree-planting, as in other 
 things, Mr. Oldknow displayed exceptional good taste 
 it gives the idea less of a cotton-mill than of some great 
 institute or retreat, and proves that in the country, at 
 least, scenes of manufacturing need not by any means be, 
 as usual, depots of ugliness. Soon after passing the mill, 
 the path continues by the river-side, through pleasant 
 meads and under the shadow of the trees to the point 
 where the stream is crossed by Windybottom Bridge, 
 where the hill has now to be ascended, either leftwards 
 for Marple Ridge and Disley, or turning to the right for 
 Marple village. Either way, the walk is delightful, and 
 always at an end too soon. Another charming way from 
 Arkwright's mill to the bridge is along the slope on the 
 Derbyshire side of the water, called Strawberry Hill, but 
 this is only for the privileged. Down in this sequestered 
 valley, if we love the sight of wild-flowers, there is always 
 great store; in May the fragrant wild-anise, and in 
 autumn the campanula. 
 
 A third excellent Marple walk is to go up the hill from 
 
 *In his very interesting "Reminiscences of a Lifetime in Marple 
 and the Neighbourhood," 1882, a contribution to our local literature 
 which in the accuracy and variety of its entertaining details does the 
 author genuine credit. 
 
134 Country Rambles. 
 
 the station, turn instantly to the right just above the line, 
 and alongside of it, and at the distance of a hundred 
 yards or so find our way to the bank of the canal, cross- 
 ing this and entering the fields through a stile. The path 
 then goes past Lea Hey farm, and after awhile past Nab 
 Top farm, beautiful prospects all the way. On the 
 right, far below, we now soon have the river, eventually 
 treading the meadows called Marple Dale, through 
 which it meanders, and at the end of which the path 
 mounts through the wood and enters Marple Park, the 
 way back to the village now self-declared, 
 
 After Strines, from near which place there is another 
 way to Cobden Edge, next, if travelling by train, we 
 get to New Mills, and before long to Chapel-en-le-Frith, 
 once again a point for new beginning, since it is here 
 that we start for Castleton. This is a jaunt purely for 
 pedestrians, and for vehicles not unwilling to linger on 
 the way, being one long climb, from which even steam, 
 that, like Lord Chatham, "tramples upon impossibilities," 
 for the present seems to shrink. England furnishes few 
 such walks as this one from Chapel to Castleton, the 
 concluding part in particular, by the ancient bridle-path, 
 through the Wind-gates, or "Winnats," crags rising 
 upon each side to a height so vast that at times we seem 
 absolutely shut in. The hugeness and the loneliness of 
 this wonderful chasm, the bare grey slopes and bluffs of 
 projecting rock relieved only by the presence of a few 
 sheep, powerfully recall the great passes amid the 
 mountains of the distant north. Once, however, it must 
 
Castleton. \ 35 
 
 have been comparatively well trodden, the Winnats, up 
 to about eighty years ago, having been the sole thorough- 
 fare from Chapel into Hope Dale. The high-road now 
 curls round by the foot of Mam Tor, or the "Shivering 
 Mountain," so called because of the continual dribbling 
 away upon one side of the loose material of which this 
 singular pile chiefly consists. The apex of Mam Tor is 
 one thousand three hundred and fifty feet above the sea, 
 yet so great is the elevation of all the surrounding 
 country that it seems quite inconsiderable. Everywhere 
 hereabouts, in fact throughout the journey, after leaving 
 Chapel, a remarkable negative feature of the scenery is 
 the absence of water. Plenty of the little recesses are 
 here that remind us of those afar where moisture drips 
 and sparkles on green moss. But we look in vain for 
 the slightest trickling movement. There are none of the 
 little springs which ordinarily upon the mountain-side 
 seem longing for the time when they shall become 
 cascades. In Lancashire a pass like the Winnats would 
 have had a splashing and plentiful stream, or at all 
 events would remind us of a Palestine wady. It is 
 further remarkable that upon these hills there is no 
 heather, nor is there a single plant of either whortleberry 
 or bracken. The great attraction at Castleton consists 
 in the caverns. The Blue-John mine should be visited in 
 order to learn what stalactite drapery means; but the 
 best part of the "Peak-cavern" is the vestibule, open to 
 the daylight. Pushing into the interior, the vast altitude 
 of one small portion, revealed for a moment by means of 
 
136 Country Rambles. 
 
 fireworks, no doubt has a kind of sublimity. Still there is 
 nothing to please, unless it be pleasure to stand in a dark 
 inferno that seems no part of our own world, and which 
 can scarcely be entered without a feeling of dismay. The 
 ruins of Peveril Castle, and the fine old Norman arch in 
 Castleton church are both very interesting to the archae- 
 ologist. The position of the former is most curious, the 
 castle seeming from the foot of the hill to stand upon a 
 simple slope of turf, whereas in reality just behind it 
 there is an impassable abyss. 
 
 This inestimable line, the Midland, carries us also to 
 " Miller's Dale," from which station! there is a branch at 
 an acute returning angle to Buxton; thence onwards to 
 " Monsal Dale," Hassop, Bakewell, Rowsley, Darley, and 
 Matlock. Monsal Dale, ipsissima, has been called the 
 "Arcadia of the Peak." It may be so. Remembering 
 the ancient and golden canon that it is the eye of the 
 lover that makes the beauty, the judgment may be let 
 stand as one that was true and just to the man who 
 pronounced it. The poet asks, "Who can paint like 
 nature?" Surely he forgot the sweet facility of the human 
 heart; in any case, there are no festoons like those woven 
 by the spirit of man. Hassop, the next in order, is the 
 nearest point of departure, on foot, for Chatsworth, 
 though Bakewell has somewhat the advantage as regards 
 scenery upon the way. Bakewell is the centre also for 
 Haddon Hall, reached thence, on foot, in half an hour. 
 Rowsley supplies the carriage-way to Chatsworth, and a 
 shady and retired walk thereto along the western side of 
 
Miller s Dale. 137 
 
 the stream. From this point also access is easy to Lath- 
 kill Dale, and many another of the gems of Derbyshire. 
 Darley Dale, with its majestic yew, one of the oldest and 
 grandest trees in England, and Matlock, with its mighty 
 Tor, are places for the longest of summer days we can 
 do with no less when the sunshine is oriental and sunset 
 is a kaleidoscope. 
 
 For a simple afternoon, there is nothing within easy 
 reach more delicious than Miller's Dale itself, the signifi- 
 cance of which name is really the lucid and babbling 
 Wye, in its sweetest portion, and the unique recess which 
 holds Chee Tor, not to mention the pretty Wormhill 
 springs. The entrance to the vale is close to the station, 
 the path lying first through a long-extended grove of 
 trees, then changing to the green turf of a most beautiful 
 seclusion, the ground rising in pleasant slopes, smooth 
 except where broken by uncovered rock, while by our 
 side, all the way, the stream runs peacefully, circling at 
 times in quiet pools, or quickening in ripples that seem 
 to speak, the shallower parts decked with pebbles that 
 are covered, when the sun shines, with lacework of leaf- 
 shadows. The springs are at the foot of the slope where 
 a steep and rugged path leads to Wormhill. The water 
 wells out of the ground just as in the streets of a city 
 when some great conduit underneath has given way, 
 being derived, there can be no doubt, from some far- 
 distant original source, whence it has travelled by secret 
 subterranean channels. The phenomenon is in Derby- 
 shire by no means an uncommon one. Streams in 
 
138 Country Rambles. 
 
 several places suddenly lose themselves in the ground, 
 bursting out again, it may be miles away, after the manner 
 of the Guadal quiver; here, at Wormhill, it appears, 
 nevertheless, to have its most pleasing illustration. The 
 Tor is found in the magnificent gorge in front, a stupen- 
 dous mass of limestone, rising vertically from the water's 
 edge, with a grand curvilinear outline of nearly a quarter 
 of a mile in extent, the surface uniformly grey and bare, 
 except for scattered ivy and a few iron-like yews that are 
 anchored in the crevices. Upon the opposite side there 
 is a corresponding cliff, but less precipitous, and clothed 
 in every part with half-pendulous shrubs and trees. This 
 wonderful scene may be reached also from Ashwood 
 Dale, starting from Buxton, and when about half way to 
 Bakewell creeping down on the left to the margin of 
 the stream. The path is romantic, but cannot be recom- 
 mended, being in many parts difficult and here and there 
 decidedly perilous. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE NORTH-EASTERN HIGHLANDS. 
 
 My heart leaps up when I behold 
 
 The rainbow in the sky 
 So was it when I was a boy ; 
 So is it now I am a man ; 
 So be it when I shall grow old, 
 
 Or let me die ! 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 OR our present purpose it is convenient to 
 include, under the general title of the 
 North-eastern Highlands, the vast mountain 
 district, occupying portions of three counties, 
 which extends from the Peak to the neigh- 
 bourhood of Greenfield. Reached in part by 
 the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire system, in 
 part by the L. & N. W. Huddersfield line, it is tolerably 
 well-known to travellers by those railways. They are 
 cognizant of it as a region of lofty moorland, bleak and 
 uninviting except at grouse-time. To people in general, 
 however, it is as strange as Norway; and no wonder, 
 since a visit to any one of the better portions implies a 
 love of adventure which, if not exceptional, is infrequent. 
 
140 Country Rambles, 
 
 Glorious, nevertheless, are those untouched and silent 
 wastes. Thousands of their acres have never felt the 
 ploughshare, nay, not even the spade, and probably never 
 will. In parts they seem to belong less to the existing 
 order of nature than to obsolete ages, suggesting, like the 
 Sahara, the idea of a former and exhausted world. Seal 
 Bark might be the relics of some ancient mountain, torn 
 to fragments when the wind whistled among the Calamites 
 and the Sigillarias, now nothing but bones, nameless and 
 immemorial. 
 
 The southernmost portion of this huge tract of wilder- 
 ness is occupied by Kinder Scout, the highest factor of 
 the Peak, the elevation being nearly two thousand feet 
 above the sea; and which, presenting a "broad bare 
 back " or plateau of fully four miles in length from east 
 to west, with a width of more than half as much, is 
 distinguishable at a glance, though often cloud-capped, 
 from all its neighbours. Unfortunately for the rightful 
 claims of massive Kinder, this great length detracts from 
 its majesty, since the majestic, to be appreciated, always 
 demands a certain amount of concentration. In sub- 
 stance, like most other parts of our "north-eastern 
 highlands," Kinder Scout is millstone-grit, thickly over- 
 laid with mountain-peat, the foothold of wiry scrub, 
 though, here and there presenting bold escarpments. 
 The surface is deeply fissured by rills of drainage-water, 
 and hillocks and depressions are universal. Paths cross 
 it in various directions, but these of course are only for 
 the brave. 
 
Kinder Scout. \ 4 r 
 
 The best route, when it is desired to ascend this noble 
 eminence, is via Hayfield, beginning at Bowden Bridge, 
 and going up the valley past Farlands. It is indis- 
 pensable, however, either to be provided with a map, or 
 to be accompanied by a guide, as well as to take 
 precautions in regard to possible trespass.* Once upon 
 the summit, the reward is ample, alike in the magnificent 
 scenery, rich with distant purple shadows, and in the 
 inspiring atmosphere. If in the landscape there is 
 nothing gay and festal, no slight thing is it to stand in 
 the presence-chamber of these antique solitudes, reading 
 the silent history of centuries of winter ravage, so terrible 
 that no wonder the very rocks have thrust up their grey 
 heads to ask the meaning of it. No slight thing is it 
 either at any time to find ourselves beside the very urn 
 of a bounding and musical stream, such as trots along 
 the valley, this one having its birth in " Kinder Down- 
 fall " a far-seen shoot of water from the western cliff, 
 a single silver line of pretty cataract that might have 
 heard of Terni and the Bridal Veil, and so much the 
 more precious because the only one of its kind within 
 the distance, which is from Manchester, say precisely 
 twenty miles. Rain of course is needed, as at Lodore, 
 for the full development. 
 
 The writer of the "Guide" says that another very 
 beautiful and not infrequent spectacle to be witnessed 
 
 * All needful particulars will be found in the little "Guide to 
 Hayfield and Kinder Scout," purchasable at Hayfield and at 
 Bowden Bridge. 
 
142 Country Rambles. 
 
 here is when in wet weather, or after a storm, the wind 
 blows strongly from the W.S.W. "Coming from the 
 direction of Hayfield, it sweeps over the Upper Moor 
 and the bare backs of the bleak Blackshaws, and beating 
 against the high flanking walls of rock is concentrated 
 with prodigious power into the angle of the mountain, 
 forcing back the whole volume of the cascade, and carry- 
 ing it up in most fantastic and beautiful lambent forms, 
 which are driven back again as heavy rain and mist for 
 half a mile across the bog, then perhaps to return to be 
 shivered into spray once more, unless in some momentary 
 lull the torrent rushes down in huge volume." " Some- 
 times," he adds, "in winter, the fall, with the huge walls 
 of rock flanking its sides, becomes one mass of icy 
 stalactites, which as the sun declines present a magnifi- 
 cent spectacle." According to Mr. H. B. Biden, in Notes 
 and Queries, Feb. i6th, 1878, though other writers think 
 differently, and, as it seems to us, less reasonably, it is 
 to the downfall that Kinder Scout owes its name. Kin- 
 (cin)-dwr-scwd, he tells us, in Cymraeg signifies "High 
 water cataract." 
 
 Keeping to the main line, the original " Sheffield and 
 Manchester," half an hour carries us to Broadbottom 
 and Mottram-in-Longdendale, where we stop in order to 
 make acquaintance with the lively Etherowe, which here 
 divides Cheshire from Derbyshire, running on to Comp- 
 stall, where, as above stated, it enters the Goyt. The 
 scenery all the way to the point of confluence is alluring. 
 On the Cheshire side of the stream the slope is occupied 
 
Stirrup-benches. 143 
 
 in part by Bottoms-hall Wood, through which there is a 
 footway to Werneth Low, and then to Hyde or Woodley, 
 a very pleasant sufficiency for an afternoon. On the 
 Derbyshire side, after crossing a few fields, Stirrup Wood 
 forms a beautiful counterpoise to Bottoms - hall ; and 
 when through this we are upon Stirrup-benches, famous 
 for profusion of the Oreads' fern that fragrant one so 
 fittingly dedicated to the nymphs who once upon a time 
 danced on green slopes around Diana, 
 
 Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades. 
 
 Botanists call it the Lastrea Oreopteris. It is. well to 
 be reminded by them that scientific nomenclature is 
 something more than Greek and Latin, and a burden for 
 the memory, and that all the best and oldest portion of it 
 lies bosomed in poesy. The mythical Oreads them- 
 selves are not required, for we have better ones in our 
 live companions ; but of the memory of them it would be 
 an irreparable loss to be despoiled. 
 
 Above Stirrup-benches comes Ludworth Moor. Then 
 far away, again up above, the grand mountain-terrace 
 called Charlesworth Coombs, the semi-circular and de- 
 nuded face of which is in some parts very nearly perpen- 
 dicular, the ridge affording, yet once again, supreme 
 views. On every side there is a tumultuous sea of 
 mountain-crests, with intermixture of sweet green knolls, 
 often wooded, in the relish of which, as upon Kinder, 
 one thinks of the immortals in art and literature, 
 
 "Who never can be wholly known, 
 But still their beauty grows, 
 
144 Country Rambles. 
 
 On the contrary side are the Glossop moors ; within the 
 valley, the thriving town after which they are named; and 
 the remarkably beautiful cone, covered with trees, called 
 Shire Hill, an isolated mound that looks as if it might 
 have been tossed there in pastime by the Titans. 
 Glossop, as every one knows, has a station of its own, 
 which should be remembered not only for the sake of 
 Shire Hill, but for Lees-hall Dingle, Ramsley Clough, 
 Chunal Clough, Melandra Castle, and Whiteley Nab, the 
 climb to the brows of which last is no doubt somewhat 
 arduous, but well repaid. On summer Sunday mornings, 
 very early, when the smoke has had time to dissolve, the 
 Glossop people say they can distinguish even Chester 
 and the sea. Ramsley Clough, a romantic defile, 
 apparently under the special protection of the deities 
 of the fountains, and the stream down which would be 
 more fitly designated a thousand little waterfalls, is 
 remarkably prolific in mosses and other green crypto- 
 gamous plants. "Melandra Castle" an old rampart, 
 with a vast quantity of stones dug out or still embedded, 
 is supposed, on the showing of some fragments of Roman 
 tiles, to date from not later than A.D. 500. 
 
 Mottram-in-Longdendale, like Charles worth, abounds 
 in bold and romantic scenery, though the elevation is 
 much less, the height of Mottram church above the sea 
 being only about four hundred and fifty feet. Tintwistle 
 and the neighbourhood also furnish endless recreation, 
 as, indeed, does the whole country as far as Woodhead. 
 The railway runs up the valley of the Etherowe, which 
 
Staley Brushes. 145 
 
 river rises in the moors above, and has at this part been 
 converted, by barricading, into five successive quasi- 
 lakes, not so picturesque, perhaps, as some of the other 
 great reservoirs we have made acquaintance with, but 
 still furnishing an agreeable spectacle, alike from the 
 train and from the hills. They contribute the chief 
 portion of the Manchester waterworks storage; the 
 collecting-grounds, which are estimated to have an 
 extent of nearly nineteen thousand acres, consisting 
 chiefly of moorland, covered, as at Kinder, with immense 
 sponges of mountain-peat. Retaining the rain, these 
 serve a purpose corresponding to that of the snows and 
 glaciers upon the Alps, so various are the ways in which 
 the munificence of nature is expressed. Mounting on 
 to the moors at the entrance to the Woodhead tunnel (by 
 the brookside) we presently find a clough, a waterfall, 
 and the beginnings of the river Derwent. Crossing the 
 river, as the alternative, there is a fine walk to Tint- 
 wistle, and thence, over other seemingly boundless moors, 
 to Staley Brushes. 
 
 But now we get to a district better sought by 
 travel on the L. & N. W. line, the long and picturesque 
 portion of it, that is, which runs through the Saddleworth 
 valley en route for Leeds. With the mind absorbed in 
 thought of the place one is bound to, or of the duties or 
 occupations there awaiting our arrival, the scenery right 
 and left of a railway often receives a very indifferent 
 amount of attention. The line from Ashton to Hudders- 
 field, excepting only the great tunnel, is, one of those. 
 
146 Country Rambles. 
 
 however, which should never be used heedlessly. The 
 prospects are never wide-extended, for the track is 
 entirely through deep valleys : it is the slopes ascending 
 from these which are in many parts picturesque; if we 
 think ever so slightly of what they lead up to, they 
 possess the still better quality of significance. 
 
 In the bygones the "Brushes," briefly so designated, 
 were almost as noted with the old Lancashire naturalists 
 as Cotterill. The ravine so called, grey crags guarding 
 the entrance, and a stream, with innumerable little mossy 
 waterfalls descending from some undiscovered fount 
 above, was renowned not more for its wild grandeur than 
 for its botany and ornithology. Now it is only historical, 
 the adaptation of the best part to the purposes of a 
 waterworks company having effaced all the leading 
 characteristics. The wheel-path remains much as it was, 
 at least above the dam, and by pursuing this, a somewhat 
 long ascent, we find ourselves once again upon the 
 moors, here called "North Britain." Two courses 
 present themselves now. One is to bend to the right, 
 returning by way of Hollingworth; the other to strike off 
 sharply to the left, and after a while, descend to the 
 railway. The first-named supplies views of extraordinary 
 breadth and changefulness, extending up and across the 
 Tintwistle valley, and covering the hills above Dinting 
 and Glossop; the Hollingworth reservoirs (supplementary 
 to those of Woodhead, and well set-off with trees,) 
 contributing in the best manner to the power of the 
 landscape as a whole. The Holyngworthe family (for 
 
" Pots and Pans" 147 
 
 such is the ancient and proper spelling of the name) up 
 to the time of the death of the last representative, had 
 been seated here from times anterior to the Conquest, 
 thus reminding one of the Traffords of Trafford Park. 
 The hall, a quaint relic of the past, now tenanted by 
 Mr. Broderick, is to a considerable extent, of temp. 
 Henry VI. By taking the leftward path, over the 
 heather, opportunity is acquired for mounting the lofty 
 crest, said to have been once occupied by "Bucton 
 Castle;" a fortress, to say the least of it, semi-fabulous, 
 though there is no reason to doubt that in the Armada 
 times, Bucton, like Alderley Edge, was used as a 
 signalling station. In case of need, flames shooting up 
 from the topmost peak, would be visible, on clear nights, 
 at a distance of at least twenty miles. 
 
 Reference was made, a page or two back, to Seal Bark. 
 For this we quit the line at Greenfield, first ascending 
 past " Bin Green " to the " Moorcock," vulgarly " BilFs- 
 o'-Jack's," from the heights around which the outlook 
 over the adjacent country is once again marvellous. Very 
 curious, too, and in itself well worth the climb, is the 
 far-seen rock "Pots and Pans," well, if not elegantly, so 
 named, for on drawing near it is discovered to be an 
 immense mass of millstone-grit, left there since the 
 glacial period, with about a dozen roundish cavities upon 
 the top, the largest of them more than a yard across by 
 about fifteen inches in depth, and nine of the group 
 usually holding water. Local superstition, as would be 
 expected, attributes these singular basins to the Druids, 
 
148 Country Rambles. 
 
 who are supposed to have excavated them for ritual 
 purposes; but, as in other places for such cavities are 
 by no means confined to Greenfield there can be no 
 hesitation in regarding them as pure works of nature. 
 Millstone-grit is, in parts, peculiarly inadhesive. Exposed 
 as this rock has been for untold ages to the beating of 
 tempests, its softer portions, where the cavities are, have 
 been slowly fretted away, and we are asked to recall 
 nothing more than the ancient proverb. Keeping to the 
 road, by degrees the elevation becomes so great that 
 the topmost part is playfully termed the "Isle of Skye." 
 It is hereabouts that the cloudberry, that most artistic 
 of northern fruits, never seen and unable to exist upon 
 lower levels, is for our own neighbourhood, so plentiful. 
 When ripe, so thick is the spread of rosy amber that 
 the spectacle is most bright and pretty, the ground 
 seeming strewed with white-heart cherries. Singular to 
 say, although very nice to human palates, the grouse 
 leave it untouched, turning to the whortleberry and the 
 cranberry. 
 
 As the " Druidical " origin has been popular, and lest 
 there may still be a lingering doubt with some as to 
 the natural origin of the "Pots and Pans," it may be 
 added that upon the high grounds within a few miles of 
 Todmorden there have been reckoned up nearly eight 
 hundred similar cavities, the diameter varying from a few 
 inches to four or five feet. They may be observed indeed 
 in every stage of formation, thus altogether neutralizing 
 the idea of their having been produced by artificial means. 
 
Seal Bark. 149 
 
 They occur, moreover, only in this particular series of 
 the millstone-grit, other descriptions of grit in the neigh- 
 bourhoodthose not so amenable to the action of the 
 weather being entirely without. Very often, too, the 
 basins are in positions such as neither Druids or any one 
 else would ever select for ritual or ceremonials. The 
 number of basins is itself an argument against the 
 Druidical origin, since so many would never possibly be 
 required, to say nothing of the fairly determined fact 
 that the Druidical altar was usually a cromlech, formed 
 by placing a great slab of stone horizontally upon the 
 edges of two other slabs fixed in the ground vertically. 
 
 But we are bound for Seal Bark. To get hither, the 
 road must be quitted near the "Moorcock," and a way 
 found through the firwood to the bottom of the valley, 
 then re-ascending by the borders of the stream. A 
 water so wild and beautiful it would be difficult to find 
 nearer than Scotland or Carnarvonshire. Sliding, gliding, 
 tumbling, in every conceivable mode, now it hurries along 
 a smooth and limpid current; now it plays with the 
 boulders, and changes to little cascades; now it fills 
 little bays and recesses with reposing foam as white as 
 snow, or that are alive with circular processions of 
 untiring bubbles that swim awhile delicately, round and 
 round, then, like the dancers in Sir Roger de Coverley, 
 when they bend beneath the arch of lifted arms, rejoin 
 their first partners and away down the middle, away and 
 away, as swift as thought. Great defiles open on the 
 right and left, Rimmon Clough and Birchen Clough, at 
 
156 Country Rambles. 
 
 the foot of which stands the one solitary tree of this 
 grand wilderness a mountain-ash, the tree of all others 
 accustomed to loneliness. Above, at a vast height, is 
 Ravenstone Brow, so named from the number of birds 
 that once nested thereabouts, and where cuckoos still 
 come. When at length we arrive at Seal Bark, who 
 shall mistake it ? All the waste and broken rock of a 
 kingdom seems to have been pitched over the brow, 
 and let fall and roll or stop just where it liked. The 
 probability is that at some remote period the torrent 
 undermined one side of the gorge, the ruins toppling 
 over much in the same way as those of the ancient 
 Clevedon shore, where it is plain that the fragments owe 
 their present position to the remorseless beating of the 
 sea. 
 
 For those who care to run on through the great Stand- 
 edge tunnel, three miles and sixty-four yards long, thus 
 getting to Marsden, there is an extremely fine mountain- 
 pass called Wessenden Clough, the heights on either 
 hand not less than a thousand feet, and once again a 
 rushing torrent. There is a path back to Greenfield 
 over the moors, but the way is rather long, except for 
 the practised. The great tunnel at Woodhead, upon the 
 Sheffield line, often thought to exceed the Standedge, is, 
 we may here remark, twenty yards shorter. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BAMFORD WOOD. 
 
 So rich a shade, so green a sod, 
 
 Our English fairies never trod ; 
 
 Yet who in Indian bower has stood, 
 
 But thought on England's "good green wood?" 
 
 And bless'd, beneath the palmy shade, 
 
 Her hazel and her hawthorn glade, 
 
 And breath 'd a prayer (how oft in vain ! ) 
 
 To gaze upon her oaks again? 
 
 HEBER. 
 
 ORTY years ago no part of our neighbourhood 
 more abounded in natural attractions than 
 the district which comprises Moston, Black- 
 ley, Boggart-hole Clough, Middleton, Bamford 
 Wood, and the upper portions generally of 
 the valleys of the Medlock and the Irk, the 
 latter including that pretty little cup amid the grassy and 
 tree-clad slopes still known as "Daisy Nook." How 
 charmingly many of these places have been introduced 
 into our local literature needs no telling. Samuel 
 Bamford was not the man to misapprehend the beauty 
 of nature. Throstle Glen was one of his favourite resorts. 
 
152 Country Rambles. 
 
 Edwin Waugh, happily, is still with us, not alone in 
 perfect story, but ready with the always welcome living 
 voice. The spread of building and of manufacturing has 
 induced heavy changes in almost every portion of the 
 district mentioned, changes partaking, only too often, of 
 the nature of havoc, especially in the immediate vicinity 
 of the streams. So long, however, as it holds centres 
 of social and intellectual culture and refinement Mr. 
 George Milner lives at Moston the mind does not care 
 to contrast the present with the past, accepting the 
 record, and in that quite willing to rest. The district 
 in question is peculiarly interesting also from the fact of 
 its having been one of the principal scenes of the work 
 done by the old Lancashire "naturalists in humble life" 
 during the time that they earned their reputation. A 
 noted locality for hand-loom silk weaving, it was long 
 distinguished in particular for its resident entomologists, 
 the delicacy of touch demanded by that elegant art being 
 just that which is needed when one's play-hours are spent 
 with Psyche; upon the same occupation would seem 
 indeed to have arisen yet another of the old characteristic 
 local tastes that for the cultivation of dainty flowers, 
 such as the auricula and the polyanthus. Floriculture is 
 still pursued with fair success, though on a smaller scale; 
 entomology, we fear, is like the hand-loom, almost for- 
 gotten. We should remember, also, that Alkrington 
 Hall, near Middleton, was the residence of the celebrated 
 Sir Ashton Lever, gentleman, scholar, and naturalist, and 
 that it was by him that the innumerable objects of the 
 
White Moss. 153 
 
 famous Leverian Museum were brought together. While 
 a resident at Alkrington Hall (the ancient family seat) he 
 had the best aviary in the kingdom. In 1775 the museum 
 was removed to London, and ten years afterwards it was 
 sold by auction piecemeal. Sir Ashton's Manchester 
 town house was that one in "Lever's Row," now called 
 Piccadilly, which has for many years been the "White 
 Bear" hotel. When he died, in 1788, this house was 
 advertised as eligible for a ladies' school, being so far 
 away from the centre of business, and fields within a few 
 yards ! 
 
 "White Moss," as before-mentioned (p. 60), has long 
 since been converted into farm-land, but in the days 
 referred to was still in its glory, dull to look at, no doubt, 
 but to the interrogator a local garden of Eden. Never 
 shall we forget the genial smile that rippled old George 
 Crozier's broad, round, rosy, white-fringed face as one 
 sunny afternoon in Whitsun-week, 1839, we stepped with 
 twenty or more under his guidance for the first time upon 
 the elastic peat, and beheld the andromeda and the pink 
 stars of the cranberry, these also for the first time. To 
 Crozier the pretty flowers were familiar as the hills; his 
 joy was to watch the delight they gave the juveniles. 
 Presently a man came up and asked if we were "looking 
 for brtds" A little puzzled at first by the strange inquiry, 
 the mystery was soon solved by his taking off his hat and 
 showing it stuck full of butterflies, the "birds," or in 
 his homely Anglo-Saxon, the "brids" caught during his 
 ramble. Among the more remarkable insects then to be 
 
154 Country Rambles. 
 
 captured on White Moss were the showy beetle called 
 Carabus nitens, the glittering green stripes of its wing- 
 cases edged with a band of brilliant copper-colour; the 
 fox-moth, Lasiocampa rubi, so called from its peculiar 
 foxy colour; and the emperor-moth, Saturnia pavonia, for 
 which the moss had been from time immemorial a noted 
 locality. Great has been the sport of many an ento- 
 mologist, as, sitting on White Moss on a fine day in early 
 summer, with a captured virgin female of this beautiful 
 creature, the antenna of which are like ostrich plumes, 
 the males have flocked to him, or rather to her, by the 
 hundred, for the virgin female of the emperor-moth, 
 though she can fly, prefers to sit still until she has been 
 visited by an individual of the other sex. Up to this 
 period she exudes a delicate odour which attracts the 
 latter from long distances, those which have far to come, 
 and arrive late, or not till after the advent of the first, 
 turning back, unless captured by the entomologist's net, 
 as soon as they perceive by their wonderful instinct that 
 she is virgin no longer. The wings of the males, as 
 with most other kinds of butterfly, are rarely found perfect, 
 except when first fledged. Flying about in ardent search 
 of the female, they tear and chip them against the heath 
 and other plants with which they come in contact through 
 their impatience. The plant that chiefly attracted atten- 
 tion on that memorable day was the cotton-sedge, the 
 most beautiful production of the moorlands, and con- 
 spicuous from afar as its silvery-white tassels bend and 
 recover before the breeze. Carrying off a great handful, 
 
Boggart-hole Clough. 155 
 
 "Look ! " said the rural children in the lanes, amazed 
 that any one could care for such rubbish, " there's a 
 man been getting moss-crops ! " All the mosses about 
 Manchester produce the cotton-sedge, but never have we 
 seen such luxuriant specimens as in the ditches that were 
 then being cut for the draining of White Moss. Three 
 species occur, the broad-leaved, the narrow-leaved, and 
 the single-flowered, the tufts of the latter being upright 
 instead of pendulous. Their beauty, unhappily, is their 
 only recommendation, for the herbage is rough and coarse, 
 and altogether unfit for pasture, and the cotton, so-called, 
 is cotton only in name. It cannot be manufactured; the 
 hairs are too straight and too brittle. Instead of twining 
 and entangling, like the filaments of true cotton, they lie 
 rigidly side by side, resembling true cotton merely in 
 their whiteness, and could no more be spun into yarn 
 than slate-pencils could be twisted into a cable. 
 
