,illustration3 ,,cheshire4 ,,roads ,,oxford ,,county ,,histories ,,cheshire ,,by ,,charles ,e4 ,,kelsey1 ,m4,a4 ,,with ,,ten ,,maps ,,and ,,forty-,,nine ,,illustrations ,,oxford ,,at ,,the ,,clarendon ,,press #aiaa ,,henry ,,frowde1 ,m4,a4 ,,publisher ,,to ,,the ,,university ,,of ,,oxford ,,london1 ,,edinburgh1 ,,new ,,york ,,toronto ,,and ,,melbourne ,,preface ,the aim of the present volume in the ,oxford ,series of ,county ,histories for ,schools is to assist the study of the progress of the ,english people by an examination of local antiquities1 visits to ancient sites and buildings1 and suggestions of big national movements from local incident4 ,an attempt is made to foster the powers of observation in children by showing them how to connect various styles of architecture1 for instance1 with successive stages in the story of their county1 and to construct from familiar objects the broad outlines of national history4 ,thus it is hoped that sooner or later the teaching of history may become1 to some extent1 an out-of-school subject and take its place side by side with outdoor ,nature-study and ,practical ,geography in the curriculum of our schools4 ,in rural districts this end is obviously more easily attainable than in large industrial centres4 ,in the latter the expense of moving classes of children from their schools to visit a site some miles distant would be no doubt considerable2 but is it too visionary to hope that before long a motor-bus1 capable of carrying a class of thirty or forty boys and girls1 will be deemed by ,educational ,committees a necessary part of their 'apparatus'8 ,apart from the educative value of such work there would1 as the children grow up1 arise a body of public opinion which could give valuable help in saving historic sites and buildings from loss or destruction1 and preventing the removal of antiquities from their natural home4 ,cheshire has suffered perhaps more than her share of both these evils1 and looks with sorrowful eyes at many of her treasures housed in the museums of towns beyond her borders4 ,all students of ,cheshire history owe much to ,ormerod's great work4 ,but his history is largely genealogical1 and personally ,i wish to acknowledge a greater debt to the labours and transactions of local societies1 particularly the ,chester ,archaeological ,society and the ,lancashire and ,cheshire ,antiquarian ,society4 ,many learned members of these two bodies have made most important contributions to our knowledge of ancient and mediaeval ,cheshire within the most recent years4 ,among other works consulted ,i may mention the ,palatine ,note ,book1 ,cheshire ,notes and ,queries1 and ,morris's ,diocesan ,history of ,chester4 ,i have received kindly assistance from several ,cheshire clergymen1 and to all who have given me permission to take photographs within their churches ,i express my thanks4 ,the maps1 drawings1 and photographs are original1 with few exceptions4 ,i am indebted to the ,council of the ,chester ,archaeological ,society1 and the ,grosvenor ,museum for the loan of the block of a ,roman tombstone from a photograph by ,mr4 ,r4 ,newstead1 and to ,mr4 ,alfred ,newstead1 ,curator of the ,museum1 for photographs of the ,runic stone and ,roman altar4 ,the ,rev4 ,j4 ,f4 ,tristram1 of the ,hulme ,grammar ,school1 read the two geological chapters and made valuable suggestions4 ,to the ,clarendon ,press ,i am grateful for much kind help and criticism4 ,,the ,,hulme ,,grammar ,,school1 ,,manchester1 ,july1 #aiaa4 ,,contents ,,chap4 ,,page ,i4 ,,position ,,and ,,natural ,,features ,,of ,,cheshire #i ,,ii4 ,,the ,,making ,,of ,,cheshire 7#a7 #af ,,iii4 ,,the ,,making ,,of ,,cheshire 7continued7 7#b7 #ba ,,iv4 ,,early ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,cheshire #be ,v4 ,,the ,,romans ,,in ,,cheshire 7#a7 #bi ,,vi4 ,,the ,,romans ,,in ,,cheshire 7#b7 #cf ,,vii4 ,,saxons ,,and ,,angles ,,come ,,to ,,cheshire #dc ,,viii4 ,,the ,,cross ,,in ,,cheshire #dg ,,ix4 ,,the ,,coming ,,of ,,the ,,northmen #ea ,x4 ,,the ,,normans ,,come ,,to ,,cheshire #eh ,,xi4 ,,the ,,norman ,,abbeys ,,and ,,churches ,,of ,,cheshire #fd ,,xii4 ,,the ,,earls ,,of ,,the ,,county ,,palatine #gd ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,churches ,,of ,,the ,,thirteenth ,,century #ha ,,xiv4 ,,growth ,,of ,,towns ,,in ,,cheshire #hg ,,xv4 ,,edward ,,the ,,first ,,and ,,cheshire #ib ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,coming ,,of ,,the ,,friars #ii ,,xvii4 ,a ,,deposed ,,king #ajg ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,rival ,,roses #aad ,,xix4 ,,churches ,,of ,,the ,,middle ,,ages #aah ,,xx4 ,,the ,,reformation ,,and ,,the ,,great ,,awakening #abh ,,xxi4 ,,elizabethan ,,cheshire 7#a7 #acd ,,xxii4 ,,elizabethan ,,cheshire 7#b7 #adc ,,xxiii4 ,,the ,,rule ,,of ,,the ,,stuarts #aej ,,xxiv4 ,,civil ,,war3 7#a7 ,,the ,,battles ,,of ,,middlewich ,,and ,,nantwich #aec ,,xxv4 ,,civil ,,war3 7#b7 ,a ,,memorable ,,siege #aeh ,,xxvi4 ,,civil ,,war3 7#c7 ,,the ,,protectorate ,,and ,,the ,,restoration #afc ,,xxvii4 ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,the ,,stuarts #afg ,,xxviii4 ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century 7#a7 #agc ,,xxix4 ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century 7#b7 #ahj ,,xxx4 ,,the ,,industrial ,,revolution 7#a7 #ahc ,,xxxi4 ,,the ,,industrial ,,revolution 7#b7 #ahh ,,xxxii4 ,,the ,,railways ,,of ,,cheshire #aib ,,xxxiii4 ,,progress ,,and ,,reform ,,in ,,the ,,nineteenth ,,century #aih ,,xxxiv4 ,,the ,,reign ,,of ,a ,,great ,,queen #bjd ,,xxxv4 ,,famous ,,men ,,and ,,women ,,of ,,cheshire #baa ,,xxxvi4 ,,conclusion #baf ,,index #bbj ,,chapter ,i ,,position ,,and ,,natural ,,features ,,of ,,cheshire ,few ,english counties owe more of their history to their geographical position and surroundings1 and to the character of their natural features1 than ,cheshire4 ,not only in the past have the rocks and rivers of ,cheshire helped to make history1 but even to-day they have a very direct bearing upon the fortunes of ,cheshire men and women4 ,how many of us reflect1 as our eyes travel over the plain to the distant hills1 that on the wise and orderly arrangement of mountain and valley1 forest and winding stream1 our very existence and means of livelihood depend8 ,truly ,nature has other work to do than merely create picturesque landscapes4 ,cheshire is situated in the north-west of ,england1 washed partly by the ,irish ,sea1 and guarded as it were on its eastern and western sides by two great ramparts of hill country1 that on the east formed by the southern spurs of the ,pennine ,chain1 while the ,welsh hills of ,flint and ,denbigh are the natural frontier on the west4 ,the western boundary1 however1 which has been frequently changed1 now follows roughly the ,valley of the ,dee4 ,a semicircle of hills of lesser height fringes the county on the south1 and the river ,mersey divides it from its northern neighbour1 ,lancashire4 ,in the north-west of the county a rectangular stretch of country known as ,wirral is washed by two great estuaries and by the ,irish ,sea1 and a wedge of moorland in the north-east penetrates into the heart of the ,pennines4 ,here the hills reach their greatest height1 ,black ,hill the highest point in ,cheshire being just under #b1jjj feet above sea-level4 ,the low-lying lands enclosed by this amphitheatre of hills form the ,cheshire ,plain1 broken only by ridges or terraces of low sandstone hills running north and south4 ,a glance at a map of the ,british ,isles will show you that ,cheshire lies in the very heart of the three kingdoms4 ,its geographical position has thus made it a meeting-place of nations1 and you will see in later chapters that all the peoples that have helped to make our national history have in turn realized the importance of its position1 and have fought desperately for its possession4 ,briton and ,roman1 ,angle and ,saxon and ,dane1 ,welsh and ,norman have all left some mark of their presence in the county1 and from these many elements is derived the blood that flows in the veins of nearly all ,cheshire boys and girls of to-day4 ,now look at the map opposite4 ,the shaded portions represent land over #cjj1 #fjj1 or #a1jjj feet above sea-level4 ,in the south1 the eastern and western uplands slope gradually down towards the bit of white which touches the centre of the bottom of the map and forms what is known as the ,cheshire ,gap4 ,through this gap the ,midlands lie open to the north-west and to the ,cheshire ,plain1 and over these lower heights naturally passed the great highway from ,london to the ,irish ,sea4 ,chester1 built on a rocky plateau at the head of the tidal waters of the ,dee and protected on its western side by a natural bend of the same river1 was clearly a position of great importance for guarding alike the coast road into ,north ,wales and the roads to the north of ,england2 and there is no doubt that it was held as a fortified post long before the ,romans built the ,roman city of ,deva4 ,for many centuries this stronghold was one of the chief military outposts and frontier towns of ,england1 not often free from war's alarms1 and the sentinels on her walls and watch-towers ever on the look-out for the approach of some new enemy4 ,chester became the 'base' or head-quarters from which all military campaigns in the north-west1 in ,wales or in ,ireland were carried out1 united with the metropolis by the great road that passed through the heart of ,england1 along which armies could march without any difficult hills to cross and hardly a river of any great size to bridge4 ,in later and more peaceful times1 for the same geographical reasons1 the ,london and ,north-,western ,railway1 the lineal descendant of the ancient ',watling ,street'1 laid its lines on nearly the same ground as the old highway1 and is thus the easiest as well as the most direct of all routes from ,london to the north-west4 ,illustration3 ,,cheshire ,,contour ,,map ,with the exception of the ,dee1 which rises near ,lake ,bala in ,wales1 the rivers of ,cheshire have their sources in the eastern or southern uplands4 ,for eight months of the year moisture-laden winds blow from the sea across the ,cheshire ,plain and deposit their rains upon the hills4 ,in the hilly country of the north-east1 where the rainfall is greatest1 the water is gathered and stored in a number of reservoirs in ,longdendale2 and the moist climate is the chief reason why this district is the seat of the cotton industry1 for cotton threads become brittle in a dry atmosphere4 ,in the valleys of the ,tame and ,goyt the abundance of fresh running water from the hills formerly caused many mills for the bleaching1 dyeing and printing of calicoes to be erected on or near the streams4 ,nowadays1 however1 owing to the greater supply of water brought by pipes from a distance1 mills are erected principally on the outskirts of the great towns and nearer the centres of population4 ,hence in the villages of the ,goyt it is no uncommon sight to see the tottering walls of mills that have been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin and decay4 ,the combined waters of the ,etherow1 ,tame1 and ,goyt form the ,mersey at ,stockport4 ,only the left bank of this river is in ,cheshire4 ,moreover1 for a large part of its course it has been 'canalized'1 so that it no longer flows between its natural banks1 but down the artificial channel of the ,manchester ,ship ,canal4 ,the estuary of the ,mersey1 which is three to four miles across at its widest point1 narrows at ,birkenhead to a width of barely three-quarters of a mile4 ,at this point the river is kept open to the largest vessels afloat by constant dredging4 ,here in the docks you may see ships of all nations1 and generally one or more of our huge ocean greyhounds riding at anchor in mid-river or awaiting but the turn of the tide to take out their cargoes of human lives to distant lands4 ,illustration3 ,,sources ,,of ,,rivers ,,in ,e4 ,,cheshire ,the ,weaver1 on the other hand1 is wholly a ,cheshire river1 rising in the ,peckforton ,hills in the south-west of the county4 ,the ,mersey and the ,weaver receive a number of tributaries1 of which the ,bollin and the ,dane are the most important1 from the eastern highlands1 the high-crowned ,shutlingslawe 444 with those proud hills whence rove ,the lovely sister brooks the silvery ,dane and ,dove1 ,clear ,dove that makes to ,trent1 the other to the ,west4 ,at ,northwich the ,weaver becomes navigable as far as the ,mersey4 ,the rivers flow mainly in a westerly or north-westerly direction4 ,spreading evenly over the plain in almost parallel lines1 they serve to drain and fertilize the land1 which thus affords the finest pasturage for cattle4 ,dairy-farming and stock-raising have therefore become the principal occupation of the inhabitants of the ,cheshire midlands2 and on market days the piles of the famous ,cheshire cheese are generally the first thing we notice in the open market-places of our country towns4 ,the most noticeable feature of the county are the two estuaries of the ,dee and the ,mersey4 ,the tract enclosed between them is for the most part flat1 ,heswall ,hill1 the highest point1 being little more than #cjj feet in height1 and the lowest parts have to be protected from the inroads of the sea by long embankments4 ,several portions were in fact1 at one time separated from the mainland1 like ,hilbre ,isle at the present day1 as is shown by the names ,wallasey1 'isle of the ,welsh or strangers1' and ,ince 'an island'4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 owing to the importance of ,chester1 the ,dee was the principal outlet for the trade of the north-west1 as ,bristol was for the south-west of ,england4 ,in those days ,liverpool was but an insignificant town1 and the ,mersey was known as the ',creek of ,chester'4 ,but in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the shipping trade of the ,dee declined owing to the great accumulation of sand and silt in the channel4 ,when vessels could no longer unload or ship their merchandise under the walls of ,chester a quay was formed at ,shotwick1 some six miles along the northern shore of the estuary4 ,in this neighbourhood over two thousand acres of land have been recovered from the sea that once flowed over them4 ,navigation was partially restored as far as ,chester for small vessels by a new artificial channel1 but since the rise of the cotton and other great industries in ,south ,lancashire ,liverpool and ,birkenhead have replaced ,chester and become the second port in the kingdom4 ,cheshire also possesses a miniature ',lake ,district'4 ,between the ,bollin and the ,weaver are scattered many lakelets or 'meres'4 ,they are particularly numerous in the salt districts1 where they are due to the pumping of brine which has been going on for ages1 and caused the sinking down of the overlying rocks4 ,in the neighbourhood of ,northwich the sheets of water thus formed are called 'flashes'4 ,the county still contains much 'forest'1 that is1 uncultivated land4 ,the hilly country of the east consists mostly of bleak and barren moorland1 affording but poor pasturage for sheep and used mainly for the preservation of game4 ,such names as ,wildboarclough1 ,wolf's ,edge1 ,cat's ,tor1 ,eagle's ,crag1 and many others1 show clearly the wild and desolate character of this district4 ,extensive woods are found in the valleys and 'cloughs' of the ,etherow and ,goyt4 ,delamere was once a deer forest extending as far as ,nantwich1 but in the last hundred years the greater part of it has been cultivated4 ,many towns and villages still retain their 'common' land1 often bright with patches of broom and gorse1 while the numerous and extensive parks of the great landowners are justly noted for their fine forest trees4 ,to many of you the natural features described in this chapter must be a familiar sight4 ,some of you have perhaps stood by the beacon on ,alderley ,edge or by the sham ruins on the summit of ,mow ,cop1 and viewed wide stretches of the ,cheshire ,plain4 ,others have looked down from the ,frodsham ,hills upon the estuary of the ,mersey mapped out at their feet1 or from the walls of ,chester have gazed upon the purple hills of ,wales4 ,but the surface of the county suffered many changes before it assumed its present aspect1 and we must now see what story the stones have to tell us of bygone ages when ,cheshire was yet in the making4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,making ,,of ,,cheshire4 ,i ,,the ,,newer ,,rocks ,there rolls the deep where grew the tree3 ,o earth1 what changes hast thou seen6 ,there1 where the long street roars1 hath been ,the stillness of the central sea4 ,nearly every ,cheshire boy has visited at some time or another a quarry in the neighbourhood of the town or village where he dwells4 ,he will probably have noticed that beneath the two or three feet of soil at the top of the quarry the rocks are arranged in beds or 'strata' piled one upon another in horizontal rows1 or sometimes sloping in parallel lines towards the bottom of the quarry4 ,when and how were these beds of rock formed and laid down8 ,if our quarry is in the central or western parts of ,cheshire we shall find that the rocks are of a reddish colour1 generally hard and gritty1 but sometimes so soft that pieces may be crushed into fragments with the fingers4 ,these rocks are known as the ,new ,red sandstones1 and are largely used for building purposes4 ,chester ,cathedral and a great number of ,cheshire churches have been built of this material2 and the hillsides where the rocks crop out above the soil often glow with a rich warm red in the evening sunlight4 ,you may see them best perhaps in the railway cuttings in the neighbourhood of ,frodsham and ,chester1 or in the great quarries at ,storeton-in-,wirral and ,runcorn4 ,illustration3 ,,geological ,,map ,these beds of sandstone are really wide stretches of the sandy shores of an ancient sea1 which have been pressed into a solid substance by the weight of other layers of rock deposited over them in later ages4 ,thus they belong to a group of what are called 'water-laid' rocks4 ,we know that seas once flowed over them because some of the beds show the ripple-marks that we see so often in the sands when walking by the sea-shore4 ,a fearful looking monster1 with the equally terrible name of labyrinthodont1 in appearance rather like a gigantic frog1 has left his 'footprints in the sands' in the rocks near ,lymm and ,weston4 ,you will probably not be able to find these footprints1 but in the museums at ,manchester and ,warrington you may see them on large slabs of sandstone rock4 ,how would you like to meet one of these reptiles to-day1 wallowing in the mud on the shores of some ,cheshire mere8 ,on the same slabs you will see suncracks which tell us of the baking of sand and mud in the sun's rays when the tide has gone down4 ,the lower layers of the ,new ,red ,sandstone are of a paler colour1 light brown or almost white4 ,to these the name of ',bunter' has been given to distinguish them from the upper and therefore later deposits known as ',keuper' sandstone4 ,the ,bunter beds are found chiefly in the west of the county1 and in ,wirral1 where you may see the ,keuper rocks of ,storeton ,hill sticking up above the layers of ,bunter stone that surround and underlie them4 ,the greater part of the surface of ,cheshire consists of these rocks4 ,alderley ,edge and ,helsby ,hill1 the hills of ,delamere and ,peckforton are composed of it1 and it crops out often in our village streets4 ,the steps of the village cross at ,lymm are cut out of a piece of rock which sticks out in the middle of the road4 ,in the sandstone beds at ,northwich1 ,winsford1 and ,middlewich are layers of rock salt from which we obtain our salt for food and other domestic uses4 ,the salt was formed at a time when the sea was gradually disappearing from the surface of ,cheshire leaving inland salt lakes1 which1 becoming dried up1 deposited beds of salt crystals4 ,these1 like the sandstone1 became pressed into a solid condition by the weight of other layers4 ,where the salt has been taken out of the earth the upper layers have sunk from time to time4 ,at ,northwich the land is continually sinking1 and you may see houses and chimneys cracked and twisted out of their proper shape as if they had been visited by an earthquake4 ,often the hollows where the land has sunk have become filled with water and produced the numerous meres or small lakes dotted about the county4 ,in the valley of the ,weaver they are locally known as 'flashes'4 ,illustration3 ,,striated ,,boulder 7,,erratic73 ,,high ,,legh ,when1 in the course of time1 the red sandstone formed the dry land of ,cheshire1 it became covered by a great ice-sheet which extended over ,britain even as far south as the ,thames valley4 ,beneath this covering of ice the rocks were crushed and ground to atoms by the movement of the ice-sheet over them4 ,this formed beds of a substance called boulder-clay1 containing lumps of rock which must have been brought by the ice great distances1 for they are of a kind found only in the north of ,england or in ,scotland4 ,some of these 'boulders' are of great size4 ,several have been placed in ,vernon ,park1 ,stockport1 and in the ,west ,park1 ,macclesfield1 you may see one that was dug up in the neighbourhood of the town4 ,it weighs about thirty tons4 ,on ,eddisbury ,hill is a mass of rock1 ten feet long1 of a kind found only on ,skiddaw in the ,lake ,district1 and in the narrow lane behind the ',wizard' ,inn on ,alderley ,edge is a lump of granite from ,eskdale1 so that these rocks have been brought by the ice a distance of a hundred miles4 ,such blocks and boulders are called 'erratics'1 because they have wandered so far from their original home4 ,another proof of the existence of the ice-sheet may be seen in the scratchings and marks 7called 'striae'7 on pebbles and rocks found in these beds4 ,in the lane outside the church at ,high ,legh are a number of large boulders which still show the lines of furrows and scratchings made on their surface by the movement of the ice over them4 ,the boulder-clay has been worn away by the action of water and weather from a great part of ,cheshire1 but in the west of the county large patches may be seen in the low-lying districts4 ,you may observe the beds most clearly in the cliffs of boulder-clay on the estuary of the ,dee between ,heswall and ,west ,kirby4 ,in the neighbourhood of ,chester1 many of the villages--,tarvin1 ,christleton1 ,aldford1 ,saighton1 and ,barrow1 for instance--are built on sandstone knolls and ridges which stick up through the boulder-clay1 for the sandstone is drier and healthier than the clay to live upon1 and the wells1 especially those in the ,bunter beds1 provide the purest water4 ,as the ice-sheet melted and the glaciers or ice-rivers retreated northwards when the climate became warmer1 beds of sand1 gravel1 and stones were spread over the ,cheshire plain4 ,these are called drift beds4 ,the stones and pebbles are rounded by the streams of melted ice and snow which flowed from the mouths of the ice-rivers4 ,upon the beds of drift lies the surface soil in which grow the crops and grass1 the herbage and the woods of to-day2 and it is in the drift1 as you will see in a later chapter1 that traces of the earliest inhabitants of ,cheshire are to be found4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,making ,,of ,,cheshire 7cont474 ,,ii ,,the ,,older ,,rocks ,let us now visit some quarries in ,east ,cheshire4 ,we shall find considerable difficulty in reaching some of them4 ,it will be necessary to get permission from the owners of the quarries1 put on a special suit of clothes1 enter an iron cage1 and descend many hundred feet perhaps into the depths of the earth's surface until we find ourselves--in a coal-mine6 ,illustration3 ,,section ,,of ,,rocks ,,from ,,knutsford ,,to ,,buxton ,unlike the ,new ,red ,sandstones1 which are found for the most part in flat horizontal beds1 the coal beds slope downwards from east to west4 ,this is due to the uplifting of the ,east ,cheshire hills1 which we shall presently explain4 ,when this uplift took place1 the coal beds1 which were originally flat1 became raised in the east and equally lowered in the west4 ,when the sea flowed over them they became covered by sandy deposits of such a thickness that in the greater part of ,cheshire the coal cannot be reached4 ,the earliest sands laid down formed what are called the ,permian rocks1 and the later layers the ,new ,red ,sandstone series mentioned in the last chapter4 ,the ,permian rocks may be well seen at ,stockport1 in the river beds of the ,tame and the ,goyt which have cut their way through them4 ,in the strip of country between ,stockport and ,macclesfield1 and again on the south-eastern borders of ,cheshire1 the upturned edges of the coal beds have been left exposed so that the coal is near the surface and can be easily extracted4 ,coal consists of the vegetable remains of forest trees and their undergrowth4 ,if you look at a lump of coal you will see that it has been pressed down into thin layers like the leaves of a book4 ,when these layers are split apart there are often found the fossil remains of leaves and roots of trees1 fronds of ferns1 seed-cones and stems of plants which grew in the forests4 ,some of these1 particularly the ferns1 are often of great beauty4 ,you may see a number of these 'coal pictures' in the ,vernon ,park ,museum at ,stockport4 ,here too you will find portions of the actual trunks of trees that have been dug up just where they stood when the seas flowed over them4 ,you may learn even to distinguish different varieties of these forest trees1 just as you are able to distinguish the oak and the beech and the elm of to-day4 ,latin names such as ,sigillaria1 ,lepidodendron1 and ,salisburia have been given to them4 ,the most beautiful of all is a ,maidenhair ,tree-fern4 ,the ,calamites was a huge ',horse-tail' plant of which you may find small varieties to-day on banks and in hedgerows4 ,on the coast of ,wirral1 between ,meols and ,new ,brighton1 are the remains of a forest which has only in very recent years been covered by the sea4 ,boys who live in this neighbourhood may have heard their parents tell of the stumps of tree-trunks sticking out through the sands when the tide was low4 ,this shows that the land is continually undergoing changes1 at one time being raised above the seas1 at another time sinking beneath the waves4 ,the beds or 'seams' of coal vary in thickness from a thin film to several yards1 and are separated from one another by layers of hard clays and flagstones4 ,from the flagstone beds are obtained the square slabs with which the pavements of our towns and cities are laid4 ,in many of the quarries near the ,cheshire coal-field you may watch the workmen cutting and shaping these stones4 ,the beds of clays and seams of coal make up what are called the ',coal ,measures'4 ,these in their turn rest upon a foundation of hard rock1 harder than any we have yet examined1 called ,millstone ,grit or ,gritstone4 ,boys who live in the hilly parts of ,east ,cheshire are very familiar with it1 for very probably the houses in which they live and the churches and chapels where they worship have been built of this stone4 ,it is composed of coarse sand and grit1 and1 like the red sandstone1 is a waterlaid deposit several thousand feet in thickness4 ,the ,pennine ,hills1 on the borderland of ,cheshire and ,derbyshire1 are covered with ,millstone ,grit1 which has been thrust upwards by the crumpling and arching of the rocks beneath it4 ,below the ,gritstone are still older rocks of a different character called the ,limestone series4 ,the uppermost beds contain layers of a sandy substance called ,yoredale sandstones4 ,mixed with them are layers of shale1 a dark bluish grey clay that crumbles into thin fragments when crushed with the hand1 and thin seams of limestone and1 occasionally1 of coal4 ,these are the oldest rocks that are found anywhere in ,cheshire4 ,you may see them in the hills east of ,macclesfield and ,congleton and the higher parts of ,longdendale4 ,below these beds is a mass of ,mountain ,limestone which has been forced upwards into an arch by tremendous pressure of rocks from either side1 and has lifted up the ,gritstone above to a height of nearly two thousand feet4 ,in this way the highlands of ,east ,cheshire1 and indeed the whole of the ,pennine ,chain1 have been formed4 ,the ,mountain ,limestone1 which consists almost entirely of animal remains1 especially shells and corals1 extends right under the highest hills of ,cheshire1 and comes to light in the cliffs of the beautiful dales of ,derbyshire4 ,only at one spot1 a quarry near ,astbury1 does it appear at the surface in ,cheshire4 ,the ,coal ,measures1 ,millstone ,grit1 ,yoredale sandstones1 and ,mountain ,limestone make up what geologists call the ,carboniferous or ,coal-bearing series1 so called because in ,england our chief supplies of coal are obtained from this group of rocks4 ,but we should have to dig deeper even than the ,mountain ,limestone before we could reach the original surface of the earth in ,cheshire4 ,long ages ago1 ages so distant that not even the most learned men of science can reckon them1 our earth was a globe of fiery molten rock4 ,as the surface gradually cooled it became wrinkled1 as a baked apple will when taken from an oven4 ,water collected in the hollows into which fragments of rock were washed down from the ridges1 and thus the waters were raised and formed into seas and lakes4 ,but we shall not find any of these rocks in ,cheshire1 though you may see them in great masses in the mountains of ,cumberland and ,wales1 where they have been forced upwards by the violent movements always at work in the interior of the earth4 ,it is of these molten rocks that the mass of stone which was brought by the ice from ,cumberland and left on ,eddisbury ,hill is composed4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,early ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,cheshire ,a few years ago some workmen digging on the high ground of ,alderley ,edge came across a number of flint stones1 which from their shape and the marks of chipping upon them had clearly been fashioned by the hand of man4 ,some of the flints were shaped like a knife blade with a sharp edge on their entire length1 and others of a more or less oval shape had a keen edge on one of their curves4 ,the former were the knives with which the earliest men of ,cheshire cut the flesh of animals for food2 the latter were the scrapers with which they removed the flesh from the bones or from the hides that provided them with clothing4 ,flints1 however1 are not naturally found in any of the ,cheshire rocks2 they must be sought for in the districts where chalk hills abound4 ,clearly therefore these men must have brought their tools and weapons with them when they first came into ,cheshire from the east or from the south4 ,afterwards1 no doubt1 they bargained for them1 giving skins and furs in exchange4 ,men first made their homes in ,cheshire when the glaciers of the ,great ,ice ,age retreated northwards and the climate became more suitable for human habitation4 ,a flint arrow-head found during some excavations at ,clulow ,cross near ,wincle1 tells us that men lived then by hunting1 depending for their food on the flesh of wild beasts4 ,they lived in caves or in holes dug in the ground4 ,the roughly-chipped stone axe in the ,grosvenor ,museum was made by these men4 ,the ,flint men1 or men of the ,old ,stone ,age1 probably came originally from the mainland of ,europe to which ,britain at that time was joined1 the ,north ,sea and ,english ,channel being then dry land4 ,the reindeer1 the mammoth1 the wild ox1 and packs of hungry wolves and hyenas roamed over ,cheshire in those days4 ,these ,flint men were succeeded by other races of ,new ,stone men who found that they could manufacture their necessary tools out of the boulders embedded in the drift and boulder-clay4 ,the men who dug up the knives and scrapers of ,alderley found near ,mottram ,common a heap of small boulders carefully placed in a pit dug in the ground and clearly selected for some useful purpose4 ,for out of these stones were to be cut and shaped stone hammer-heads with which they learned to crush copper ore and axe-heads to cut down trees4 ,some of the hammer-heads themselves have been found in this locality1 and they are made of a stone similar to that of the unbroken boulders4 ,the stone 'celt' or axe-head in ,vernon ,park ,museum shows that they were improving in their skill and workmanship1 for their tools were no longer chipped into their required shape but ground with hard mill-stones and afterwards smoothed and polished4 ,afterwards1 as you may see from the specimen in the ,grosvenor ,museum1 which has a hole cut through it1 the ,new ,stone men learned how to fit handles to their axe-heads4 ,in the course of time these primitive dwellers learned to tame and train animals for their service and use4 ,they were protected from attack by wild beasts by circles of piled stones or raised earth covered with turf4 ,traces of these circles have in recent years been found at ,alderley ,edge1 but they have been mostly levelled for agricultural purposes4 ,they also taught themselves the art of pottery1 making rough jars and urns of sun-dried clay and sand1 jars wherein to store their water1 and urns in which to place the remains of their dead4 ,one of these urns1 dug up at ,stretton1 may be seen in the ,warrington ,museum4 ,the ,stone men were succeeded by tribes of an entirely different race called ,celts4 ,the ,celts drove out the earlier inhabitants from their ,cheshire homes1 compelling them to seek refuge in ,wales and ,ireland4 ,they came not all at once but in successive waves1 the earliest arrivals being the ,goidelic or ,gaelic ,celts1 who in their turn were ousted by the ,brythonic ,celts1 from whom the name of ,briton is derived4 ,these are the ancestors of the ,welsh nation4 ,the ,brythons1 or ,britons as we may now call them1 were a more intelligent and civilized race than any that had hitherto dwelt in the land4 ,they were a pastoral people1 and brought with them great herds of cattle1 as well as horses and dogs4 ,they could spin and sew1 making their spindles and needles of bone or horn1 and grew corn1 which they ground with hand-mills4 ,but the ,britons must have been continually fighting against fresh incoming tribes1 for on some of the hill-tops of ,cheshire you may see the camps and earthworks which they made for their defence and refuge in time of war4 ,suitable positions were chosen1 with one side guarded by precipitous cliffs if possible1 the whole being enclosed except on the steep side by a raised rampart of earth and a ditch4 ,these earthworks are circular or oval with gaps on either side for entrances4 ,at ,bucton ,castle1 high above ,mossley and the ,tame ,valley1 at ,kelsborrow ,castle in ,delamere ,forest1 and ,maiden ,castle in the ,broxton ,hills1 ,british encampments may still be seen4 ,the ,britons were very particular about the burial of their dead4 ,over the graves of their chiefs they erected great round 'barrows'4 ,many of these barrows1 or1 to give them their ,latin name1 'tumuli1' may be seen to-day1 and several of them have been opened and examined4 ,in a field near ,oakmere1 not far from the high-road that passes through ,delamere ,forest1 is a cluster of barrows called the ',seven ,lows' which clearly mark an early settlement of considerable importance4 ,they vary in size from fifteen to thirty yards in diameter4 ,one of them1 when opened1 was found to contain an urn with charred human remains within it4 ,the urn was inverted1 the better to support the weight of soil above it1 and was set in the middle of a floored space over which was a thin layer of charcoal4 ,this seems to show that a funeral pyre was erected on which the body was first burnt1 the remains being then gathered and placed in the urn4 ,the barrow was erected over the urn by piling stones and covering them with soil and turf4 ,burial urns have been found at ,castle ,hill ,cob and ,glead ,hill ,cob in ,delamere ,forest1 and at ,twemlow where there is a group of five tumuli4 ,in the hilly district of ,east ,cheshire1 where rocks are plentiful1 the burial grounds were marked by circles of upright stones4 ,there are some remains of such circles on the moorland near ,clulow ,cross4 ,among the burnt bones in a barrow at this spot were found a flint#a knife and arrow-head1 for it was believed that the dead man would require his tools and weapons after death just as in his lifetime4 ,for the same reason often the wives and slaves of a chief were sacrificed or cremated at his death to serve and wait upon him in another world4 ,the barrows were also used by the tribes as a place of assembly for their religious rites1 when prayers and human victims were offered to their gods and to the spirits of their dead leaders1 who1 as they believed1 would continue to watch over them and help them in battle4 #a ,flint weapons no doubt continued to be used1 especially in remote and hilly districts1 even after the arrival of the ,celts4 ,the ,brythonic ,celts came to ,britain between #a1jjj ,b4,c4 and #ejj ,b4,c41 and were acquainted with the use and manufacture of bronze implements4 ,hence the period during which they arrived and lived in ,britain is called the ,bronze ,age4 ,the bronze 'celt' in the ,grosvenor ,museum was found in the camp at ,kelsborrow1 and when the railway was cut at ,wilmslow an urn containing bones and a bronze dagger was dug up4 ,the urn and dagger are now in the museum at ,peel ,park1 ,salford4 ,the river valleys and the lowlands of ,cheshire were in those days swampy and unhealthy1 so the ,britons lived as much as possible in the higher parts1 which were also more suitable for agricultural pursuits4 ,on the crests or slopes of hills were tracks or ridgeways for pack-horses1 leading from one settlement to another4 ,on ,werneth ,low1 ,eddisbury ,hill1 and ,alderley ,edge1 these ancient ridgeways may still be traced4 ,when men went down to the rivers to fish they carried on their backs light coracles of plaited reeds covered with skin1 such as the fishermen still use on the ,dee between ,farndon and ,bangor where the water is too rapid or shallow for boats4 ,roman writers have left us descriptions of the ,britons who lived in the centuries immediately preceding the birth of ,christ2 from them we learn that1 although the ,british tribes were mainly occupied in fighting against one another1 a certain amount of trade was carried on with travellers and merchants from other lands1 and that they dwelt in 'towns' or collections of wattled huts surrounded by a stockade and ditch4 ,from the numerous fragments of ,british pottery that have been unearthed in the neighbourhood of ,chester1 we gather that there was a ,british town of considerable importance on the site of the later city1 and traders from the ,mediterranean1 who visited this country1 may well have moored their vessels in the tidal waters of the ,dee4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,romans ,,in ,,cheshire4 ,i ,in the previous chapters all that we know of ,cheshire and its people has been learned from unwritten records1 'stories in stones'1 and from such scanty remains as have been brought to light by excavation and careful examination of the soil4 ,from this time onwards our knowledge will be much more extensive and sure1 for we shall have written records left by men who lived in the times of which they wrote4 ,fifty-four years before the birth of ,christ the ,british inhabitants of ,cheshire must have heard of the landing on the southern shores of ,britain of the drilled and disciplined soldiers of one of the greatest generals that ever lived4 ,julius ,caesar1 who first led the ,roman eagles into ,britain1 has given us in his ',commentaries' a description of the ,britain of his day and of its inhabitants4 ,some of the fierce hill-men of ,east ,cheshire may possibly have fought against him1 for he tells us that the ,british tribes ceased making war on one another1 and united themselves under a single leader called ,cassivellaunus to resist the