 Boggart-hole Clough, a little nearer Manchester, was 
 reached most readily at the time spoken of, and of course 
 is so still, by way of Oldham Road, going by omnibus 
 or tram-car as far as the end of the first lane carried over 
 the railway. There are plenty of roads under arches 
 formed by the railway, but these will not do; it must be the 
 first that goes over the embankment. Crossing the line at 
 the point in question, a descending path presently brings 
 us to Jack's Bridge, a sweet little dell, consecrated by one 
 of nature's own poets, then a resident at Newton Heath : 
 
 Jack's Bridge ! thy road is rough, 
 But thy wild-flowers are sweet 1 
 
156 Country Rambles. 
 
 Other fields gradually lead on towards Moston, several of 
 them containing large "pits," or ponds, where, in July 
 the white water-lily may be seen in its lustrous bloom, 
 and the Comarum, covered with its deep-red blossoms 
 and ripening fruit; and from there the way is easily 
 found into the clough, which is entered about the middle. 
 On the left, from this point, there is an enticing field-path 
 by the side of the stream to the Blackley road; on the 
 right we mount into the sylvan part, and see for ourselves 
 how well merited is the reputation of this once-affrighting 
 haunt of the boggart. All the charms of a leafy and 
 flowery solitude are there assembled. Not those of the 
 old, old forest, perfect in forest-ways, these we must not 
 look for; but of the gentle ravine, wherein we cannot be 
 lost, and which often pleases so much the more because 
 less grand, since in all things while it is the great and 
 sublime that we admire, that which we love is the little 
 and measurable. Beautiful trees are here, that among 
 their boughs give ever-pleasing glimpses of soft scenery, 
 and in its season, white patches of bridal May, 
 
 The milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale, 
 and that never hinder the sight of the azure overhead; 
 and if while pushing our way through the brown remains 
 of last year's ferns, brambles with their long arms and 
 claws always seeking to clutch at the traveller, insist on 
 plucking off one's cap just to show that the way is "on 
 sufferance;" well, never mind, a lively little rill running 
 in parts through beds of wild mint makes a pleasant 
 noise, and wherever a sparkle is wanted to relieve the 
 
Boggart-hole Clough. 157 
 
 still and motionless, a silver eye or a glittering rapid is 
 not awanting. Of course we must take with us a dis- 
 position to enjoy. "A song," says some author, "is 
 thrown away that is not in the same key as the listener." 
 The clough is not distinguished by anything special in 
 the way of plants, though we have gathered there fine 
 sprigs of the sweet woodruff. As a retreat, however, 
 from the noise and bustle of the town, and the only place 
 of the kind in that direction, it must always be precious 
 to the lover of nature. Unfortunately, the path has of 
 late years become very much disturbed through the 
 falling away of the bank, the steepness of which, and the 
 weight of the trees, unprovided with sufficient anchorage 
 by reason of the lightness of the soil, causes continual 
 landslips, so that now there are in many places rather 
 dangerous declivities. Many of the trees that once stood 
 erect upon the brows, now lie ingloriously with their 
 heads in the brook beneath, and their roots in the air. 
 The increase of buildings about Newton and Failsworth, 
 and the consequent incessant raids of destroying boys, 
 have also tended of late years to mar the place consider- 
 ably; and now, in 1882, it has to be said with deep 
 regret, that the regular Sunday resort to Boggart-hole of 
 the lowest roughs of the neighbouring villages, leaves it 
 for the week-day visitor tattered and torn and soiled 
 beyond recovery. The signal, with every new season, 
 for renewed mischief, is the opening of the golden 
 sallow-bloom, now not a tenth in quantity of what it was 
 even in 1850. These roughs are the thousand times 
 
158 Country Rambles. 
 
 more affrighting boggarts of to-day, masters, permittedly 
 by the authorities, of a place once another Kelvin Grove, 
 
 Where the wild rose in its pride 
 Paints the hollow dingle side, 
 And the midnight fairies glide, 
 
 Bonnie lassie, O ! 
 
 We have spoken of Boggart-hole Clough in conformity 
 with the generally current idea, namely, that in the olden 
 time it was a haunt or habitation of "boggarts." Boggart- 
 hole is thought by some to be a mistaken and enlarged 
 spelling of Boggart Hall, the appellation of a house near 
 the head of the clough, once and for a long while of evil 
 repute as the home of an unclean spirit. Samuel Bamford 
 seems to favour the popular conception, probably because 
 unwilling to disturb it, though he himself never hints at 
 the existence in this clough of any particular uncanny 
 inmate. The boggart of the hall was no other, it is 
 further contended, than the "brownie" found in some 
 shape or other all the world over, superstitions of this 
 character being co-extensive with human nature, some- 
 times vulgarized, sometimes exquisitely etherialised, and 
 taking as many forms as there are powers of fancy in the 
 human mind. The pixies of Devonshire and Titania's 
 "Sweet Puck" belong to the poetical line of thought; 
 the ugly and mischievous " boggarts " to the rustic one. 
 The entire subject has been dealt with by Harland and 
 Wilkinson in the Lancashire Folk-lore. The legend is 
 also given in the Traditio?is of Lancashire, the compiler 
 of which would seem to have adopted an earlier version 
 
Boggart-hole Clough. 159 
 
 in the Literary Gazette for 1825. There is yet another 
 surmise, that ' k boggart" in this particular instance is a 
 mistake for " Bowker," a family of which name is said 
 to have once occupied the hall. Possibly. Admit- 
 ting either explanation to be the true one and finally 
 established, the received idea still goes abreast of that 
 beautiful old tendency of the universal human heart to 
 assign spiritual beings to every part of physical nature, 
 the basis of all the primitive religions, and which will 
 endure when etymology is dead. Mrs. Banks supplies 
 yet another version, referring us to the time of Prince 
 Charles Edward, the Pretender, one of whose unfortunate 
 followers was constrained to hide himself in the clough, 
 friends who were in the secret giving out, in order to 
 hinder search by the enemy, that the place of refuge was 
 the abode of demons. 
 
 The path through the fields referred to as the best for 
 approaching the clough from Manchester, turns up when 
 near Blackley through a little wood, and thence into 
 meadows, which very agreeably abridge the distance 
 homeward, especially if we go at that best season of all 
 for visiting Boggart-hole, when the newly-cut hay is 
 scenting the air, and tiny hands are trying to help the 
 great rakes and forks of the farmer's troop, and the 
 beautiful crescent of the young moon hangs golden in 
 the sky, and the bright reluctant twilight almost lasts to 
 another day, lingering like a lover at the hand of his 
 betrothed. The stream, it may be added, that winds 
 its way along the bottom of the clough is a tributary of 
 
160 Country Rambles. 
 
 the Irk, that unfortunate little river which, rising in or 
 near tree-crested Tandle Hill, north-east of Middleton, 
 seems to grow ashamed of its blackened waters as it 
 creeps into the town by Collyhurst, and which, as it 
 hastens to its oblivious refuge in the Irwell, is known to 
 every one in its last leap, the hideous fall underneath 
 the Victoria Station, on the side next Millgate. " Man- 
 chester Rivers, their Sources and Courses," would form a 
 capital subject for a book. The Mersey, the Irwell, the 
 Irk, the Tame, the Etherowe, the Bollin, the Goyt, and 
 several others, are full of interesting associations; and if 
 they be not of the clearest water in their lower portions, 
 remember the work they do. A limpid stream among 
 the hills is lovely and poetical; but the most pleasing of 
 all rivers are those of which the banks are occupied by 
 an industrious and intelligent population; and we must 
 not cry out too vehemently about the soiling and spoiling, 
 unless it be easily avoidable and a piece of downright 
 and wilful damage, when their first and highest value is 
 that of facilitating industrial efforts, and helping on the 
 prosperity of a town and nation. The truly poetical man 
 is never a sentimentalist; and though he may pity the 
 destruction of beautiful objects, he is content to see them 
 converted into sources of general welfare, and to look 
 elsewhere for new materials of enjoyment. 
 
 Bamford Wood is a cluster of leafy dells or dingles, 
 reached, in the first instance, by going to Heywood, the 
 rather tedious and uninteresting streets of which have to 
 be pursued till we come to "Simpson Clough." The 
 
Bamford Wood. 161 
 
 dells are disposed in the form of a V, the upper extremi- 
 ties again forked, and feathering away until at last they 
 merge into fields. Down every dell comes a stream, 
 rushing over large stones, the various waters all meeting 
 eventually in the angle of the V, and soon afterwards 
 swelling the river Roche, which in turn flows into the 
 Irwell not far from Radcliffe. The various portions 
 have all their distinctive names, "Dobb-wood," upon the 
 left, holds "Cheeseden-brook." Beyond this we have 
 Windy-cliff-wood, Carr-wood and Jowkin-wood; while 
 upon the right are Ashworth-wood and Bamford-wood, 
 emphatically so-called. The stream descending the 
 latter is Norden-water Exact routes through these 
 pretty glades it is impossible to prescribe, so much must 
 depend upon personal taste and leisure. The extent, the 
 beauty, and the wildness, require in truth many visits to 
 be appreciated. There is more than one round natural 
 lawn in the curves of the stream, where the silence has 
 often been broken by pic-nics and music. Most parts 
 may be trodden dry-shod, but it is well always to reckon 
 upon four or five miles and a few adventures. All ladies 
 who go the entire circuit deserve to be commended as 
 Bamford heroines. 
 
 Not to leave the way altogether undescribed, the best 
 mode of procedure upon arrival at Simpson Clough is 
 perhaps, soon after entering, to ascend the path among 
 the trees upon the left, then into some fields and to the 
 edge of a precipice, from which a view is obtained of a 
 considerable portion of the wood, where an idea may be 
 M 
 
1 62 Country Rambles. 
 
 formed of the route it may be pleasantest now to follow. 
 No part is uninteresting; the question is simply where to 
 begin. Compared with the warm glades of Cheshire, 
 Bamford Wood is upon the average quite a fortnight 
 later in escaping from winter. Spring's "curled darlings" 
 have already stepped into the green parlours of the 
 Bollin valley, while up here a leaf is scarcely open; even 
 the palm-willow, elsewhere always ready for the earliest 
 April bee, is cautious and dilatory. The most interesting 
 plant of the wood is the Rubus saxatilis, which, though 
 found nowhere else in the neighbourhood of Manchester, 
 is abundant near Coal-bank Bridge, but very seldom 
 flowers. On some of the cliffs, at a tantalizing height, 
 just out of reach of the longest arm, grows that beautiful 
 sylvan shrub the Tutsan, Hypericum Androsczmum. The 
 sides of the glen are in most parts lofty and steep, clothed 
 with trees, and often decorated with little waterfalls, while 
 the bed of the stream itself is so rugged that the wood 
 after much rain is rilled with the sound of its hindered 
 efforts to escape. On emerging from the wood, at the 
 upper extremity, or furthest from Simpson Clough, there 
 is a fine walk over Ashworth Moor to Bury, from which 
 place also it may be approached. 
 
 In 1839 there was no "Lancashire and Yorkshire 
 Railway." Now by its help we reach the beautiful sheet of 
 water called, popularly, "Hollingworth Lake" but which, 
 like the water at Lymm, Rudyard, and Taxal, is really 
 no more than a reservoir, constructed about seventy years 
 ago to supply, in part, the Rochdale and Manchester 
 
Whiteley Dean. 163 
 
 Canal. The circumference, which is very irregular, 
 exceeds two miles. Rising high upon every side, the 
 encircling hills have a wild and rugged grandeur that 
 contrasts most agreeably with the smooth and tender 
 beauty of the environments of the meres of Cheshire, 
 from their summits, upon a sunny afternoon, the effects 
 are quite as pleasing as the average of those gathered 
 above Ullswater. An obelisk upon the highest point 
 marks Whiteley Dean, the view from which is wonder- 
 fully fine, reaching southwards to Manchester; while 
 beyond Littleborough, amid great piles of hills, stands 
 Brown Wardle, famous, like Bucton Castle, as an ancient 
 signal station. Amid them is a mamelon quite equal in 
 graceful outline to Shutlings Low, and decidedly taking 
 precedence of the more familiar one called Rivington 
 Pike, since the latter, when looked for at particular 
 angles, disappears; whereas the Brown Wardle mound 
 keeps fairly true to its outline from whatever point 
 observed, at all events upon the southern side. The 
 best view of it, so far as we know, is obtained from near 
 "Middleton Junction." As the word "mamelon" does 
 not occur in English dictionaries, it may be well to 
 say that it denotes a smooth, round, evenly-swelling 
 eminence, thrown up from amid hills already high, a 
 feature in mountain scenery greatly admired by the 
 ancient Greeks, who gave it a name of precisely similar 
 signification, as in the case of that classic one at Samos 
 which Callimachus connects so elegantly with the name 
 of the lady Parthenia. 
 
164 Country Rambles. 
 
 Moving along the western borders of the lake, it is 
 impossible for the eye not to catch sight of some curious 
 projecting crags upon the topmost crest of the highest 
 ground in front. These are the noted " Robin Hood 
 Rocks" of the legend, the lofty hill upon which they are 
 perched being Blackstone Edge itself, with, just below 
 them, the remains of the still more famous Roman road. 
 That Littleborough stands on the site of an ancient 
 Roman station is well known. The road mounted the 
 steep slope, crossed it, and then descended into York- 
 shire, running as far as the city where Severus died. By 
 reason, it would seem, of the extreme steepness, the 
 construction is different from that of any other Roman 
 road in the country, there being a deep groove along the 
 middle of the accustomed pavement, designed apparently 
 with the help of proper wheels to steady the movement 
 of heavily laden trucks. In any case, there is not a more 
 interesting scene near Manchester than is supplied upon 
 the slopes of this grand range Blackstone Edge which 
 if unpossessed of the drear wildness of mighty Kinder, 
 is solaced by the placid bosom of distant Hollingworth. 
 Two ways give access. We may ascend either from the 
 margin of the water, proceeding through fields and the 
 little glen called Clegg's Wood; or from Littleborough 
 by the turnpike-toad, turning off when about half-way up 
 to the right, and then mounting again. At the height of 
 about a quarter of a mile the road will be discovered 
 a belt of massive pavement, about forty feet in width, 
 quite smooth, and overgrown with whortle and crowberry, 
 
Hardcastle Crags. 165 
 
 except in parts where these have been cleared away with 
 a view to minute examination of the stone-work. So 
 bright is the colour of this heathy covering, compared 
 with that of the general vegetation of the hill, that when 
 the atmosphere is clear, and the sunshine favourably 
 subdued, the road may be plainly discerned from the 
 opposite side of the valley, a regular and well-defined 
 streak of green. Arrived at the summit, a few yards 
 over the level brow, we find the boundary-stone between 
 the two counties, and from this point may trace the road 
 for some distance onwards. 
 
 Running on, past Rochdale and through the tunnel, 
 again there is a quite new sphere of enjoyment in the 
 country which lies on the northern side of the Todmorden 
 valley, everywhere picturesque, and constantly branching 
 into subordinate valleys with never-silent streams. The 
 finest of them are the Burnley valley and the vast and 
 romantic defile called, as a whole, Hardcastle Crags, 
 though this name applies strictly to no more than the 
 singular insulated masses of rock at the upper extremity 
 or beyond the bridge. A more charming resort for two- 
 thirds of a day the West Riding scarcely offers. The 
 path is first through the so-called "streets," at an angle 
 of forty-five degrees, that lead towards Heptonstall, then 
 along the crest of the hill until the point is reached for 
 descending through the wood, at the foot of which, if 
 the water be low enough, the stream may be crossed by 
 stepping-stones. Clinging to them will be found in plenty 
 that curious aquatic moss the Fontinalis antipyretica, so 
 
1 66 Country Rambles. 
 
 named by Linnaeus in reference to the use which he says 
 it was put to by the peasantry in Sweden. Possessed of 
 properties so much the more singular from their occur- 
 rence in a water-plant, the country people, he tells us, 
 were accustomed to use it to fill up the spaces between 
 the chimneys and the walls of their houses, so as to 
 exclude the air and serve as a protection against fire. 
 The wood is in many parts quite a little natural fernery. 
 We have on various occasions seen no fewer than five 
 different species all growing so near together that they 
 could be touched without moving a single step the 
 common shield-fern, the broad-leaved sylvan shield-fern, 
 the hard-fern, the oak-fern, and the beech-fern. Oak- 
 fern, Polypodium Dryopteris, is a frequent inhabitant of 
 the dells hereabouts where moist, growing in patches 
 more than a foot across. 
 
 Like the rocks of Whaley Bridge, Kinder Scout, 
 Greenfield, and Seal Bark, those of the Hebden valley 
 consist of millstone-grit, alternating with shale, the latter 
 cropping out chiefly along the course of the river. It 
 was among these shales, though perhaps more particu- 
 larly in portions laid bare during the construction of the 
 line along the main or Todmorden valley, that Samuel 
 Gibson, the once celebrated blacksmith-naturalist of 
 Hebden Bridge, pursued his researches in connection 
 with fossil shells, as described in the first volume of the 
 Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society (1841). 
 His work is said, in the volume in question, to have been 
 carried on in "High Green Wood," and as regards the 
 
Samuel Gibson. 167 
 
 common use of this name, correctly so, as it is applied 
 very generally to the entire valley, or from the village up 
 to the insulated rocks. Properly, however, it denotes only 
 a small portion near the latter. Gibson, a man wholly 
 self-taught, and who kept to his anvil till nearly the time 
 of his death, in the spring of 1849, possessed a vast 
 amount of knowledge of almost every department of 
 natural history. A considerable portion of his collection, 
 comprising a cabinet of seeds of British plants, ferns, 
 lichens, Marchantias, shells, and insects, was purchased, 
 after his decease, for the Peel Park Museum. Another 
 portion went to the museum once existing in Peter-street. 
 The herbarium of flowering-plants, valued at .75, went 
 into the hands of Mr. Mark Philips. Most men suffer 
 from some kind of constitutional malady. Poor Gibson 
 laboured under an infirmity of temper which constantly 
 brought him into collision with his fellow-students. He 
 always meant well, as proved in his last famous battle 
 over the Carex paradoxa; and probably had his life 
 been a less lonely one the roughness would have got 
 smoothened, and he would have been as friendly with all 
 other men as with the writer of this little notice, which 
 is intended rather to preserve the memory of a singularly 
 acute and industrious observer of nature, working single- 
 handed, in the face of enormous difficulties, than to 
 imply the least reflection on his tendency to warfare. 
 The distance of Gibson's home, twenty-four miles of 
 coach-road, prevented his often coming to Manchester; 
 but no man was ever more welcome. How different 
 
1 68 Country Rambles. 
 
 some of those he came among! As for old Crozier, 
 whose name we have already mentioned two or three 
 times, and whose work was so largely identified with 
 White Moss, Boggart-hole dough, and Bamford-wood, 
 in temper and disposition he was Gibson's completest 
 antithesis. No man has ever done more, in his own 
 circle, to foster and diffuse the love of nature and of 
 natural science accomplishing this, as Crozier did, not 
 so much through the variety and exactitude of his know- 
 ledge, as through the urbanity of his manner. Few are 
 now living who remember Crozier; it may be allowed, 
 therefore, to repeat what we said of him in 1858, wishing 
 only that space would allow of an ample biography, 
 since, although not a life of stirring incident, it was one 
 of generous and unsophisticated good example. When 
 first acquainted with him, the year after the accession of 
 Her Majesty, he was curator of the Museum of Natural 
 History then possessed by the Mechanics' Institution, 
 and distinguished for his skill as a bird-stuffer, though 
 his occupation by day, and up to six p.m., was that of 
 a master saddler. The chief portion of that excellent 
 collection, long since unhappily sold off, had been accu- 
 mulated by the earliest of the Manchester Field Natural 
 History Societies a band of zealous, practical men who 
 had associated themselves, in 1829, for the furtherance of 
 botany, entomology, ornithology, and the allied sciences. 
 The register of names includes those of the celebrated 
 Edward Hobson, whose volumes of moss-books are con- 
 tained in our Free Libraries, of Rowland Detrosier, of all, 
 
Tho.Letherbrow. 
 
The Banksian Society. 169 
 
 indeed, of the earnest scientific men of the time, Crozier 
 of course in the front. They called themselves the 
 " Banksians," and had regular indoor meetings up to 
 1836, when, owing to the loss of many members, 
 Edward Hobson, the president, in particular, who died 
 that year, there came a lull, and eventually a break-up. 
 BuTCrozier was alive : that was enough ; no world is ever 
 so drowned but some little Ark floats on the surface of the 
 waters; younger men arrived on the scene, the Directors 
 of the Institution gave them every encouragement in 
 their power, and in less than eighteen months the cele- 
 brated old Cooper-street " Natural History Class " came 
 into existence. At intervals there were delightful evening 
 meetings of the character, though less pretentious, that 
 now-a-days are called soirees, more than once under the 
 presidentship of the late Mr. James Aspinall Turner, 
 always a warm and liberal patron of natural history; 
 honoured also by the presence of visitors from Preston, 
 Halifax, Warrington, and other towns from which the 
 journey was then possible only by whip. After coffee 
 had been served short essays were read, and from nine 
 o'clock until half-past ten or so the company promenaded, 
 examining the curiosities in the glass cases that covered 
 the wall or those laid out upon the tables, and enjoying 
 the social pleasure which grows so largely out of con- 
 sociation based upon a definite and intelligent idea, and 
 where there is plenty to feast the eye. No man entered 
 more thoroughly into the spirit of these gatherings than 
 George Crozieri They were his festivals and harvest- 
 
1 70 Country Rambles. 
 
 homes, prepared for long beforehand, and looked back 
 upon as isles of light and verdure in his wake. His love 
 of social gatherings, his skill as a practical naturalist, 
 were equalled by his sagacity and shrewdness. "There," 
 said he once, on the conclusion of the reading of a 
 paper, " that is what we want ; that wasn't learnt out of 
 a book." His courtesy and generosity rose to the same 
 level. Every Tuesday evening, when the members of the 
 class assembled to compare their notes and discoveries 
 of the past week, there was old Crozier, busy as usual 
 with his birds, and only too glad to chat with his young 
 disciples, withholding nothing he could tell that would 
 interest and amuse, and, what was far more valuable, 
 inspiring them with his own enthusiasm. This kind, 
 warm-hearted, cheerful old man it was who, taking the 
 young naturalists by the hand, first showed many of them 
 the way to Baguley and to Carrington, to Greenfield and 
 to Rostherne, pointing out the rarities which his large 
 experience knew so cleverly how to find, and communi- 
 cating his various knowledge with the unselfishness of 
 one in a thousand. Nothing seemed to come strange to 
 him. Great as was his botanical information, he excelled 
 in a still higher degree as an entomologist and orni- 
 thologist; he was acquainted with the shape and habits 
 of every bird and every butterfly, every branch of his 
 knowledge helping him to enlarged success in the prose- 
 cution of the others, botany aiding entomology, and 
 entomology facilitating botany. It was his extensive 
 and accurate knowledge of plants that rendered him so 
 
George Crozier. 171 
 
 expert in finding rare insects, being aware what species 
 the latter feed upon, and familiar with their forms. He 
 showed, in the highest degree, how happy a man can 
 make himself by the study of natural history, however 
 humble his station in life, and however confining his 
 employment. For Crozier, like all the rest of the old 
 Lancashire naturalists, got his living, as already indicated, 
 by manual labour, exercised in a shop on Shudehill, the 
 last place in the world one would look to for the abode 
 of a naturalist, yet made by his intelligent pastimes one 
 of the most contented in Manchester. Here we have 
 looked over his dried plants, his choice exotics given him 
 by friendly gardeners, examined his birds and shells, and 
 listened while he told his adventures " by flood and field." 
 Of such he was always ready with large store, being, as an 
 old Banksian associate reminds me, in a letter of pleasant 
 anecdote and reminiscence, "one of those plain, plod- 
 ding, practical naturalists, whose knowledge the field and 
 forest, the uplands and the watery doughs, had far more 
 contributed to give than the lore of books." * * * 
 " The quiet, unromantic study of books," he continues, 
 "would never have made either him or them what they 
 were. Active adventure, real life within the whole 
 domain of nature, was their condition of enjoyment; 
 and, consequently, the secluded footpaths, the fine old 
 green and lonely lanes, the umbrageous bosky dell, with 
 its clear babbling brook, and rich with plants, insects, 
 and minerals, were their haunts." In all his excursions 
 he was joined by from three to a dozen of his com- 
 
172 Country Rambles. 
 
 panions in the love of science and nature; it should 
 rather be said, perhaps, that he was generally one of 
 every party made up by the naturalists of the day for the 
 purpose of visiting the country, as there was but a single 
 purpose among the whole. One of his warmest friends 
 was Thomas Townley, originally of Blackburn, where 
 the two men became acquainted, subsequently of Liver- 
 pool, and eventually of our own city. The circumstance 
 is worth mentioning on two accounts. Next to a man's 
 acts and principles, it is interesting to know who were 
 his closest and oldest associates, since there is always a 
 reciprocal though unconscious influence passing from one 
 to the other, which explains a good deal of character; and 
 in the second place, in addition to being an excellent 
 botanist, Townley was a neat painter in water-colours, 
 and claimed, with a justice that is most willingly acknow- 
 ledged, the credit of drawing forth the youthful genius 
 of his friend's son, the Robert Crozier of to-day. It is 
 pleasant to think that the beautiful pictures which now 
 decorate so many walls had their impulse in the little 
 palette of the old botanist. Townley and Crozier were 
 the first to design a "Manchester Flora," and but for 
 Crozier's infirm health during the latter years of his life, 
 the crude catalogue of 1840 would have been followed 
 by a complete work, in which his own long observations 
 and those of the other leading botanists of the district 
 would have been consolidated. Crozier died before he 
 could do the part intended. Townley, however, never 
 let go the idea, and two years after Crozier's death his 
 
George Crosier. 173 
 
 zeal and willingness as wielder of the "pen of the ready 
 writer," and his wonderful memory for poetry, which 
 here had congenial exercise, appeared in the work com- 
 monly known as "Buxton's Guide." So much poetry 
 had Townley ready for introduction into it, that the 
 useful and accurate little volume in question might 
 easily have been swelled to double the size.* Townley 
 could recite passages from any part of Pope's Homer, 
 and such was his admiration of that poem, that he 
 repeatedly declared if he had his younger days before 
 him he would learn Greek in order to peruse it in the 
 original. 
 
 It may be added, in reference to Crozier, who was a 
 well-built, portly man, quiet but merry, fond of a joke 
 and a good story, mild and gentle, yet thoroughly 
 independent, that his long and upright life, rejoiced by 
 hearty and abiding love of nature, and the respect of 
 every one who truly knew him, closed in 1847. He died 
 in Peel-street, Hulme, on Friday, the i6th of April, and 
 was interred at the Harpurhey Cemetery on the follow- 
 ing Tuesday. Never was there a better example of the 
 scientific man in humble life, or of the practical kind- 
 heartedness and generosity that spring from simple, 
 
 * In indicating the share, unacknowledged and unrewarded, 
 which Townley had in the compilation of the "Guide," we merely 
 wish to give honour where honour is due, neither on the one hand 
 suppressing truth, nor on the other saying a word that shall look 
 like unfair disparagement. It is but just to the memory of a worthy 
 man, now no more, that the living should know what they owe to 
 him, 
 
Country Rambles. 
 
 God-fearing virtue. His old friend, Townley, survived 
 him ten years, coming to his own end September gih, 
 
 1^57. 
 
 The old Banksian minute-books and other records and 
 illustrations of the work of fifty years ago have, very 
 fortunately, been preserved, and are now in the safe 
 keeping of their proper inheritor. No written memorials 
 of the Natural History class are extant, but four or five 
 of the original members still venerate the name of their 
 ancient leader, 
 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MERE CLOUGH. 
 
 O 'tis a quiet spirit-healing nook 
 
 Which all, methinks, would love ; but chiefly he 
 
 The humble man, who in his early years 
 
 Knew just so much of folly as had made 
 
 His riper manhood more securely wise. 
 
 COLERIDGE. 
 
 ERE CLOUGH! Where is that? Such 
 will probably be the reception of our 
 present title, at least in thought, by not 
 a few of those whom we hope to be the 
 means of introducing to this romantic 
 little glen. For it is positively surprising 
 how much of the rural beauty of our neighbourhood is 
 unknown, even to those who delight in country scenes 
 and the fresh air of the fields ; and how often the very 
 existence of it is unsuspected till some fortunate accident 
 brings home the welcome truth. Nowhere within the 
 same very short distance of Manchester is so much 
 woodland beauty to be found as in Mere Clough and its 
 immediate neighbourhood; nor is any place within four 
 miles of the Cathedral the avenue to so many pleasant 
 auxiliary walks. In botanical riches Mere Clough is 
 
1 76 Country Rambles. 
 
 second nearly to Bowdon, over which place it has the 
 advantage of its earliest plants being among the rare 
 ones of the Manchester flora, while its latest are some 
 of the most beautiful and attractive. The name of 
 "clough," though so familiar in Lancashire, is not known 
 in the southern counties. Hence it may be useful to 
 observe that "doughs," beyond the Mersey, are those 
 fissures or "clefts" in the ground which give the first and 
 simplest idea of a valley. Formed by the rise, in opposite 
 directions, of two gentle acclivities, which run for a short 
 distance in a more or less irregular and winding parallel, 
 and at last widely diverge, or else undulate away into the 
 plain, these "doughs" have in every case a little stream 
 along the bottom, while the slopes on either side are 
 clothed with trees and natural shrubbery. Along the 
 borders of the stream there is a slender rustic path, which 
 often quits the water-side to mount high upon the slope, 
 and thus give pretty little peeps of the shining current 
 down below and of the distant leafy intricacies of the 
 wood. Rarely is there so much water as to form a deep 
 and steady brook; in summer time we may be sure it 
 will be shallow enough to "make music to the enamelled 
 stones," and beguile us onward with that beautiful magic 
 which always accompanies the artless voices and tones of 
 nature.* In the neighbourhood of Prestwich there are 
 
 * While such is the original and proper sense of the word, the 
 application, as in the case of Wessenden Clough (p. 150), naturally 
 passed on to similar denies destitute of trees. Not fewer probably 
 than a third of the cloughs mentioned in the present volume are of 
 the latter character. 
 
Mere Clough. 177 
 
 several such doughs, the "Dells" below the church 
 being the nearest and best known, and Mere Clough the 
 longest and most romantic. The others are Hurst 
 Clough, to the west of Stand, and Agecroft Clough, near 
 the bridge of that name. All these cloughs bear more 
 or less directly towards the Irwell, into which river their 
 little streamlets convey themselves. The beauty of Prest- 
 wich Dells has long rendered the latter place a favourite 
 resort. Easy, moreover, of access, and with the capital 
 recommendation of a harbour of refuge close at hand, in 
 the shape of the commodious and well-provided Church 
 Inn, no wonder that few except naturalists have cared to 
 push on farther. It needs something more than invites 
 people to a place like Prestwich Dells to take us to one 
 still prettier, but where, as far as concerns supplies for 
 the inner man, we are like sailors on the open sea 
 commanding only what we carry thither. 
 
 The conveyance to go by, should the walk be thought 
 too long, is the Whitefield omnibus. About three-quarters 
 of a mile beyond Prestwich, through which village the 
 omnibus passes, there is an old-fashioned "magpie" upon 
 the left. Leave the omnibus here, and, going through 
 the farmyard, follow the path through the field, keeping 
 to the right of the new asylum, and in a few minutes the 
 entrance to the clough will come in view. At first, the 
 path is near the summit of the slope; afterwards it crosses 
 the stream, and continues the rest of the way at the 
 bottom. If we please, when half-way through, we may 
 re-ascend (this time to the top of the northern slope), by 
 N 
 
178 Country Rambles. 
 
 going through the field upon the right, to where the great 
 arches support the roadway, and so find our way by the 
 carriage-track which leads to "The Park," the residence 
 of Mr. R. N. Philips, and eventually through the private 
 lodge-gate at the extremity, there emerging on to the 
 public path by the reservoir, at nearly the same point that 
 is reached by the lower one. The latter course has the 
 advantage of preserving the feet dry, should the path 
 by the stream be deceitful, as often happens after wet 
 weather, and also of providing views of the surround- 
 ing country, but the lower path is considerably more 
 romantic The private grounds are exceedingly pretty 
 and sylvan, and up to about half a century ago were used 
 as pheasant-preserves. Like those at Norcliffe, they are 
 not forbidden to legitimate and respectful request made 
 a few days previously, with the understanding that there 
 shall be no trowels carried. 
 
 As stated in our second chapter, Mere Clough is fertile 
 in curious plants. In every part there is abundance in 
 particular of that beautiful reminder of pre-adamite 
 vegetation, the sylvan horsetail, in scientific language 
 Equisetum sylvaticum, in form resembling a tiny larch 
 tree, the leaves, which are no longer or stouter than a 
 violet stalk, curving outwards and downwards in the most 
 graceful way imaginable, and forming a succession of 
 little cupolas up the stem which they encircle. Varying 
 from a few inches to nearly two feet in height when 
 mature, and of a singularly delicate green, sometimes it 
 tapers off to a point, sometimes is crowned with a kind 
 
Mere Cloiigh. 179 
 
 of miniature fir-cone, which serves at once for flower and 
 seed-pod, and will well repay minute examination. When 
 ripe, an impalpable green powder dusts out of this little 
 cone-like body, every particle a distinct and living seed, 
 and originating a new plant, if not destroyed before it 
 can germinate. Under the microscope, these particles 
 perform most amusing evolutions. It is merely necessary 
 that some one breathe upon them while we observe, to 
 make every little atom twist and entangle its long arms 
 as if it were an animated creature. A magnifying power 
 of sixty is quite sufficient to show these curious move- 
 ments, and the seeds, if preserved in a pill-box, will keep 
 good for many years. All the neighbouring dells and 
 groves likewise contain this charming plant, and growing, 
 as it often does, in large patches, we seem to have woods 
 within woods. Hurst Clough, best reached from Moly- 
 neux Brow, noted also for the Rosa villosa, is one of the 
 richest. Not that it is confined to them, being more or 
 less diffused in most directions out of Manchester, -but 
 it is here that it grows most plentifully and luxuriantly. 
 Contemporaneous with the sylvan horsetail, there comes 
 a second kind of golden saxifrage. The common sort 
 was mentioned when describing Ashley meadows. This 
 one, scientifically called the alternifolium, is larger and 
 handsomer, as well as rare, and is to be gathered on 
 the left-hand borders of the stream, just after passing the 
 white cottage in the middle of the clough. Another plant 
 of special interest, and blooming at the same time, is the 
 mountain-currant, Ribes alpinum, which grows on the 
 
180 Country Rambles. 
 
 bank of the half-lane, half-watercourse, running from 
 the lower side of the reservoir towards the river. It is 
 a large, green, leafy bush, with glossy foliage, and appears 
 to be the only one in the Prestwich neighbourhood. 
 How it got there is a botanical problem, yet only one 
 out of many of the same kind. Nature is for ever putting 
 some droll spectacle before our eyes, and playing panto- 
 mimes for our amusement and curiosity, if we would but 
 care for them as they deserve. As Pott Shrigley is the 
 place above all others for bluebells, so is Mere Clough 
 the place above all others for its colleague the wood- 
 anemone. Tens of thousands of this lovely flower, the 
 fairest companion of the opening buds, grow in the open 
 spaces among the trees at the lower part, sheeting them 
 with the purest white, tinged here and there with a faint 
 blush, like sunbeams falling on snow. On a fine day at 
 the end of April or beginning of May, there is not a 
 more charming picture to be found. In the moister parts 
 of the clough, especially near the reservoir, may also now 
 be seen in perfection the deep yellow marsh-marigold. 
 Like the anemone, it is a common plant, but none the 
 less to be admired. The same as to that dainty little 
 flower, the wood-sorrel, which begins to open freely about 
 the time that the anemones depart. Easily discovered by 
 means of its curious leaves, which are formed of three 
 triangular pieces, placed on the summit of a little stalk, 
 and rise about three inches above the ground, no one can 
 fail to be charmed with its fairy form and the delicacy 
 of the lilac pencillings on the inner surface of the petals, 
 
The Agecroft Valley. 1 8 1 
 
 which are white as those of the anemone itself. Anemone, 
 translated, signifies "wind-flower," a name intended to 
 denote fugacity of the petals, or fall at the first touch. 
 But such is not the fate of the anemone-petals of to-day. 
 The original application of the name would appear to 
 have been to the cistus. It was into this last that the 
 frail goddess transformed her love, her tears represented 
 in the disappearance in a moment. 
 