invaders4 ,after a decisive victory--at least1 according to his own account--,caesar returned with his legions to the ,continent1 and ninety years passed by before the ,romans came again1 this time to make a long stay of nearly four hundred years4 ,about the year ,a4,d4 #ej the ,roman axe might be heard hewing a road through the dense forests which in those days almost surrounded the city of ,chester4 ,a ,roman governor1 ,ostorius ,scapula1 was busy in the neighbouring county of ,shropshire making war on the sturdy ,welsh-,britons of the borderland of ,wales1 and fortifying the city which he built under the shadow of the ,wrekin4 ,from this point1 slowly but surely1 the ,roman soldiers made their way through forest and foe to ,chester1 or ,deva as it was then called4 ,this was the chief town of a tribe called the ,cornavii1 a pastoral people occupying the present county of ,cheshire1 except the hilly districts of the north-east1 where the ,brigantes1 a more warlike tribe than the ,cornavii1 had their homes4 ,the ,romans did not1 however1 capture ,chester without a struggle4 ,the city was well protected on its western and southern sides by the river ,dee1 whose waters spread over the ,roodee right up to where the walls of the city now stand4 ,only from the east could the place be attacked1 and the highest points of ,delamere ,forest and the ,peckforton ,hills are still marked by the ,british encampments and earthworks where the ,britons made their last stand1 and by green earth-mounds or 'tumuli' where the dead bodies of their leaders were buried4 ,if you take up an ,ordnance ,map you will often find a length of road running quite straight for some miles4 ,such roads will nearly always prove to have been the work of the ,romans1 for the ,romans made their roads direct from point to point1 like modern railways1 their chief object being to enable troops to march rapidly from one military station to another4 ,two straight pieces of ,roman road enter the city of ,chester1 one on the south and the other on the east4 ,illustration3 ,,roman ,,roads ,,in ,,cheshire ,the ,romans were skilful engineers and did their work very thoroughly1 clearing the forest land as they advanced1 and draining marshes or laying stone causeways across them4 ,bridges were built1 though not every bridge now called ,roman was the work of the ,romans4 ,the ',roman bridge' near ,marple was not built until many centuries after the last ,romans had left ,cheshire1 but it may well mark the spot where1 according to tradition1 a ,roman bridge had once stood4 ,more often1 where the roads crossed rivers1 fords were marked by stakes1 and the bed of the river carefully laid with stones4 ,in the ,museum at ,vernon ,park is a paving-stone taken from the ,mersey at ,stockport where probably the ,roman road crossed the river4 ,the ,roman roads were paved throughout1 except where they were hewn out of the solid rock4 ,the road through ,delamere ,forest was part of the ',watling ,street' which went in an almost straight line from ,deva to ,manchester1 called by the ,romans ,mancunium4 ,stretford is the place where the ,roman 'street' crossed the ,mersey4 ,the modern high-road from ,chester to ,manchester for nearly its entire length keeps very close to the line of the ancient ,watling ,street1 only departing from the older road to avoid hills4 ,at such points the straight track of the ,roman road can still be traced in the fields and woodland4 ,often in the neighbourhood of ,tarvin and ,kelsall has the pickaxe or the spade of the labourer struck against the ,roman paving-stones4 ,when an excavation was made at ,organsdale1 midway between the villages of ,kelsall and ,delamere1 a portion of the ,roman ,watling ,street1 cut in the solid sandstone1 was discovered1 still showing the wheel-ruts worn on the surface by ,roman and ,british carts4 ,in other parts of the forest1 when the crops are in1 you may see lines of raised earth and gravel where the ancient road was laid along an embankment4 ,at ,northwich1 which the ,romans called ,salinae or the 'saltworks'1 a second road1 which entered ,cheshire at ,wilderspool near ,warrington1 crossed ,watling ,street at right angles and ran in a perfectly straight line to ,middlewich or ',condate'4 ,this road was called by the ,saxons ,kind or ,king ,street1 and was continued southwards to ,nantwich4 ,illustration3 ,,tombstone ,,to ,,caecilius ,,avitus 7,,grosvenor ,,museum7 ,the ,grosvenor ,museum at ,chester contains a large collection of stones with figures and inscriptions carved upon them1 and other objects from which we may learn a great deal about the ,roman conquerors4 ,the inscriptions1 which are of course in ,latin1 the language of the ,romans1 show that ,chester was an important garrison town1 and the head-quarters of the ,twentieth ,legion4 ,a legion1 or division1 of the ,roman army contained about five thousand men4 ,a number of these relics are tombstones of the legionary soldiers who were stationed here4 ,you may distinguish them by the opening words ,,dis ,,manibus1 or shortly ,d4,m41 which practically means in ,english1 ',to the memory of4' ,the inscriptions then give the name of the soldier and his native place1 his age1 and the name of the 'century' or company to which he belonged4 ,women accompanied the legion1 as you may see from a tombstone of a centurion and his wife4 ,another stone of which a picture is given1 shows the ordinary dress1 the tunic and belt of a ,roman soldier4 ,in most of the inscriptions on these stones are the letters ,,vv1 which are the initials of the words ',valeria ,victrix'1 the victorious ,valerian1 by which name the ,twentieth ,legion was known4 ,the badge of the legion was a boar1 and this also appears on many of the stones and tiles of the buildings put up by the soldiers of this legion4 ,these tombstones were discovered in the year #ahhc inside the base of the north wall of the city of ,chester while the wall was being repaired4 ,it is probable therefore that there had been a cemetery outside the city wall at this point1 from which the stones were taken during its construction4 ,the bodies of the ,romans were burnt after death1 and the ashes placed in urns of earthenware not unlike those of the ,britons4 ,roman burial urns have been discovered on ,winnington ,hill near ,northwich and at ,boughton4 ,you may see them in the ,chester ,museum4 ,here also are a number of ,roman altars dedicated1 as their inscriptions show1 to the ,roman gods ,jupiter1 ,mars1 ,minerva1 c4 ,on one of them you can easily make out the words ,,deo ,,marti ,,conserv1 which mean ',to the god ,mars the ,preserver'4 ,the lower portion1 which has been broken off1 contained the name of the soldier who dedicated it4 ,another altar is dedicated to the ',genius'1 or guardian spirit1 of the century4 ,on the sides of the altars are rough carvings of the axe and the knife1 the jug and the dish1 used in sacrificial ceremonies4 ,illustration3 ,,altar3 ,,genio 7,,grosvenor ,,museum7 ,a third group of stones are called centurial stones4 ,these1 like our modern foundation or memorial stones1 were built into a portion of wall or building and gave the name of the 'century' of soldiers by whom the work was constructed4 ,at first the ,romans were hard taskmasters4 ,heavy tribute was demanded from the conquered ,britons1 who complained loudly of the miseries of bondage1 and of the insults and injuries put upon them4 ,gangs of ,british slaves were forced to work in cornfield and quarry under the whips of their ,roman rulers1 or compelled to fight with one another or with wild beasts 'to make a ,roman holiday'4 ,rebellions were frequent1 and were put down by the ,roman officers with great cruelty2 and for many years it was only the superior arms and military science of the ,roman legions that made it possible to keep in subjection a discontented people4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,romans ,,in ,,cheshire4 ,,ii ,a piece of leaden water-piping discovered in ,eastgate ,street1 ,chester1 bears the name of ,julius ,agricola4 ,agricola was made ,governor of ,britain in ,a4,d4 #gh4 ,tacitus1 a ,roman historian1 who married ,agricola's daughter1 wrote a life of his father-in-law and a narrative of his work in ,britain4 ,from his writings we learn that ,agricola first turned his attention to the fierce tribe of the ,brigantes who inhabited the hilly districts of ,yorkshire1 ,lancashire1 and ,north-,east ,cheshire4 ,agricola made the preparations for his expedition at ,chester1 which became his head-quarters1 and built the fortified outposts of ,mancunium on the ,irwell and ,melandra on the ,derbyshire bank of the ,river ,etherow1 connecting them with one another with new roads4 ,both ,mancunium and ,melandra have been excavated in recent years1 and at the latter you may see the foundations of portions of the wall laid bare1 and the base of one of the principal gateways leading into the fort4 ,a ,roman camp was usually square1 with the corners slightly rounded1 as has been proved by the excavations at ,melandra and by the piece of ,roman wall lately discovered at ,chester1 which shows a distinct curve towards the ,pepper ,gate4 ,roads crossed the camp at right angles4 ,the wall or 'vallum' was protected when necessary by a fosse or ditch1 but ,agricola chose his positions with such care that one side at least was usually already guarded by the waters of some stream4 ,watch-towers were placed at the corners and on either side of the gateways4 ,chester still preserves the shape and plan of the ,roman fortress4 ,its four main streets1 which are hewn out of the sandstone on which the city is built1 cross each other at right angles4 ,the ,welsh called it ,caer ,lleon or ,lleon ,vawr--the ',camp of the ,legion'4 ,the present walls are not1 however1 the work of the ,romans1 though here and there they have been proved to have been built on the foundations of the ,roman walls4 ,the lowest courses of the ,north ,wall near the ,deanery ,field1 when excavated1 were found to be faced with massive stones of ,roman masonry1 with a ,roman 'plinth' running along the base4 ,the stones fit very closely together and no mortar was used4 ,the inside of the wall was filled with rubble4 ,from time to time portions of ,roman wall have been found in other parts of the city4 ,one big piece is in the cellars of ,dickson's seed warehouse4 ,when the foundations of the offices of the ,national ,telephone ,company in ,john ,street were being excavated a year or two ago1 a fine piece of ,roman wall was unearthed4 ,the builders have left it standing where they found it1 and you may now see it in the basement of the building1 protected from future harm by an iron grid4 ,on the ,roodee is a portion of ,roman masonry of finely jointed stones which is thought to have been the quay of the ,roman city4 ,in the middle of a ,roman fortress was the ,praetorium or general's quarters4 ,traces of such a building are to be seen in the camp at ,melandra1 and at ,chester the foundations of a large edifice discovered in ,northgate ,street may possibly be a portion of a similar building4 ,inscriptions show us that another legion1 called the ,legio ,secunda1 was stationed at ,chester for several years4 ,when ,britain was more or less pacified and required fewer troops this legion was recalled and sent to the ,roman provinces on the ,danube4 ,tacitus tells us that ,agricola spread civilization among the ,britons1 sent the sons of chieftains to ,rome to be educated1 and even in time taught the ,britons to adopt ,roman habits and dress and to speak the ,latin tongue4 ,but he would not at first let them join the ,roman legions in ,britain2 those who wished to fight for the ,roman emperors were sent abroad to the ,roman provinces on the ,rhine or the ,danube4 ,the soldiers of subject races were not for many years after their conquest allowed by the ,romans to fight in their own country4 ,the tombstones mentioned in the previous chapter prove this1 for not one of them bears the name of any ,british soldier4 ,a bronze tablet dug up at ,malpas1 on which is engraved a decree of the ,emperor ,trajan1 shows that the soldiers who fought in the ,roman army in ,britain were not all ,romans1 or even ,italians1 for it speaks of ,thracians1 ,dalmatians1 ,spaniards1 and men of other nations conquered by ,rome4 ,for seven years ,agricola was a wise and a humane ruler4 ,he removed many of the burdens put upon the ,britons by previous governors1 and it was chiefly due to him that the ,romans were able to make their rule acceptable to the ,britons4 ,in time ,britons became proud of the name of ,roman citizens4 ,we have seen from the character of the remains that ,chester was peculiarly a military city4 ,thus it differed greatly from many of the ,roman cities of southern ,britain1 which lost their military character as the tide of war rolled northwards and westwards4 ,these cities soon became busy centres of trade and civic life1 with all the conveniences and luxuries of ,italian towns4 ,they had their temples and their basilica or town hall1 theatres and public baths1 palaces and colonnades of shops1 and handsome villas of ,roman officials4 ,but life at ,chester1 with the continual arrival and departure of troops and stores1 must have been hard and monotonous1 with the din of warfare probably never far distant4 ,the ,welsh were never really subdued by the ,romans4 ,yet even at ,chester there were buildings of importance1 as