 Emerging from the clough, the difficulty is not which 
 way to get home again, but which pleasant way to give 
 the preference to. We may go past the dyeworks, and 
 through the park to Agecroft Bridge ; or turn up the lane 
 that curls back towards Prestwich; or, best of all, make 
 our way under the magnificent viaduct of the East 
 Lancashire Railway, and then across the river to Clifton 
 Aqueduct. Arrived here, there is another ample choice; 
 either to ride home from the adjacent station (Clifton 
 Junction); to descend to the Irwell bank, and walk 
 through the meadows bordering the river to Agecroft 
 Bridge; or to take the fields and canal bank, the latter 
 in some parts very pretty, and so to Pendleton, where 
 Mr. Greenwood will be glad to see us, and the feeling 
 probably be reciprocal. To invigorate ourselves, if 
 purposing to walk, it is prudent, and not difficult, to 
 procure tea at one of the cottages near the station. At 
 one in particular, standing back a little from the road, 
 upon the left, with at the bottom of the garden a 
 nice, cool, face-refreshing well, that we have seen give 
 challenge on fair cheeks to the morning dew upon the 
 
1 82 Country Rambles. 
 
 rose, there is a free, plentiful, whole-hearted hospitality, 
 that adds quite a charm to the associations already so 
 pleasant, of summer afternoon in the sweet stillness of 
 Mere dough. The hostess is as large as her welcome; 
 the bread and butter is incomparable.* Every one who 
 has gone by train to Bolton or Bury, will remember this 
 beautiful valley, sometimes called the Agecroft, sometimes 
 after its river, the Irwell. On the left, as soon as 
 Pendleton is passed, the high grounds of Pendlebury 
 come into view, their brows covered with trees. On the 
 right, first we have broad, sweet lawns of meadow and 
 pasture, and in autumn yellow corn-fields; and, beyond 
 these, rising in terraced slopes, with deep bays and 
 rounded promontories, according as the hill recedes or 
 swells, the woods overlooking Agecroft Park, presently 
 succeeded by those of Prestwich. For fully two miles 
 the eye rests upon rich masses of leaf, interrupted only 
 by mounds of tender green, the crests of the Rainsall and 
 Agecroft hills, and towards the close, the picturesque 
 tower of Prestwich Church. The course of the river 
 may be traced by the winding line of continuous foliage, 
 but the water is too low down to be discerned until we 
 
 * Mrs. Taylor, we are' very sorry to say, died, though apparently 
 of supreme vigour, in the spring of 1877, and the cottage is now 
 occupied by a totally different family. Mere Clough, too, is not 
 what it was. Though spared the desecrations of Boggart-hole, 
 the grove of fine trees that once filled the bottom has disappeared. 
 The best of the wild-flowers have also disappeared, or nearly so ; 
 and the brook is less often limpid than impure. Similar changes 
 have overtaken everything public in the neighbourhood. 
 
The Agecroft Valley. 183 
 
 catch sight of the white cottage at the foot of Mere 
 dough, immediately after passing which, if upon the 
 Bury line, we continue along the viaduct and therefrom 
 get a full view, as well as of banks lined to the water's 
 edge with vegetation. Here the scenery changes entirely, 
 though retained for a short distance on the Bolton line, 
 and we quit the Agecroft valley. Not one of the other 
 railway approaches to our town ten minutes completing 
 the journey bears any comparison with this for beauty; 
 indeed, it is quite a surprise to people entering Man- 
 chester for the first time by way of Bolton or Bury, to 
 find so picturesque a country at the very edge. 
 
 The best way to the valley on foot is to go over Kersal 
 Moor, descending on the further side, and so onward, 
 past the print-works, to Agecroft Bridge, which we must 
 cross, and turn to the right. If more convenient, there 
 is a way by Pendleton and Charlestown, crossing the 
 Bolton railway, then along the path by the river-side. 
 But this, as to its earlier part, is a disagreeable means of 
 access, and very little is really gained. Going by Kersal, 
 on the other hand, we come at once into a green, 
 sequestered walk, which accompanying the river for 
 about a mile, then changes to the bank of the canal, 
 and will take us, if we please, to the aqueduct, and 
 thence round by the cottages to the station. The road 
 straight away from the bridge leads to Pendlebury, to 
 which village there is also a pleasant path across the 
 fields, after ascending the river-side some little distance. 
 Keeping to the Kersal side of the river there is a delight- 
 
184 Country Rambles. 
 
 ful walk through Agecroft Park, beneath the woods, to 
 the foot of the dells; another, by diverging a little 
 to the left when out of the park, through a farm-yard, to 
 the river and viaduct; and if, instead of going through 
 the park, we turn up on the right among the cottages, it 
 is not difficult to penetrate the woods themselves, and to 
 find one or two paths over the hills, all tending to Prest- 
 wich as a common point. So numerous and varied are 
 the paths which converge hitherwards and in the direc- 
 tion of Clifton Aqueduct, that it is impossible to go 
 wrong. Were we to give a preference, it would be to 
 the walk first described, or that along the river-side, 
 commencing at Agecroft Bridge, and having the river 
 upon the right. The meadows abound with floral 
 treasures, the rosy bistort, the blue geranium, and the 
 fragrant ciceley, in their several seasons, and on the 
 banks, at the further part, near the canal, may be seen 
 the broad-leaved wood-stitchwort, Stellaria memorum, 
 and the yellow dead-nettle. Early in June is the 
 pleasantest time to go. The grass is then uncut, the 
 sycamores are hung with their honeyed bloom, the clover 
 glows like rubies, the white pagodas of the butterbur, 
 now gone to seed, stand up like the banners of an army, 
 and we find "theyfn-/ rose of summer, sweet blooming 
 alone," amid thousands of juvenile green buds. 
 
 But the yellow dead-nettle is the most interesting ; it 
 gives so useful a lesson in practical botany. The stem 
 is perfectly square; the leaves grow two together; the 
 large golden-coloured blossoms are set in verandahs 
 
The Labiates. 185 
 
 round the stalk, each particular flower shaped like the 
 jaws of some terrible wild beast, wide-open and ready to 
 bite, while the stamens are invariably four in number a 
 pair of long ones and a pair of short ones. The seeds, 
 also, are exactly four. Whenever these peculiarities 
 co-exist in a plant, we may be sure that there is nothing 
 deleterious about it. More than fifty different plants 
 formed on this plan grow wild in England, and consider- 
 ably over two thousand in foreign countries, and not 
 one of them is in the least degree noxious, either to 
 quadruped or to man. Many are aromatic, and used 
 with food, as thyme, sage, mint, basil, and penny-royal; 
 while others are useful for medicinal tea, as balm and 
 ground-ivy. Rosemary, lavender, and bergamot belong to 
 the same fragrant family. The great object of botanical 
 science is to determine such facts as these, i.e., to make 
 out the relation between the form of a plant and its 
 properties; can a science of such useful, practical aim 
 be justly deemed, as by some, mere "learned trifling?" 
 Surely not. No slight advantage has that man over his 
 fellows who, when he is walking through the meadows, 
 or when he emigrates to a distant land, can discriminate 
 between the poisonous plant and the wholesome, simply 
 by examining the leaves and flowers. We do not mean 
 to say that every individual plant in the world has its 
 exact quality unmistakably configured upon it. The 
 concurrence is between certain general properties and 
 certain great types or plans of organisation, taking note 
 of which latter we gain a good general idea of the former. 
 
1 86 Country Rambles, 
 
 The particular nature must be learned by special in- 
 quiry. Though the yellow dead-nettle, for example, is 
 shown by its general structure to be devoid of anything 
 bad, it cannot be told whether it is fit to eat until tasted 
 and tried. To persons who have an idea of emigrating, 
 or whose children are likely to go abroad, botany is of 
 the very highest service, for in foreign countries men are 
 thrown upon their own resources, and to be compelled 
 by ignorance to look upon every leaf as a possible poison 
 is helplessness of the most wretched kind. 
 
 The railway up the Agecroft valley is interesting as the 
 first that was constructed after the Liverpool and Man- 
 chester, and perhaps the "Grand Junction." People used 
 to go to the Prestwich hills to watch the trains scudding 
 along. The scenery here is certainly not spoiled by it. 
 For our own part, we consider that scenery is scarcely 
 ever spoiled by the presence of railways, and would 
 contend rather that they are a capital addition; for 
 those spectacles are always most salutary to the mind, 
 and therefore most truly pleasing, where along with 
 rural beauties are combined the grand circumstances of 
 human life and human enterprise. Railways count with 
 bridges, ships, gardens, the castles and abbeys of the 
 past, and the mansions of the present. Nature is 
 beautiful, even in its most retired and lonely solitudes, 
 just in the proportion that we connect with it, though 
 unconsciously, the interests, the feelings, the aspirations 
 of humanity; the more of what is noble and comely in 
 human life we are able to assimilate with the outer world, 
 
Railways. 187 
 
 the more does that world minister to our happiness and 
 our intelligence. In the case of the railways, we are 
 recipients of an immense amount of good. There is 
 not only the interest of what is witnessed on the instant, 
 but the pleasant flow of remembrance of the various 
 localities they lead to. As, looking at the sea, we are 
 led in thought all round the world, so, looking at the 
 winged train and its pearly clouds, we visit over again 
 a thousand delicious spots, photographed on the mind, 
 and endeared by association. Here, for instance, in the 
 valley of the Irwell, we go on to the lakes of Cumber- 
 land, and its ancient and purple mountains, and anon 
 to the flowered and roofless aisles of sacred Furness. 
 Should these be places yet unknown, there are nearer 
 ones where we have been, Rivington, Summerseat, 
 Hoghton Tower, with its precipitous beechen-wood and 
 lovely walk by the river underneath; or Southshore, 
 where grow the blue eryngo and the grass of Parnassus, 
 and where, on calm September evenings, the round, red 
 setting sun pours a stream of crimson light across the 
 sea, that reaches to the last ripple of the retiring water, 
 like a path of velvet unrolled for the feet of a queen; 
 or, if the wind blow high and fresh, the grand old deep- 
 voiced waves, with their gray locks hanging dishevelled 
 over their broad bosoms, roll gloriously over the rattling 
 pebbles, change for a moment into arcades as white as 
 snow, then dissolve into a wilderness of foam. Thus to 
 make the common things of life so many centres of 
 thought, from which we can travel away to whole worlds 
 
1 88 Country Rambles. 
 
 of pleasant remembrance, lying calm perhaps in the 
 golden light of lang syne, is one of the profoundest 
 secrets of happiness, and one of the most useful habits 
 we can cultivate. Every one may acquire the art, and 
 it strengthens every day and year that we live. Happi- 
 ness is not a wonderful diamond, to be sought afar off, 
 but, rightly understood, a thing to be reaped every day 
 out of the ordinary facts of life, even out of the sight 
 of a railway train steaming across the fields. 
 
 The plants of the woods and hills bordering the Age- 
 croft valley are mostly the same that are found in Mere 
 Clough. In addition to those above enumerated, may 
 be mentioned the pretty round-leaved marsh-violet, the 
 whortleberry, and the wild cherry, one of the gayest 
 ornaments of the month of May. The whortleberry 
 seldom ripens its fruit at Prestwich, or anywhere so near 
 the town: it seems to require the bracing air of the 
 moors and mountains. It is one of the shrubs which 
 rival the trees in brilliancy of tint, assumed as in the sky, 
 when the hour of departure is at hand. Along with the 
 Canadian medlar, the bramble, and some kinds of azalea, 
 the leaves change not infrequently to vivid crimson. 
 People are apt to call these changes the "fading" of 
 the leaf; it would be better to say the painting. 
 Primroses are exceedingly scarce, both on the Agecroft 
 hills and in the Irwell valley, and their place is un- 
 occupied by any other vernal flower as fair and popular. 
 The wild pansy is there, on the higher and drier ground, 
 and often with remarkably large and handsome flowers, 
 
The Autumn Crocus. 189 
 
 but it makes no show; and though there are daffodils in 
 a few places, they are not prominent to view. A field 
 at the head of Prestwich Dells is for a little time plenti- 
 fully strewed with their lively yellow. When September 
 comes the want of the primrose is almost compensated 
 by the cheerful autumn crocus, which lifts its purple 
 abundantly among the grass, in the low meadows on 
 the further side of Kersal Moor, near the rivulet; also 
 in the fields below Prestwich Church, the same that in 
 spring are dressed with the daffodil, and again in those 
 between the asylum and the dells. The autumnal 
 crocus, like the colchicum, is curious in seeming to pro- 
 duce its seeds before the flowers, the former being ripe 
 in May and June, whereas the latter do not open till 
 three months after. When the great Swedish botanist, 
 Linnaeus, was engaged in promulgating the great doctrine 
 of the sexuality of plants, now about a century and 
 a half ago, the circumstance in question was pointed to 
 as upsetting it. But the young seed-pod lies low down 
 in the bosom of the leaves, where it is fertilised, as in 
 all other flowers, by the pollen from the stamens, and 
 there it abides during the winter, elevating itself above 
 the ground with the warmth of the ensuing summer, 
 when it ripens and scatters its contents. The true time 
 of the vital energy of the autumn crocus is thus, not 
 from May to September, but from September until May. 
 The history has always seemed to us a memorable in- 
 stance of the quiet dignity with which truth and genuine 
 science pursue their way, triumphing and silencing all 
 
190 Country Rambles. 
 
 the little cavillers in the end, however plausible they may 
 make their case at starting. 
 
 Before quitting this beautiful valley it will be salutary 
 to pause for a moment upon its geological history, since, 
 with the single exception of that part of the Mersey 
 valley which lies between Didsbury and Cheadle, it is 
 the newest part of our neighbourhood. The date, that 
 is to say, is the nearest preceding that of the first occu- 
 pation of the British Islands by mankind. The great 
 ridges of Kinder Scout, Glossop, and Greenfield are 
 immensely more ancient than any of the exposed or 
 superficial parts of the country threaded by the Mersey 
 at Cheadle, and by the Irwell below Prestwich. With 
 the remainder of the chain of hills to which the Green- 
 field summits belong, those great ridges form the eastern 
 margin of an enormous and very irregular stone basin, 
 tilted up in such a way that the opposite or western edge 
 is concealed far below the surface of the ground, nobody 
 can tell exactly where, but in the direction of the Irish 
 Sea, perhaps under it, far away beyond Southport and the 
 sandhills. It is within or upon the inner surface of this 
 great basin that all the other South Lancashire rocks and 
 strata have their seat. In different portions of its huge 
 lap are deposited the Coal strata (themselves often much 
 elevated above the level on which the deposit took place, 
 and this at various periods); then, in ascending order, 
 there are deposits called "Permian;* above these, in 
 
 * On account of their correspondence with others, geologically 
 the same, very extensively present in the portion of Central and 
 Eastern Russia called Perm. 
 
Agecroft Geology. 191 
 
 turn, come the Triassic rocks; and over all (except on 
 the higher hill-ranges) there is sand or clay, or gravel, 
 both stratified and unstratified. This last, in the aggre- 
 gate, is technically termed "Drift." The whole of this 
 great surface was unquestionably once covered by salt 
 water. At the latest period of that marvellous marine 
 dominion, blocks of ice containing boulders floated in it; 
 and wherever great heaps of sand now occur, we have 
 the remains of ancient beaches or sand-banks, many of 
 which were cut through by the water, while others are 
 charged with pebbles that had been rounded by rolling 
 over and over upon some primeval shore, rattling while 
 on their journeys, just as at Walney Island we may hear 
 the pebbles of to-day. The lofty eastern edges of this 
 great stone basin are, as would be anticipated, quite free 
 from deposits of drift. But everywhere else, westwards, 
 drift covers up all the underlying rock, the latter showing 
 itself only where rivers in cutting their channels have 
 slowly worn it away. 
 
 The Agecroft valley participates with all the rest of the 
 district in the possession of drift. Here, however, is well 
 shown, in addition, how the first settlings of gravel and 
 sand often themselves became covered at a later period 
 with yet another new deposit material brought down 
 and diffused by shallow and tranquil streams, then of 
 considerable breadth, but which in course of time shrank 
 into relatively narrow ones, and continue as such to the 
 present moment. That the lower Irwell, as we have it in 
 the Agecroft valley, was once a broad flood of this descrip- 
 
192 Country Rambles. 
 
 tion is declared by the "river terraces" discoverable at 
 intervals all the way up, and which correspond with those 
 that betoken the ancient presence of the waters of the 
 Mersey at a much greater elevation than at present. 
 Abney Hall is built upon one of these river-terraces. 
 Cheadle village stands upon a yet higher and older one. 
 
 Peculiarly associated with the valley of the Irvvell, and 
 the adjacent cloughs and woods of Stand and Prestwich, 
 is the memory of John Horsefield, one of the most cele- 
 brated of the old Lancashire operative botanists. It was 
 Horsefield who first showed us the way through Mere 
 dough, and pointed out the spots occupied by its rare 
 plants. For thirty-two years he was president and chief 
 stay of the Prestwich Botanical Society, and from 1830, 
 up to the time of his death, president also of the united 
 societies of the whole district. He earned his livelihood 
 as a hand-loom weaver, following that occupation in a 
 cottage at Besses-o'th'-Barn. Though the small wages 
 his employment yielded him, and the trifling amount of 
 leisure it permitted him to enjoy, naturally hindered 
 pursuit of his darling science so fully as he desired, it is 
 marvellous to see how much he accomplished. In the 
 Manchester Guardian of March 2nd, 1850, in the course 
 of a long and very interesting autobiography, he gives 
 some slight idea of his labours. "Since I first held office 
 as president," he tells us, "I have attended upwards of 
 four hundred of these general meetings; thousands of 
 specimens have passed through my hands, and all my 
 reward or fee is the privilege of being scot-free." With 
 
John Horsefield. 193 
 
 that autobiography easily accessible, it is unnecessary to 
 do more here than to point to it, and to a continuation 
 of the narrative in the papers of the April following, 
 which include several pieces of original poetry. Perhaps 
 nothing has ever appeared which shows more strikingly 
 how an indomitable will and ardent thirst for knowledge, 
 and a deep and faithful love of nature, will triumph over 
 the obstacles of poor means and humble station in life, 
 and lift a man into the high places of true science, and 
 give him at once the power of usefulness to his fellow- 
 creatures, and of realising the true rewards of existence. 
 Horsefield was a member of the Banksian Society, but 
 rarely came to the meetings of the Mechanics' Institution 
 class, reserving himself for those country musters where 
 his knowledge and good nature had the full wide scope 
 which they at once merited and deserved. In person he 
 was thin and spare, presenting a great contrast to the tall 
 and patriarchal figure of Crozier, partaking, however, so 
 far as we had opportunities of judging, of all his amiable, 
 unsophisticated qualities. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HORSEFIELD'S PREDECESSORS AND COMPANIONS.* 
 
 Though I be hoar, I fare as doth a tree 
 That blosmeth ere the fruit y-woxen be ; 
 The blosmy tree is neither drie ne ded ; 
 I feel me nowhere hoar but on my hed ; 
 Mine harte and all my limmes ben as green 
 As laurel through the year is for to seen. 
 
 CHAUCER. 
 
 CHAPTER may here be legitimately devoted 
 to the men in whose wake Horsefield and 
 Crozier followed and to their own principal 
 companions. The history of these men is 
 peculiar. It is not simply that of indivi- 
 duals, but inseparably identified with that 
 of the botanical societies of South East Lancashire and 
 
 * The following pages were originally printed in the Manchester 
 Weekly Times of July loth, 1858. It gave me great pleasure to 
 see that the article was made the subject of comment and lengthy 
 extract in Chambers 's Journal of the following October i6th, a 
 recognition of the general interest of the matter dealt with that 
 seems to me quite to justify a reprint almost verbatim, with correc- 
 tions that bring it up to the present date. 
 
Old Lancashire Botanists. 195 
 
 the neighbourhood, without question the most remark- 
 able in England. Every man of course has had his 
 own private and personal history, but the energies and 
 activities of each have been so closely intermingled with 
 those of his companions that the history is essentially 
 like that of a tree or a corporate body, not so much of 
 many things as of an organic whole. Many persons 
 have never so much as heard of these societies, though 
 assembling almost at their very doors. While the learned 
 and wealthy have been holding brilliant soirees and 
 conversazioni in lecture halls and royal institutions, meet- 
 ings have been going on among the weavers and other 
 craftsmen, quietly and unostentatiously, with aims exactly 
 similar, and success not inferior, and probably with ten- 
 fold more enjoyment to the bulk of those attending 
 them, because of its simplicity and earnestness. Should 
 the history of science in Lancashire ever come to be 
 written at length, it would be wanting in one of its most 
 interesting and important chapters were the proceedings 
 of these societies to be omitted, whether the members 
 who composed them were thought worthy of mention or 
 not. The sketch we propose to give must necessarily 
 be brief, but it will serve to indicate what a large amount 
 of real, practical scientific knowledge exists among the 
 workpeople of our district, and how superior these men 
 are to the mere herb-gatherers or "yarb-doctors" with 
 whom they have often been confounded, and who, though 
 useful in their way, constitute an entirely different class. 
 The study of botany by the operatives about Man- 
 
196 Country Rambles. 
 
 Chester, at least in a precise and methodical manner, 
 appears to date from the establishment of the Linnaean 
 system, which was one hundred years ago. Doubtless 
 the neighbourhood was already remarkable for its love of 
 plants, since men do not jump at things like the Linnaean 
 system unless they have taste for them beforehand; but 
 prior to the time of Linnaeus, the difficulties attendant on 
 botany as a science were too great for it to be any- 
 where a popular pastime. It was in Lancashire, without 
 question, in life and power, though not in determined 
 fact. There is reason to believe that botany, in some 
 sort, was cultivated in Lancashire as far back as the 
 time of Ray, who described, in his "Synopsis," nearly 
 four-fifths of the British plants, and frequently refers to 
 north-country botanists in connection with the localities 
 of rare species. They were probably the originals of those 
 keen observers and ardent cultivators whose succession 
 has never yet intermitted. Ray's work made its first 
 appearance in 1670. What is meant by the "Linnaean 
 System" must be learnt from books devoted to its eluci- 
 dation. It will suffice to say 'of it here that it established 
 a method of classifying plants which gave it vantage, not 
 only for successfully clearing the ground of difficulties 
 which were fast becoming insuperable to smaller schemes 
 and threatening the very existence of botany, but 
 rendered everything intelligible and delightful. No 
 really practical system had been devised previously to 
 the time of Linnaeus, and though his classes and orders 
 are now superseded by the grander and profounder 
 
 
The Old Eccles Society. 197 
 
 "Natural System," which it was Linnaeus' own desire to 
 arrive at acknowledging his sexual or "Artificial System" 
 to be but temporary and provisional, when it appeared 
 it may fairly be said to have made that live which before 
 was dead or dying, and to have been the true inaugura- 
 tion of the science of botany. 
 
 The period referred to was, in round numbers then, 
 fully one hundred years ago. No records are extant as 
 to what was actually done here at that time, but the 
 general fact that botany was ardently engaged in is well 
 established. Old Crowther, who was born in 1768, was 
 accustomed, when only nine years of age, to attend the 
 meetings of a botanical society at Eccles, numbering, on 
 the average, forty members, the first society, in all like- 
 lihood, that was formed by the young Linnaeans, and the 
 same, it may be concluded, as that which in 1790, or 
 thereabouts, had spread to Ashton, Oldham, Middleton, 
 and many other places, holding fixed monthly meetings 
 at the several towns and villages in rotation, and with 
 which the proper "historical era" of botany in Man- 
 chester may be said to commence. The business of the 
 meetings was to compare the floras of the several neigh- 
 bourhoods, and to exchange plants and information in 
 general on subjects connected with botanical science. 
 A library of practical service was formed at a very early 
 period. The members subscribed, and bought among 
 other books the "Systema Naturae," and "Species Planta- 
 rum," of Linnaeus; Withering' s "British Plants," and 
 Lee's "Introduction to Botany," exchanging the volumes 
 
198 Country Rambles. 
 
 with one another on the days of meeting, and for several 
 years everything went on pleasantly and usefully. With 
 the close of the century, however, owing to infractions of 
 the rules, the meetings were discontinued, and the society 
 was abruptly dissolved. 
 
 But death is everywhere the spring and herald of life. 
 Though for a time there was no regular society, meetings 
 continued to be held in a more private way, and, as 
 generally happens after an interregnum, new and better 
 principles of management were introduced, resulting in 
 the formation of those numerous and excellent local 
 societies which started botany afresh, and several of the 
 best of which are still at work. The late venerable John 
 Mellor, of Royton, near Oldham, is generally considered 
 to have laid the foundation of the new school. Associated 
 with him were the celebrated John Dewhurst, first presi- 
 dent of the collective meetings, and George Caley, well 
 known to the scientific as the botanist who accompanied 
 Sir Joseph Banks to the South Seas. The society which 
 lays claim to primogeniture is that at Middleton, or, at 
 all events the Middleton District Society. Its former 
 president, the late Mr. John Turner, possessed a letter 
 written from Australia in 1800, in which Caley warmly 
 acknowledges his obligations to the members, as having 
 first given him a love for plants. The Mottram Society 
 is also of long date, having celebrated forty-four anniver- 
 saries.* To make this matter of relative age more 
 
 *i.e. up to 1858. 
 
The Prestwich Society. 199 
 
 intelligible, it may be observed that the local societies 
 group themselves into " districts," and that the name of a 
 local society is sometimes the same as that of a district 
 society. For instance, the Ashton-under-Lyne district 
 takes in Ashton, Stalybridge, Mottram, Glossop, Tint- 
 wistle, &c., and has both monthly meetings and "bye- 
 meetings;" the Rochdale district comprises Rochdale, 
 Middleton, Milnrow, Todmorden, Harpurhey, &c.; the 
 Bredbury district includes Stockport, Disley, Hather- 
 low, &c. ; and so with the others. The Prestwich local 
 society, the nearest, and in many respects the most 
 interesting to Manchester, has been in existence thirty- 
 eight years, having been established September nth, 
 1820. (Now, of course, extended to sixty-two.) 
 
 Gradually, after this fresh start, the whole of the 
 country lying north-west, north, and north-east of Man- 
 chester became animated with the love of botany; as far 
 even as from Disley and Todmorden came the echo of 
 the new music; and under the successive presidentships 
 (after John Dewhurst's) of Edward Hobson, the great 
 bryologist, then of John Horsefield, and subsequently of 
 James Percival, a man of extraordinary information, both 
 in accuracy and amount, the meetings have gone on 
 uninterruptedly and happily, and never were they more 
 satisfactory than at the present moment. The list for 
 1858, printed along with the rules, announces twenty-six 
 of the grand general gatherings, or a meeting every 
 fortnight, and fifteen different places of assembly. The 
 most successful meetings have been at Prestwich, 
 
2OO Country Rambles. 
 
 Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackley, Bury, Rochdale, Middle- 
 ton, Oldham, Whitefield, Eccles, Ringley, Radcliffe, and 
 Harpurhey; and the best attended, the last year or two, 
 those held at Prestwich, Whitefield, and Bury. The 
 meetings, as at the beginning, are held upon the Sunday 
 afternoon, at some respectable tavern, such being the only 
 place where working men can assemble inexpensively; 
 and though this may seem to some persons detrimental to 
 good order and sobriety, no religious service was ever 
 more decorously conducted. Working men can assemble 
 at a tavern, and not abuse it, quite as well as gentlemen; 
 in either case, all depends on the ideas they carry in with 
 them. It is the peculiar characteristic of intelligent 
 delight in the objects of nature, that, with very rare 
 exceptions, it brings with it a moral and harmonising 
 influence on the heart, so that men who gather together 
 as our Lancashire botanists do, albeit in a public-house 
 and on a Sunday, are the most likely of all in their 
 station of life, to conduct themselves in a manner becom- 
 ing intelligent beings. When the churchwardens or 
 other peace-officers think proper to walk in, as sometimes 
 happens, they always express themselves satisfied. Twice 
 only, during upwards of seventy years, have the meetings 
 been interfered with by the authorities, and in neither 
 case has it been from disapproval of them, or because of 
 misconduct on the part of the members. The second 
 occasion, which alone had notoriety, fell in November, 
 1850, when the men had assembled, as often before, at 
 the "Ostrich," in Rooden Lane. The landlord of the 
 
A nnual Meetings. 2 o i 
 
 house had made himself obnoxious to the law, but in 
 such a way, whatever it was, that he could only be 
 reached by the unfortunate botanists being made the 
 scape-goat.* The ale is not forgotten, nor would it be 
 wisely forgotten if it were. Water is good, but so, in 
 their season, are good wine and good ale. "My speci- 
 mens," once said old Crowther, in his quaint, quiet way, 
 when nearly eighty years had silvered his hair, his eyes 
 twinkling as he spoke, "my specimens always look best 
 through a glass !" Capital botanical libraries are pos- 
 sessed by the societies at Todmorden, Ashton, Oldham, 
 Miles Platting, Prestwich, and Boothstown. Several of 
 the societies also possess herbariums. The Prestwich 
 collection, which fills nearly one hundred and sixty 
 volumes, contains a beautiful series of specimens prepared 
 by the celebrated Mr. Shepherd, once curator of the 
 Liverpool Botanic Garden. Many of the members 
 further amuse themselves by cultivating curious plants, 
 the roots of which have been chiefly obtained by making 
 excursions, for the special purpose, into North Wales, the 
 Lake district, and the more romantic parts of Derbyshire 
 and Yorkshire. 
 
 Once a year, on a Sunday fixed as near the height of 
 the flower season as possible, there is an extra grand 
 meeting, when deputations from all the societies in the 
 neighbourhood make a point of attending. That of 1858 
 was held on the nth of August at the "Golden Lion," 
 
 * See the account of the conviction in the Manchester Guardian, 
 of November 3oth, 1850. 
 
2O2 Country Rambles. 
 
 Harpurhey, twenty or thirty different societies being 
 represented. The proceedings were reported by the 
 writer of these pages in the Manchester Weekly Times 
 of the ensuing Saturday, the account, after some pre- 
 liminary observations, continuing as follows: "The 
 botanists began to assemble soon after two o'clock, and 
 at three, when the proceedings commenced, there were 
 present no fewer than two hundred and twelve, all, with 
 the exception of four or five, working men, and not more 
 than the odd dozen or so unconnected with one or other 
 of the societies. It is a striking and most pleasing fact, 
 for the consideration of intelligent people, that there 
 should be in and about Manchester a body of naturalists 
 able to send two hundred zealous and well-informed 
 representatives to an annual meeting where the object of 
 assembly was purely social. Whatever else the cotton 
 manufacturing districts may be in the eyes of people at 
 a distance, here, at least, is a characteristic that cannot 
 be disputed, and such as no other system or trade in 
 the country has tended either to develope or encourage. 
 The meeting took place on the large bowling-green 
 behind the inn. At the lower extremity was placed a 
 table, some twenty yards long, and covered throughout 
 its whole length with specimens of flowers, mostly curious 
 and uncommon, and about half of which were British, 
 with the addition of a few stove and greenhouse plants, 
 contributed by gentlemen's gardeners. After a little time 
 spent in conversation, the president, James Percival, was 
 called to the chair, from which he gave the names of 
 
Annual Meetings. 203 
 
 about one hundred and fifty of the most remarkable . 
 exhibits, first the Latin, and then the English, often with 
 some little remark upon their nature or place of growth. 
 The accuracy of his naming was not more remarkable 
 than the correctness of the pronunciation, showing how 
 mistaken is the popular notion that the Latin or scientific 
 names of plants are harder to learn than the English 
 ones. Percival having concluded, his place was taken 
 by John Nowell, of Todmorden, who similarly named a 
 quantity of mosses, and w T hen these were finished a box 
 of beautiful ferns was opened by Mr. Tom Stansfield, of 
 the same town, and the contents disposed of in the same 
 manner. If any difference of opinion arose as to the 
 correctness of a name, the specimen was handed about 
 for criticism, but it rarely happened that either of the 
 three spokesmen had made even so much as a slip of 
 the tongue. The plants* having all been named and dis- 
 tributed, some routine business was transacted, and the 
 meeting, as to its formal part, broke up, having lasted 
 very nearly three hours. The remainder of the evening was 
 spent, like the commencement, in friendly chat. This was 
 in many respects quite as interesting as the regular busi- 
 ness, the opportunity being afforded for intimate converse 
 with one after another of two hundred as thoroughly 
 good-hearted and intelligent men as ever met together, 
 full of anecdote of themselves and their companions, 
 never vainly putting forth their knowledge without call 
 for it, but never allowing the slightest error to pass 
 unchallenged. No discussions of learned doctors were 
 
2O4 Country Rambles. 
 
 ever more vigorous and entertaining than those of our 
 botanists on the green of the "Golden Lion." Among the 
 chief botanists present, in addition to those already men- 
 tioned, were George Hulme, Prestwich; Edwin Clough 
 and Henry Newton, Ashton-under-Lyne; Tom Bleackley, 
 Whitefield; John Shaw, Eccles; Isaac Ollerenshaw, 
 Glossop; John Darbyshire, Newton; William Bentley, 
 Royton; James Devonport, Droylsden; John Turner, 
 Middleton; Richard Buxton, John Crowe, and John 
 Warburton, Manchester ; William and James Horsefield, 
 sons of John; Mr. Isaac Williamson, of Stockport; and 
 Mr. Lund, president of the Rochdale Society. Mr. 
 Edwin Waugh, Mr. Henry Robson, and several other 
 visitors from Manchester also attended." 
 