we can see from the broken fragments of pillars in the little garden by the ,water ,tower1 and in the basements of ,vernon's ,toy ,bazaar and other shops in ,chester4 ,these pillars were made to support the porches and colonnades with which the fronts and sometimes the sides also of ,roman buildings were adorned4 ,no doubt you have noticed them in pictures you have seen of ancient ,rome4 ,in a later chapter you will learn that the ,englishmen of the eighteenth century copied the ,roman or ,italian style of architecture in their churches1 town halls1 and other public buildings1 and from the buildings then made you can get some idea of those of a ,roman town4 ,the pillars were of three different patterns or 'orders'1 and by observing carefully their differences you will be able to tell at a glance to which particular order a modern building belongs4 ,the capitals of the ,doric and ,ionic pillars are much simpler in design than those of the ,corinthian1 which were often of a very ornamental nature4 ,illustration3 ,,roman ,,capitals3 ,,doric1 ,,ionic1 ,,and ,,corinthian ,the ,romans felt the cold and damp of the ,british climate1 so different from that of their own warm and sunny land4 ,many of their houses and public buildings were warmed by 'hypocausts' or heating chambers1 and every city had its public baths with rooms heated by hot air4 ,in ,bridge ,street is a hypocaust remaining just where the ,romans left it4 ,the pillars which you see in the illustration are those of another hypocaust found many years ago in ,bridge ,street4 ,the pillars were set up in rows on a solid foundation1 being fixed in their places by cement4 ,on the top of these a second floor of cement and bricks1 several inches thick1 was laid4 ,the space between the two floors was heated by hot air1 introduced through an opening in the side wall communicating with a furnace or oven4 ,in their own country the bath was an important event in the everyday life of the ,romans4 ,illustration3 ,,remains ,,of ,,hypocaust1 ,,chester ,the floors of ,roman buildings were paved with tiny blocks of brick called 'tesserae'1 three to four inches long and one inch wide4 ,a piece of flooring in the ,grosvenor ,museum shows that the bricks were laid on a bed of cement or concrete in 'herring-bone' pattern1 that is1 with the bricks at right angles to one another4 ,a large number of tiles used in roofing have been found all over the city2 on many of these you will see the stamp ,,leg ,,xx ,,vv of the ,twentieth ,legion4 ,there was a tile factory at ,holt on the ,dee where also many of these tiles bearing the same stamp have recently been found4 ,the ,romans taught the ,britons many useful trades4 ',veratinum' or ,wilderspool became under the ,romans quite a busy manufacturing town1 the forerunner of a modern ,warrington or ,wigan4 ,the site of the ancient ,roman town has been carefully dug over4 ,traces have been found of many pits1 hearths1 furnaces1 and ovens for the manufacture of glass and pottery1 a bronze foundry1 and an iron smelting furnace1 and an enameller's workshop4 ,in the museums at ,warrington and at ,stockport are many fragments of pottery found here4 ,most of it is of a rough brown-red ware1 called 'rough-cast'1 of which the commoner utensils1 water-jugs and bowls and funeral urns1 were made4 ,a more ornamental kind is called ',samian'1 and is of a darker colour1 highly glazed and decorated with embossed figures of men and animals4 ,many articles of iron1 knives1 padlocks1 keys1 nails1 found on the same spot show that ,veratinum was the ,birmingham of the ,roman occupation4 ,roman coins have been dug up in large numbers at ,chester and other sites along the ,roman roads4 ,many of them are to be seen in ,chester ,town ,hall and in our museums4 ,nearly all the emperors of the first four centuries are represented upon them4 ,several emperors came to ,britain1 and we may be sure that in their tours of inspection they paid visits to the important garrison city of the 'great legion'4 ,some of these coins bear the name of ,constantine1 the first ,christian emperor1 who was born at ,york1 and whose mother was perhaps a lady of ,british birth4 ,there is unfortunately nothing to show that there was any ,christian church in ,roman ,cheshire1 though many of the ,roman soldiers must have been familiar with the ,christian faith4 ,romans who became ,christians were allowed to worship in the basilica1 which in after days1 as we shall see1 became the model upon which ,christian churches were built4 ,on a house near the ,east ,gate of ,chester are carved these words3 ',the fear of the ,lord is a fountain of life4' ,this is the translation of an inscription on a ,roman coin found when the workmen were digging the foundations of the building4 ,the coins of the ,emperor ,magnentius show the monogram of the first two letters of ,christ4 ,the ,roman rule lasted for #cgj years4 ,during this period they had transformed a desolate and barren land1 inhabited by a people that were almost savages1 into a fertile and prosperous province2 ,britannia ,felix the ,romans themselves called it4 ,large tracts of forest land were cleared and brought under cultivation4 ,britain became one of the chief granaries of ,rome4 ,in the museums you may see the ,roman querns or handmills with which they ground their corn4 ,the ,romans worked the copper mines on ,alderley ,edge2 stone hammer-heads with which the ,britons crushed the ore for their ,roman masters have been found there4 ,a 'pig' of lead weighing over a hundredweight1 dug up in the ,roodee1 shows that lead mines were extensively worked4 ,the lead was brought to ,chester from the mines of ,denbighshire and was part of the tribute paid by the ,britons to the ,roman emperors4 ,salt1 a scarce commodity in many countries1 was obtained1 as at the present day1 from the salt beds of ,northwich4 ,at the end of the fourth century the ,roman empire was overrun by hordes of barbarians from ,northern ,europe4 ,the ,romans1 weakened by luxury and wealth1 were unable to beat back the ruthless invaders4 ,legion after legion was summoned from the distant parts of the empire for the defence of the imperial city itself4 ,about the year ,a4,d4 #chj the ',conquering ,legion' marched out for the last time through the city gates of ,chester1 and by #daj no ,roman soldiers were left in ,britain4 ,with sorrow and despair the ,britons watched the last soldiers depart4 ,their own fighting-men were far away in distant lands1 and they knew that without the protection of the ,roman legions on whom they had so long relied1 they were left a defenceless prey of the foes that were threatening them on all sides4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,saxons ,,and ,,angles ,,come ,,to ,,cheshire ,as the ,romans retreated southwards1 tribes of ,picts1 a fierce race inhabiting the northern parts of ,britain followed in their wake plundering and destroying the cities built by the ,romans1 and everywhere falling upon the defenceless ,britons4 ,we know little of the doings of this terrible time1 for with the departure of the ,romans there descended upon ,britain a veil of darkness that was not to be lifted for #aej years4 ,in the latter part of the fifth century the tide of ,pictish invasion was rolled back by other races who landed on our southern and eastern coasts4 ,these were the ,saxons1 ,jutes1 and ,angles1 the rude forefathers of the ,english people1 who left their homes in ,northern ,germany to make new settlements and found kingdoms in our country4 ,you will read elsewhere of the long and gradual conquest of ,england by these barbarian invaders4 ',field by field1 town by town1 forest by forest1 the land was won' from the ,british inhabitants4 ,according to the story usually told1 though ,i am obliged to admit that we have very strong evidence for it1 it was not until the year #ehd ,a4,d4 that any of them reached the part of the country that is now ,cheshire4 ,by that time the ,west ,saxons1 one of the most powerful of these tribes1 had fought their way from the ,english ,channel to the ,river ,severn and ,shropshire1 where they destroyed the great ,roman city of ,uriconium4 ,under their leader ,ceawlin they appear to have made an attempt to reach ,chester1 but were met near ,nantwich at a spot called ,fethanleagh1 now probably the modern village of ,faddiley1 by ,brocmael1 ,prince of ,powys or mid-,wales4 ,the ,saxons were routed and retired quickly to the ,south4 ,chester was saved for a time and became the capital of the ,welsh kingdom of ,gwynedd4 ,thirty years later1 however1 a greater than ,ceawlin appeared before the walls of the ,roman city4 ,the ,angles1 who had founded on our north-eastern shores the powerful kingdom of ,northumbria1 crossed the ,pennine ,hills under their leader and king ,aethelfrith1 and descended upon ,cheshire4 ,once more ,brocmael put himself at the head of the ,britons and ,welsh4 ,we are told by ,bede1 the earliest of our ,english historians1 who wrote in the succeeding century1 that #a1bjj monks from a great monastery at ,bangor-,iscoed on the ,dee accompanied ,brocmael after a fast of three days to the battlefield to offer up prayers for victory4 ,aethelfrith watched the wild gestures of the monks and bade his followers slay them first of all4 ',bear they arms or no1' he said1 'they fight against us when they cry against us to their ,god4' ,brocmael left them to their fate and fled from the battle1 which ended in the utter defeat of the ,britons4 ,the victory of ,aethelfrith was followed by the capture of ,chester1 and ,cheshire became a portion of a kingdom that stretched from the ,tweed to the ,dee4 ,but the most important result of the ',battle of ,chester' was that the northern ,welsh ,britons or ',cumbrian' ,welsh were now completely cut off from their kinsmen in ,wales4 ,everywhere the conquered ,britons were driven northwards and westwards to the mountains of ,cumberland or ,wales1 and the ,britons as a united nation ceased to exist4 ,for forty years ,cheshire was ruled by ,northumbrian kings1 but during the latter part of this period another kingdom was gathering strength in the ,midlands of ,england4 ,this was the kingdom of ,mercia or the ,marchland4 ,the ,mercian ,penda defeated the ,northumbrian king and added ,cheshire to the lands over which he ruled4 ,mercia and ,cheshire were frequently raided by the ,welsh1 and it was to keep them out that ,offa1 greatest of the ,mercian kings1 built his famous ',dyke' from ,chester to ,south ,wales1 many portions of which you may trace to this day4 ,mercia in turn was conquered by the kings of ,wessex1 one of whom1 ,ecberght1 is usually styled the first king of all ,england4 ,ecberght and his ,west ,saxons overran ,cheshire and captured the city of ,chester in the year #hbh4 ,thus did three kingdoms strive for the possession of ,cheshire1 which from its central position must have been the scene of many an unrecorded fight4 ,numbers of ,cheshire villages show by their names their ,anglo-,saxon origin4 ,davenham1 ,frodsham1 and ,warmingham speak to us of the 'hams' or homesteads that the ,saxons made for themselves in their newly won lands4 ,bebington1 ,bollington1 and ,congleton take their names from the 'tun'1 the enclosure or hedge of a farm or village2 ,prestbury1 ,marbury1 and ,astbury from the 'burh' or fortified house of the headman of a tribe4 ,illustration3 ,,runic ,,stone1 ,,upton ,goostree is perhaps the ',god's tree' where the land was parcelled out among the villagers and punishment meted to wrong-doers2 ,thurstaston1 or the tun of ,thor's stone1 the place of sacrifice to their heathen god ,thor4 ,the ash tree gives its name to several ,cheshire villages1 ,ashton1 ,ashley1 ,astbury1 for instance4 ,this fact tells us that the tree was held in great veneration by the ,angles and ,saxons4 ,even to this day the tree is thought to possess the power of bringing good or evil4 ,a superstitious ,cheshire labourer will not1 if he can help it1 cut down an ash tree for fear it should bring him misfortune1 and churn staves made of ash are used by farmers' wives to prevent the butter from being bewitched4 ,it is in fact from the ,angles and ,saxons that we have inherited the priceless possession of our ,english tongue4 ,the oldest traces of our language in a written form in ,cheshire may be seen in the ,grosvenor ,museum at ,chester4 ,here on a plaster cast is an inscription written in strange letters1 ',runes' or 'mysteries' as they are called4 ,this cast is a copy of an inscribed stone discovered at ,upton-in-,wirral when the old church was pulled down4 ,the stones of this building had previously been taken from the ancient ruined church at ,overchurch4 ,learned scholars examined the stone carefully and made out these words3 ,,folcae ,,areardon ,,bec,,un4 ,,gi,,biddath ,,for ,,athelmund4 ,the meaning is ',folk reared tomb1 bid 7i4e4 pray7 for ,athelmund'4 ,you can see that the words are ,english1 though their form has changed considerably during the #a1bjj years or more that have gone by since the runes were carved4 ,fierce and bloodthirsty were these early ancestors of ours1 'hateful alike to ,god and men1' as ,gildas1 a ,welsh monk1 described them4 ,yet even they were taught in time to abandon their strange gods and turn to the worship of ,christ1 and through the land in town and village uprose a cross of wood or stone1 the outward symbol of a new and better faith4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,cross ,,in ,,cheshire ,during the latter years of the ,roman occupation there must have been many among the ,roman soldiers stationed in ,cheshire who had heard the message of the ,gospel1 and1 following the example of their emperors1 professed the faith of ,christ4 ,but1 as we have before stated1 there is no proof that a ,christian church existed in ,cheshire in those days1 though tradition says that where the cathedral church of ,chester now stands there was a church dedicated to ,s4 ,peter and ,s4 ,paul1 which had previously been a temple of ,apollo4 ,in ,wales and ,ireland the ,church flourished greatly through the troublous period of the ,anglo-,saxon invasions4 ,we are told that ,kentigern1 the first bishop of ,glasgow1 on his return to ,wales landed in ,wirral and founded a church there4 ,in the previous chapter we have seen that at ,bangor-,iscoed on the ,dee there was a monastery of great importance1 which after the victory of ,aethelfrith of ,northumbria was razed to the ground4 ,yet it was from ,northumbria that ,christianity was destined to be brought and preached to the ,angles and ,saxons of ,cheshire4 ,oswald1 the son of the heathen ,aethelfrith1 had during his exile in ,scotland been converted by ,celtic missionaries4 ,during the reign of this 'most ,christian king1 a man dearly beloved of ,god1 and fenced with the faith of ,christ'1 missionaries from ,scotland 'began with great and fervent devotion to preach the word of faith to those provinces which ,king ,oswald governed1 baptising all such as believed4 ,therefore churches were builded in places convenient3 the people rejoicing assembled together to hear the word of ,god1' ,the ancient churches dedicated to ,s4 ,oswald at ,chester1 ,malpas1 ,brereton1 ,peover1 ,bidston1 and ,worleston1 are proof of the great part played by ,king ,oswald in the conversion of ,cheshire and of the high repute in which he was held as a champion of ,christianity4 ,the tiny hamlet of ,chadkirk near ,marple suggests to us a famous missionary who lived at a time when ,cheshire had become part of the kingdom of ,mercia4 ,this was ,ceadda or ,chad1 who was sent by the ,irish saint ,colomba to preach the gospel to the people of ,mercia1 and became in later times the patron saint of the bishopric of ,mercia1 founded by ,king ,offa4 ,chad1 who like ,oswald had received ,christianity from the ,celtic missionaries of ,north ,britain1 continued the good work of the ,northumbrian missionaries4 ,at the village of ,over were formerly two stone crosses which may well mark the spots where ,chad preached to the ,saxons of ,cheshire1 baptizing the converts in the river ,weaver that flows hard by4 ,the old church of ,over is dedicated to him1 as are also the churches of ,farndon and ,wybunbury4 ,it is worthy of note that all the ,cheshire churches named after him were built on the banks of streams1 which leads us to suppose that ,s4 ,chad1 like ,s4 ,john the ,baptist by the banks of ,jordan1 chose places where his preaching might be immediately followed by the ceremony of baptism4 ,at ,sandbach are two stone crosses which are thought to be closely connected with the conversion of ,cheshire4 ,the story goes that ,peada1 son of ,penda the heathen king of ,mercia1 wished to marry the ,christian daughter of ,oswiu of ,northumbria4 ,to win the maiden the young man consented to forsake his old religion and become a ,christian2 whereupon the crosses were set up to commemorate his conversion and marriage4 ,if you look carefully at the ,sandbach crosses you will see that the ,angles of ,mercia had reached a very high level of art in sculptured stones4 ,carved upon them are several scenes in the life of our ,lord1 the ,nativity in the stable at ,bethlehem with the ox and the ass kneeling before the infant ,christ1 the ,crucifixion with ,s4 ,mary and ,apostles below1 ,christ carrying the ,cross1 and ,christ in glory with ,s4 ,peter on ,his right hand bearing the keys of heaven4 ,few crosses were1 however1 carved so elaborately as these ,sandbach crosses4 ,the majority were doubtless of wood1 set up in the middle of the open space round which clustered the huts and wattled dwellings of the inhabitants4 ,others consisted of a plain stone shaft set upright in the ground or on a base of stone steps1 sometimes rudely adorned with scroll-work such as you may see on the fragments of a cross preserved in the churchyard of ,prestbury4 ,most of them have perished1 broken into fragments where they fell1 or have been used for repairs to damaged buildings4 ,many were wantonly destroyed in the seventeenth century during the ,civil ,war4 ,illustration3 ,,anglian ,,crosses ,,at ,,sandbach ,crosses were set up by the wayside at the junction of important highways or in towns at the crossing of the principal streets1 as at ,chester4 ,here in the open air the monks would gather round them bands of listeners1 and preach the ,word of ,god4 ,afterwards close to the cross was erected an edifice of wood or wattles in which the services of the ,church were held1 and in still later times these wooden churches would be replaced by stone buildings4 ,nowhere1 however1 in ,cheshire are there any churches or even portions of churches remaining which can be said to have been built by our early ,saxon forefathers4 ,the church of ,s4 ,john's1 ,chester1 is said to have been founded by ,king ,aethelred of ,mercia in the year #fhi4 ,an ancient legend states that ,aethelred 'was admonished to erect a church on the spot where he should find a white hind'4 ,in the church you may see fragments of an ancient wall-painting or 'fresco' on one of the pillars of the nave which illustrates this story4 ,a church certainly did exist here in very early times1 for we read that in later days ,leofric1 ,earl of ,mercia1 repaired and enriched the church of ,s4 ,john's1 which may mean that the earlier wooden church had fallen into decay1 and a more substantial building of stone was erected in its place4 ,the house of the ,mercian ,penda produced yet another name closely connected with the story of the ,cross in ,cheshire4 ,werburga1 a great-granddaughter of ,penda1 succeeded her mother as head of several great abbeys4 ,she died at ,trentham in ,staffordshire towards the end of the seventh century1 and two hundred years later1 when the ,danes 7of whom you will read more in the next chapter7 were harrying the land1 her body was removed to ,chester for safe keeping1 and placed in the church of ,s4 ,peter and ,s4 ,paul which had been re-dedicated to ,s4 ,werburga and ,s4 ,oswald4 ,for many centuries crowds of devout pilgrims made their way to ,chester to offer prayers and gifts at ,s4 ,werburga's shrine4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,coming ,,of ,,the ,,northmen ,with the capture of ,chester 7,chap4 ,,vii7 ,ecberght's conquest of ,mercia was complete4 ,northumbria1 ,kent1 and ,east ,anglia also submitted to him4 ,but neither ,ecberght nor the kings that came after him were to be allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace1 for a new and terrible enemy now appeared on our shores4 ,in the ninth century1 the coasts of ,britain were ravaged by the ,northmen or ,vikings1 those ,wild sea-wandering lords ,who sailed in a snake-prowed galley with a terror of twenty swords4 ,the word ,vikings or 'wickings' means creek-men1 from a ,scandinavian word 'wick'1 'a creek'4 ,these ,scandinavian and ,danish sea-pirates left their homes in the bays and fiords of ,north-,west ,europe1 and made raids upon ,britain and the neighbouring lands more at first from greed of plunder than with any idea of conquest4 ,large numbers of ,danes landed on our eastern coasts and ravaged the midlands4 ,under their leader ,hasting or ,hastein1 they seized and occupied the city of ,chester4 ,we can imagine the hasty flight of the monks1 for the abbeys and churches were always the first objects of attack by these heathen invaders4 ,you will read elsewhere how ,king ,alfred finally saved the greater part of ,england from the ,danes and converted their leaders to ,christianity4 ,the little village of ,plemstall 7or ,plegmundstall71 near ,chester1 reminds us of ,plegmund1 a ,saxon hermit1 who took refuge here to escape the ,danes4 ,plegmund had been a friend and tutor of ,king ,alfred4 ,when ,alfred's work was done1 and peace made with the ,danes1 he called ,plegmund from his lonely retreat in the marshes of the ,gowy to be ,archbishop of ,canterbury4 ,meanwhile1 the ,scandinavians had sailed round the north and west coasts of ,scotland1 plundering the rich monasteries that had been built by ,s4 ,patrick and his followers1 and making new homes for themselves in the ,isle of ,man and in ,ireland4 ,towards the end of the ninth century they crossed into ,wales and sailed up the ,dee to the walls of ,chester1 drawn thither perhaps by the report of the wealth of the great church that had been built on the banks of the river4 ,but they found only a deserted city in ruins1 and retired to the shores of ,wirral1 where they settled and tilled the land1 and devoted themselves to the more peaceful pursuits of agriculture4 ,in the ,wirral peninsula many of the names of the villages still show their ,scandinavian origin4 ,thus ,shotwick means the south wick or creek4 ,this village stands at the edge of a strip of land that has been recovered from the sea4 ,in early times1 boats could run along the creek right up to the rising ground where now stands the village church4 ,an interesting name survives in the little hamlet of ,thingwall1 situated almost in the centre of the ,wirral4 ,thingwall is the field where the 'thing'1 that is the tribe1 assembled to divide the land and to dispense justice4 ,you will recognize the same word in the town of ,dingwall in the ,north of ,scotland1 and at the present day 'thing' is the ,norwegian and ,danish name for ,parliament4 ,the ending '-by' in the villages ,kirby1 ,irby1 ,raby1 ,frankby1 and ,helsby1 is the ,danish name for a township1 and we see the word in our modern word 'by-laws'1 that is town laws4 ,you will not find this ending in the names of villages in any other parts of ,cheshire4 ,illustration3 ,,norse ,,hog-,,back1 ,,west ,,kirby ,in the museum in the old school-house by the churchyard at ,west ,kirby you may see a stone1 which1 from its shape1 antiquaries call a 'hog-back'4 ,the hog-back was a tombstone or grave-slab that marked the burial-place of some ,scandinavian chief4 ,the carved ornamentation as well as its shape is like that of other similar stones that have been found in the parts of ,britain where the ,northmen settled4 ,the stone gives you some idea of the homes from which these pirates came1 for the carved oval shapes represent little wooden tiles2 and the interlaced lines are the wattles or osiers of which their huts were made4 ,the heathen ,scandinavian liked his place of burial to be as much like home as possible1 which may be taken as a proof that he did not think that his soul would perish along with his body4 ,in the same museum is another stone with a head shaped like a wheel1 which is also the work of the ,vikings4 ,we are1 fortunately1 able to tell almost the exact time at which the settlements in the ,wirral were made4 ,we read in an old chronicle that in the year #ijj ,a4,d4 ,alfred's daughter ,ethelfleda1 ,lady of the ,mercians1 granted lands in ,wirral to one ,ingimund who had been driven out of ,ireland4 ,this lady1 ,ethelfleda1 fortified ,chester and rebuilt the walls which had lain in ruins since the departure of the ,romans4 ,perhaps ,ingimund and his followers had already become ,christians during their stay in ,ireland4 ,if they had not1 we may be sure that ,ethelfleda did as her father had done in his treaty with the ,danes1 and insisted on their becoming ,christians in return for being allowed to settle in ,cheshire4 ,it was in the reign of ,alfred that many ,english counties or shires first received their modern names4 ,cheshire or ,chester-shire1 like ,staffordshire and ,warwickshire1 took its name from the chief city or fortress which dominated the district and protected it from the ravages of the ,danes4 ,alfred also ordered an ,english history to be written1 in which the chief events of each year were recorded4 ,this ,old ,english ,chronicle1 as it is called1 was kept up in the reigns of the successors of ,alfred1 and is the principal source of our knowledge of ,england under the ,anglo-,saxon kings4 ,the ,chronicle tells us that1 in order to prevent any fresh landing of ,danes1 ,ethelfleda built a castle or 'burh' at ,runcorn at the head of the estuary of the ,mersey4 ,the very site of her castle has now disappeared1 for ',castle ,rock'1 upon which it was built1 was destroyed when the ,ship ,canal was made4 ,another fortress was erected by ,ethelfleda on ,eddisbury ,hill1 the highest point of ,delamere ,forest1 where1 probably1 there was a large camp in ,british times4 ,her brother ,edward1 who succeeded ,alfred as ,king of ,england1 also fortified ,thelwall on the ,mersey1 as an inscription on the gable of an inn at ,thelwall tells us4 ,for the next twenty years he carried on a vigorous war against the ,danes of the ',five ,boroughs'1 ,nottingham1 ,leicester1 ,derby1 ,stamford1 and ,lincoln4 ,but in many parts ,saxon and ,dane had already settled down side by side1 the ,danes abandoned the worship of their heathen gods ,odin and ,thor1 and received the ,gospel of ,christ1 and in the next century a ,danish king