 Not the least pleasing feature of the meeting in 
 question consisted in the number of men in advanced 
 years who were enjoying its incidents, fine specimens 
 of youth carried along into mature life, that most 
 admirable and noble condition of human nature, and 
 looking as if they were never going to be old. They 
 showed how true it is that spirit is youth, and that the 
 want of spirit is age, that life measures not by birthdays, 
 but by capacity for noble enjoyments, and that he who 
 would be a Man, must never forget to be a Boy. It 
 avails nothing for a man to live sixty or seventy years, 
 unless he carry along with him the freshness and cheerful- 
 ness of his youth, and nothing so powerfully contributes 
 to keeping the heart green, as simple and true love of 
 country pleasures and country productions. This is the 
 
True Old Age. 205 
 
 true old age, and that which we should set ourselves to 
 attain. Our first duty is to live as long as we can ; and 
 our chief wisdom, after the fear of God, is to cultivate 
 those tastes which make youth of spirit last till birthdays 
 come no more. The actual longevity both of naturalists 
 in general, and of many of the Lancashire men in par- 
 ticular, is a fact of no mean significance. Crowther was 
 seventy-nine when he died; John Mellor, eighty-two; 
 Elias Hall, the geologist, eighty-nine. Timothy Harrop, 
 of Middleton, with whose work, as a bird and animal 
 stuffer, the British Association were so well pleased when 
 they visited Manchester in 1842; and Josiah Nuttall, of 
 Heywood, were also very old men. Whether this 
 longevity is to be attributed to the quiet and temperate 
 habits which the study of natural history almost invariably 
 induces, or to the continual out-door exercise inseparable 
 from genuine pursuit of it; or to the quickening of the 
 intelligence and affections, and the invigoration of the 
 bodily health, which, by a beautiful law of nature, always 
 so gratefully ensues; there is evidently a something 
 about natural history other circumstances being equal 
 wonderfully promotive of length of days. Men never 
 step into the presence of nature with affection and 
 reverence, but they come back blessed and strengthened 
 with a reward. 
 
 Let us now look a little more closely at the individuals. 
 The lives of some of them are before the world, told in 
 those interesting, though "short and simple annals," 
 which have appeared in the local press from time to time, 
 
206 Country Rambles. 
 
 such as the autobiography of John Horsefield, who died 
 March 6th, 1854, and the obituary notice of Crowther, 
 which filled a column and a half of the Manchester 
 Guardian, of January i3th, 1847, a week after his 
 decease. Crowther was a Banksian, and one of the 
 most simple-hearted men that ever lived; willing to 
 travel any distance, and undergo any amount of fatigue, 
 so that he secured his flower. As one of his old com- 
 panions remarked to me some years ago, "he was not 
 learned ', but he was very loving" It is worthy also of 
 record that Crowther never touched his wages for pur- 
 poses of botanical pleasure, but took home every penny, 
 and trusted to fortunate accidents for the means of 
 supplying his scientific wants. Of the indefatigable and 
 acute George Caley, who was born at Craven in 1770, 
 and died May 23rd, 1829, there is a pleasing memoir in 
 the "Magazine of Natural History," vol. ii., p. 310; and 
 vol. iii., p. 226. A similar memoir of Edward Hobson, 
 I . who died September 7th, 1830, may be seen in the 
 "Transactions of the Manchester Literary and Philo- 
 sophical Society," vol. vi., 1842. Buxton's is prefixed to 
 the "Guide," and several other memoirs have since been 
 given by Mr. Cash in his delightful little book, "When 
 there's a Will there's a Way." These appear to be the 
 whole of the memoirs of any length that have been 
 printed, though there have frequently been short notices 
 when death has carried off another of the band. It 
 would be well were they reprinted in a collective form. 
 Unmarked though they are by stirring incidents, the lives 
 
John Dewhurst. 
 
 207 
 
 of these men are such as no person of feeling and intelli- 
 gence, and sympathy with pure, hearty, honest endeavour 
 after knowledge and self-improvement, can peruse with- 
 out emotion. Science owes more to them than has ever 
 been confessed, and it is anything but honourable to 
 public taste and public morals, that while the lives of 
 murderers and rascals of all descriptions are read with 
 avidity, and the minutest incidents of their abominable 
 careers demanded and fed upon, the lives of the modest, 
 unassuming votaries of science, both the dead and those 
 who are yet with us, are never so much as inquired for. 
 They have their reward. If it be not in the notoriety of 
 a great criminal, it is in the perennial enjoyment of the 
 highest faculties of our nature, such as are brought out 
 only by loving conversance with the works of God. 
 
 Scarcely anything is recorded of the earlier Lancashire 
 botanists. Of John Dewhurst, mentioned as the first 
 president of the restored botanical society at the begin- 
 ning of the present century, little more is known than that 
 he was a' fustian-cutter by trade, and lived at Red Bank. 
 John Shaw, now of Eccles (since deceased), remembers 
 seeing him in his "pride of place" at the "Lord Nelson," 
 at Ringley, where the annual meeting was at that time 
 accustomed to be held, the first Sunday in May, Mr. S. 
 being then a child, and this the first botanical meeting he 
 was present at. Dewhurst died in Salford, about 1820, at 
 the age of about seventy. He was of a good and well- 
 to-do family, but in the position of "poor relation." A 
 kind friend of the Lancashire botanists in those days, 
 
208 Country Rambles. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell, of Bradford Hall, gave Dewhurst and 
 Hobson a piece of ground adjoining his house for a 
 botanic garden. In this they were accustomed to 
 deposit the roots of plants procured in the course of 
 their rambles, going up every Monday morning for the 
 purpose. It happened at that time that there were 
 great operatives' political meetings. One day, in 1812, 
 it came to Mr. Mitchell's ears that the two botanists 
 were engaged to attend one of them, and at the same 
 moment he had private information that the magistrates 
 intended to disperse it, and send the leaders to prison, 
 Hobson being one of the marked, and certain to be 
 apprehended. Luckily for all parties, the meeting was 
 appointed for the very day when the two botanists were 
 accustomed to visit their garden. Up they went as 
 usual, early in the morning, from which time till late 
 in the afternoon their host contrived, probably with- 
 out much difficulty, to keep them engaged with liquid 
 refreshment, and thus saved Hobson at all events from' 
 imprisonment. As the two men journeyed homewards, 
 they met the soldiers and their captives on the way to 
 gaol. One of Dewhurst's intimate associates was old 
 William Evans, of Tyldesley, now long deceased, a 
 friend from boyhood of Dr. Hull, Dr. Tomlinson, and 
 Dr. Withering, and companion also of George Caley. 
 " He was always after botany," says a letter respecting 
 him, "and travelled many thousands of miles in quest 
 of plants." That excellent botanist and worthy old 
 man, Joseph Evans, of Boothstown, to whom we have 
 
Joseph Evans. 209 
 
 had occasion to express our acknowledgments in the 
 " Manchester Flora," is son of the renowned William. 
 Born in 1803, the lad, when only ten years of age, used 
 to be taken to the meetings, walking, of course, every 
 inch of the way, both there and back. He was also his 
 father's constant companion in the fields. Ah, how 
 much is imbibed under such kindly teaching, and how 
 much more than we actually learn is excited and 
 animated! It is not so much what a man, even one's 
 own father, tells us, tutor-fashion, that does the good 
 for one's entire life-time, as what he inspires us with. 
 The man, or the woman either, upon whom we look 
 back as having supplied the aurora of our mental day, 
 when we think it out carefully, is he or she who taught us 
 not so much how to write and cast accounts, as how to 
 see and to feel to see the wild-flowers, and the snow- 
 crystals, and the darting dragon-flies in their beautiful 
 blue corselets, to listen to the hum of the busy bees 
 and the songs of the birds, and to feel that "he prayeth 
 best who loveth best all things both great and small." 
 Evans was taught, when no more than ten years old, 
 how to contemplate the immortal beauty of nature. Like 
 his father before him, he had very little book-learning, 
 but he fed abundantly on the best and truest source of 
 all great and worthy ideas. A vigorous frame and an 
 admirable constitution enabled him to undertake jour- 
 neys on foot that to many would be positively affrighting. 
 He knew the contents of every wood and pond within 
 twenty miles of his home, the results of his long rambles 
 P 
 
2 TO Country Rambles. 
 
 plainly declared in the trim little garden adjoining his 
 cottage. The number of plants we once counted in 
 it, all curious, exceeded three hundred. Evans died 
 June 23rd, 1874, and was followed to his grave in 
 Worsley churchyard by more than a thousand people, 
 including a hundred and seventy young children. For of 
 the little folk, especially girls, he was always immensely 
 fond; they went to the churchyard more of their own 
 accord than because led. His sympathy with them was 
 the sweetest of all sympathies the sympathy of tender- 
 ness and simplicity; no wonder that many of them 
 carried little chaplets of midsummer field-flowers. We 
 often hear of magnificent funerals chariots and plumes ; 
 they may not, after all, be such as we should so well 
 care to be the pattern of our own. The cottage itself 
 wherein he resided was clean and bright as a sea-shell 
 just washed by the waves. If the love of the clear 
 purity of wild-flowers kept alive in old Evans the love 
 of one thing more than another, it would seem to have 
 been that of a home absolutely spotless, still maintained, 
 we believe, by one who always reminds us of a rose in 
 the snow. In figure Joseph Evans was tall and thin, a 
 lofty forehead conferring a dignity upon his appearance 
 which invariably attracted strangers. Never was this 
 more observable than at a natural history meeting once 
 at the Manchester Athenaeum.*" 
 
 * For further particulars respecting old Joseph Evans, see the 
 Gardeners' Chronicle for November I4th, 1874, from which we have 
 transcribed, being our own words, a small portion of the above, 
 
John Martin. 211 
 
 No botanist contemporary with the elder Evans attained 
 greater celebrity than John Martin, of Tyldesley. He 
 was especially well-informed respecting Carices, and 
 first drew the attention of the botanists of Manchester 
 to the richness of the neighbourhood, supplying, in 
 regard to them, names and localities they knew not of, 
 as well as many facts respecting the botany of Tyldesley 
 in particular, with which he has never been properly 
 accredited. This eminent veteran was among us till so 
 late as August i3th, 1855. 
 
 The mantle of these old men has fallen well. Very 
 few of the botanists mentioned above are still alive I 
 am glad to be able to add to the short list the name of 
 Richard Hampson, of Tyldesley ; but they have plenty 
 of successors, and never more energetically than at the 
 present moment was natural history pursued as a pastime 
 in South-East Lancashire. 
 
 The peculiarities of the original race are fast disappear- 
 ing, a circumstance plainly attributable to the facilities of 
 travel given by the railway system, to the multiplication 
 of books, and to the more general diffusion of know- 
 ledge. At the period when the celebrity of the old 
 Lancashire botanists was established, say during the first 
 quarter of the present century, they lived in comparative 
 isolation. Now the isolation alike of abode and oppor- 
 tunities has been cancelled, and as a consequence the 
 class of men who as individuals, somewhat conspicuous 
 in their way, gave it colour, have slowly disappeared. 
 The ancient spirit, nevertheless, is as keen as ever, and 
 
212 
 
 Country Rambles, 
 
 the love of botany in particular is quite as honourably 
 and intelligently represented as at any preceding time. 
 If we can no longer single out men very particularly 
 remarkable, it is because the estates of the patriarchs 
 have been divided, as it were, among whole troops of 
 worthy descendants. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 VIA CLIFTON JUNCTION. 
 
 As the stern grandeur of a Gothic tower 
 Awes us less deeply in its morning hour, 
 Than when the shades of time serenely fall 
 On every broken arch and ivied wall, 
 The tender images we love to trace, 
 Steal from each year a melancholy grace. 
 
 LIFTON JUNCTION may be regarded as 
 the railway entrance to east and central 
 Lancashire, since at this point, while the 
 original line runs on to Bolton, there is 
 divergence to Bury, whence, in turn, we 
 get to Accrington. After Molyneux Brow, 
 the first station is Ringley Road; then comes Radcliffe, 
 the village of the "red cliffs," renowned in legend and 
 in local family history, and in a few minutes more we 
 are near the birthplace of Sir Robert Peel. The cliffs 
 referred to, though bold and conspicuous, have none of 
 the picturesque beauty pertaining to Prestwich. Nor, 
 indeed, is the latter renewed until, after passing Bury, we 
 
2 1 4 Country Rambles. 
 
 get to Summerseat, distant from Manchester thirteen 
 miles. The river, soon lost sight of after passing Moly- 
 neux, here comes into view again, winding among trees, 
 and with steep declivities right and left. The eastern 
 side of the valley is abundantly wooded, and although 
 broken by little ravines, offers a delightful walk of about 
 two miles to the village of Ramsbottom. To begin 
 it, cross the little aqueduct over the gorge, then keep 
 straight on beneath the shadow of the wood. Beside 
 this pleasant path wild raspberries grow in plenty, and 
 ferns, and on the sunward edges of the steep brows above 
 the stream, not yet much sullied by "works," in Septem- 
 ber it is sweet to sit down to rest and talk, noting as we 
 chat the lilac blossoms of the heather. It does not, as 
 in the wilderness, monopolise the ground, but springs 
 delicately from the turf, here a little and there a little, in 
 quantity just enough to remind us that it is one of the 
 friendly plants, those of the same spirit as the anemone 
 and the celandine, which never care to live alone, but 
 "love their own kind and to dwell among their kindred." 
 For the curious in other matters, up above again, on the 
 highest point, there is the celebrated tower which com- 
 memorates the "Cheeryble Brothers," William and Daniel 
 Grant. Looking across the river, the opposite bank is 
 remarkably different, the slopes being almost treeless. 
 Gradually swelling, at last they expand into a vast tract 
 of moorland called Holcombe Hill, well chosen for the 
 erection of the far -seen landmark called the Peel 
 monument. 
 
Rossendale. 1 1 5 
 
 Ramsbottom is succeeded by Stubbins, and after this 
 we get to Newchurch, the best place to ascend from 
 when bound for the other great moorland called Fo'edge, 
 where the parsley-fern grows, and the alpine club-moss, 
 and many another plant that disdains the lowlands, and 
 from which, if we please, we may pursue a glorious walk 
 to Rochdale, making acquaintance as we go with the 
 bright and wilful Spodden. Running down Healey Dene, 
 a narrow and romantic valley, the bordering cliffs seem 
 to have been torn asunder at various times by the 
 impetuosity of the rushing torrent So picturesque is the 
 dingle called specially the Thrutch, the river here, in 
 Lancashire phrase, thrutching its way past all impedi- 
 ment, that one seems to be far away beyond the Tweed. 
 From the elevated ground above there is once again a 
 wonderful prospect, covering Lyme, Cloud-end, the 
 Derbyshire hills, Frodsham, and the mountains of North 
 Wales, a prospect enjoyed, moreover, like that one 
 from Jackson Edge, at an incredibly slight expenditure 
 of climbing power. This fine neighbourhood may of 
 course be reached direct from Rochdale, going by the 
 Todmorden line; but geographically it belongs to Ros- 
 sendale, in which both the Spodden and the Roch have 
 their simple beginnings, wherein also, r v near the foot of 
 Derpley Hill, we find the cradle of the Irwell. "Rossen- 
 dale Forest," so called, the name having a sense similar 
 to that of Delamere Forest (p. 41) is approached by way 
 of Bacup. Lying upon the northern edge of the line, 
 the forest presents, with almost the whole of the ground 
 
2i6 Country Rambles. 
 
 that stretches away to Cliviger, an endless variety of 
 beautiful change in mountain scenery. Up here are 
 found the grand summits called Hades Hill and Thieve- 
 ley Pike, the view from the top of the last-named 
 comprehending not only the southward country, but to 
 the north, almost the whole of Craven, with Ingleborough 
 and the wilds of Trawden Forest. The nearer portions 
 of the Lake District mountains, those which rise above 
 Cartmel, and that bathe their ancient feet in Coniston 
 are also distinguishable; and on sunny evenings, when 
 the atmosphere is clear, and if the tide be in, the estuary 
 of the Ribble. Cliviger is remarkable not alone for the 
 rocks and precipices the name denotes, but for the 
 number of beautiful curves, green with much grass, which 
 are interwoven with them, these latter constantly adding 
 the very sweet unusual feature in scenery, of vast 
 hemispherical green bowls, the whole country at the 
 same time, if we push far enough into the solitude, so 
 tranquil. 
 
 O'er stiller place 
 No singing skylark ever poised himself. 
 
 In some parts the rocks are clothed lavishly with ivy, 
 the knotted and rugged stems very plainly the growth of 
 centuries, while the massive upper branches throw them- 
 selves elegantly into the aerial sea, imitating the glorious 
 abandon of the strong swimmer when he dives. The 
 whole of the Lancashire border, at this part, including 
 the neighbourhood of Burnley, Trawden Forest, and the 
 Colne district, with the contiguous parts of Yorkshire, is 
 
Hogkton Bottoms. 2 1 7 
 
 immensely rich in scenery. Up here, too, it is that one 
 catches aboriginal Lancashire at its best, the dialect in 
 its prettiest modifications, and among the rural popula- 
 tion the primitive manners and customs. Towneley 
 Park, near Burnley, one of the most beautiful of the old 
 county family seats, is distinguished not more for its 
 associations than for the abundance of its venerable 
 trees. 
 
 Taking a great bend towards the west, after passing 
 Stubbins, the line runs through Haslingden, Accrington, 
 and Blackburn, to a spot of immemorial celebrity. Five 
 or six miles from the last-named the Darwen flows 
 through a secluded vale called Hoghton Bottoms. At 
 times it is bordered by green and level meads; in certain 
 parts great lateral walls of rock make it uproarious. The 
 name refers to the very ancient and distinguished family 
 seated here ever since the time of Henry II., the resi- 
 dence up to the middle of the sixteenth century having 
 been not far from the edge of the water. Doubtless this 
 would be constructed chiefly or wholly of wood, for the 
 park, "in former tyme," says the old chronicler, was "so full 
 of tymber that a man passing through it could scarcely 
 have seen the sun shine at mid-day." Soon after the 
 accession of Elizabeth the existing hall, upon the top of 
 the hill, was erected, the builder being the celebrated 
 Thomas Hoghton, who on account of his creed was con- 
 strained to forsake his ancestral home almost immediately 
 after the completion, and thenceforwards live in exile 
 upon the Continent The story of the departure of the 
 
2 1 8 Country Rambles. 
 
 unfortunate man is told in the beautiful and pathetic 
 ballad, "The Blessed Conscience," preserved in the late 
 Mr. T. T. Wilkinson's well-known volume. It would 
 seem to have been one of the earliest buildings of the 
 kind constructed entirely of stone. Perfect in design, 
 and in excellent preservation, Hoghton Tower presents 
 to this day, an admirable example of the architecture 
 of the period, as regards both adaptedness to domestic 
 use and to defensive purposes. The great quadrangular 
 lower court is spacious enough for the movement of five 
 or six hundred men. The upper one gives access to 
 noble staircases and long galleries, including one for the 
 minstrels. All that is wanting is the very lofty tower 
 which in the beginning rose above the central gateway, 
 and from which the mansion was named. This tower 
 was accidentally destroyed during the Civil Wars by an 
 explosion of gunpowder, and there seems never to have 
 been any disposition to reconstruct it 
 
 A site more charming than that selected by Thomas 
 Hoghton for the glorious old hall which preserves so 
 many interesting and old familiar traditions pertaining 
 to Lancashire, it would be difficult to find. It stands 
 upon the crest of a gentle slope, from which, as well as 
 from the windows, we look right away over the plain 
 and the bright-faced stream that waters Preston, to the 
 mountains of the Lake District, these looming grandly 
 from their curtains of mist; the sea, glorious in the 
 sheen of sunset, upon the left, and upon the right, 
 gigantic Pendle. The immediate surroundings are no 
 
The Bolton Railway. 219 
 
 less delightful than the prospects; the dell beneath is 
 one of the kind in which the thin-tissued flowers of 
 early spring love to shelter, and which summer fills with 
 a score of sprightly forms. The eastern side of the hill 
 is rugged and steep, the Darwen at its foot struggling 
 with boulders brought down probably by its own 
 vehemence in remote ages. 
 
 The original "Manchester and Bolton," opened as far 
 back as May 24th, 1838, is now only the first link in 
 the splendid chain of railway lines which, going nearly 
 three hundred miles due north, connects our town with 
 the very heart of Scotland, and by means of the west- 
 ward branches, with every part of the shore from the 
 Mersey to the Clyde. How little was such adventure 
 dreamed of when the old calmness of the Agecroft valley 
 was first invaded ! Eight years afterwards (April 29th, 
 1846) it had become the highway to Blackpool, and on 
 April 7th, 1855. people began to start by it for Southport. 
 Diverging also to Blackburn, and thence running on to 
 Clitheroe, a country of wonderful beauty was added 
 to our already ample choice. Cheshire was discovered 
 to be by no means the all in all, and in mid-Lancashire 
 to-day we learn anew that in scenery, as in all other 
 things good for the soul, the secret of beauty comes 
 of nice balance of complementaries. There is endless 
 enjoyment also for the archaeologist in the old halls up 
 that way, many of which are scarcely rivalled Turton 
 Tower, for instance, Hall-i'th'-Wood, and Smithills Hall. 
 Turton Tower, upon the right of the Clitheroe line, the 
 
22O Country Rambles. 
 
 square form of which gives it an appearance of great 
 solidity, is almost sacred, having once been the residence 
 of Humphrey Chetham. Part of it is stone, part black 
 and white, the latter with gables, and the storeys succes- 
 sively overhanging, the former with an embattled parapet. 
 Inside there are old carved ceilings, with doors of 
 massive oak, and much besides that talks pleasantly 
 of the fashions of three hundred years ago. Of late 
 years a good deal of "restoration" has been carried on, 
 happily with so much judgment that the original features 
 are in no degree obscured. 
 
 Hall-i'th'-Wood is in its associations one of the most 
 interesting spots in England, since it was in the large 
 upper chamber, the one with a window of no fewer than 
 twenty-four compartments, that Samuel Crompton con- 
 structed the exquisitely skilful machine upon which the 
 cotton industry of Lancashire arose to its present magni- 
 tude and importance. The way to it is from the little 
 wayside station called the "Oaks," crossing the fields, a 
 pleasant walk of about a mile. The hall stands upon 
 the edge of a cliff, at the foot of which flows a little 
 river called the Eagley, one of the early collectors for 
 the Irwell, the scenery on every side just such as 
 would recommend the site to that fine old race of country 
 gentlemen, neither barons nor vassals, under whose 
 authority marks so enduring as these old Lancashire 
 halls were impressed upon the land. When Crompton 
 lived at Hall-i'th'-Wood, it was embosomed in trees, 
 many of them so mighty that when cut down it was like 
 
Smithills HalL 221 
 
 attacking granite columns. As at Turton, the material 
 is twofold, a portion being magpie, believed to have 
 been put together in 1483, while the remainder is grey 
 stone, erected in 1648; the former, to appearance, 
 wholly untouched, and the latter altered only by the 
 introduction, at a little later period than that of the 
 building of the walls, of some mouldings and other 
 exterior ornaments. Altogether, the hall is unquestion- 
 ably to be regarded as a first-rate specimen of the style 
 it illustrates. This is proved by its having often been 
 taken as a model for modern Elizabethan houses we 
 do not mean by copyists, but by the men of higher 
 platform those with whom knowledge and learning are 
 never the limit of thought, but only the basis.* 
 
 Smithills Hall, now the residence of Mr. R. H. 
 Ainsworth, claims to occupy the site of an ancient 
 Norman abode, which itself, if all be true in the legends, 
 succeeded a Saxon palatial one. There can be no doubt 
 that the spot is one of genuine historical interest. A 
 chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was consecrated 
 at Smithills in 793, nearly a hundred years before the 
 time of King Alfred; and the locality, like that of 
 Hall-i'th'-Wood, is precisely of the kind that would be 
 selected for their stronghold by the lords then having 
 authority over the district, being at the head of two or 
 three beautiful little glens, at once charming in com- 
 plexion, and facilitating defence in case of assault. 
 
 * See an excellent description of Hall-i'th'-Wood, accompanied by 
 a drawing, in the Manchester Literary Club volume for 1880, p. 254. 
 
222 Country Rambles. 
 
 Much of the original hall has been renewed from time to 
 time, but it is still a glorious type of the best work of the 
 sixteenth century, and in the interior, as to antique 
 carving and other treasures, is rich beyond description. 
 The gardens also are delightful, and awaken reflections 
 in the most interesting manner, on the way in which 
 good planting now-a-days links past and present. The 
 ancient Britons, the oak, the birch, and the hawthorn 
 are there just as a thousand years ago; alongside of 
 them are the shapely evergreens which modern enter- 
 prise has brought from the Himalayas and Japan. A 
 pleasant though somewhat roundabout way to Smithills, 
 when permission can be obtained to enter, a privilege 
 not to be thought lightly of is to go first to Hall-i'th'- 
 Wood, then after crossing the Eagley, past Sweetloves, to 
 Horrocks Fold, and along the edge of the moor, locally 
 called the Scout, to the top of Deane Road, when the 
 hall is just below. The distance from Bolton is about 
 three miles. 
 
 Entwistle, the station next beyond Turton, gives access 
 to a bit of water-scenery that would scarcely be expected. 
 Lymm and Hollingworth have prepared us for magnifi- 
 cent reservoirs; "Entwistle Lodge," the embankment for 
 which was constructed about fifty years ago, is little 
 inferior in beauty. As at Lymm, it has given existence 
 also to a dell beneath, into which, after heavy rain, 
 causing the water to overflow, there descends a cataract 
 of at least a hundred and fifty feet fall. The dell is the 
 only place near Manchester where the lily-of-the-valley 
 
Whalley. 2 2 
 
 appears to grow truly wild. In autumn it abounds with 
 golden-rod, ferns, hawkweeds, and the blue jasione, and 
 upon the slopes, as in Hurst Clough, there are many 
 bushes of the deepest-coloured of the wild English roses, 
 the Rosa villosa. A romantic natural dell called 
 "The Jumbles," near Edgworth, is also rich in wild- 
 flowers, but a factory having taken possession, it invites 
 one no longer. 
 
 The valley through which the railway pursues its 
 course, running on to Darwen, and thence to Blackburn, 
 is one of those which perfectly illustrates the rich 
 character of the Lancashire uplands. An excellent idea 
 of its various wealth is gathered from near the Scout, 
 when on the way to Smithills, and even while travelling 
 it is impossible not to perceive how fruitful is every part 
 in the picturesque, particularly in amphitheatres receding 
 among the hills, which if somewhat naked, still always 
 have a cheerful look. All the way, moreover, there is 
 the noble spectacle of human activity. Langho station, 
 a quarter of an hour beyond Blackburn, opens the way 
 once more to pleasing novelty of scene, not to mention 
 its ancient and beautiful little chapel, the oldest place of 
 Christian worship in Lancashire still used as one, and from 
 which it is no more than a pleasant walk of two or three 
 miles to Whalley itself, the locality of the earliest Christian 
 preaching in our county. Here it was that Paulinus, 
 in 627, made his first efforts to convert the Northum- 
 brians crosses in the ancient graveyard commemorate 
 the event, memorials of pious labour which belong, in 
 
 
224 Country Rambles. 
 
 truth, not more to this once lonesome valley than to the 
 nation. The church, immensely venerable, portions of 
 it being Norman, is crowded with interesting antiquities, 
 and would itself well repay the journey, even were there 
 no Whalley Abbey alongside ; say rather the few portions 
 of the grand old pile that have been spared by Time, and 
 by that still heavier despoiler, man bent on destruction. 
 The abbey, founded in 1296, belonged to the Cistercians, 
 and, as usual with that fraternity, was dedicated to the 
 Virgin, whence the sacred monogram M still discover- 
 able upon some of the relics. Like all other abbeys, it 
 was for more than two hundred and forty years a place of 
 refuge for every one who needed succour or counsel. 
 Within its consecrated precincts there was always wisdom 
 to guide the inexperienced, and charity to relieve the 
 famishing and distressed. The dissolution of the monas- 
 teries in the calamitous year 1539 by a monarch who 
 thirsted less for reformation than for spoil, brought every- 
 thing to an end; and though the building itself was not 
 demolished till some time afterwards, the delay was less 
 designed than accidental. Eventually the very stones 
 were scattered far and wide; hence there is no identifying 
 the various portions as we do at Furness, and Fountains, 
 and Tintern, and Glastonbury, and Rievaulx. The 
 archaeologist conversant with monastic ruins is able to 
 trace them, but for the ordinary visitor, after the abbot's 
 house, long since modernised, and the two grand old 
 gateways, there are only a few grey and shattered walls, 
 some fragments of arches, and broken corridors. The 
 

 Whalley Abbey. 225 
 
 extent of the abbey grounds, enclosed partly by the river, 
 partly by an artificial trench or moat, exceeds thirty-six 
 acres. The building itself appears to have consisted of 
 three quadrangles, the westernmost holding the cloisters, 
 and being edged upon the north by the wall of the 
 church. There were, in addition, as usual, stables 
 and outer offices. In the presence of so vast an 
 extinction, it is pleasant to mark the abundance of 
 trees now growing within the ancient boundaries ; 
 and more particularly to note the taste with which 
 in ancient nooks of aisle and corridor, clumps of 
 green fern have been planted by the owner or resident, 
 Mr. Appleby. At one time these most interesting 
 ruins were opened to the public as freely as the 
 church. Now they are virtually closed, owing to the 
 misconduct of a party of excursionists not from Man- 
 chester the innocent, as in so many other places that 
 have been abused, suffering for the guilty. When will 
 people privileged to enter a gentleman's private grounds 
 learn to conduct themselves with the same decorum they 
 would expect others to observe in regard to their own ; or 
 if unpossessed of grounds or gardens, with regard to any 
 other private property? That the ignorant and selfish 
 will continue to abuse their privileges to the end of time, 
 is perhaps only too lamentably certain. Contrariwise, 
 what a happy day it will be when curiosity in regard 
 to such places will be synonymous with good manners. 
 When at Whalley, of course we ascend the Nab, that 
 beautiful tree-clad hill which overlooks the abbey, and 
 Q 
 
226 Country Rambles. 
 
 gives the first taste of the landscape grandeurs to be 
 enjoyed later on from the crest of Pendle. 
 
 For those who love to feel their feet pressing the turf, 
 Whalley is the best point of departure also for Stony- 
 hurst, and for the pretty villages of Great and Little 
 Mitton, the former upon the opposite bank of the Ribble, 
 which here separates Lancashire from Yorkshire. The 
 announcement, when half-way over the bridge, comes 
 with most curious unexpectedness. All of a sudden, 
 while delighting in the sweet spectacle of the stream, 
 silver-eddied like the immortal ones in the greatest of 
 epics, an inscription upon the wall says we are in the 
 county of the white rose ! How can this be ? Our 
 faces are turned westwards! Yorkshire is not in front 
 of us, but behind L Look at the map, and you will 
 discover that Mitton stands upon an odd bit which darts 
 away from all the rest, after traversing which we are 
 in Lancashire again. Little Mitton Hall is accounted 
 one of the finest specimens in England of the style of 
 domestic architecture which prevailed at the commence- 
 ment of the sixteenth century, or that of the building of 
 Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster. The base- 
 ment is stone, the upper portion timber, including the 
 roof of the great hall, which is ceiled with oak in wrought 
 compartments of singular beauty. Great Mitton Church 
 (in Yorkshire) is no less interesting in respect of its 
 antiquities and to the admirer of sculpture in the private 
 chapel, near the altar, once belonging to the Shireburns, 
 the very ancient and honourable family, long since 
 
Stony hurst. 227 
 
 extinct, by which Stony hurst was founded and originally 
 occupied. The marble monuments bear epitaphs of rare 
 tenderness, though antiquated in phraseology, foremost 
 among them being that which commemorates the last of 
 the race, Richard Francis Shireburn, who died, poor boy, 
 in 1702, at the age of only nine poisoned, tradition 
 says, by eating yew-berries, though as the time of his 
 death is stated on the monument to have been June, and 
 it is impossible for yew-berries to exist except in October 
 and November, there is something in need of explana- 
 tion. It is not, by the way, the yew-berry that is 
 poisonous, for that is perfectly innocuous, but the seed. 
 
 Stonyhurst needs at least half-a-day purely and entirely 
 to itself. At present, as well known, it is the principal 
 college maintained in this country by the Jesuits, a party 
 of whom obtained possession of it in 1794, when driven 
 from Liege by the terrors of the French Revolution. 
 The site was occupied by a hall in exceedingly remote 
 times, a Shireburn going hence in 1347 to attend Queen 
 Philippa at Calais. The existing edifice was raised in 
 the time of Elizabeth, by whom the head of the family 
 was so highly esteemed, that although a Catholic, she 
 allowed him to retain his private oratory and domestic 
 priest. The lofty and battlemented centre and the noble 
 cupolas give it a character among our Lancashire man- 
 sions quite unique. The interior is in perfect harmony 
 with the external design. It is richly stored, moreover, 
 with works of art, and with archaeological and historical 
 curiosities, the latter including various treasures brought 
 
228 Country Rambles. 
 
 from the continent at the time of the establishment of 
 the college. The present refectory was the old state 
 reception hall, left unfinished through the death of the 
 builder of this splendid place, magnificent nevertheless in 
 its incompleteness, especially in regard to the ceiling and 
 the friezes. Of late years very considerable additions 
 have been made to the building, so as to adapt it more 
 thoroughly to educational use of the highest character, 
 and these, happily, are all consistent with the original 
 scheme of decoration as well of architectural plan. 
 Visitors are allowed to go through on making previous 
 and proper application. 
 
 A more delightful neighbourhood for a great residence 
 it would be difficult to find. Everywhere in the vicinity 
 alike of Stonyhurst and of the two Mittons, the country 
 constantly reminds one of the south. Upon foot it is 
 impossible to go astray, for if in rambling we do not 
 reach the particular point that was contemplated at the 
 outset, meadows, running water, woodlands, and the 
 sweet spectacle of hills, both near and distant, and of all 
 chaste hues, are everywhere our own, and the last hour 
 is no less animating than the first. A very lovely walk 
 in particular is that one from Mitton to Clitheroe, 
 keeping the Lancashire side of the stream. The babble 
 of the broad and shining water, the patient expectancy of 
 many anglers, majestic Pendle upon the right, a thousand 
 green trees, and by turning the head a little, after the 
 manner of 
 
 .... travellers oft, at evening's close, 
 When eastwards slowly moving, 
 
Clitheroe. 229 
 
 the glimpse still obtainable of lofty Stonyhurst, which 
 ever and anon recalls th^ inimitable ode, "Ye distant 
 spires, ye antique towers." Each and every element in 
 turn invites a pause, and linger as one may, Clitheroe is 
 still too near, and reached too soon. 
 
 Arrived, there is new pleasure in inspection of the 
 remains of the ancient castle, one of the most interest- 
 ing feudal relics in the county, built towards the close 
 of the twelfth century by one of the De Lacy family, 
 whose landed possessions extended from this neighbour- 
 hood uninterruptedly to Pontefract. It never was a 
 castle in the thorough sense of the word, merely a 
 stronghold to which the lords of the house came at 
 intervals, to receive tribute and to dispense justice. 
 There never was room for much more than a donjon, 
 the rock upon which the little fortalice was erected, 
 rising out of the flat like an islet, a sort of Beeston rock 
 in miniature. There were buildings no doubt upon the 
 slope, predecessors of the present, the former including a 
 chapel, but these were quite external to the castle 
 ipsissima. The view from the summit is delightfully 
 picturesque, and when this has been enjoyed, there is, as 
 at Smithills, that curious blending of past and present, 
 old and new, which always awakens gratitude to the 
 gardener, for here, in this ancient keep, leaning against 
 stones laid in their places nearly eight centuries ago, is 
 one of the glossy little cotoneasters of northern India, 
 unknown in England before 1825. 
 
 From Clitheroe we do well to proceed to Chatburn, 
 
230 Coimtry Rambles. 
 
 by rail, if preferred, but far preferably on foot. Going 
 about half-a-mile along the highway, presently, upon the 
 left, there is a gate into a downward-sloping field, the 
 path through which is continued under a flat railway 
 bridge, then past the first of the celebrated Chatburn 
 quarries, and into the fields again. Or we may go along 
 the foot of mighty Pendle itself, and along a series of 
 narrow and winding green lanes to Downham. The 
 Chatburn quarries are capital hunting-grounds for the 
 student of fossil shells, encrinites, and other remains 
 found in limestone. We are enjoined to "consider the 
 lilies of the field" not foreign to the Divine behest is it 
 to consider the Crinoidea, the wonderful stone-lilies of 
 the limestone rock, the petrified flower-like heads of 
 which here occur in inexpressible abundance. The great 
 stones set up edgeways in place of stiles between the 
 fields near the quarries, are crowded with fragments, 
 and show the rough condition of a favourite material for 
 chimneypieces. For the sake of ladies who may think 
 of going this way, it may be well to add that the vertical 
 stone barriers in question were plainly erected in defiance 
 of the art of dress. 
 
 Chatburn is the point to start from when the top of 
 Pendle is the object, a rather heavy climb of two miles 
 and a-half, but if the atmosphere be clear, well rewarded. 
 The view from Whalley Nab was magnificent. Pendle 
 is to the latter just what Cobden Edge is to Marple a 
 brow upon which the former grandeurs seem diminished 
 to a fifth. The glistening waters of the Irish Sea beyond 
 
Pendle. 231 
 
 the broad green plain in front ; in the north, dim vistas 
 and dark peaks, or mild blue masses, that declare the 
 mountains of the Lake District, old Coniston tossing the 
 clouds from his hoary brows; proximately the smiling 
 valley of the Kibble, the whole of the upper portion of 
 which is overlooked ; of the Hodder also, in temperament 
 so wild and dashing, and the wandering Calder; and, 
 turning to the east, the land towards the German Ocean 
 as far as the powers of the eye can reach. The highest 
 point of this huge mountain the most prominent feature 
 in the physical geography of mid-Lancashire is stated 
 by the Ordnance Survey to be one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty feet, thus falling very little short 
 of the loftiest part of Kinder Scout, which nowhere claims 
 a full two thousand. Keeping to the level, there is end- 
 less recreation, whether we penetrate Ribblesdale, or 
 cross the river at the ferry, a mile below, for the frag- 
 ments of Sawley, or content ourselves with the peaceful 
 borders. Not what the Kibble is at "proud Preston," 
 some seven leagues lower down, a broad and majestic 
 river, do we find it here, but rural, chaste, and tranquil, 
 the water shallow and clear, the beau-ideal of a Peneus, 
 the laurels only wanting. 
 

 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PRESTON AND SOUTHPORT WAY. 
 
 The Bridegroom Sea 
 
 Is toying with his wedded spouse, the shore. 
 He decorates her tawny brow with shells, 
 Retires a space, to see how fair she looks, 
 Then, proud, runs up to kiss her. 
 
 ALEXANDER SMITH. 
 
 AMDEN, in his famous seventeenth century 
 tour, says that he approached Lancashire 
 from Yorkshire, "that part of the country 
 lying beyond the mountains towards the 
 western ocean," with "a kind of dread," but 
 trusted to Divine Providence, which, he 
 said, "had gone with him hitherto," to help him in the 
 attempt. His apprehensions arose, no doubt, partly 
 upon the immense difficulties which in those days 
 attended travelling; but Lancashire west of the Riving- 
 ton range was, in its rural portions, at the same period 
 almost as rude and cheerless as Connemara. Towards 
 the sea there were vast expanses of moor and marsh, and 
 even the inland parts were cold and inhospitable. How 
 
Rivington Pike. 
 
 233 
 
 changed by the wand of that greatest of magicians, 
 Commerce ! Though there is still abundant need of 
 polish, Camden himself, could he come back, would 
 surrender his fears, let him only be one of a party up 
 to the Pike. Conspicuous from a hundred spots on 
 the western margin of our city, Rivington Pike is little 
 less worthy of a visit than Pendle, and has the advantage 
 over the latter in being comparatively near. Proceeding 
 first to Horwich, six miles beyond Bolton, on the main 
 northern line, the ascent is quite easy, and may be under- 
 taken by two or three different routes one by the side 
 of the little river Douglas; another by the quarry and 
 Tiger Wood, a deep ravine containing all the accustomed 
 pretty features of Lancashire mountain defiles, rushing 
 water, many cascades, and abundance of trees. Ferns, 
 mosses, and sylvan wild-flowers grow in plenty, and in one 
 part, where the water collects in a large natural pool, there 
 is quite a remarkable display of aquatic plants. The 
 summit gained, over fifteen hundred feet above the sea, 
 the prospect is magnificent, especially if we delay till the 
 green country glows with a summer evening's sunset. 
 The great plain that stretches to the Ribble, and renews 
 itself as the "Fylde," lies at our feet. Chorley and 
 Preston seem quite close; in the distance the church- 
 towers and other aspiring portions of Southport are 
 plainly visible, and beyond all there is a shining streak 
 that is unmistakably the play-ground of the sea-gulls. 
 North Cheshire, North Wales, and the nearer Derbyshire 
 hills, are also seen. A very particularly fine view is 
 
234 Country Rambles. 
 
 obtained from the Anglezark end of the hill, a rough 
 and broken eminence reached by a zigzag path from the 
 base, which leads eventually to a soft and turfy brow. 
 Upon the opposite side of the field, a trifle higher, there 
 is a wall with a narrow iron gate in it, and here we take 
 our stand. Now and then, on fine and perfectly tranquil 
 evenings towards sunset, Lancaster Castle may be distin- 
 guished; if the tide be in, Morecambe Bay, and even 
 Coniston. 
 
 Quite as interesting, every way, as the Pike, and more 
 so in some respects, are the great reservoirs belonging to 
 the Liverpool Waterworks, altogether out of sight from 
 the railway, but as a spectacle from the hill-side undeni- 
 ably one of the most charming in the county. The area 
 of the entire water-surface is five hundred acres ; the 
 supply comes from ten thousand acres of moorland 
 above, brought down chiefly by the little rivers called the 
 Douglas, the Yarrow, and the Roddlesworth. The Act 
 of Parliament authorising the construction of these great 
 reservoirs was obtained in 1847. Water was first 
 delivered from them in Liverpool January 2nd, 1857. 
 Rivington Pike, after all, is not the highest point of the 
 range. Winter Hill, well named, so wild and cold and 
 dreary is the complexion, and so often is it beaten by 
 storms, claims a considerably greater altitude. 
 
 By this same line we go also to Chorley for Whittle- 
 le-Woods, distant only four miles from Hoghton Tower, a 
 romantic and secluded spot, noted for its historical 
 associations, its " Springs," and, if we care to pursue a 
 
Whittle-le- Woods. 235 
 
 quiet and pretty walk by the edge of the canal, for wild- 
 flowers found nowhere else near Manchester. Excepting 
 in the canal at Disley, there is not another within the 
 distance where there are in particular so many pond- 
 weeds, that beautiful plant the lucens leading the way. 
 Of these submerged things the question has been asked 
 perhaps more frequently than of any others, What use 
 are they ? Rest upon them, then, for a moment. Use 
 is a triple idea. Taking the entire mass of the vegeta- 
 tion of our planet, first there is economic use, as for food, 
 which last being rendered to brute creatures as well as to 
 mankind, is at the best but at a low and menial one. 
 Secondly, comes the admirable use subserved by beauty, 
 which brutes are incapable of appreciating, and blind- 
 ness to which, like the use of foul and profane language, 
 may be taken perhaps as the infallible sign of an imbecile. 
 Plants can never be truly learned, nor is their highest use 
 realised so long as we rest in the contemplation, albeit 
 so salutary, even of their loveliness. Their last and crown- 
 ing use comes of their interpreting power. There is not 
 a species that does not cast some welcome side-light, that 
 does not open our understanding to something previously 
 unperceived. The pond-weeds do this, if nothing below, 
 so that meeting with them we may rejoice. 
 
 The fine old halls scattered so freely about Bolton 
 have counterparts in the neighbourhood of Wigan, all 
 this part of the county having been in the hands of 
 wealthy men during the time of the Stuarts and of the 
 Commonwealth. Ince Hall, black and white, with its 
 
236 Country Rambles. 
 
 five gables, though of late much disfigured; Lostock 
 Old Hall, Standish, Pemberton, Birchley, and Winstanley, 
 are all very interesting; and if Haigh Hall, the Lan- 
 cashire seat of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, be 
 less curious, archseologically, there is not one that will 
 compare with it in respect of gardens or romantic 
 approach. The walk through the wood, beginning at a 
 mile from the Wigan market-place, is in its way, for so 
 near a coal and factory centre, without a rival. 
 
 For a charming bit of wild nature thereabouts, com- 
 mend us, however, to Dean Wood. Nothing, as regards 
 landscape and prospects of sylvan solitude, can be more 
 unpromising than the approach thereto through Hindley 
 and 1 Wigan. Two or three miles beyond the latter, 
 where the ground begins to rise, and trees and streams 
 of water make their appearance, it seems possible, after 
 all, that something picturesque may lie concealed; and 
 leaving the line at Gathurst, sure enough, we are by no 
 means disappointed. Turning up on the left, after a 
 few minutes along field-paths, the way changes into a 
 beautiful clough, in many respects not unlike Bamford 
 Wood, and which goes on improving to the end. Of 
 course it is not to be confounded with the Dean Wood 
 upon the slopes of Rivington; nor is the river below to 
 be confounded with the Rivington "Douglas." This 
 one, in truth, is the Lancashire Douglas pre-eminently : 
 a stream of fifteen miles' flow before entering the Ribble, 
 and the same with which tradition connects bloody 
 conflicts in the time of the Danes. A tributary comes 
 
Ashurst. 237 
 
 down the wood, after rain often so much swollen as to 
 drown the path beside, when we may take an upper one, 
 every bit as enjoyable, especially in autumn, since it gives 
 a charming view of the trees below, among which there 
 is unusual plenty of the kinds that bear red berries. 
 Ferns and mosses grow in equal abundance; wild- 
 flowers also, and flowering shrubs. The Gueldres-rose is 
 especially abundant, and upon one occasion October 
 loth, 1868 the ground was strewed in certain spots with 
 the fallen fruit of the wild apple. In the upper part of 
 the wood there are some curious varieties of the common 
 oak, the leaves so small that they might be thought to 
 belong to a different species. Emerging near the green 
 lane, the homeward path lies first through Up-Holland, 
 then either by the lanes to Wigan four miles distant 
 or more speedily to Orrel station on the Bolton and 
 Liverpool line. 
 
 Appley Bridge, the station succeeding Gathurst, is the 
 nearest for that glorious eminence, Ashurst Hill, the 
 prospect from which is once again all that heart can 
 desire, let only the day be fair. Now, too, we have some- 
 thing quite different, the great flat, looking southwards, 
 being that which reaches to the estuary of the Mersey, 
 the eye resting upon the distant trees of Knowsley Park, 
 and detecting even Liverpool; while to the west, almost 
 underneath, is Lathom, Ormskirk beyond, and exquisitely 
 upon the horizon, the lucid sea, and the mountains that 
 talk quietly of the Vale of Llangollen. A similar view 
 is obtainable from the summit of Billinge, half-way 
 
238 Country Rambles. 
 
 between Wigan and St. Helens, but access thereto is not 
 so easy, nor is there the same sweet sense of remote and 
 airy solitude, green as the early spring, which, unless the 
 visit happens to be most unfortunately timed, always 
 awaits the pilgrim to Ashurst. The beacon upon the 
 summit, a stone tower with pyramidal spire, was erected 
 in the time of the French Revolutionary wars, taking 
 the place of one established on the identical spot in the 
 memorable August of 1588, the year, as Charles 
 Kingsley says, of Britain's Salamis. 
 
 From Appley Bridge there is also a grand walk to the 
 summits upon the right-hand side of the rails, the chief of 
 them, Horrocks Hill, lying about two miles away to the 
 north, and at a spot called Higher Barn, attaining an 
 elevation superior even to Ashurst. But it is not so well 
 adapted for a signalling station, and hence, instead of a 
 beacon, is marked only by a tree. The view from the 
 top is singularly fine, embracing the whole country up to 
 the Lune, with the towers of Lancaster city, Blackpool, 
 Rufford (where there is a very interesting old hall, black 
 and white), the Ribble, and the entire course of the 
 Douglas, embouchure included. For variety, the return 
 walk may be made via Standish. 
 
 Lathom Park implies, upon the Newborough side, a 
 delicious walk through the intricacies of what in this part 
 would be better called Lathom Wood. The trees are 
 lofty; the shade is dense; the path, gently undulated, 
 crosses about the middle a swiftly-running stream called 
 the Sawd. This ? like the water in Dean Wood, is a 
 
Lathom Hoiise. 239 
 
 tributary of the Douglas. Just outside the park there is 
 another, now called the Slate Brook, and of special 
 historical interest, being that one which in the records of 
 the memorable siege of Lathom House is called the 
 Golforden. 
 
 Shortly after emerging from the wood, and crossing 
 the smooth greensward of the park where open to the 
 sunshine, the house itself comes in view, a noble mansion, 
 worthy alike of the domain and of the owner. That it 
 is not the original Lathom House the Lathom which 
 belongs not more to the history of Lancashire than to the 
 annals of English courage and to the biography of great- 
 souled women, scarcely needs saying. The original, the 
 magnificent building honoured by the visit of Henry VII. 
 and his queen, when the "singing women" walked in 
 front, which had no fewer than eighteen towers, in 
 addition to the lofty "eagle," and a fosse of eight yards 
 in width, received so much injury at the time of the siege 
 that on the removal of the family, shortly afterwards, to 
 Knowsley, it soon fell into a state of utter dilapidation. 
 Passing into the hands of the Bootle family, restoration 
 was found impracticable, and during the ten years follow- 
 ing 1724 the present building superseded the historic one. 
 Nothing in its style can be finer than the north front, 
 one hundred and fifty-six feet long, rising from a massive 
 rustic basement, with double flight of steps to the first 
 story, the lateral portions supported by Ionic columns. 
 The interior corresponds; the great hall being forty feet 
 square, with a height of thirty feet; the saloon ? of 
 
240 Country Rambles. 
 
 almost similar dimensions, and the library fifty feet by 
 twenty. When given over to decay, the original hall was 
 literally carried off stone by stone, the country people in 
 the vicinity being permitted to take whatever they liked 
 for private use, so that now, as has happened with many 
 an ancient abbey and castle, the building may be said to 
 be diffused over the whole district. In farmyard and 
 cottage walls it is not difficult to identify now and then, 
 on a very fair basis of conjecture, a fragment or two of 
 the ancestral home of the Stanleys, every atom suggestive, 
 as we contemplate it, of ancient dignity and heroism 
 almost unique. 
 
 To recite, once again, the majestic old story of the 
 siege is not needful. Suffice it to say that in 1642, when 
 James, the seventh Earl of Derby, whose steadfast loyalty 
 so well fulfilled the family motto, Sans changer, was in the 
 Isle of Man, approach was made to Lathom House with 
 a view to capture by the Parliamentarians under Fairfax. 
 The countess, originally Charlotte de Tremouille, a high- 
 born lady whose kindred were connected with the blood- 
 royal of France, replied to the summons to surrender 
 that she had a double trust to sustain faith to her lord 
 the Earl, who had entrusted her with the safe keeping, 
 and allegiance to her king and that she was resolved 
 not to swerve from either honour or obedience. The 
 nature of the long defence, the discomfiture of the 
 assailants, and what happened subsequently, constitutes, 
 as well known, a chapter in the family history at once 
 consummately noble and profoundly sorrowful It reads 
 
La thorn Hall. 241 
 
 more touchingly than any romance or tale of fancy, and 
 would supply subjects for many a great picture. Plenty 
 of memorials of the siege have been preserved. A little 
 while ago, upon removal of a tree near the site of the 
 original hall, numbers of bullets were found in the earth 
 about the roots. Tradition also has plenty to say, and 
 apparently with more truth than is sometimes the case. 
 In the history of the siege, written shortly after its time, 
 seven of the defenders are said to have lost their lives, 
 and one of these, called on account of his great stature, 
 Long Jan, is said to have owed his death-wound to his 
 head rising above the wall or parapet. Very interesting 
 was it, therefore, a few years since, when during some alter- 
 ations in the level of the ground, there were discovered 
 seven skeletons, one of them indicating a frame little less 
 than gigantic. The bones, when uncovered, were seem- 
 ingly perfect, but all soon crumbled away, and not a trace 
 remained. Another circumstance mentioned in the old 
 history of the siege is that supplies of coal were obtained 
 by excavating in the courtyard. The Earl of Lathom 
 was so fortunate, a year or two ago, as to personally 
 prove the truthfulness of this statement by the discovery 
 of an outcrop below the turf, just in front of the drawing- 
 room windows of the modern mansion. 
 
 The Lathom pleasure-grounds and gardens are not less 
 beautiful than the wood. In the former, among many 
 other rare and admirable trees, there is a plane, in Lan- 
 cashire quite a stranger; this one the very emblem of 
 health and nobleness, a sight, as Dame Quickly says, 
 
242 Country Rambles. 
 
 "to thank God on:" the latter teem with interesting hardy 
 herbaceous plants, quite refreshing to behold after the 
 inlay of chromatic geometry which at the present day is 
 so often substituted for a garden. The flowers, in great 
 abundance and variety, are chiefly of the kinds that the 
 poets and artists always loved, those that have been sung 
 of in a thousand simple verses, which the poets still 
 love best of all, and which, when neatly and nicely 
 marshalled and tended, keep up an unrelaxing flow of 
 tinted loveliness from the time of Christmas-roses and 
 yellow aconites until that of the last lingering asters of 
 November. Access to this charming place is for the 
 favoured few not beyond the range of the possibilities. 
 Never yet, when properly asked, has the Earl of Lathom 
 refused to give proof of generous courtesy such as 
 distinguishes the Lancashire gentleman and the English 
 nobleman. 
 
 Not far from Lathom Park there is another very in- 
 teresting old family seat, Blythe Hall, the residence of 
 the Hon. Mrs. Bootle-Wilbraham. This is approached 
 most pleasantly from Burscough, through lanes, meadows, 
 and cornfields, and in its garden, like Lathom, and, we 
 may add, like Cheshire Tatton, gives delightful guarantee 
 that, despite the enmity of modern planters, genuine flori- 
 culture will, with the tasteful, outlive them all. There 
 are fit and proper places, no doubt, for every style and 
 system of flower - planting. Any mode that pleases a 
 considerable number of rational people is proved, by the 
 simple fact of its doing so, to be right under certain 
 
Burscough Priory. 243 
 
 conditions, local ones, and limited. The misfortune is 
 that " bedding-out" very generally implies, if it does not 
 necessitate, the abolition of a thousand things that are 
 individually and supremely meritorious, the piece of land 
 which it embosses becoming only by a euphemism, "a 
 garden," and this at infinitely greater pains than if 
 cultivated. 
 
 When at Blythe, it would be a pity to forget that at a 
 few fields' distance remains exist to this day of the once 
 celebrated and stately Burscough Priory. The fragments, 
 for they really are no more, consist of portions of one of 
 the principal interior arches, deeply sunk in the mass of 
 earth and rubbish accumulated after the overthrow of the 
 building, the arched head of a piscina alone declaring the 
 ancient level. The ruins seem to have stood untouched 
 and grey, as at this moment, for at least a couple of 
 centuries. The grass comes up to their feet, and looks 
 as if it had been there always. Very interesting, how- 
 ever, is it to note, close by, orchards comparatively 
 young, in their season full of honey-plums and damsons; 
 corn also, within a few yards, the fruit and the grain 
 renewing to-day what no doubt was the exact spectacle 
 five hundred years ago. The priory was founded by 
 Robert Fitz-Henry, lord of Lathom, temp. Richard I. 
 It was richly endowed, and at the time of the suppres- 
 sion required as many as forty servants. Some of the 
 Stanley monuments, and eight of the bells, were then 
 removed to Ormskirk church, where a new tower was 
 built for the reception of the latter, the remainder going 
 
244 
 
 Country Rambles. 
 
 to Croston. The mutilated alabaster effigies of knights 
 and ladies from the old Derby burial-place, form one of 
 the most interesting of the many attractions of remark- 
 able Ormskirk. Excepting a few portraits, these effigies, 
 strange to say, are the only extant art memorials of that 
 ancient line ! A tablet, an epitaph, even a gravestone in 
 honour of a Derby of the lang syne, is sought in vain. 
 Knowsley, the present seat of the family, seven miles 
 from Liverpool and two from Prescot, is celebrated for 
 the magnitude, rather than the symmetry, of its splendid 
 hall. Built at very various times, it presents as many 
 different styles. The park, nine or ten miles in circum- 
 ference, abounds with pretty bits of the picturesque given 
 by trees. Many of these, however, have the curious look 
 presented by such as growing near the shore, are 
 constantly wind-beaten. 
 
 From various points near Lathom and Ormskirk there 
 is seen, in the Southport direction, to all appearance a 
 village spire. This indicates, in reality, Scarisbrick Hall, 
 one of the most striking and successful efforts in archi- 
 tecture the county possesses. The ancestors of the 
 Scarisbrick family having owned the estates for at least 
 seven centuries, we learn without surprise that, as in 
 other cases, where the present building now stands there 
 was once a black and white; further, that the family 
 being Catholic, it was well provided with outer defences, 
 and had its "secret chamber" for refuge in times of 
 persecution. The original was in 1799 the residence of 
 the philanthropic Mr. Eccleston at whose cost and under 
 
Scarisbrick HalL 245 
 
 whose guidance Martin Mere was reclaimed. In 1814 
 all was changed. The old timbered building was cased 
 in stone so completely that now not a trace remains in 
 view; and the general form, a centre with projecting 
 wings, is all that exists in the shape of memorial. But 
 how magnificently effected ! The work was entrusted to 
 the elder Pugin, and continued by his son, without stint 
 as to cost, the result being an edifice in the Tudor style, 
 treated with power and opulence so astonishing that all 
 ordinary domestic buildings of similar character seem by 
 comparison insignificant. Sculptures and every kind of 
 decorative stonework contribute to the wonderful beauty 
 of the vast exterior. Along the base of the enriched 
 cornices or parapets scripture texts have been in- 
 troduced "I have raised up the ruins, and I have 
 builded it as in the days of old;" "Every house is builded 
 by some man, but He that buildeth all is God;" the 
 ample windows, in their turn, are freely traced with lines 
 and patterns of shining gold. The superb tower, which 
 in the distance seems a village spire, erected about a 
 dozen years ago, is over one hundred and sixty feet in 
 height, and is understood to be an exact copy of the 
 Victoria Tower of the Houses of Parliament. The cost 
 of this portion alone approached the sum of ^25.000. 
 Gardens and conservatories add to the interest of this 
 splendid place ; the former containing a holly, the stem 
 of which, at twenty inches above the ground, is six feet 
 in circumference; while the latter are renowned for their 
 tropical ferns. The very low situation, and the flatness 
 
246 Country Rambles. 
 
 of all the surrounding country, unfortunately prevent this 
 noble building being seen to advantage. It is a 
 marvel, nevertheless, to all who approach. The Scaris- 
 brick family has of late years experienced changes. The 
 present owner of the hall, by marriage to the daughter 
 of the Lady Scarisbrick who died in 1872, is the Marquis 
 de Blandos de Casteja. 
 
 Southport should be visited for the sake of its un- 
 usually good Aquarium, with Winter Gardens above, a 
 flower-show all the year round ; for the beautiful Church- 
 town Botanical Gardens, the fernery belonging to which 
 has no rival, as regards our own neighbourhood, except 
 at Tatton; and for the Birkdale sandhills, no dreary place 
 except to the dreary-hearted, but in their way so remark- 
 able and picturesque, so richly stored with curious plants, 
 and breathing an air so soft and salubrious that in the 
 north of England they stand alone. In their wild 
 and ever-changing complexion they supply enjoyments 
 quite distinct from the uniformity of a corn and 
 pastoral country. Standing upon their spear - clad 
 ridges, we seem to be surveying a miniature Cordillera. 
 In winter the northward and eastward slopes are flecked 
 with snow, while the southern and western ones bask in 
 the sunshine; mosses of all shades of green and coppery- 
 gold strew the former parts with little islands of sweet 
 brightness; and in July the open plateaux are crowded 
 with the white cups of the parnassia. Up to about twenty 
 years ago, no place in the entire county, excepting 
 Grange, was so rich for the botanist as Southport in 
 
Worsley Hall. 247 
 
 general. Building, drainage, and the changes incident 
 to town-extension, have obliterated many of the best 
 localities; still, so long as the Birkdale sandhills remain 
 intact, it will preserve no trifling part of the reputation. 
 The want at Southport is more sea. The tide not only 
 goes out to an incredible distance, but always seems 
 reluctant to return. It is in respect of this that 
 superiority is so justly claimed by Blackpool, the sea at 
 the latter place, save on exceptional days, being always 
 within view, always grand and inspiring. 
 
 South Lancashire, via the original Liverpool and Man- 
 chester line, or that which runs through Barton, offers 
 few attractions to the excursionist, being flat and very 
 seldom relieved by wood and water. The best part of 
 the country traversed by the line in question is that which 
 holds Worsley Hall, the seat of the Earl of Ellesmere, 
 the ground here rising into a terrace which commands 
 a view over the whole of the great plain bounded upon 
 the opposite side by Dunham Park. The summit of the 
 lofty tower at Wren's Wood, a little to the west of the 
 hall, overlooks or allows of glimpses of no fewer than 
 six counties. Hence it is itself seen from great distances. 
 The grounds pertaining to the hall, access to which 
 is granted at certain times, supply an excellent example 
 of high-class professional laying-out, without exciting the 
 sense of surfeit such as at Alton is scarcely avoidable. 
 The woodland paths are pretty, and in autumn the flori- 
 cultural part emulates even Vale Royal. The hall, just 
 beyond the village, upon the left hand, is the third of the 
 
248 Country Rambles. 
 
 name. The original, or "Old" hall, a most interesting, 
 quaintly-timbered structure, still exists, and is at present 
 occupied by the Hon. Algernon Egerton. The second 
 was pulled down about twenty years ago. The present 
 magnificent structure, so conspicuous from the railway, 
 was commenced in or about 1839 by the first Earl 
 of Ellesmere, then Lord Francis Egerton, under the 
 superintendence of Mr. Blore, the architect of the new 
 facade of Buckingham Palace. Upon the right-hand 
 side of the road, after emerging from the village, there is 
 a very pretty sylvan adjunct to the park called the Hen 
 Pen, the paths meandering through which often recall 
 the scenery of Mere Clough. The village itself is excep- 
 tionally picturesque, the late Earl having encouraged the 
 erection of private houses and other buildings in the 
 style of the old hall, the ancient black and white or 
 " magpie" fashion, these gaining in turn from the 
 happily chosen position of the church, which last is 
 considered to be one of the most successful productions 
 of Mr. Gilbert Scott, and is in any case a most beautiful 
 example of Geometrical Decorated. Worsley may be 
 reached by three different routes. First, there is the 
 station of its own name, upon the Tyldesley line, going 
 thence across the fields. Secondly, there is the old way 
 vid Patricroft, proceeding thence on foot by the side of 
 the canal, a walk of about two miles. Thirdly, when 
 permission can be obtained, there is the delightful path 
 through Botany Bay Wood, one of the most sequestered 
 to be found anywhere near Manchester. Being strictly 
 
Botany Bay Wood. 249 
 
 preserved, it is of course only at certain seasons, and 
 then only by special favour, that people are allowed to 
 pass through, or can reasonably ask for leave. The 
 entrance to it is from Barton Moss, beginning with the 
 station, then crossing the waste at right angles, so as to 
 step on to a broad causeway which borders the moss 
 in a line parallel with the rails, and after becoming 
 greener and softer, at last enters the wood. Filling the 
 whole of the space between the grounds of Worsley Hall 
 and the edge of the moss, and of purely artificial origin, 
 this charming leafy covert received its somewhat singular 
 name from the workmen by whose labour it was formed. 
 So arduous was the toil demanded by the draining and 
 subsequent planting, that they compared it to the penalty 
 of transportation to the eighty years ago famous " Botany 
 Bay" of the antipodes, the terror of evil doers, and 
 precursor of the Dartmoor of to-day. Barton Moss is 
 essentially a portion or adjunct of Chat Moss, an element 
 of the landscape as surveyed from the higher parts of 
 Worsley, which can hardly be considered cheerful, though 
 rich in interesting associations, foremost among which is 
 the history of the means adopted to overcome the diffi- 
 culties it presented to the constructors of the original 
 Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The naturalist still 
 finds upon it abundance of welcome objects, including 
 the bog-myrtle, Myrica Gale, one of the very few really 
 indigenous British plants which can be rightfully called 
 aromatic. A surface like Chat Moss, saturated with wet, 
 seems in little danger of ignition, yet no further back 
 
250 Country Rambles. 
 
 than in June, 1868, a very considerable portion was on 
 fire. The conflagration commenced in a plantation near 
 Astley. Within an hour most of the trees were levelled 
 with the ground. A strong wind was blowing at the time, 
 the fire spread rapidly, and the flames and clouds of 
 smoke were seen for miles. Continuing for between four 
 and five days, at last it approached Barton, and only then 
 did it die away. The moss is traversed hereabouts by 
 many ditches cut for draining purposes. They are from 
 five to eight feet wide, and twelve to fifteen feet in depth, 
 and are generally full of water. So powerful, however, 
 was the action of the fire, that when it expired in many 
 of them there was scarcely an inch, and others were 
 entirely dry. A conflagration of similar character 
 occurred in 1790 upon Lindow Common, resulting in 
 the destruction of an enormous quantity of the game 
 then so plentiful there. 
 