was destined to rule over all the land and to advance greatly the cause of ,christianity4 ,edward's work was done when he received the homage of the chief kings of ,britain1 and made the royal house of ,wessex supreme4 ,in the year #ibd1 as you may read in the ,english ,chronicle1 'then chose him for father and lord the ,king of ,scots 444 and all those who dwell in ,northumbria whether ,english or ,danes1 and also the ,king of the ,strathclyde ,welsh4' ,chester appears to have rapidly risen in importance1 largely no doubt owing to its central position1 and to have become a great and populous city4 ,the walls were extended beyond the limits of the ancient ,roman city1 and a new fortress built where the present ',castle' of ,chester now stands1 to guard the road over the river4 ,henceforth1 the city was kept in a state of defence by a custom which bound every 'hide' in the shire to provide a man at the town-reeve's call to keep its walls and bridge in repair4 ,a considerable trade with the seaports of ,ireland followed1 largely it is to be feared in connexion with the slave traffic1 and the city became a favourite resort of the ,english kings4 ,coins were minted here in the reign of ,athelstan4 ,athelstan must often have been in ,cheshire1 for this favourite grandson of ,king ,alfred was brought up by the ,lady of ,mercia1 and no doubt learned from her the ways of a strong and wise ruler4 ,when ,athelstan became king he was attacked by the ,king of the ,scots and the ,danes of ,ireland4 ,a great battle was fought1 perhaps on ,cheshire soil1 and the ,english ,chronicle breaks out into a wonderful song of victory4 ,athelstan ,king ,lord among ,earls1 ,he with his brother1 ,gained a lifelong ,glory in battle1 ,slew with the sword-edge1 ,there by ,brunanburh 444 99 99 99 99 99 ,bow'd the spoiler1 ,bent the ,scotsman1 ,fell the ship-crews ,doom'd to the death4 ,all the field with blood of the fighters ,flow'd1 from when first the great ,sun-star of morningtide1 ,lamp of the ,lord ,god ,lord ,everlasting ,glode over earth till the glorious creature ,sank to his setting4 ,brunanburh has been thought by some writers of history to be the village of ,bromborough in ,wirral4 ,we cannot be sure of this1 but some day perhaps the land will give up its secret1 when some labourer's spade shall dig up the javelins and the war-knives of the defeated ,northmen4 ',edgar's field' is supposed to mark the site of the palace of one of the greatest of the ,anglo-,saxon ,kings of ,england4 ,it is related that in the year #igc1 ,edgar the ',peacewinner' visited ,chester1 and received there the submission of many tributary kings4 ,he assembled an imposing fleet of ships on the ,dee1 and was rowed from his palace to the minster of ,s4 ,john's by six under-kings1 the ,king of ,scots1 the ,king of ,cumberland1 the ,king of ,man1 and three ,welsh princes1 he himself taking the helm as being their head-king4 ',those who come after me'1 he said1 'may indeed call themselves kings1 since ,i have had such honour4' ,guided by his chief adviser1 the good ,archbishop ,dunstan1 ,edgar also did much to increase the power and influence of the ,church4 ,he gave a charter in #ieh to the church of ,s4 ,werburga1 and endowed it richly with lands4 ,the ,english ,chronicle thus speaks of him3 ,he upreared ,god's glory and loved ,god's law and bettered the public peace more than the kings who were before him within man's memory4 ,god also him helped that kings and earls gladly to him bowed and were submissive to all that he willed4 ,in ,edgar's reign we first hear of the division of the shire into 'hundreds' for the trial and punishment of evildoers4 ,why this name was chosen is not quite clear1 but the ,hundred probably denoted a collection of a hundred homesteads or hamlets4 ,the ,hundred had its 'moot' or assembly of freemen1 held near some sacred spot or conspicuous landmark4 ,in ,cheshire some of them1 ,bucklow for instance1 took their names from the ancient 'lows' or burial-places4 ,early in the eleventh century fresh invasions of ,danes took place1 and in #ajaf ,cnut ,dane became ,king of ,england4 ,cheshire formed a portion of a great earldom1 embracing the whole of ,mercia and governed by ,earl ,leofric4 ,cnut1 who during his reign visited ,rome and had there learnt much about church building1 was a generous friend to the churches1 rebuilding those that had suffered in the wars and erecting many new ones4 ,the church of ,s4 ,olave or ,olaf1 in the south-eastern part of the city of ,chester1 probably owes its foundation to him1 for the name shows that there was a ,danish settlement in the city4 ,the city itself was governed at this time1 like other ,danish cities1 by twelve 'lagmen' or lawmen who presided over its law-courts4 ,leofric1 not to be outdone by his master ,cnut1 almost entirely rebuilt the church of ,s4 ,werburga in #ajeg1 and if we may judge from the memorials of his work which he has left in other cities of his earldom1 much of the new church was probably built of stone4 ,it is doubtful whether he lived to see the completion of his work4 ,in any case1 before many years had passed1 the church was again enlarged on a still grander scale and by a greater race of church builders than any that had gone before them4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,normans ,,come ,,to ,,cheshire ,in the early months of the year ,a4,d4 #ajgj the ,saxons of ,cheshire fled before the approach of an army of discontented and almost mutinous troops who had cut their way through the deep snowdrifts of the ,pennine ,hills4 ,but neither the severity of the weather nor the hardships of the march seemed to have any effect upon the stern and indomitable ,norman warrior at their head1 who1 like the ,vikings whose blood flowed in his veins1 set an example of energy and endurance to his half-starved fainting followers4 ,william the ,conqueror1 ,duke of ,normandy1 had landed in ,england three and a half years previously1 and defeated the ,english ,king ,harold at the battle of ,senlac4 ,but the real 'conquest' was yet to come2 and after swift visits to the west and north of ,england ,william crossed the hills that lay between ,york and ,cheshire and made a dash upon ,chester1 the one great city of free ,england that had not yet bowed to the might of the ,norman invader4 ,there were at this time in ,chester many ,english1 the wife of ,harold among them1 who had fled thither after the defeat of ,senlac1 prepared on ,william's approach to cross the seas to ,ireland4 ,in the next century ,gerald 'the ,welshman' related the legend that ,harold himself was not killed at the battle of ,senlac1 but escaped1 and1 after many wanderings1 took refuge in a hermit's cell near the minster of ,s4 ,john's1 where he remained until his death4 ,the story was no doubt invented by those who were unwilling to believe that an ,english king had been defeated by a foreigner4 ,william captured the city and received the submission of ,edric the ,forester and other ,saxon leaders4 ,chester was put in charge of a ,flemish noble called ,gherbod1 who1 however1 in the following year returned to his native land4 ,then1 leaving a trail of fire and sword through mid-,cheshire1 ,william marched southwards to ,salisbury ,plain1 where he held a grand review of all his followers and distributed to them their rewards4 ,you will not see him again in ,cheshire4 ,no part of the country ever needed a second visit from the ',conqueror'4 ,the ,english who had borne arms against ,william were treated as rebels and deprived of their lands and possessions1 which were parcelled out among the ,normans4 ,a parcel of land thus granted was called a manor4 ,all the landowners1 including those ,english who were allowed to keep their estates1 were compelled to take the oath of fealty to ,king ,william in person4 ,in this way ,william broke up the great earldoms which had been created by the ,danish king ,cnut4 ,cheshire1 however1 in which the ,saxon ,earl ,edwin1 ,harold's brother-in-law1 owned vast estates1 was from the first treated in a very special manner4 ,owing to its position on the border of ,wales1 ,william saw that it was very necessary to place a strong military power in this part of ,england to protect his newly-won kingdom from invasion from the west4 ,so he bestowed the county upon his own favourite nephew ,hugh d',avranches1 surnamed ,lupus or 'the ,wolf'1 and his heirs1 giving him the title of ,earl of ,chester4 ,the earl's duty was to repel any attacks that might be made by the ,welsh1 and permission was given him even to extend his earldom1 if possible1 beyond the ,welsh border4 ,royal rights were granted to him over all land within the earldom1 which was held by him 'as freely by the sword as the king held ,england by the ,crown'4 ,for this reason ,cheshire was called a ,county ,palatine1 that is1 a county whose ruler exercises all the powers of an independent prince1 save only that he owns allegiance to his overlord the king4 ,and the sword1 the 'sword of dignity'1 as it was called1 was no light one4 ,you may see it if ever you visit the ,british ,museum1 a mighty two-edged weapon four feet long1 with its inscription in ,latin engraved beneath the hilt1 ',hugo comes ,cestriae1' ,hugh ,count of ,chester4 ,in the quadrangle of ,eaton ,hall is an equestrian statue of ,hugh ,lupus1 an ancestor of the ,dukes of ,westminster1 whose family derives its name of ,grosvenor from ,robert the 'gros veneur' or great huntsman of the ,conqueror and nephew of 'the ,wolf'4 ,an old engraving gives us a picture of the royal state with which ,earl ,hugh was surrounded4 ,he is represented sitting on a raised throne and presiding over his council or parliament1 which consisted of the four chief abbots and the four greatest barons of ,cheshire4 ,behind a barrier at the lower end of the council-chamber a crowd of humble people are gathered1 bearing petitions or grievances for the earl's hearing and consideration4 ,for the earl possessed power of life or death over all offenders1 could pardon treason and murder within his own domain1 and give protection or 'sanctuary' to criminals1 who1 however1 paid heavy fines for this privilege4 ,he also raised taxes1 appointed all the judges and justices of the peace in the earldom1 and created his own barons1 who were themselves permitted to hold baronial courts for the trial and punishment of evildoers4 ,gilbert de ,venables1 the ,baron of ,kinderton1 and his successors held courts at their castle near ,middlewich until late in the sixteenth century1 when all these courts were swept away4 ,ordericus ,vitalis1 a ,norman monk who wrote in the early part of the twelfth century1 says that ,earl ,hugh 'was very prodigal1 and carried not so much a family as an army along with him4 ,he daily wasted his estate1 and delighted more in falcons and huntsmen than in tillers of the soil4 ,he was much given to his appetite1 whereby in time he grew so fat that he could scarcely crawl4' ,he was also a lover of minstrelsy and romance1 and invited the best narrators of great deeds to live with him and spur on to rivalry the young nobles whom he delighted to gather round him at his court4 ,the mass of the ,english people became dependent on their ,norman masters4 ,the latter had learned the use of the lance and the longbow1 and the fame of their mailclad mounted knights had spread through all ,europe4 ,they kept the ,english down by building strong castles in their midst4 ,at ,aldford1 ,shocklach1 ,doddleston1 and ,malpas on the ,welsh borderland1 where castles were naturally more numerous1 little remains to be seen at the present day but the green mounds on which were erected the keeps or donjons of the ,norman lords4 ,round the tree-clad hummock at ,aldford--',blob's ,hill' the village folk call it--the moat that surrounded the ,norman castle yet remains1 now dry and carpeted in springtime with primroses1 whose waters must often have been dyed with the blood of ,norman1 ,saxon1 and ,welshman4 ,the ,norman castles were of great strength1 though not always built of stone4 ,many were built on the sites of ,british encampments or ,saxon 'burhs'1 in which case the old wooden stockade was doubtless allowed to remain4 ,the central fortress or keep1 a square1 or sometimes circular1 building with walls of immense thickness1 was surrounded by an inner ward or courtyard in which cattle and provisions could be gathered in case of attack1 and where1 on a raised mound in the centre1 the baron held his court4 ,round this ward were grouped the domestic apartments1 the stables1 and the quarters of servants and retainers4 ,beyond these buildings was a second or outer ward1 the whole being enclosed by walls with projecting towers at intervals4 ,the castles of the plain were further protected1 as at ,aldford1 by a deep ditch or moat crossed by a drawbridge leading to the principal entrance4 ,the keep was the last place of refuge when the defenders were driven from the walls1 and frequently contained a well of water4 ,in the keep at ,beeston ,castle is a well over three hundred feet deep1 to which water was perhaps at one time drawn from ,beeston ,brook or some other neighbouring stream4 ,on the summit of ,halton ,hill you may still see a portion of the outer wall of the castle built by ,nigel1 ,baron of ,halton and cousin of ,earl ,hugh4 ,he was the chief of all the ,cheshire barons1 was constable of the city of ,chester1 and led the ,cheshire army1 when required1 