 Newton-le-Willows, a place of more names than any 
 other in the county, being also called Newton Bridge, 
 and Newton-in-Makerfield, and by sporting men simply 
 Newton, all these superseding the ancient "Rokeden," 
 gives access to interesting places both right and left. 
 The town itself has its attractions, consisting of little 
 more than the one old original broad street, with plenty 
 of archseological curiosities, which preserves the primitive 
 idea of a rural English village. Some very pleasant 
 walks, partly sylvan, invite us to the northern side, where 
 also will be found a large and picturesque sheet of water. 
 Like Taxal and Rudyard it is artificial, having been 
 
 
Winwick. 251 
 
 formed by barricading the outlets of two small streams 
 the Dene and the Sankey which previously occupied 
 little independent valleys of their own, so that the out- 
 line of the "lake" so called, is most agreeably irregular. 
 In parts it is abundantly flowered with water-lilies, 
 so easy is it for good taste to confer a pure and lasting 
 ornament. On the southern side of the line the 
 specialty consists in the very ancient and interesting 
 village of Winwick, with its celebrated church and in- 
 numerable antiquities, including a runic cross in the 
 graveyard. Thence, by permission, there is a charming 
 walk towards Warrington, first along the old lane in front 
 of the church, then through the grounds and shrubberies 
 attached to Winwick Hall, after leaving which the path 
 becomes public. The rhododendrons at Winwick Hall 
 are probably the oldest, as they are certainly the largest 
 and finest in the district. They give one a perfect idea of 
 the stalwart vitality of this inestimable flowering shrub, 
 and place it before us, in all likelihood, just as developed 
 in its native valleys upon the borders of the Euxine, all 
 these very large and venerable rhododendrons, wherever 
 seen, being the original Ponticum. While the original 
 "anemone" was the flower we now call the cistus, the 
 original "rhododendron" was after all, not our universal 
 garden favourite so named, but a totally different thing 
 the shrub, originally from Palestine, cherished in green- 
 houses as the "oleander." Such, at least, was the 
 application of the name in the times immediately pre- 
 ceding those when Pliny wrote. 
 
252 Country Rambles. 
 
 On the extreme south-western margin of the county, 
 where the simple rustic streams we found near Marple, 
 the Goyt and the Etherowe, after uniting their strength, 
 and receiving the waters of the Tame, the Irwell, and the 
 Bollin, at length become glorious as the estuary of the 
 Mersey, there remain for us, in conclusion, two of the 
 most interesting places in Lancashire. These are Speke 
 Hall, near Garston, and the village of Hale; the latter 
 possessed of some fine archaeological fragments, with, 
 close by, the park and gardens appertaining to the 
 residence of Colonel Blackburne. 
 
 Speke Hall is a most charming example of genuine 
 Elizabethan work, affording, both inside and out, some 
 of the best and most characteristic features of the better 
 kind of domestic architecture which came into general 
 use soon after the middle of the sixteenth century. To 
 compare small things with great, it may be described as 
 a miniature Bramhall. It stands only a few minutes' 
 walk from the edge of the estuary, and in the olden time 
 would often, no doubt, be approached from the water, to 
 which an avenue or arcade of lofty trees at present 
 shows the way. In front the ground is level, consisting 
 of green fields which reach to the garden fence. The 
 want of elevation, as at Scarisbrick, rather hinders full 
 appreciation of the singular beauty of the building, at all 
 events until we draw near enough to perceive that, like 
 nearly all other mansions of the kind, it was originally 
 protected by a moat. This has long since been 
 superseded by turf, the bridge alone remaining to show 
 
Speke Hall. 253 
 
 the depth and width, and the grand old structure now 
 rising up in all its nobleness of design. It is not the 
 original Speke Hall. At the period of the Domesday 
 survey the estate was held by a Saxon thane. After the 
 Conquest, it fell to the share of that famous Norman, 
 Roger de Poictou, who as a reward for his conduct at 
 the battle of Hastings, received so large a portion of 
 Lancashire. Roger, as we all remember, took part in 
 sundry small acts of disloyalty, for which, in turn, he was 
 punished by forfeiture. Subsequently changing hands 
 yet again, at last perhaps about 1350 the property 
 came to be owned by a branch of the celebrated old 
 family of Norreys (one of the descendants of which 
 fought under Lord Stanley at Flodden, A.D. 1513), and 
 by these the first hall of the name was erected, in what 
 style is not known. Remaining in their possession, 
 Speke, as we see it to-day, was the work of one Edward 
 Norreys, who commemorates himself in an inscription in 
 antique letters over the principal entrance: "This worke 
 25 yards long was wolly built by Edw. N., Esq. Anno 
 1598." The ground-plan, as in similar halls, consisted 
 of a spacious quadrangular courtyard, buildings occupy- 
 ing all four of the sides, so that by means of the corridors 
 and galleries, any portion can be reached by an inmate 
 without stepping into the open air. The richness of 
 these corridors, the beauty of the wood-carving, and the 
 general ornamentation, it is impossible to describe briefly; 
 some of the carved oak was brought from Holyrood by 
 the Sir Wm. Norreys of Flodden fame, There is a fine 
 
254 Country Rambles. 
 
 collection also of ancient weapons, miscellaneous curio- 
 sities, and paintings. A wonderful and probably unique 
 spectacle, as regards our own country, is presented upon 
 entering the quadrangle. A very considerable portion 
 of its large area is occupied by a pair of yew trees, much 
 older than the building itself, and to accommodate 
 which the builder seems to have given his first thought 
 while measuring, not forgetting that while his walls 
 would remain unchanged, the trees would grow. They 
 are not of the same age. The yew being one of the 
 trees which are distinctly unisexual, it is plain that the 
 object in introducing the second individual was to 
 secure red berries, such as are still produced abundantly 
 every year. In 1736 the Speke estate passed, through a 
 marriage, into the hands of one of the Beauclerk family, 
 concerning whom the historians seem to care to say no 
 more than is needful; and in 1780 it was purchased by 
 Mr. Richard Watt, an opulent Liverpool merchant. 
 Continuing in his family, it is now held by the lady 
 Miss Ada Watt whose kindly permission to enter the 
 gates is indispensable. 
 
 Hale, renowned for its cottage-gardens, with lilies and 
 roses beyond the counting, is a quiet, peaceful, salubrious 
 little place, claiming celebrity as regards historical men- 
 tion long anterior to that of Liverpool. When the site 
 of that wealthy city was known to few but fishermen, 
 Hale, so its people assert, already possessed a royal 
 charter. To-day the archaeologist turns with interest to 
 the remains of a mansion which in its way must have 
 
Hale. 
 
 255 
 
 been a fitting companion even for Speke the ancient 
 baronial residence called the Hutte, about two miles 
 upon the Liverpool side of the village, and lying back a 
 little distance from the turnpike road. The great hall 
 was a hundred feet long by thirty feet wide; scarcely 
 anything is to be seen now beyond some of the grand 
 old windows, an ancient chimneypiece, and the moat, 
 with its drawbridge. Hale Church, like the Hutte, tells 
 of a time when the maps did not insert Liverpool.* The 
 body dates from about the middle of the last century, 
 but the tower is of immemorial age, contemporaneous 
 perhaps with the vast pile at the western extremity of 
 Ormskirk old church, thus with the very earliest ecclesi- 
 astical remains extant in Lancashire. Here, too, we 
 have a beautiful example of the ancient lych-gate. 
 
 Soon after the Restoration the Hutte would seem to 
 have been relinquished as a place of residence by the 
 local family. A new one at all events was built in 
 1674 the Hale Hall of the present day mentioned 
 above as the seat of Colonel Blackburne. Like many 
 another first-class country-house, in style it is substan- 
 tially domestic, extremely comfortable to look at, and no 
 doubt well appointed within; but still neither in outline 
 or physiognomy can it be said to preserve the traditions 
 of any particular school of art. The park is spacious, 
 full of fine trees, including many lindens, so valuable 
 
 * Liverpool was omitted even so late as 1635. Vide Selden's 
 "Mare Clausum, seu de Dominio Maris," p. 239, Chetham Library, 
 Manchester, 
 
256 Country Rambles. 
 
 wherever men are sagacious enough to set up beehives. 
 It supplies, also, many a delightful prospect, especially 
 when the eye crosses the water and rests upon the 
 opposite distant hills of North-West Cheshire, which are 
 said to resemble very strikingly the rising grounds about 
 Bethany and Bethphage. The gardens have great historic 
 interest, since it was to Hale that the famous collection 
 of plants once existing at Orford Mount was transferred, 
 these including vines now two or three centuries old, but 
 still prolific of grapes. Vines in this healthful village 
 seem comfortable anywhere, mounting, as in the south, 
 to the cottage eaves, and outstripping in their beautiful 
 green ambition even the honeysuckles. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE LOCAL ORNITHOLOGY. 
 
 'Twas then we heard the cuckoo's note 
 Sound sweetly through the air, 
 
 And everything around us looked 
 Most beautiful and fair. 
 
 OLD SONG. 
 
 LL lovers of the woods and fields are in- 
 , terested in our native birds. Many of their 
 sincerest pleasures are associated with birds; 
 they listen for the song of the thrush in 
 early spring; for the note of the cuckoo, 
 inestimable herald of the summer, voiceful 
 when all else is voiceless, magnet of the heart in quiet 
 evenings as we tread the rising grass or scent the new-cut 
 hay; and when the corn is awaiting the sickle, for the 
 crec crec of the land-rail. So with the sweet spectacle of 
 the little nests, hidden away in the hawthorn or ancient 
 ivy-bush. So again with the graceful movements of very 
 many, 
 
 The thin-winged swallow skating on the air; 
 
 the lengthened undulations of the yellow wagtail; the 
 
258 Country Rambles. 
 
 flutter of the goldfinch about the thistle-stems; the rich 
 and massive sailing of the rooks when homeward bound, 
 so grand, in particular, as they descend to their night 
 covert in the trees. "Who was it," asks Mr. Bright, who 
 so happily applied to rooks the lines in the sixth ^Eneid, 
 where Virgil, speaking of the descent of y^neas and his 
 guide upon the Elysian plains, says, 
 
 Devenere locos Isetos, et amoena vireta 
 Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas ? 
 
 And down they came upon the happy haunts, 
 The pleasant greenery of the favoured groves, 
 Their blissful resting-place. * 
 
 We propose, accordingly, now to add a brief account 
 of the ornithology of the district these Rambles cover, 
 so far, at all events, as regards the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of Manchester. The detailed observations upon 
 the habits of the various species as originally given in 
 the " Walks and Wild-flowers " were, as stated in that 
 work, supplied to a considerable extent by two old 
 friends, both long since deceased, Samuel Carter and 
 Edward Jacques. Many others will now be found, and 
 for these we have chiefly to thank Mr. Charles E. Reade. 
 
 When Dr. Latham published his famous history of 
 birds, exactly a hundred years ago, the number of ascer- 
 tained species, in all countries, was about four thousand. 
 It is now beyond question that the number is not less than 
 eleven thousand, and many others no doubt exist in 
 remote corners of which little or nothing has yet been 
 
 * "A Year in a Lancashire Garden," p. 27. 
 
British Birds. 259 
 
 learned. Europe contains a fair proportion of the great 
 total. So does old England individually. The Rev. F. 
 O. Morris, in his six well-known volumes, the first of 
 which is dated 1863, describes and figures no fewer than 
 three hundred and fifty-eight, or about a thirtieth of the 
 whole number, which, very curiously, is just about the 
 same proportion as that of the inhabitants of the British 
 Islands to the aggregate of the world in general. In 
 this list are included the genuine Ancient Britons, the 
 aborigines, the birds that never go away, hence called 
 "Permanent Residents;" the migratory birds, or such as 
 come for awhile in summer or winter, hence called 
 "Periodical Visitors;" and, thirdly, the vagrants, the 
 lost, and the adventurous, collectively called "Casuals." 
 The introduction of the last-named, though legitimate, 
 gives, it must be confessed, a certain deceptiveness to 
 the figures. In the whole range of natural history there 
 is no fact more interesting than that birds, in their airy 
 voyages, often wander inconceivably far from home, so 
 that in all countries solitary examples of different kinds 
 are met with in turn, not one of them perhaps ever revisit- 
 ing that particular spot. Well may the poets, that is to 
 say, the philosophers, find in birds the representatives 
 and emblems of human thought, which, as we all know, 
 travels inimitably. To give these casuals, however, a 
 place in the catalogue commensurate with that of the 
 aborigines, the birds residing in the country all the year 
 round, or even with that of the established visitors, 
 which, like the cuckoo, never forget their appointed 
 
260 Country Rambles. 
 
 season, is manifestly to introduce confusion. At least 
 fifty out of Mr. Morris's three hundred and fifty-eight 
 have not occurred more than once or twice in any part of 
 Great Britain; and another hundred are particularised as 
 " extremely rare." To say that there are about two hundred 
 British species is thus nearer the truth as regards the 
 established denizens of our island the birds we are 
 familiar with, or with which we may become so by steady 
 watching; and of these, proper to our own neighbour- 
 hood, there would seem to occur within a few miles of 
 Manchester about ninety. The number of permanent 
 residents mentioned in the " Walks " is fifty-nine, and of 
 regular summer and winter visitors between twenty-five 
 and thirty ; if there is any difference at the present 
 moment, the changes of twenty-four years will certainly 
 not indicate increase. Why we have no more than about 
 one-half of the proper ornithology of the country is that 
 Lancashire is too far to the north, and its climate too 
 damp and chilly, for many of the summer immigrants 
 from beyond the channel, though some of these have 
 no objection to visit the adjacent county of York; while 
 in respect of the winter visitors from the colder parts 
 of the Continent and the Baltic regions, we are rather too 
 far to the west. If few in comparison with the possessions 
 of more favoured districts, the ninety or a hundred are 
 still enough to be proud of and to rejoice in. It is with 
 birds as with wild-flowers : we do not want lengthy cata- 
 logues, but that which shall gladden the heart. A single 
 life-history, followed up in every little particular, supplies, 
 
Pleasures of Ornithology. 261 
 
 exactly as in botany, more real and lasting enjoyment 
 than acquaintance, however sounding, with a score of 
 mere shapes and measurements, and resting therein. 
 
 The parts most abounding in birds are naturally those 
 which supply food in the greatest abundance. The peat- 
 mosses, the cold and treeless hills have their inhabitants. 
 Still, it is where fruit abounds, and where the insects 
 depending on vegetation are most numerous, that birds 
 must always be expected to gather in largest numbers. 
 Trees and substantial hedgerows are also inviting, so 
 that, all things considered, the southern and south- 
 western parts of the neighbourhood are probably the 
 richest both in number of species and of individuals. 
 
 The simple fact of so many as ninety of the prettiest 
 and most interesting of the birds accounted British being 
 denizens of our own district should operate as a strong 
 inducement, especially with young people, to commence 
 earnest study of ornithology. If the gathering and 
 examination of ferns and wild-flowers be a perennial 
 pastime, quite as hearty is the enjoyment that comes 
 of observing the forms of birds, always so elegant, the 
 diversities of their vestures, their odd and entertaining 
 manners and customs, their ingenuity, characters, and 
 tempers, their almost human instincts, and their incessant 
 prefiguration of human character. This last is, in truth, 
 not simply one of the most curious and amusing parts of 
 ornithology, but literally the inexhaustible part. The 
 best and most precious lessons in natural history, what- 
 ever may be the department, are those which enable us 
 
262 Coimtry Rambles. 
 
 to trace the harmonies between the lower forms of life 
 and our own, seeing that man is not so much contained 
 in nature, as the continent of it, the summary, compend, 
 and epitome of all that is outside of him, and of all that 
 has gone before. It is not necessary, as some seem to 
 suppose, that we should shoot every unlucky bird we may 
 desire to be acquainted with. The museums are now so 
 amply stocked with good stuffed specimens, that there is 
 no need for further slaughter, unless under peculiar cir- 
 cumstances; all that we may want to know about form 
 and colour is procurable in-doors, and the best part of 
 the subject is always that which is followed up with our 
 eyes and ears in the fields. There is no harm in killing 
 birds, any more than in the insecticide of the entomolo- 
 gist, so long as necessary for the genuine purposes of 
 science; but to make a point of bringing down every 
 poor wayfarer that may come within range is wanton 
 cruelty. Instead of glorying in the destruction of a rare 
 bird, or of a brilliant butterfly that an instant before had 
 been waving its painted fans like an animated flower, it 
 should rather be matter of regret that it has now been 
 prevented from any longer brightening the earth and air, 
 and that the beauty of the world has been thus much 
 defaced. If a bird in the hand be worth two in the 
 bush, a bird in the woods, rejoicing in the freedom of 
 nature, is worth twenty in a museum or a glass case. 
 
 Assuredly, too, it is a great mistake to shoot down 
 birds because of the damage they do in orchards and 
 corn-fields. Caterpillars, grubs, and flies of various kinds 
 
Preserve the Birds. 263 
 
 multiply in precisely the degree that pains are taken to 
 protect the fruit by destroying the birds disposed to 
 attack it. The prudent man, instead of killing all he 
 can, knows that his best policy is so to alarm the invaders 
 that they shall go away of their own accord. Birds of a 
 feather not only flock together, but, as every ornithologist 
 knows full well, can confabulate. Warned by the dis- 
 charge of small shot such as will do them no harm, they 
 soon discern that mischief is brewing, and though, like 
 boys, they will "try it on" again, by and by they take 
 their departure, and conscience is not smitten with the 
 reflection that, after all, the poor creature was more of a 
 friend than an adversary. By killing off birds system- 
 atically, not to say malevolently and vindictively, those 
 who do so strive their best to exterminate a leading 
 section of the sanitary police of nature. No policy is 
 more short-sighted; it is the opprobrium of the present 
 day, and if persisted in will induce results that, when too 
 late, will be deplored. 
 
 While speaking thus of the wanton destruction of birds, 
 let it be added that the words apply with equal force to 
 the wanton destruction of flowers and ferns. Gather 
 what can be applied to good and useful purposes, but no 
 more; and as regards roots, never dig up anything that 
 cannot be relied upon as quite sure to take kindly to the 
 garden or the rockery it is destined for. All true 
 naturalists love to contemplate Life, and living things, 
 and no one deserves the name who wilfully and wantonly 
 or even heedlessly puts things to death, or who treats 
 
264 Country Rambles. 
 
 them in such a way that they will presently be sure to 
 die. 
 
 Let us proceed, however, with our list, adding only 
 that the original localities of 1858 have all been allowed 
 to stand, so that it may be seen what Manchester 
 possessed then, if not to-day. The scientific appellations 
 are those which lead off the lists of synonyms given by 
 Morris. To facilitate reference to his useful work, the 
 volume and the number of the plate are cited after 
 every name, the plates being counted as No. i and 
 thence onwards up to 358. 
 
 I. PERMANENT RESIDENTS. 
 
 THE KESTREL, OR WINDHOVER (Falco Tinnunculus), 
 
 Morris, vol. i., pi. 17. 
 
 Common, building in woods, especially where little 
 disturbed by visitors. One of the most beautiful 
 and harmless of its race, and remarkable for hover- 
 ing over its prey, which is often a field-mouse. It 
 may be seen suspended in the air by quick, short 
 flapping of the wings, sometimes for five minutes, 
 then dropping down upon its victim with wonderful 
 speed and force. 
 
 THE SPARROW-HAWK (Accipiter Fringillarius), i., 19. 
 Common, a bird of great daring, and a very general 
 and successful destroyer of smaller ones, pouncing 
 at once upon its prey. Usually builds in a tree 
 which commands a good view in every direction. 
 
Resident Birds. 265 
 
 THE SHORT-EARED OWL (Strix brachyotus), i., 23. 
 Frequently found on the mosses. Two upon Trafford 
 Moss in the winter of 1858-9. 
 
 THE WHITE OR BARN OWL (Strix flammea), L, 29. 
 Common. The most frequent, familiar, and useful of 
 the British owls, being a great destroyer of mice and 
 young rats, therefore especially valuable to farmers 
 who have granaries. Often laughed at because of 
 its "stupid" look, the owl is a bird of consummate 
 interest. The great size of the eyes is adapted 
 to the small amount of light in which they are 
 usually to be employed. In the broad light of 
 day the poor creature is dazzled, and may well look 
 irrational. Mark also the beautiful fringe around 
 the eyes. This prevents the interference of lateral 
 light, and the bird can concentrate the whole of its 
 power upon what lies immediately before it, just as 
 we ourselves shade the eye with the hand, and curve 
 the fingers, when we want to examine some distant 
 object more particularly. 
 
 THE SONG THRUSH (Turdus musicus), iii., 127. 
 
 Everywhere in the district, and its sweet voice known 
 to every one. In congenial seasons it begins to sing 
 in February. The nests, with the eggs, are brought 
 every year to the market for sale. In the work of 
 no creatures more than of birds, as in higher circles 
 of life, is there more of " love's labour lost." But 
 to balance extreme lack of wisdom, so great in the 
 
266 Country Rambles, 
 
 present instance is the perseverance, that if in 
 endeavouring to raise a brood it is foiled by one 
 of its many enemies, the thrush almost invariably 
 follows that good old rule, "try again." 
 
 THE MISSEL THRUSH (Turdus visrivorus), iii., 124. 
 Common, breeding freely and very early, and building 
 a nest similar to that of the song-thrush, but in 
 rather slovenly fashion, and usually very conspicu- 
 ous, being placed in the forks of the branches of 
 trees. Any odd stuff is used for it, as pieces of 
 torn-up newspaper, bits of old flannel, stray cotton- 
 wool, old ribbon, &c. 
 
 THE BLACKBIRD (Turdus merula), iii., 131. 
 
 Common everywhere, restless and vigilant, breeding 
 freely, known to every one, and a great plague to 
 gardeners. Blackbirds, however, consume so many 
 snails, that in the matter of spoiled fruit we can 
 quite afford to be lenient. 
 
 THE HEDGE SPARROW, OR DUNNOCK (Accentor modularis), 
 
 iii-, 135- 
 
 Common, and especially attached to gardens. Begins 
 to sing towards dusk, never any sooner; then mounts 
 to the highest twig it can find near its nest, and is 
 tuneful to the highest degree, saying, as well as a 
 bird can, "Home, home, sweet, sweet home, my 
 day's work is done, like yours; good night, all's 
 well." A more exquisitely beautiful and immaculate 
 

 Resident Birds. 267 
 
 shade of blue than that of the eggs it is scarcely 
 possible to discover. 
 
 THE ROBIN, OR REDBREAST (Sylvia rubecula), in., 136. 
 Universally known and beloved; very fond of visiting 
 timber-yards in the town during the winter, where it 
 sings freely; and in the country an excellent prophet 
 of the weather, for if the next day is to be fine, 
 the robin mounts to the top of the tallest tree; if the 
 contrary, it warbles softly underneath. The young 
 birds are nearly the colour of throstles, the distinctive 
 hue not appearing till after the first moult. At this 
 period the bird seems patched with red, presenting a 
 most comical appearance. 
 
 THE STONECHAT (Sylvia rubicola), iii., 140. 
 
 Seen every winter in the neighbourhood of Withington, 
 haunting the Swedish turnip fields. In the summer 
 it lodges elsewhere. 
 
 THE GOLDEN - CRESTED WREN (Regulus cristatus), 
 
 iii., 162. 
 
 This bird builds annually in the yews in the grounds at 
 Dunham Hall, and is common on the outskirts of 
 the town generally. The note resembles that of a 
 weak cricket, and is often repeated, as if the little 
 creatures, like children, were afraid of losing one 
 another. The male and female are never seen 
 apart, and usually there are three or four couples 
 together. 
 
268 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE GREAT TITMOUSE (Parus major), i., 36. 
 
 Common, haunting woods and gardens, and busy 
 most of its time in looking for insects and spiders. 
 Imitating other birds, and making all sorts of queer 
 noises, the reward it often gets is to be shot for its 
 pains, the wonder being what droll creature can it 
 be. 
 
 THE BLUE TITMOUSE (Parus cosruleus), i., 39. 
 
 Very beautiful in plumage, usually a sweet light blue 
 or dark blue and yellow, common in woods and 
 gardens, and building its nest in holes of trees, in 
 letter-boxes, old pumps, and anything else that has a 
 cavity in it and it takes a fancy to. In late autumn 
 and winter there is no prettier sight than to watch 
 one of these elegant little creatures pecking away at 
 one of the two or three apples that a kind-hearted 
 man always leaves for it. 
 
 THE COLE TITMOUSE (Parus ater), i., 37. 
 
 Common, but chiefly found in winter, usually going 
 
 northwards to breed. 
 
 THE MARSH TITMOUSE. (Parus palustr is) > i., 40. 
 Similar to the last both in habits and note, but building 
 
 more frequently. 
 
 THE LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE (Parus caudatus), i., 41. 
 The nest, which is usually suspended from the ends of 
 branches in the thick of the hedge, is most beauti- 
 fully formed, and resembles a little bee-hive. It is 
 constructed of moss, lichens, and spiders' webs, 
 
Resident Birds. 269 
 
 and lined with feathers, as many, when pulled out 
 and scattered abroad, as would fill a couple of hats. 
 In autumn, parties of about half-a-dozen usually go 
 about together, scampering through the orchards, 
 generally from east to west, examining every tree with 
 remarkable rapidity, always moving, never resting; 
 after which they are not seen again perhaps for months. 
 
 THE PIED WAG-TAIL, OR DISH-WASHER (Motacilla 
 
 Yarrellu), ii., 8 ex 
 
 A common and very elegant bird, building under 
 bridges, and near the water, but always in some 
 rough or stony place, such as a hole where a brick 
 has fallen out. Haunting stream and pond-sides in 
 quest of food, it is quite as particular as a lady is 
 over her dress, flirting its little tail so as to preserve 
 it from getting soiled. 
 
 THE GRAY WAG-TAIL (Motacilla sulphurea), ii., 82. 
 Similar to the last in habits, and very beautiful in its 
 breeding plumage, showing yellow, blue, black, 
 white, green, and many other tints. Near Man- 
 chester rather rare. 
 
 THE MEADOW PIPIT, OR TITLING (Anthus pratensis), 
 
 ii., 86. 
 
 Common in meadows and upon the mosses, as Chat 
 Moss and White Moss, on which it breeds abun- 
 dantly. This bird has most young cuckoos to rear 
 of any of the feathered tribe that build on the 
 ground, and a good deal of work to do, for the 
 
270 Country Rambles. 
 
 young cuckoos are both big and hungry. It is one 
 also of many which, if they think their young are in 
 danger, feign to be wounded, so as to draw attention 
 away from the nest. 
 
 THE SKYLARK, OR LAVROCK (Alauda arvensis), ii., 93. 
 Common everywhere, building on the ground. The 
 male bird seems to collect the materials, while the 
 female employs herself in arranging them. Seldom 
 alighting upon either tree or bush, the lark, rather 
 singular to say, is, except when soaring, in its habits 
 almost wholly terrestrial. 
 
 THE COMMON BUNTING (Emberiza mtliaria), ii., 97. 
 Not infrequent, singing, in a shrill note, in March, on 
 the tops of trees near cultivated fields. The nest is 
 built on the ground, near the sides of ditches. 
 
 THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING, OR BLACK-CAP (Emberiza 
 
 schceniculus), ii., 98. 
 
 Common about pit-sides and wide ditches. 
 THE YELLOW-AMMER (Emberiza citrinella ), ii., 90. 
 Common. The song, in March and April, is very 
 peculiar, and sounds like the words, "A little bit of 
 bread and no ch-e-e-se," the first part of the sentence 
 uttered rapidly, and the latter long drawn out. (This 
 name, often mis-written yellow-hammer, represents 
 the German goldammer, literally "yellow-bunting.") 
 
 THE CHAFFINCH (Fringilla Calebs), ii., 102. 
 
 Common. A very early harbinger of spring, in woods, 
 fields, and gardens, and very fond of orchards, 
 
Resident Birds. 
 
 271 
 
 building a beautiful nest of all sorts of materials 
 within reach. One has been found constructed 
 entirely of raw cotton. The eggs are sometimes 
 blue, sometimes white with pale spots, or pinky, or 
 red, as if pencil-marked. . Named ccelebs by Linnaeus, 
 because in winter, especially when the season is 
 severe, in many parts the sexes say good-bye to one 
 another, and live asunder till spring, when they 
 re-unite. One of the neatest in habits of all English 
 birds. Even in the depth of winter the chaffinch 
 seeks a lavatory every day. 
 
 THE TREE SPARROW (Passer montanus), ii., 104. 
 
 A sharp little bird, not uncommon, and usually build- 
 ing in hollow oak-trees. If the tree be approached 
 during incubation it flies off like a shot. 
 
 THE HOUSE SPARROW (Passer domesticus), ii., 105. 
 The bold, pert, quarrelsome bird, indifferent alike to 
 our kindness and our enmity, which nevertheless one 
 is glad to see feeding on the crumbs considerately 
 thrown to it from the parlour breakfast-table. 
 
 THE GREENFINCH ( Coccothraustes chloris), ii., 106. 
 Common in cultivated fields and gardens. Song 
 sweet but monotonous. 
 
 THE COMMON LINNET (Linaria cannabina)^ ii., no. 
 Abundant everywhere on heaths and in hedgerows. 
 Many are kept in cages for the beauty of the song. 
 Not only among mankind, it would seem, does a 
 fine voice sometimes prove the road to ruin. 
 
272 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE LESS RED-POLE (Linaria minor), ii., in. 
 
 This bird breeds in Marple Wood, Cotterill Clough, 
 and similar places. The nest, rather hard to 
 discover, is round, the size of a racket-ball, and 
 composed of fibrous roots and the hemp-like bark 
 of the dead nettle-stalks of the previous year, with 
 which the little architect ties them together, the 
 inside being lined with the pappus or down of the 
 coltsfoot seed. It is generally placed in high 
 hedges or in the boughs of fir-trees. 
 
 THE BULLFINCH (Loxia Pyrrhula)^ ii., 114. 
 
 Rare. Remarkable for the beauty of its nest, which is 
 constructed of the withered ends of the slenderest 
 woodbine twigs the bird can find, laid crosswise like 
 a woven fabric. Generally found in a bush, and 
 about a yard from the ground. 
 
 THE STARLING, OR SHEPSTER (Sturnus vulgaris), iii., 121. 
 A bird well-known as stopping up waterspouts with its 
 nest, and never going to bed till after a prolonged 
 chatter. Common everywhere. 
 
 THE CARRION CROW (Corvus corone), i., 52. 
 
 Formerly common in Hough-end Clough, but now 
 extinct, and fast disappearing from the neighbour- 
 hood in general. 
 
 THE ROOK (Corvus frugilegus), i., 54. 
 
 Common everywhere. Their clamour one of the most 
 familiar of rural sounds, and their great feathers. 
 
Resident Birds. 273 
 
 of the only shade of black that is lively, constantly 
 seen lying upon the ground. 
 
 THE JACKDAW (Corvus monedula), i., 55. 
 
 Formerly an inhabitant of the steeples of St. John's, 
 St. Anne's, St. Matthew's, and St. Mary's churches. 
 Plentiful wherever there is an old ruin. 
 
 THE MAGPIE (Pica caudata), i., 56. 
 
 Formerly very abundant about Urmston, but has be- 
 come scarce with the disappearance of the tall trees, 
 especially poplars, once so plentiful there. It suffers 
 sadly, also, from sportsmen and gamekeepers. 
 
 THE JAY (Garrulus glandarius), i., 58. 
 
 Frequent about Withington, Didsbury, Northen, and 
 in that part of the neighbourhood. 
 
 THE GREEN WOODPECKER (Picus viridis), ii., 64. 
 This bird used to breed in Dunham Park. One was 
 seen there in January, 1859. 
 
 THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Picus major), 
 
 ii., 65. 
 Rare. Dunham Park; Barlow Moor. 
 
 THE COMMON CREEPER (Certhia familiaris), ii., 62. 
 Abundant, but, in consequence of its retired habits, 
 little known. At a short distance it looks like a 
 mouse, running up the tree from the very bottom, 
 and clearing it all round of every insect that may 
 happen to be in the way. Plentiful at Gatley Carrs. 
 
274 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE COMMON WREN (Sylvia Troglodytes), iii., 160. 
 Well-known, and common everywhere in gardens, 
 woods, and hedgerows. Often found with a few 
 scattered white feathers, and sometimes with white 
 wings. The large and pretty nest reminds one of 
 what women do for the world. The hen commences 
 one and completes it. Meantime the male bird 
 begins two or three in succession, a short distance 
 from his mate's, but never completes one of them. 
 The materials are moss, feathers, hair, dead leaves, 
 and dead fern. 
 
 THE PEEWIT, OR LAPWING ( Vanellus cristatus), iv., 192. 
 Common everywhere in marshy grounds, and known 
 to most people by the peculiar cry represented in 
 the name. The young ones are particularly fond of 
 being in the bottom of deep ditches and drains, 
 squatting down close to the ground, 
 
 THE KING-FISHER (Alcedo ispida), i., 46. 
 
 Cheadle, Urmston, Flixton, and elsewhere in those 
 directions, by all the tributaries of the Mersey. A 
 beautiful but very timid bird, darting with great speed, 
 its glossy green back glancing quick as thought. 
 (See, in reference to the Lancashire localities, the 
 Manchester Guardian of Feb. 4th, 1882.) 
 
 THE MOOR-HEN, OR WATER-HEN (Gallinula chloropus), 
 
 v., 247. 
 
 Common by old pits. Many breed on the ponds in 
 Dunham Park, where we cannot go in the summer 
 
Resident Birds. 275 
 
 without seeing them in companies of four or five, 
 their little white tails cocked up, and looking as if 
 they were swimming on their necks. 
 
 THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE ( Colymbus cristatus), 
 
 v., 294. 
 
 On all the Cheshire meres, Tatton, Tabley, Rostherne, 
 c. 
 
 THE LITTLE GREBE, OR DAB-CHICK ( Colymbus Hebridicus) 
 
 v., 298. 
 Common on the Cheshire .meres. 
 
 THE NUTHATCH (Sitta Europcea), i., 60. 
 Dunham Park, but only a few. 
 
 THE RINGDOVE, CUSHAT, OR WOOD-PIGEON ( Columba 
 
 palumbus), iii., 164. 
 
 Breeds in the woods in Trafford Park and about Chat 
 Moss; plentiful about Urmston, though rather rare 
 in the district generally. 
 
 THE STOCKDOVE (Columba anas), iii., 165. 
 
 Very scarce. Marple Wood. (On the Lancashire 
 localities, see Manchester Guardian, Jan. 21, 1882.) 
 
 THE RED GROUSE ( Lagopus Scoticus), iii., 172 
 
 On the moors. 
 THE COMMON PARTRIDGE (Perdrix cinerea), iii., 174. 
 
 Upon farm-land, common. 
 
 THE WILD DUCK (Anas Boschas), v., 270. 
 
 This bird breeds on Carrington Moss, Chat Moss, and 
 in many other places. 
 
276 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE COMMON HERON (Ardea cinerea), iv., 197. 
 
 In the Manchester Guardian of December 28, 1881, it 
 is stated that there is a heronry "within about 
 fourteen miles of the Exchange," and that within 
 forty miles of Manchester there are a dozen other 
 stations for this beautiful and celebrated bird. The 
 former is probably that one which it is further stated 
 has existed since 1871 in Tabley Park, though the 
 older stations, Dunham Park, Oulton Park, and the 
 trees near the water at Arley Hall, have long since 
 been deserted. ( Vide also the Guardian of March 
 1 8th, 1882.) 
 
 II. PERIODICAL VISITORS. 
 
 I. COMING IN SPRING AND SUMMER. 
 
 THE WHEAT -EAR (Sylvia (Enanthe), iii., 142. 
 
 The earliest of our summer visitants, coming by the 
 end of March, but staying in the fields not longer 
 than two or three weeks, when it moves off to the 
 mountainous districts to breed. Very fond of placing 
 its nest in deserted rabbit-holes, and in cavities in 
 old stone walls. 
 
 THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER (Sylvia locustella), iii., 143. 
 No one who has heard this bird can ever forget it, the 
 note resembling the voice of the grasshopper, but 
 prolonged into a whirr, like the noise of a spinning- 
 wheel. Towards midnight, when all other birds are 
 still, if approached, it will begin. Found haunting 
 
Periodical Birds. 277 
 
 thickets and hedge-bottoms, but rather uncommon, 
 and rarely seen, though often heard, on account of 
 its habit of running among the low brushwood. 
 
 THE SEDGE WARBLER (Sylvia salicaria), in., 145. 
 Common by the sides of pitsteads. This is the bird 
 so often mistaken in our neighbourhood for the 
 nightingale. No bird takes more care to let us 
 know of its presence; the moment it is disturbed, it 
 begins to sing. 
 
 THE BLACK-CAP WARBLER (Sylvia atricapilla), iii., 150. 
 A most beautiful song-bird, and common in woods. 
 When it arrives, it is fond of mounting high into the 
 trees; the males, like most of the warblers, coming 
 a week or two before the females, and selecting a 
 station, where they sing until their mates arrive. 
 
 THE GARDEN WARBLER (Sylvia hortensis), iii., 152. 
 Unlike the preceding, this bird never gets up high into 
 the trees to sing, nor does it care to warble until the 
 female arrives, when its lovely trill is heard plenti- 
 fully in the low bushes. It will build in gardens 
 among peas. Common in Hough-end Clough and 
 about Urmston. 
 
 THE COMMON WHITETHROAT (Sylvia rinerea), iii., 153. 
 Common everywhere, and apt to warble when on the 
 wing, springing up out of the hedge, with its jar-jar- 
 jar, jee-jee-jee, and in a minute or two diving down 
 into it again. 
 
278 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE LESS WHITETHROAT (Sylvia sylvicella), iii., 154. 
 Rare about Manchester, building in hedges a large 
 and clumsy nest, similar to that of a greenfinch. 
 The song is given only from the very heart of thick- 
 foliaged trees. 
 
 THE WOOD WARBLER, OR WOOD WREN (Sylvia sylvicola), 
 
 iii., i55- 
 
 A very lovely little bird; its song, or trill, a repeti- 
 tion of two notes, and its nest very hard to find. 
 While singing, it sits on the bough and seems to 
 tremble, the wings being quivered elegantly. 
 
 THE WHINCHAT (Sylvia rubetra), iii., 141. 
 
 A common little bird, breeding everywhere, usually 
 selecting uncultivated lands, and sometimes hay- 
 fields, but always having its nest upon the ground. 
 About Urmston it is known as the " utic," from its 
 peculiar cry, "tic, tic, utic." In habits sprightly and 
 cheerful, popping about for ever from one spray to 
 another. 
 
 THE WILLOW WARBLER, OR WILLOW WREN (Sylvia 
 
 Trochilus), iii., 156. 
 
 This little fellow is common in most places, woods, 
 gardens, hedgerows, choosing the top of the trees to 
 sing in. It ceases to sing after pairing, devoting 
 itself to the construction of its large nest, which is 
 usually protected with a lid, and built of grass, moss, 
 and feathers. In the summer of 1858, Edward 
 Jacques found a nest in Hough-end Clough, with a 
 
Periodical Birds. 2 79 
 
 dead blackbird alongside, from which the feathers 
 had all been plucked, and used in the construction. 
 Nowhere is it more numerous or happy than about 
 Urmston, arriving clean as a daisy, after its journey 
 of a thousand miles or more. 
 
 THE CHIFF-CHAFF (Sylvia rufa), iii., 158. 
 
 This little creature, which is one of the smallest of the 
 warblers, arrives a trifle later, or about the middle of 
 March, when it at once begins its cry in the very 
 highest branches it can find of the tallest poplars 
 and fir-trees, perching itself on the topmost pinnacle. 
 Not common about Manchester generally, though 
 plentiful in Marple Wood. First it cries "chiff," 
 then "chaff," then "chaff" and "chiff" alternately. 
 
 THE WHITE WAG-TAIL (MotacUla alba), ii., 81. 
 
 Arrives at the end of March or the beginning of April, 
 but does not appear to breed in our neighbourhood. 
 THE YELLOW WAG-TAIL (MotacUla flava), ii., 84. 
 
 Common in open fields, building its nest among young 
 corn, and in hay-grass. Like all the other wag- 
 tails, a bird of very poor song, but singularly gentle 
 and affectionate. It arrives the last week in March, 
 apparently all the better for its journey, the plumage 
 being often more clean and beautiful the day of 
 arrival than at any later period. 
 THE REDSTART (Sylvia phcenicurus), iii., 138. 
 
 Formerly very common in Hulme, Chorlton, and 
 Withington, but now become scarce, being shy in 
 
2 So Country Rambles. 
 
 temperament, and retiring before the advance of 
 population. Plentiful in the rural parts of Cheshire. 
 To get a full view of a redstart is also very difficult, 
 as it is for ever dodging behind a branch, and, as 
 the name implies, is never still. 
 
 THE TREE PIPIT (Anthus arbor eus), ii., 88. 
 
 A lively bird, arriving at the beginning of April, and 
 commencing to sing immediately. Common, build- 
 ing its nest on the ground, and laying the most 
 variously coloured eggs, some being blood-red and 
 others deep black. 
 
 THE CUCKOO (Cuculus canorus), ii., 71. 
 
 Arrives abundantly about the 27th of April, remaining 
 until about August, though young birds of the year 
 have been found in October. However disregardful 
 of its young, the cuckoo makes ample amends in its 
 conjugal fidelity, for when one of either sex is seen, 
 you may be quite sure that its mate is not far off. 
 
 THE WRYNECK, OR CUCKOO'S MATE (Yunx Torquilla), 
 
 ii., 61. 
 
 Rare, coming mostly with the cuckoo, which it some- 
 what resembles. 
 
 THE SWALLOW (Hirundo rustica), ii., 76. 
 
 Common and familiar everywhere. Social, harmless, 
 and useful, and perhaps as much beloved as the 
 robin itself, if only because of its fondness for 
 human habitations. 
 
Periodical Birds. 281 
 
 THE HOUSE MARTIN (Hirundo riparia), ii., 79. 
 
 Common and familiar, and, like the swallow, always 
 welcome. This odd bird often takes for the founda- 
 tion of its nest one constructed the previous year by 
 the swallow. The swallow's nest is open at the top. 
 The house-martin likes to have a roof or lid, so goes 
 on with the one it adopts till finished to its own 
 fancy, keeping only an aperture for ingress 
 
 THE SAND MARTIN (Hirundo urbica), ii., 78. 
 
 Comes in spring from North Africa and Malta, then 
 common everywhere in sand-banks, in which it 
 excavates horizontal galleries. It never alights on 
 the ground, but gathers the blades of green grass 
 used for the nest while on the wing, and in the same 
 way collects the feathers for lining it. 
 
 THE DOTTEREL (Charadrius morinellus), iv., 187. 
 This bird visits us in the beginning of May, arriving 
 in large flocks. It is very tame, silly, and easily 
 approached. If a fowler once gets among them, he 
 may shoot the whole before they take alarm. It 
 remains only for three or four days or a week, and 
 then moves on to its breeding stations among the 
 mountains in the north. (On the Lancashire 
 localities, see Manchester Guardian, Feb. 25, 1882.) 
 
 THE SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER (Musdcapa grisola), i., 44. 
 
 Common, making its appearance in the middle of 
 
 May, building in gardens and woods, and generally 
 
 choosing very odd situations for the nest. Remark- 
 
282 Country Rambles. 
 
 able for the constancy of its return to the same old 
 dead tree or rail, or old and ivied wall. After its 
 long aerial sail it seems well content also to stop 
 there till the time for departure in autumn. "From 
 morn till dewy eve" it keeps in its chosen place, 
 though incessantly darting out to secure a fly. 
 
 THE PIED FLY-CATCHER (Musdcapa luctuosa), i., 43. 
 This bird has been seen frequently between Middleton 
 and Oldham, where also it builds its nest, choosing 
 old trees. 
 
 THE COMMON SAND-PIPER (Tringa hypoleucos)^ iv., 217. 
 Tolerably common on the banks of the Mersey at 
 
 Northen, and thence down the river. 
 THE LAND -RAIL, OR CORN-CRAKE (Crex pratensis), 
 
 v., 242. 
 
 Common everywhere in hay and corn-fields. The voice 
 of the corn-crake has in it something so nearly akin 
 to ventriloquism that the birds themselves are rarely 
 where we seem to hear them, furnishing in summer 
 much pleasant amusement. 
 
 THE SPOTTED CRAKE, OR GALLINEW (Crex porzana), 
 
 v., 243. 
 
 These birds haunt the pit-bottoms, and cannot be got 
 without a good dog; hence they appear to be less 
 common than they really are. 
 THE COMMON QUAIL (Perdrix coturnix), iii., 178. 
 Occasionally met with, and no doubt breeds, like the 
 partridge, which it resembles, in open fields. It 
 
Periodical Birds. 
 
 may be known by its peculiar cry in summer even- 
 ings, But-me-but! But^me-but! 
 
 THE COMMON DIPPER (Cinclns aquaticus), Hi., 123. 
 The only place in the neighbourhood known to be 
 visited by this curious bird is Stalybridge Brushes, 
 from which nests and eggs have several times been 
 brought. At home only in and about brooks and 
 streams in mountainous districts, it generally builds 
 its nests under the ledge of a cascade on rocks 
 perfectly wet, having to go through the curtain of 
 water to reach it. When wishing to feed, it goes to 
 the bottom of the water, there walking about like a 
 diver. (On the Lancashire localities, see the Man- 
 chester Guardian, Feb. 4, 1882.) 
 
 THE RING OUZEL (Turdus torquatus), iii., 132. 
 
 Builds every summer in Stalybridge Brushes; occasion- 
 ally about Withington. Remarkable for its loud and 
 beautiful song. 
 
 II. VISITORS COMING IN AUTUMN AND WINTER. 
 
 THE FIELD-FARE (Turdus pilar is), iii., 125. 
 
 A common winter visitor, breeding in Norway and 
 Sweden, and one of the eminently social birds, 
 always travelling in large companies. Comes about 
 the end of October, and leaves again not later than 
 the beginning of April. 
 THE REDWING (Turdus iliacus), iii., 126. 
 
 The habits of this bird are the same as those of the 
 field-fare, with which it comes and goes. 
 
284 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE SISKIN (Carduelts spinus), ii., 109. 
 
 The siskin visits us in November and December, but 
 sometimes not for seven or eight years together, 
 though coming plentifully when it chooses to make 
 its appearance. 
 
 THE MEALY RED-POLE ( Linarla canescens), ii., 112. 
 Comes and goes in flocks with the siskins, and at 
 equally long and uncertain intervals. 
 
 THE COMMON SNIPE (Scolopax Gallinago), iv., 227. 
 Abundant, haunting old brick-pits and unfrozen brooks; 
 plentiful about Gorton, Belle Vue, and Cheetham 
 Hill. 
 THE JACK SNIPE (Scolopax Gallinula), iv., 228. 
 
 A smaller bird than the common snipe; not so plentiful, 
 but often seen in company with it. 
 
 THE WOODCOCK (Scolopax rusticola), iv., 225. 
 
 Formerly very plentiful about Hough-end, but now 
 rare, owing to the filling up of the pits and the 
 clearing away of the brushwood. 
 
 III. CASUAL, STRAY, AND OCCASIONAL 
 BIRDS. 
 
 Several of the birds named below are permanent 
 residents in the British Islands, and others are regular 
 visitors to this country. They are put in the present 
 place because seen near Manchester only at uncertain 
 intervals, or as casuals, the only one that can be looked 
 for with any degree of probability, being the sea-gull. 
 
Occasional Visitors. 285 
 
 The visits, as will be seen from the dates, have in some 
 cases occurred at periods so far back, that except for 
 completeness' sake, they would scarcely be worth mention. 
 I quote them from standard works upon ornithology, and 
 from the late Mr. John Blackwall's paper upon the 
 migrations of Manchester birds in the "Transactions of 
 the Literary and Philosophical Society for 1822," the 
 observations having been made during the eight years 
 1814-1821. 
 
 THE LITTLE CRAKE ( Crex pusilla), v., 244. 
 One at Ardwick in 1807. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ORIOLE (Oriolus galbula), iii., 133. 
 One near Manchester in 1811. 
 
 THE ORTOLAN ( Ember iza hortitlana), ii., 101. 
 One near Manchester in 1827. 
 
 THE CROSSBILL (Loxia curvirostra), ii., 116. 
 
 About the year 1840, in the month of August, a large 
 flock of these birds, old and young in company, 
 visited Hough-end Clough for a few hours. Mr. 
 Blackwall gives as its Manchester period, August 5th 
 to November 
 
 THE CHATTERER (Ampelis garrnlus), i., 59. 
 In Mr. Blackwall's list. 
 
 THE HOOPOE (Upupa epops), i., 49. 
 In Mr. Blackwall's list. 
 
286 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Lanius collurio), i., 34. 
 Sometimes seen in the summer. 
 
 THE GREAT SHRIKE ( Lanius excubitor), i., 33. 
 
 In Mr. Blackvvall's list, and was seen at Cheadle about 
 1850. (On the Lancashire localities of the three 
 species of Lanius, see the Manchester Guardian for 
 March nth, 1882.) 
 
 THE MERLIN (Falco cesalon), i., 16. 
 
 In Mr. Blackwall's list. (On the Lancashire localities, 
 see Manchester Guardian, January i4th, 1882.) 
 
 THE DUSKY GREBE (Colymbus obscurus), v., 296. 
 Once near Manchester. 
 
 BEWICK'S SWAN (Cygnus Beivickii), v., 262. 
 
 A flock of twenty-nine at Crumpsall on December loth, 
 1829, and another of seventy-three at the same place, 
 February 28th, 1830. 
 
 THE LITTLE BITTERN (Ardea minuta), iv., 205. 
 
 A very shy and sulky little bird, sitting all of a heap, 
 and looking like a bit of brown stump. 
 
 THE COMMON BITTERN (Botaurus stellaris), iv., 204. 
 
 THE GREAT OR SOLITARY SNIPE (Scolopax major), iv., 226. 
 Has been seen at Urmston. 
 
 THE NIGHTINGALE (Sylvia Luscinia), iii., 147. 
 
 The visit of the nightingales to our neighbourhood will 
 long be remembered by those who heard their song. 
 
Occasional Visitors. 287 
 
 It took place in 1863. The first came to Wilmslow 
 early in May, establishing itself in the little grove 
 near the end of Bollin Hall Park, on the Manchester 
 side of the railway viaduct. For several weeks it 
 sang nightly, and the crowds of people who were 
 attracted by the fame of the bird from distances of 
 many miles, at last became quite a trouble to that 
 usually quiet neighbourhood. The second took up 
 its lodging in a grove close to the Strines Printworks, 
 where, says Mr. Joel Wainwright,* no greater sensa- 
 tion was ever caused by a little thing. It began at 
 ten every night, and continued almost uninterruptedly 
 until three a.m. A third is said to have visited a 
 plantation adjacent to the railway station at Sale, 
 but over this one there may possibly have been an 
 error. 
 
 THE SNOW BUNTING (Emberiza nivalis), ii., 95. 
 
 Occasionally visits us in severe winters, breeding in 
 Norway and Sweden. 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN FINCH, OR BRAMBLING (Fringilla monti- 
 
 fringilla), ii., 103. 
 Visits us from the north in winter time, but rarely. 
 
 THE PECTORAL SAND-PIPER (Tringa pectoralis), iv., 239. 
 Once by a pit near the White House, Stretford Road. 
 
 * In loc. tit., p. 20, 
 
288 Country Rambles. 
 
 THE COMMON WILD GOOSE (Anser palustris), v., 251. 
 A flock of these birds was once seen feeding in a field 
 at Withington. 
 
 THE WILD SWAN (Cy gnus ferns), v., 261. 
 
 One preserved in the Peel Park Museum was shot 
 near Bolton. Occasionally seen at Lymm. 
 
 THE SCLAVONIAN GREBE (Podiceps cornutus), v., 296. 
 One shot near Oldham many years ago is now in the 
 Peel Park Museum. 
 
 THE COMMON TERN (Sterna Hirundo), vi., 316. 
 
 Occasionally seen upon the Mersey and the lower 
 Irwell. 
 
 THE BLACK TERN (Sterna nigra), vi., 323. 
 
 THE BLACK-HEADED GULL (Larus ridibundus), vi., 331. 
 
 THE COMMON GULL (Larus canus), vi., 334. 
 
 THE KITTIWAKE (Larus tridactylus), vi., 340. 
 
 Gulls are frequently seen in the winter on the mosses 
 and in ploughed fields, feeding, but whether they 
 are the kittiwake or common gull cannot always be 
 ascertained with certainty, as they are very shy birds, 
 and fly away before they can be approached. 
 
 THE WATER RAIL (Rallus aquaticus), v., 246. 
 
 THE CURLEW (Numenius arquata), iv., 211. 
 Occasionally breeds on Chat Moss. 
 
Occasional Visitors. 289 
 
 THE TEAI* ( Anas crecca), v., 272. 
 Occasionally seen by pit-sides. 
 
 THE BLACK-START (Sylvia Tithys), iii., 139. 
 Two were seen at Didsbury about 1855. 
 
 THE GOLDEN PLOVER (Charadrius pluvialis), iv., 186. 
 Occasionally seen in large flocks upon the flat fields 
 near Stretford and thereabouts. (On the Lancashire 
 localities, see Manchester Guardian, January 28th, 
 1882.) 
 
 THE RINGED PLOVER (Charadrius hiaticula), iv., 188. 
 Single birds are seen occasionally, both in summer and 
 winter. 
 
 THE STORM PETREL (Procellaria pelagica), vi., 353. 
 One was picked up alive near Stockport in the winter 
 of 1856, and another, dead, at Pendleton, shortly 
 before. A third had fallen at Withington, these 
 birds being blown inland by tempestuous weather, 
 and dropping when exhausted. 
 
 THE HOBBY (Falco subbuteo), i., 14. 
 
 Once near Brooks' Bar, as a summer visitant. The 
 hobby is the only British bird of prey that is 
 migratory. 
 
 THE DUNLIN (Tringa variabilis), iv., 240. 
 
 This bird has been known to breed on Chat Moss, but 
 very rarely. 
 
290 
 
 Coiintry Rambles. 
 
 THE COMMON SWIFT (Hirundo opus), ii., 73. 
 Occasionally. 
 
 THE NIGHT-JAR ( Caprimulgus Europaus), ii., 72. 
 Chat Moss, and other out of the way moors. 
 
 IV. INTRODUCED AND NATURALIZED. 
 
 THE COMMON PHEASANT (Phasianus colchicus), iii., 169. 
 In "Preserves." 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY IN THE LIBRARY. 
 
 As he who southward sails, beholds each night, 
 New constellations rise, all clear and fair ; 
 So, o'er the waters of the world, as we 
 Reach the mid zone of life, or go beyond, 
 Beauty and bounty still beset our course ; 
 New beauties wait upon us everywhere, 
 New lights enlighten, and new worlds attract. 
 
 J. P. BAILEY. 
 
 HE immense value of the Manchester libraries 
 to the student of Natural History has already 
 been mentioned. Treasure-houses at all 
 times, it is impossible to over-estimate the 
 privileges they confer on rainy days. "Some 
 days," says the poet, must needs be "dark 
 and dreary." We have all, at some time or other, had 
 our plans and projects baffled by the wet, and very 
 disappointing it certainly is, when a nice party has been 
 made up for an afternoon's pleasure in the country, to 
 see the sky grow black and the drops begin to fall, with 
 not a chance of its clearing up until too late to go. But 
 
292 Country Rambles. 
 
 the streets lead the way to as much pleasure, after 
 another manner, as the field-paths. It is nothing but a 
 thoughtless mistake which lauds the country at the 
 expense of the town, crying out that God made the one, 
 but that the other is the work of man. Each is comple- 
 mentary to the other; each, as with the sexes, affords 
 pleasures which itself only can give; each is best in turn, 
 and full of compensation, and whatever may be thought 
 of the adjacent country, no town is more enjoyable to 
 the intelligent, by virtue simply and sufficiently of its 
 Free Libraries, than Manchester. With these inexpres- 
 sibly precious stores at perfect command, the private 
 property, virtually, of every man who takes interest in 
 their contents, let none, then, ever deplore rain, or 
 piercing winds, mud, snow, sleet, or any species of 
 atmospheric hindrance to rural pleasure. More lies 
 within the walls of our three great Free Libraries than a 
 life-time is sufficient to consume. To the student of wild 
 nature they are peculiarly valuable, since they supply 
 interpretation of everything that can possibly come before 
 him in the fields. 
 
 The books in our three great Free Libraries the 
 Chetham, the City, and the Peel Park---which deal with 
 zoological subjects, and with palaeontology, are easily 
 discoverable, the number of important ones, especially 
 such as have plates, being limited, The printed 
 catalogues, and the courtesy of the respective librarians, 
 give ready information as to these, and the titles of the 
 various works generally indicate the contents with suffi- 
 
Tlie Free Libraries. 293 
 
 cient clearness. With works upon botanical matters it is 
 different. The number of these is too vast for any 
 librarian's easy reference, and to ascertain what ground 
 they cover also very generally requires personal examina- 
 tion. In the aggregate, the three Free Libraries contain 
 quite a thousand distinct and independent works of this 
 latter class books treating of floriculture as well as of 
 botany very many of them single volumes, but the 
 average the same as that of the fashionable novel, the 
 grand total being, in other words, over three thousand, a 
 weight of literature pertaining to plants certainly without 
 parallel in any other English city after London. Our 
 remaining space we shall devote accordingly to a select 
 list of the botanical works, old and new, enumerating 
 them in chronological order. For in the eyes of the 
 accomplished student fine old books always count with 
 the great kings of history, 
 
 The dead but sceptred sovereigns who still rule 
 Our spirits from their urns. 
 
 Chet. signifies the Chetham; City, the King-street; and 
 P. P., the Peel Park or Salford Library.* 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1532. Brunfels: Herbarum Vivae eicones. Folio. 130 
 curious old woodcuts. Chet. 
 
 * A complete catalogue of the thousand botanical works in the 
 Manchester Libraries, with notes upon their various contents, has 
 been prepared by the author of this volume, and only waits pub- 
 lication. Meantime it can be consulted by any person who may 
 wish to use it. 
 
294 Country Rambles. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1542. Fuchsius: De Historia Stirpium. About 450 full- 
 page cuts, many of them admirable, others very 
 droll City, Chet. 
 
 1576. Lobel: Stirpium Adversaria. Woodcuts. City, 
 Chet. 
 
 1611. Renealm: Specimen Historia Plantarum. Many 
 curious drawings, including one of the sun- 
 flower, then a novelty. City. 
 
 1613. Besler: Hortus Eystettensis. Full of wonderful 
 old plates. City, Chet. 
 
 1635. Cornutus: Canadensium Plantarum. Curious and 
 very interesting old plates. City. 
 
 1678. Breynius: Exoticarum aliarumque minus, &c. 100 
 fine old and very curious copperplates. Chet. 
 
 1680. Morison: Plantarum Historia. A massive folio, 
 with innumerable exquisite drawings. City, 
 Chet. 
 
 1691-1705. Plukenet: Works. Innumerable figures. 
 
 City, Chet. 
 1693. Charles Plumier: Description des Plantes de 
 
 I'Amerique. Full of very fine old plates. 
 
 City, Chet. 
 1728. John Martyn: Historia Plantarum Rariorum. 100 
 
 fine old coloured plates. City, Chet. 
 1748. Weinmann: Duidelyke Vertoning. Four thick 
 
 folios, containing 1,025 coloured plates, with 
 
The Free Libraries. 295 
 
 A.D. 
 
 innumerable figures, old-fashioned, but bold, 
 characteristic, and very curious. P. P. 
 
 1750. Rumphius: Herbarium Amboinense. Six vols., 
 folio. Full of fine old plates. City, Chet. 
 
 1755. C. Plumier: Plantarum Americanarum Fasciculus. 
 Folio. Full of fine old copperplates. City. 
 
 1757-1773. Elizabeth Blackwell: Herbarium. Six vols., 
 folio. Containing 60 1 coloured plates of 
 economic plants, every one of them drawn and 
 engraved by herself, in order to raise money to 
 liberate her husband from a debtor's prison. 
 Chet. 
 
 1759-1775. Sir John Hill: The Vegetable System. 
 Twenty-six folio volumes. With 1,600 copper- 
 plates, containing 6,560 figures. City, P. P. 
 (The latter bound in ten vols.) 
 
 1760. Philip Miller: Figures of Plants. Two vols., folio., 
 and new edit, in four vols., 1807. Chet. (An 
 admirable work, with 300 plates.) 
 
 1766-1797. G. C. GEder: Flora Danica. Eleven vols., 
 folio, with 1,200 plates. City. 
 
 1770. John Edwards: Herbal. A thin folio of 100 
 beautiful coloured plates. Chef., P. P. 
 
 1772. N. J. Jacquin : Hortus Botanicus Vindobonensis. 
 Two vols., folio. Full of the most beautiful 
 coloured plates. Chet. 
 
296 Country Rambles. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1773. N. J. Jacquin: Flora Austriaca. Five vols., folio. 
 Full of splendid coloured plates. City. 
 
 1775. Aublet : Histoire des Plantes de la Guiane Fran- 
 gaise. Four vols., 4to. Two of them made up 
 of very beautiful and interesting plates. City, 
 Chet. 
 
 1777. John Miller : The Sexual System of Linnaeus. A 
 massive elephant folio, with 103 magnificent 
 coloured plates. Chef., City. 
 
 1777. Curtis: Flora Londinensis. Folio. Several vols. 
 The finest coloured plates of British wild-flowers 
 ever given to the world. Chet., City. (See 
 1828 for continuation.) 
 
 1781-1786. N. J. Jacquin: Icones Plantarum Rariorum. 
 Contains 200 splendid coloured plates. Three 
 vols. Chet.; vol. i., City. 
 
 1784. Pallas: Flora Rossica. Folio. Full of beautiful 
 coloured plates. City. 
 
 1784. L'Heritier: Stirpes Novae, &c. Folio. Full of 
 fine plates. City. 
 
 1787. Curtis : The renowned " Botanical Magazine" was 
 commenced this year. No Manchester library 
 contains the whole. The following are the 
 localities of all the town possesses, including a 
 portion in the "Royal Exchange" : 1787- 
 1842, vols. i to 68, City ; 1843-1859, vols. 69 
 to 85, Royal Exchange; 1860-1869, vols. 
 
The Free Libraries. 297 
 
 A.D. 
 
 86 to 95, nowhere; 1870-1882, vols. 96 
 onwards to present time, City. 
 
 1790-1814. Smith and Sowerby's "English Botany." 
 Thirty-six vols., 8vo. 2,592 coloured plates. 
 City, P. P. 
 
 1800. Desfontaines. Flora Atlantica. Four vols., 4to. 
 Contains 261 fine old plates. City. 
 
 1816. W. J. Hooker: The British Jungermannias. 4to. 
 Full of exquisite coloured plates. City. 
 
 1818-1833. Loddiges: The Botanical Cabinet. Contains 
 2,000 coloured plates. P. P. 
 
 1823. Alex. Humboldt: Melastomaceae. 64 very fine 
 coloured plates. P. P. 
 
 1823-1827. W. J. Hooker: Exotic Flora. Three vols., 
 8vo. 232 beautiful coloured plates. City. 
 
 1827. W. J. Hooker and T. Taylor: Muscologia Bri- 
 
 tannica. Exquisitely illustrated. City. 
 
 1828. Curtis's Flora Londinensis. Continued by W. 
 
 J. Hooker. Two vols., folio. Most beautiful 
 plates. City. 
 
 1828. Wm. Roscoe : Monandrian Plants. Atlas folio. 
 
 Contains 112 splendid coloured plates. Chet. 
 
 1829. W. J. Hooker and Greville : Icones Filicum. Two 
 
 vols., folio. Full of splendid plates. City. 
 
298 Country Rambles. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1830-1832. N. Wallich: Plantae Asiatics Rariores. 
 Three vols., huge folio, containing 295 superb 
 coloured plates. City, Chet. 
 
 1834-1843. Baxter: British Flowering-plants. Six vols., 
 8vo. Full of beautiful coloured plates. City. 
 
 J ^37- J as - Bateman : The Orchidaceae of Mexico and 
 Guatemala. Folio. 40 superb coloured plates. 
 Chet. 
 
 1838. Endlicher : Nova Genera (of South American 
 plants). Folio. Full of fine plates. City. 
 
 1838. J. C. Loudon : Arboretum Britannicum. Eight 
 vols. Over 400 plates and 2,500 woodcuts. 
 P.P. 
 
 1838. John Lindley : Sertum Orchidaceum. A wreath 
 
 of the most beautiful orchidaceous flowers. 
 Splendid coloured plates. Chet. 
 
 1839. J. F. Royle: Illustrations of the Botany of the 
 
 Himalayan Mountains and of the Flora of 
 Cashmere. Two vols., folio. 90 beautiful 
 coloured plates. City. 
 
 1840-1853. R. Wight: Icones Plantarum Indiae Orien- 
 talis. Six vols., 4to. City. 
 
 1843. J nn Torrey : The Flora of the State of New York. 
 Two vols., 4to. Beautiful coloured plates. 
 City, P. P. 
 
The Free Libraries. 299 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1846-1851. W. H. Harvey : Phycologia Britannica. (Sea- 
 weeds.) Four vols., 8vo. 360 beautiful 
 coloured plates. City. 
 
 1847. Mrs. Hussey: Illustrations of British Mycology. 
 (Fungi. ) 4to. City. 
 
 1847. J. D. Hooker: Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of 
 the Erebus and Terror. Two vols., 4to. 198 
 fine coloured plates. City. 
 
 1847. C. D. Badham: The Esculent Funguses of Eng- 
 land. 8vo. 20 coloured plates. P. P. 
 
 1852-1857. B. Seeman: Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. 
 Herald. City. 
 
 1854. Sir W. J. Hooker: Century of Ferns. 4to. 100 
 plates./ 5 . P. 
 
 I &55- Wm. Wilson: Bryoiogia Britannica. 8vo. City. 
 
 1857. Mudd: Photographs of trees destroyed by fumes 
 from chemical works. Folio. P. P. 
 
 1857. Henry Smith: Indian Flowering-plants and Ferns. 
 
 A large folio of about 100 beautiful nature- 
 prints. P. P. 
 
 1858. E. J. Lowe: Natural History of British Grasses. 
 
 74 coloured plates. City. 
 
 1859-1860. Johnstone and Croall : Nature-printed British 
 Sea-weeds. City, P. P. 
 
 1859. Thos. Moore: Nature-printed Ferns. Two vols., 
 
 8vo. City, P. P. 
 
300 Country Rambles. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1860. M. J. Berkeley: Outlines of British Fungology. 
 
 8vo. 24 coloured plates, with innumerable 
 figures. City, P. P. 
 
 1 86 1. E. J. Lowe: Beautiful-leaved Plants. 60 coloured 
 
 plates. P. P. 
 
 1 86 1. E. J. Lowe: Ferns, British and Exotic. Eight 
 
 vols., 8vo. 479 coloured plates. City, P. P. 
 
 1862. E. J. Lowe: New and Rare Ferns. 8vo. 72 
 
 coloured plates. City, P. P. 
 
 1863. C. P. Johnson: Useful Plants of Great Britain. 
 
 8vo. 25 plates, containing figures of 300 
 species. P. P. 
 
 1863-1872. English Botany. Edited by J. T. Boswell 
 Syme. Eleven vols., large 8vo. Over 2,000 
 coloured plates. City. 
 
 1864. Blume: Remarkable Orchids of India and Japan. 
 
 Folio. Fine coloured plates. City. 
 
 1865. R. Warner and B. S. Williams: Select Orchida- 
 
 ceous Plants. Folio. Fine plates. City. 
 
 1865. E. J. Lowe: Our Native Ferns. Two vols., 
 8vo. 79 coloured plates and 909 woodcuts. 
 City. 
 
 1868. L. E. Tripp: British Mosses. Two vols., 4to. 
 Coloured figures of every known species. City, 
 P. P. 
 
The Free Libraries. 301 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1872. Horatio C. Wood: North American Fresh-water 
 Algae. 4to. 21 plates filled with exquisite 
 coloured figures. P. P. 
 
 1872. Flore Forestiere, &c. Folio. 18 splendid 
 
 coloured plates, representing about 120 of the 
 most interesting trees and shrubs of central 
 Europe. P. P. 
 
 1872-1874. D. Wooster: Alpine Plants. Two vols., 
 8vo. 1 08 coloured plates. City. 
 
 1873. I jC Maout and Decaisne: General System of 
 
 Botany. Translated by Mrs. Hooker. 5,500 
 woodcuts. City. 
 
 1875. Sachs: Text-book of Botany. A massive 8vo., 
 with innumerable woodcuts. City. 
 
 1877. F. G. Heath: The Fern World. 12 coloured 
 
 plates. City. 
 
 1878. F. G. Heath: Our Woodland Trees. Contains 
 
 excellent coloured drawings of their leaves. 
 City. 
 
 In addition to the thousand botanical works contained 
 in the three great Free Libraries, there are many of con- 
 siderable value, which they do not possess, in the Portico, 
 the Athenaeum, the "Royal Exchange," the Owens 
 College, and other collections not open to the general 
 public. The following are the most important of the 
 illustrated volumes. The aggregate of all kinds in the 
 subscription libraries is about four hundred volumes, 
 
302 Country Rambles. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1834. Stephenson and Churchill: Medical Botany. 
 Three vols., 8vo. Owens. 
 
 1834-1849. Paxton's Magazine of Botany and Garden- 
 ing. Sixteen vols. Nearly 600 fine coloured 
 plates. Royal Exchange. 
 
 1838-1847. John Lindley : Botanical Register. New 
 series. Ten vols., 8vo. 688 fine coloured 
 plates. Portico. 
 
 1841. Mrs. Loudon: Ornamental Bulbous Plants. 410. 
 Royal Exchange. 
 
 1843-1844. Mrs. Loudon: Ornamental Perennials. Two 
 vols., 4to. Royal Exchange. 
 
 1845. A - H - Hassall: British Fresh-water Algae. Two 
 vols., 8vo. 100 plates. Owens. 
 
 1848. John Ralfs: The British Desmidiaceae. 8vo. 
 Owens. 
 
 1850. Wm. Griffiths: Palms of British East India. Large 
 folio. 133 plates. Owens. 
 
 1851-1853. Lindley and Paxton: The Flower Garden. 
 Three vols.. 4to. 108 admirable plates and 
 314 woodcuts. Royal Exchange. 
 
SUMMARY 
 
 OF 
 
 RAILWAY STATIONS AND DISTANCES. 
 
 The figures after the names of the respective places denote the number 
 of miles they are distant from the Manchester Station of departure 
 previously mentioned. 
 
 I. LONDON ROAD STATION. 
 
 (a) London and North- Western, 
 
 (i) THROUGH STOCKPORT. 
 
 To Cheadle-Hulme, 8#. 
 ,, Handforth, 10^, for Handforth Hall, Norcliffe, and 
 
 Oversley. 
 ,, Wilmslow, 12, for Norcliffe, Lindow Common, the 
 
 Morley Meadows, and the Upper Bollin Valley. 
 ,, Alderley, 13^, for Lindow Common, Alderley Edge, 
 
 Birtles, and Capesthorne. 
 
 ,, Chelford, 17, for Capesthorne and Astle Park. 
 Crewe, 31, forWrenbury, 39^, en routeior Combermere. 
 ,, Crewe, 31, for Beeston and Peckforton. 
 ,, Crewe, 31, for Shrewsbury, 63%* en route to Wroxeter 
 
 (Uriconium), 
 
304 Railway Lines. 
 
 (2) THROUGH STOCKPORT. 
 
 To Davenport, 7, for Bramhall. 
 ,, Hazel Grove, 8, for the Bramhall Valley, Marple Wood, 
 
 Dan-bank Wood, &c. 
 ,, Disley, 12, for Middlewood, Lyme Park, Lyme Hall, 
 
 Jackson Edge, Marple Ridge, the Strines Valley, and 
 
 Cobden Edge. 
 New Mills, I3#. 
 ,, Furness Vale, 15. 
 
 Whaley Bridge, 16, for Taxal, Eccles Pike, &c. 
 Chapel-en-le-Frith, 19^, for Castleton. 
 ,, Doveholes, 22, for Castleton. 
 ,, Buxton, 25, for Ashwood Dale, Miller's Dale, &c. 
 
 (3) THROUGH STOCKPORT. 
 
 To Cheadle Hulme, 8#. 
 ,, Bramhall, 9^, for Bramhall Hall and the Bramhall 
 
 Valley. 
 
 ,, Poynton, 12^. 
 
 ,, Adlington, 13%, for Pott Shrigley and Harrop Wood 
 ,, Prestbury, 15 X> for Mottram St. Andrew, Bollington, 
 
 and the Kerridge Hills. 
 Macclesfield, i;X fc> r Wild-boar Clough, Shutlings 
 
 Low, &c. 
 
 (4) THROUGH STOCKPORT AND MACCLESFIELD, continuing per 
 
 " North Staffordshire." 
 To North Rode Junction, 22, for Cloud-end, Gawsworth, 
 
 and Mar ton. 
 ,, Congleton, 26%, for Biddulph Castle and Biddulph 
 
 Grange. 
 
 Mow Cop, 29X- 
 Trentham, 40^. 
 
Railway Lines. 305 
 
 (5) THROUGH STOCKPORT AND MACCLESFIELD, to North Rode 
 Junction, 22, continuing per " Churnet Valley." 
 
 To Bosley, 24, for Cloud-end. 
 ,, Rushton, 26. 
 ,, Rudyard, 29. 
 ,, Leek, 31. 
 ,, Froghall, 38. 
 ,, Oakamoor, 40. 
 ,, Alton, 42, for Alton Towers. 
 
 ,, "Rocester Junction," 45 /^, for Ashbourne, 52, en route 
 to Dovedale. 
 
 LONDON ROAD STATION. 
 
 (b) Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire. 
 (i) THROUGH ASHBURYS AND GUIDE BRIDGE JUNCTION, 5, 
 
 MAIN LINE. 
 
 To Mottram, 10, for Broadbottom, Stirrup-benches, Charles- 
 worth Coombs, the lower valley of the Etherowe, &c. 
 
 ,, Dinting Junction, 12, for Glossop, 13, for Whiteley Nab, 
 Melandra Castle, Chunal Clough, Ramsley Clough, 
 &c. 
 
 ,, Woodhead, 19^. 
 
 ,, Penistone (through the tunnel), 28, there changing to the 
 Doncaster line, for Wentworth. 
 
 ,, Wortley, 32^, for Wharncliffe Crags. 
 
 ,, Oughty Bridge, 36^. 
 
 ,, Sheffield, 41^. 
 
 Worksop, 57, 
 W 
 
306 Railway Lines. 
 
 (2) THROUGH ASHBURYS, REDDISH, AND WOODLEY JUNCTION. 
 To Reddish, 3^. 
 ,, Bredbury, 6^- 
 
 ,, Woodley Junction, 7^, for Werneth Low. 
 Romiley, 7^, for Chadkirk, Marple Hall, Dan-bank 
 
 Wood, Offerton, &c. 
 Marple (Rose Hill), 9^. 
 ,, High Lane, n^. 
 ,, Middle wood, 12^. 
 ,, Poynton, 13. 
 
 ,, Bollington, 17, for Pott Shrigley. 
 Macclesfield, 
 
 (3) As in No. 2, to Marple, 9^. Thence 
 To Strines, n^- 
 New Mills, 12^. 
 Birch Vale, 14^. 
 ,, Hayfield, i$}4, for Kinder Scout. 
 
 II. VICTORIA STATION. 
 
 (a) London and North-Western. 
 
 (i) THROUGH MILES PLATTING. 
 
 To Stalybridge, 7, for Staley-brushes, "North Britain," and 
 
 "Bucton Castle." 
 ,, Mossley, io>. 
 ,, Greenfield, I2^f, for Bill's-'- Jack's, " Pots and Pans, " 
 
 Seal Bark, and the "Isle of Skye." 
 ,, Saddleworth, 13^. 
 ,, Marsden (through the tunnel), 18^, for Wessenden 
 
 C lough. 
 
 ,, Huddersfield, 26. 
 ,, Leeds, 42^, en route for Harrogate, 60^, Ripon, 72, 
 
 Fountains Abbey, &c, 
 
Railway Lines. 307 
 
 (2) THROUGH ORDSALL LANE (Chat Moss line). 
 To Eccles, 4. 
 
 ,, Patricroft, 5, for Worsley. 
 ,, Barton Moss, 7, for Botany Bay Wood. 
 ,, Huyton, 25, for Knowsley. 
 Edge Hill, 30^. 
 Liverpool, 
 
 (3) THROUGH ORDSALL LANE (Chat Moss line). 
 
 To Warrington, 21^, for Hill Cliff. 
 
 ,, Norton, 21, for Norton Park, Norton Priory, and Halton 
 Castle. 
 
 ,, Halton, 23. 
 
 Frodsham, 30, for the Overton Hills. 
 
 Helsby, 27. 
 
 ,, Chester, 39%", for Eaton Hall; and vid Broxton, 36^* 
 for the Broxton Hills; also, vid Rhyl, 6934^, for Llan- 
 dudno, 81^, Conway, 85, Bangor, 91^, Beaumaris, 
 &c. ; also, vid Ruabon, for the Vale of Llangollen, 
 Bala, Dolgelly, &c. 
 
 (4) THROUGH ORDSALL LANE (Tyldesley line). 
 
 To Worsley, 5^. 
 Tyldesley, io#. 
 ,, Wigan, 17. Thence to Preston, Lancaster, Grange, &c. 
 
 VICTORIA STATION. 
 
 (b) Lancashire and Yorkshire. 
 
 (i) THROUGH MILES PLATTING, ij, to Middleton Junction, 
 thence to Heywood, lo^f, for Bamford Wood. 
 
 To Bury, 13^. 
 
308 Railway Lines. 
 
 (2) THROUGH MILES PLATTING, keeping on main line to Roch- 
 
 dale Junction, io^(. Thence 
 To Shawclough and Healey, 
 Facit, i6#. 
 Bacup, 
 
 (3) Same as No. 2, to Rochdale 10^. Thence on 
 
 To Littleborough, 13^, for Hollingworth Lake, Whiteley 
 Dean, and Blackstone Edge. 
 
 (4) Same as No. 3, keeping on main line to Todmorden Junc- 
 
 tion, 19. Thence, by Burnley Valley, 
 To Portsmouth, 22^, for Cliviger, &c. 
 ,, Burnley, 28. 
 
 (5) THROUGH PENDLETON to Clifton Junction, for the Agecroft 
 
 Valley and Mere Clough. 
 
 (6) THROUGH PENDLETON AND CLIFTON JUNCTION, by the 
 
 Bury line. [These trains pick up at Salford Station.] 
 To Molyneux Brow, 4^, for Hurst Clough. 
 ,, Ringley Road, 7. 
 ,, Radcliffe Bridge, 7#. 
 Bury, io. 
 ,, Summerseat, 12^- 
 ,, Ramsbottom, 14. 
 ,, Helmshore, 1 6^. 
 ,, Haslingden, iS^- 
 ,, Accrington, 22, and thence to Skipton for Bolton Abbey. 
 
 (7) THROUGH PENDLETON, MOLYNEUX BROW, AND BURY. 
 
 To Rawtenstall. 
 Bacup, 
 
Railway Lines. 309 
 
 (8) THROUGH PENDLETON AND CLIFTON JUNCTION, by the 
 
 Bolton line. 
 To Bolton, 10^. 
 
 Thence, on the original main line, 
 To Horwich, 17^5 f r Rivington Pike. 
 ,, Adlington, 19%, for the Liverpool Waterworks Reser- 
 voirs. 
 
 ,, Chorley, 22#, for Whittle-le- Woods. 
 ,, Preston, 30^, 
 
 Thence to Blackpool, 50. 
 
 ,, Fleetwood, 50^, for sail to Piel, for Furness 
 Abbey, continuing thence by rail to Newby 
 Bridge, Windermere, Coniston, &c. 
 ,, Lancaster, 51^* for the Lune Valley, More- 
 cambe, Silverdale, Grange, &c. 
 
 (9) THROUGH PENDLETON AND CLIFTON to Bolton, io)4. Thence 
 
 by the Wigan line, 
 To Wigan, 18. 
 
 ,, Gathurst, 21, for Dean Wood. 
 ,, Appley Bridge, 23, for Ashurst and Horrocks Hill. 
 Parbold (Newbro'), 25. 
 Southport, 37^. 
 
 (10) THROUGH PENDLETON AND CLIFTON to Bolton, 10^. Thence 
 
 by the Darwen line, 
 To The Oaks, 13, for Hall-i'th'-Wood. 
 ,, Turton, 15. 
 Entwistle, 17. 
 ,, Over Darwen, 20. 
 ,, Lower Darwen, 22. 
 ,, Blackburn, 25. 
 ,, Wilpshire, for Ribchester, 27. 
 Langho, 30. 
 
 
3io Railway Lines. 
 
 Darwen line. Continued. 
 
 To Whalley, 32, for Whalley Abbey, Whalley Nab, Stony- 
 hurst, Mitton, and the Ribble. 
 ,, Clitheroe, 35, for the Castle. 
 ,, Chatburn, 37, for Pendle. 
 ,, Gisburn, 43. 
 Hellifield, 49. 
 
 (11) THROUGH CRUMPSALL, to Bury. 
 To Heaton Park, 4. 
 ,, Prestwich, 4. 
 Radcliffe, 7. 
 ,, Bury, 9, thence to Summerseat, &c.. as above. 
 
 III. CENTRAL STATION. 
 (a) Midland. 
 
 The distances are differently stated. Those given below are from 
 
 Bradshaw's 3d. Guide. 
 THROUGH DIDSBURY, 5^. 
 To Heaton Mersey, 7. 
 
 ,, Romiley, 12^. 
 
 Marple, 14. 
 
 ,, Strines, 16. 
 
 New Mills, 17^. 
 
 Chinley, 2i#. 
 
 ,, Chapel-en-le-Frith, 23, for Castleton. 
 
 Miller's Dale, 31^. 
 
 Monsal Dale, 34. 
 
 Hassop, 36^. 
 
 Bakewell, 37^. 
 
 ,, Rowsley, 41 #. 
 
 Darley, 43^. 
 
 Matlock Bath, 46^. 
 
 ,, Derby, 
 
Railway Lines. 3 1 1 
 
 (b) Cheshire Lines. 
 
 (1) LIVERPOOL LINE. 
 
 To Urmston, 5. 
 ,, Flixton, 6%. 
 Irlam, 8X- 
 ,, Glazebrook, 9^. 
 ,, Warrington, 15^. 
 Hale wood, 25 >. 
 ,, Garston, 28^- 
 ,, Liverpool, 34. 
 
 (2) CHESTER LINE. 
 
 To Altrincham. 
 
 Peel Causeway, 8>, for the Bollin Valley. 
 
 ,, Ashley, 10. 
 
 ,, Mobberley, 12. 
 
 ,, Knutsford, 14%. 
 
 Plumbley, 17^- 
 
 ,, Lostock Gralam, ig^- 
 
 ,, North wich, 20^. 
 
 ,, Hartford, 22^- 
 
 ,, Cuddington, 25 ^. 
 
 ,, Delamere, 28. 
 
 ,, Chester (Northgate), 
 
 IV. OXFORD ROAD STATION. 
 
 (i) BOWDON LINE. 
 
 To Old Trafford, 2. 
 ,, Stretford, 3^. 
 Sale, 5. 
 ,, Brooklands, 5^. 
 ,, Timperley, 6^. 
 ,, Altrincham and Bowdon, 8. 
 
312 Railway Lines. 
 
 (2) LIVERPOOL LINE. 
 
 To Broadheath, 7^. 
 ,, Dunham Massey, 10. 
 ,, Heatley and Warburton, 
 Lymm, 13. 
 Thelwall, i^/ 2 . 
 Latchford, 16%. 
 ,, Warrington, 17^. 
 Hale Bank, 26^. 
 ,, Speke, 29. 
 Edge Hill, 35. 
 ,, Liverpool, 
 
INDEX 
 
 A 
 
 Abney Hall, 68. 
 Agden Hall, 65. 
 Agecroft Clough, 177. 
 
 Valley, The, 182. 
 
 Park, 184. 
 Alderley Edge, 85, 89. 
 
 ,, Park, 91. 
 Alton Towers, 118. 
 Anemone, The Wood, 108, 180. 
 Anodonta cygnea, 63. 
 Arden Hall, 100. 
 Arkwright's Mill, 132. 
 Arum, The, 24. 
 Ashbourne, 120. 
 Ashley Meadows, The, 14. 
 Ashurst, 237. 
 Ashwood Dale, 128, 138. 
 Ashworth Wood, 161. 
 Asphodel, The Lancashire, 53. 
 Astle Hall, 92. 
 Axe Edge, 120. 
 
 Baguley Old Hall, 81. 
 Bake well, 136. 
 Bamford Wood, 160. 
 Banksian Society, The, 169. 
 Barlow Hall, 82. 
 Beeston Castle, 93. 
 Biddulph Grange, 118. 
 
 Billinge, 237. 
 Bill's-o'-Jack s, 147. 
 Bin Green, 147. 
 Birchen Clough, 149. 
 Birch-trees, Ancient, 57. 
 Birds, Manchester, 257. 
 
 ,, Songs of, 29. 
 Birkdale Sandhills, The, 246. 
 Birkin, River, 34. 
 Birtles, 91. 
 Blackpool, 247. 
 Blackstone Edge, 164. 
 Bluebells at Pott Shrigley, 115. 
 Blythe Hall, 242. 
 Boggart-hole Clough, 155. 
 Bollin, River, 20, 34. 
 Bollington, 113. 
 Booth Hall, 37. 
 Botanical Names, 49, 55. 
 
 ,, Societies, 194. 
 Botany-Bay Wood, 248. 
 Bottoms-hall Wood, 143. 
 Bowden Bridge, 141. 
 Bramhall, 112. 
 
 ,, Brook, 122. 
 
 Valley, The, 123. 
 Broadbottom, 142. 
 Brown- wardle, 163. 
 Bucton Castle, 147. 
 Burleyhurst Wood, 36. 
 Burnley Valley, The, 165. 
 
Index. 
 
 Burscough Priory, 243. 
 Butterbur, The, 1 8. 
 Butts C lough, 23. 
 Buxton, 128. 
 Buxton's "Guide," 173. 
 
 Caley, George, 198. 
 Camden (quoted), 232. 
 Capesthorne, 92. 
 Carrington Moss, 47. 
 Carr-wood, 161. 
 Castleton, 134. 
 "Cat and Fiddle," The, 120. 
 Chad, St. (i.e., Saint), 129. 
 Chadkirk, 129. 
 
 Vale, 130. 
 Chapel-en-le-Frith, 134. 
 Charlesworth Coombs, 143. 
 Chatburn, 229. 
 Chat Moss, 59, 249. 
 Chatsworth, 136. 
 Cheadle (Cheshire), 192. 
 Cheeryble Brothers, 214. 
 Cheeseden- water, 161. 
 Chee Tor, 137. 
 Chelford, 92. 
 
 Cholmondeley Family, 41. 
 Chunal Clough, 144. 
 Clegg's Wood, 164. 
 CliffeHall, 118. 
 Clitheroe Castle, 229. 
 Cliviger, 216. 
 Cloudberry, The, 148. 
 Cloud -end, 116. 
 "Clough," Meaning of the 
 
 term, 176. 
 Cobden Edge, 125. 
 Coltsfoot, The, 17. 
 Combermere, 93. 
 Common Things, Value of, 3. 
 Compstall, 142. 
 Congleton, 118. 
 Conifers, 85, 92. 
 Cotterill Wood, 21. 
 Cotton Family, 94. 
 
 Cotton-sedge, The, 155. 
 "Cranford," 37. 
 Crocus, The Autumn, 1 
 Crompton, Samuel, 220. 
 Crowther, James, 197. 
 Crinoidea, The, 230. 
 Crozier, George, 153, 168. 
 
 D 
 
 Daisy-nook, 151. 
 Dan-bank Wood, 131. 
 Dane. River, 119. 
 Darley Dale, 137. 
 Darwen, River, 219. 
 Davenport Family, 92, 112. 
 Dean Wood, 236. 
 Delamere Forest, 40. 
 
 ,, Lord, 41. 
 Derby Family, 240. 
 Derpley Hill, 225. 
 Derwent, River, 145. 
 Dewhurst, John, 207. 
 Didsbury, 70. 
 Disley, 121. 
 Dobb-wood, 161. 
 Douglas, River, 236. 
 Dovedale, 120. 
 
 Drayton, Michael (quoted), 35. 
 Drift, 191. 
 Droseras, 49. 
 Dunham Massey, 67. 
 
 ,, Park, 61. 
 
 Eagley, River, 220. 
 
 Eccles Pike, 128. 
 
 Eddisbury, 42. 
 
 Entwistle, 222. 
 
 Equisetum (sylvaticum), The, 
 
 178. 
 
 Ernocroft Woods, 130. 
 Ethelfleda, 43. 
 Etherowe, River, 130, 142. 
 Evans, Joseph, 208. 
 
Index. 
 
 315 
 
 Flixton, 67. 
 
 Flora, The Manchester, 5. 
 
 Fo'-edge, 215. 
 
 Forest, Original Meaning of the 
 
 word, 41. 
 
 Forget-me-not, The, 25. 
 Frodsham Hills, The, 66. 
 
 Gaskell, Mrs., 37. 
 Gatley Carrs, 68. 
 Gawsworth, 116. 
 Geology, The Local, 190. 
 Germander-speedwell, The, 25. 
 Gibson, Samuel, 166. 
 Glazebrook, 67. 
 Glossop, 144. 
 Goyt, River, 130. 
 Grant's Tower, 214. 
 Greenfield, 147. 
 
 H 
 
 Haddon Hall, 136. 
 Hades Hill, 216. 
 Hale, 254. 
 
 Hall-i'th'-Wood, 220. 
 Halton Castle, 66. 
 Hanging-banks Wood, 88. 
 Hard castle Crags, 165. 
 Hayfield, 141. 
 Heather, The, 53. 
 Healey Dene, 215. 
 Hebden Bridge, 166. 
 Helsby, 66. 
 
 Herbarium, How to form an, 78. 
 High Green Wood, 166. 
 High Legh, 65. 
 Hill Cliff, 66. 
 Hodder, River, 231. 
 Hoghton Bottoms, 217. 
 ,, Family, 217. 
 Tower, 218. 
 Holcombe Hill, 214. 
 Holford Moss, 59. 
 
 Hollingworth, 146. 
 
 ,, Lake, 162. 
 
 Holyngworthe Family, 146. 
 Hope Dale, 135-. 
 Horrocks Hill, 238. 
 Horse-chestnut, The Singleton, 
 
 68, 83. 
 
 Horsefield, John, 192. 
 Horsley Bath, 99. 
 Hurst Clough, 177. 
 
 Irk, River, 160. 
 Irwell, River, 181. 
 
 Valley, The, 182. 
 "IsleofSkye," 148. 
 Ivy, Value of, 37. 
 
 Jack's Bridge, 155. 
 Jackson Edge, 124. 
 Jowkin-wood, 161. 
 Jumbles, The, 223. 
 
 K 
 
 Kerridge Hills, The, 113. 
 Kinder Downfall, 141. 
 
 ,, Scout, 140. 
 Knowsley, 244. 
 Knutsford, 34. 
 
 Labiate, The, 185. 
 Lady- Bridge, 123. 
 Lady-smock, The, 38. 
 Lancashire Botanists, The, 194. 
 Langho, 223. 
 Larch, The, 26. 
 Latchford, 66: 
 Lathom, Earl of, 242. 
 
 House, 239. 
 
 Park, 238. 
 
 Lees-hall Dingle, 144. 
 Lepidoptera, 29. 
 Lever, Sir Ashton, 152. 
 Linden-trees, 42, 124, 255, 
 
Index. 
 
 Lindow Common, 88. 
 Littleborough, 164. 
 Ludworth Moor, 143. 
 Lyme Cage, 123. 
 
 Hall, 123. 
 
 ,, Park, 123. 
 Lymm, 62. 
 
 M 
 
 Macclesfield, 115. 
 "Magpie" Architecture, 39. 
 Mamelons, 163. 
 Mam Tor, 135. 
 Marple Aqueduct, 131. 
 
 Old Hall, 132. 
 
 Ridge, 125. 
 
 Wood, 131. 
 
 Dell, 131. 
 Martin, John, 211. 
 Marton, 117. 
 Melandra Castle, 144. 
 Mellor, John, 198. 
 Mere Clough, 175. 
 Meres, Origin of the Vale 
 
 Royal, 45. 
 Mersey, River, 130. 
 
 ,, Origin of the name, 44. 
 Mickley Hill, 65. 
 Middlewood, 122. 
 Miller's Dale, 136. 
 Mitton, 226, 228. 
 Mobberley, 34. 
 Monsall Dale, 136. 
 Moors, 59. 
 
 Morley Meadows, The, 87. 
 Mosses, Origin of the Peat, 55. 
 Mottram-in-Longdendale, 142. 
 Mow Cop, 118. 
 
 N 
 
 Newton-le-Willows, 250. 
 Nightingale, The, 75, 286. 
 Norcliffe, 85, 120. 
 Norden- water, 161. 
 Norreys Family, 253. 
 "North Britain," 146. 
 
 North Rode, 116. 
 Northen, 74. 
 North wich, 39. 
 
 ,, Salt Mines, 39. 
 Norton Park, 66. 
 
 Oakmere, 44. 
 Oak, The Marton, 117. 
 Oldknow, Samuel, 132. 
 Oreopteris, The, 143. 
 Ormskirk Church, 243. 
 Otterspool Bridge, 131. 
 Oughtrington, 65. 
 Oulton Park, 42. 
 Oversley, 87. 
 
 Paulinus, 223. 
 
 Peak Cavern, The, 135. 
 
 Peat, 56. 
 
 Peckforton, 98. 
 
 Peel Monument, The, 214. 
 
 Pendle, 230. 
 
 Peover, 38. 
 
 ,, Church, 39. 
 Percival, James, 199. 
 Peveril Castle, 136. 
 Photographs in Manchester, The 
 
 first, no. 
 Plumbley, 38. 
 "Pots and Pans," 147. 
 Pott Shrigley, 114. 
 Prestbury, 113. 
 Prestwich Dells, 177. 
 Primroses, 27. 
 Prince Charles Edward, 79. 
 
 R 
 
 Radnor Mere, 91. 
 Railways, 9, 127, 186. 
 Ramsbottom, 214. 
 Ramsley Clough, 144. 
 Ravenstone Brow, 150, 
 Reddish Valley, The, 100. 
 Reeds Mere, 92. 
 
Index. 
 
 317 
 
 Reservoirs, Picturesque effects of, 
 
 127. 
 
 Rhododendrons, 86, 251. 
 Kibble, River, 226, 228, 231. 
 Ribblesdale, 231. 
 Riddings Brook, 64. 
 Rimmon Clough, 149. 
 River-terraces, 192. 
 Rivington Pike, 233. 
 
 ,, Reservoirs, 234. 
 Robin Hood Rocks, 164. 
 Roche, River, 161. 
 Roman Road, 164. 
 Romiley, 130. 
 Rosa villosa, The, 179, 223. 
 Rossendale, 215. 
 Rostherne, 51. 
 
 ,, Mere, 52. 
 Rubus Chamamorus, The, 148. 
 
 ,, saxatilis, The, 162. 
 Rudyard Lake, 118. 
 Rushton, 1 1 8. 
 
 Salley Abbey, 231. 
 
 Scarisbrick Hall, 244. 
 
 Seal Bark, 140, 149. 
 
 Shire-hill, 144. 
 
 Shivering Mountain, The, 135. 
 
 Shutlings Low, 116, 118, 120. 
 
 Sidebotham, Mr. Joseph, 107. 
 
 Simpson Clough, 160. 
 
 Smithills Hall, 221. 
 
 Solitude, 55. 
 
 Southport, 246. 
 
 Southshore. 187. 
 
 Speke Hall, 252. 
 
 Spring-wood, 37. 
 
 Spring, Phenomena of, 20. 
 
 Staley Brushes, 145, 146. 
 
 Stanley Family, 244. 
 
 Statham, 65. 
 
 Stirrup -benches, 143. 
 
 ,, Wood, 143. 
 Stockport, in, 132. 
 Stonyhurst, 226. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, 133. 
 Strines Valley, The, 134. 
 Summerseat, 214. 
 Sundews, The, 49. 
 
 Tabley Old Hall, 37. 
 
 Park, 37. 
 Tame, River, 101. 
 Tandle Hill, 160. 
 Tatton Park, 33. 
 
 ,, Gardens, 34. 242. 
 Taxal, 126. 
 Tegsnose, 113. 
 Thelwall, 64. 
 Thieveley Pike, 216. 
 Throstle Glen, 151. 
 Thrutch, The, 215. 
 Tintwistle, 144. 
 Todmorden Valley, The, 165. 
 Toft Park, 37. 
 Townley, Thomas, 172. 
 Trees, How to learn, 35. 
 Trentham, 118. 
 Trulove, The, 36. 
 Turton Tower, 219. 
 
 U 
 
 Urmston, 67. 
 
 Use, True idea of, 235. 
 
 V 
 
 Vale Royal, 40. 
 
 Abbey, 41. 
 ,, Mere, 42. 
 
 W 
 
 Warburton Church, 65. 
 Waterworks, Liverpool, 234. 
 
 ,, Manchester, 145. 
 
 Weaver, River, 42. 
 VVerneth Low, 125, 130, 143. 
 Wessenden Clough, 150. 
 Whaley Bridge, 126. 
 Whalley Abbey, 224. 
 
i8 
 
 Index. 
 
 Whalley Church, 223. 
 
 Nab, 225. 
 
 Whiteley Dean, 163. 
 ,, Nab, 144. 
 White Moss, 153. 
 "White Nancy," 113. 
 Whittle-le- Woods, 234. 
 Wigan, 235. 
 Wild-boar Clough, 120. 
 WUlmvs, 1 6. 
 Wilmslow, 85. 
 Windybottom Bridge, 133. 
 Windy-cliff Wood, 161. 
 Windgates, The, or, "Winnats," 
 
 134- 
 
 Winter Hill, 234. 
 
 Wimvick, 251. 
 Woodhead, 144. 
 Wormhill Springs, The, 137. 
 Worsley, 248. 
 
 Hall, 247. 
 Wrenbury, 93. 
 Wren's Wood, 247. 
 Wye, River, 128. 
 Wythenshawe Hall, 79. 
 
 Y 
 
 Yew-berries, 227. 
 
 ,, Trees, Old, 35, 66. 
 Youth and Age, True idea of, 
 204. 
 
 Palmer and Howe, Printers, Princes$-St. , Manchester,