against the ,welsh4 ,thirty-seven manors1 among them those of ,congleton1 ,great ,barrow1 ,raby and ,sale in the county of ,cheshire1 were included in his possessions4 ,other barons created by the ,earl of ,chester were ,william of ,nantwich1 ,vernon of ,shipbroke1 ,fitzhugh of ,malpas1 ,venables of ,kinderton1 ,hamon ,massi of ,dunham1 ,nicholas of ,stockport1 and ,robert of ,montalt or ,mold4 ,the last-named shows that the county of ,flint was at that time part of the earldom4 ,the name of the ,norman baron was often added to that of the ,saxon village where he dwelt1 as in the case of ,dunham ,massey1 ,minshull ,vernon4 ,the earl himself resided at ,chester1 where large additions were made to the stronghold of ,ethelfleda1 but probably his castle was built largely of timber1 for no stone of it remains1 and a hundred and fifty years later ,henry the ,third ordered the stockade with which the castle ward was enclosed to be removed and replaced by a wall of stone4 ,on the eastern side of the castle was erected a great shire hall where the earl held his parliament1 and an exchequer court where the dues and taxes were paid to him4 ,what these dues and taxes were we may learn from the ,great ,survey called ,domesday ,book1 which was made by ,king ,william's orders1 and completed about the year #ajhg4 ,the chief object of the ,survey was to find out what the country was worth1 and how much the people could afford to pay in taxes4 ,the book1 which is carefully preserved at the ,british ,museum1 is the most valuable record we possess of the state of ,england under its first ,norman king4 ,domesday ,book was written in ,latin1 but translations have been made by scholars1 and may be seen in many of our free libraries4 ,in the ',customs of ,chester' we are told that the city paid in rent forty-five pounds and three bundles of marten skins1 a third of which went to the earl and two-thirds to the king4 ,the skins were imported from ,ireland1 and show that the ,irish pirates of former days had given place to peaceful traders4 ,the king also claimed two-thirds of the produce of the brine pits at ,nantwich1 ,northwich1 and ,middlewich1 the last-named being farmed 'for twenty-five shillings and two cartloads of salt'4 ,the value of every manor1 with the number of 'hides' of arable land1 the extent of meadow land and of woodland1 was faithfully recorded4 ',there was not one single yard of land1 nor even one ox1 one cow1 one swine that was left out4' ,some ,saxon villages had little left to record after the ,conqueror's visit1 so that you may learn from ,domesday something of the severity with which ,william's conquest had been accomplished4 ,prestbury and many other ,saxon villages are not even mentioned4 ,when ,earl ,hugh received the city of ,chester it was worth only thirty pounds1 'for it had been greatly wasted2 there were two hundred and five houses less there than there had been in the time of ,king ,edward' 7the ,confessor74 ,from ,domesday we can learn the names of the ,saxon freemen who were allowed to keep their lands4 ,marton was held by the ,saxon ,godfric1 probably in return for some service rendered to the invaders1 or because he had at least not taken arms against them2 ,butley was divided between the ,saxon ,ulric and ,robert1 son of ,hugh ,lupus4 ,the manor of ,brereton was retained by the ,breretons1 whose descendants play a great part in the later history of ,cheshire4 ,but such cases are few and far between1 and by far the greater part of the county passed into new hands4 ,the story of ,mobberley may be taken as a good example of what happened in most cases to the old ,english landowners4 ,the very name of the village brings to our eyes scenes of old ,english life as the ,normans found it1 for ,motburlege1 as the name is written in ,domesday1 is the open space 7lege7 by the fortified house 7burh7 where the assembly of the people was held 7mote74 ',the same ,bigot' 7thus ,domesday runs7' holds ,motburlege4 ,dot held it and was a freeman4444 ,the value in ,king ,edward's time was twelve shillings1 now only five shillings4' ,such is the simple story1 repeated again and again in the great survey4 ,dot was a ,saxon lord of sixteen villages1 including ,cholmondeley1 ,bickerton1 ,shocklach1 ,grappenhall1 ,peover1 and ,dodcot1 to the last of which he gave his own name4 ,thus1 even as ,dot's own forefathers had driven out the ,celtic tribesmen who pastured their flocks on the neighbouring commons1 so now it was ,dot's turn to be thrust from his ancestral home at ,mobberley and seek a refuge perhaps among the very people whom he had displaced4 ,bigot received more than one manor4 ,domesday tells us that he held ,sandbach also4 ,over the entrance of ,sandbach ,town ,hall you may see his statuette1 placed there to remind you of the days when ,cheshire lands passed from the hands of the ,english to their ,norman conquerors4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,norman ,,abbeys ,,and ,,churches ,,of ,,cheshire ,among the friends of ,earl ,hugh who visited him at his castle at ,chester was ,anselm the great churchman1 who afterwards became ,archbishop of ,canterbury4 ,anselm was at the time prior of the ,abbey of ,bec1 which was close to ,avranches1 the earl's own ,norman home4 ,now if there was one thing on which the ,normans justly prided themselves1 it was the founding and building of churches1 and the heart of ,earl ,hugh was set on building in his own city of ,chester a monastery that should rival in splendour those of his native country4 ,perhaps1 too1 the ,norman lords thought that by devoting a portion of their wealth to the service of ,god they could win salvation for their souls and atone for the shortcomings and misdeeds of their stormy lives4 ,so the ,cheshire earl sent for his former friend ,anselm to come and aid him in his scheme1 and the result of his visit was that in #ajic the clergy of ,s4 ,werburgh's were turned out of their homes1 and the church itself pulled down1 and in its place was erected a monastery of ,benedictine monks who were brought over from ,bee1 ,anselm's chaplain1 ,richard1 being made the first abbot4 ,the monks were men who lived a life of prayer1 fasting1 and study apart from the world4 ,none might ever leave the precincts of the monastery without permission4 ,the ,benedictines received their name from ,saint ,benedict1 who lived in the sixth century1 and drew up rules for the daily life and conduct of the monks of the ,order4 ,they all slept in the same dormitory1 and all took their meals together in a common room called a refectory4 ,in the refectory at ,chester you may see a lector's pulpit from which portions of the ,scriptures were read aloud to the monks as they sat at their meals4 ,they gave all their private possessions to the monastery1 and had to obey their superior in all matters4 ,every hour of the day and night had its allotted duties of work1 study1 or religious services4 ,high up in the wall in one of the oldest parts of ,chester ,cathedral is a row of tiny arches1 and behind them a narrow passage1 along which the monks went from their sleeping-chamber to the early morning services in the abbey church4 ,to some of the monks was given the work of gardening1 agriculture1 and even building4 ,the name of ,caleyards at ,chester still speaks to us of the kitchen-garden which the monks tended4 ,others made copies of illuminated 'missals' or books of ,church services1 or wrote histories and the annals of the abbey to which they were attached4 ,the ,chronicles of ,s4 ,werburgh were kept and added to yearly by the monks of ,chester2 though the original has been lost1 a copy of it1 made by a later scribe1 has happily been preserved4 ,the most important part of the monastery was of course the church4 ,the ,norman churches were built of stone1 and1 as they took many years to build1 very few of the founders lived to see the completion of their work4 ,probably only the foundations and portions of the walls of the church of ,earl ,hugh ,lupus were finished during his lifetime4 ,the work of the ,norman builders may be recognized by the round-headed arches1 doorways and windows which they copied from the ,roman buildings4 ,the ,roman basilica or hall of justice1 in which the earliest ,christians were permitted to worship1 was taken as a model for ,christian churches4 ,the capital of a ,norman pillar in ,frodsham ,church proves that they had studied the architecture of the ,romans1 for it has the ,ionic 'volute' or spiral scroll on each of its four faces4 ,if you look for the round arches in the ,cathedral of ,chester you will be able to make out the portions which remain of the church built by ,earl ,hugh and by the abbots who completed his plans after his death4 ,you will see from the ,norman church of ,s4 ,john's at ,chester that the churches were built in the form of a cross with four great semicircular arches to support a central tower4 ,similar arches on massive circular columns separate the nave from the two aisles4 ,an examination of these columns reveals the fact that the building of the nave was commenced from both ends at once in order to make more rapid progress with the work1 for the mouldings of the capitals of the outer columns is the same1 but differ from those of the inner ones4 ,moreover1 the masonry of the latter is more finely jointed than that of the earlier end columns4 ,this shows that the ,normans improved in the quality of their work as they went on4 ,in the north transept of ,chester ,cathedral1 which is part of the first ,norman church1 the stones in the lower parts have wider joints and are less carefully fitted than those above them4 ,the choir and aisles generally ended in a semicircular 'apse'4 ,a semicircle of dark blue stones set in the floor of the north aisle in the ,cathedral of ,chester marks the apse of an aisle of ,earl ,hugh's church4 ,the village churches were of course not built on the same scale of grandeur as the churches of ,s4 ,john and ,s4 ,werburgh4 ,nearly everywhere the ,norman 'lords of the manor' rebuilt the rude and humble churches of wood and stone that had served the needs of the ,saxons before them4 ,but little remains in ,cheshire of these ,norman churches1 save here and there a doorway or a window or a capital1 that has escaped destruction or the ravages of time4 ,the ,norman architects and builders were few in number1 and must have employed many ,saxon workmen in the task of rebuilding4 ,the latter1 as you have already learned1 were no mean masons and sculptors1 and the carving of the mouldings and capitals of the doorways of the village churches was doubtless in many cases done by them4 ,the 'chevron' or zigzag moulding1 and the spirals carved on the face of capitals could easily be cut with an axe1 for the ,saxons were not yet acquainted with the use of the ,norman chisel4 ,at ,shotwick and ,shocklach you may see doorways1 which1 from the simplicity of their mouldings1 are probably the work of ,saxons1 performed under the eye of their ,norman masters4 ,illustration3 ,,norman ,,arches1 ,s4 ,,john',s4 ,,chester ,towards the end of the eleventh century the clever ,norman masons1 who loved to invent new patterns and vary their work1 introduced other forms of ornamentation such as the 'billet' and 'lozenge' and 'scollop' in their mouldings1 and adorned the capitals and even the pillars with rich carving4 ,carved pillars may be seen in the ,norman arcade in the cloisters at ,chester4 ,illustration3 ,,cloisters1 ,,chester3 ,,portion ,,of ,,first ,,norman ,,abbey ,,of ,s4 ,,werburgh ,the head of a ,norman doorway is sometimes filled with a semicircular stone called a tympanum1 usually covered with a carved picture of some scriptural subject4 ,the tympanum over the door of the ,norman chapel at ,prestbury represents ,christ seated in glory4 ,illustration3 ,,norman ,,doorway ,,with ,,tympanum1 ,,prestbury ,the ,norman windows1 like the doorways1 were round-headed4 ,the tiny window in the chancel at ,woodchurch shows us that they were often mere slits on the outer face of the wall1 widening considerably towards the inner face in order that the light entering through the narrow opening might be diffused as much as possible4 ,very few ,norman windows have been allowed to remain in ,cheshire1 for nearly all have been replaced by larger ones of a different style at a later date when more light was needed4 ,illustration3 ,,norman ,,window1 ,,woodchurch1 ,,showing ,,wide ,,splay ,,inside ,the font is sometimes the sole remaining portion of the older ,norman church in which it once stood4 ,in the modern church of ,wallasey is an ancient font1 which by the arcade of semicircular arches carved upon it is evidently the work of the ,norman builders1 and belonged to the ,norman church that formerly stood on the site of the present building4 ,the font of similar pattern at ,grappenhall was dug up during a restoration three feet below the floor of the present church1 where it had lain for centuries1 and there are ,norman fonts at ,eastham1 ,bebington1 and ,burton4 ,in addition to those already spoken of1 the churches of ,bebington1 ,bruera1 ,frodsham1 ,church ,lawton1 and ,barthomley contain portions of ,norman work in some shape or form4 ,illustration3 ,,norman ,,font ,,at ,,wallasey ,the ,norman style of architecture is rarely copied nowadays in the building of churches1 being considered too massive and sombre as well as costly4 ,boys who live in ,wirral should1 however1 walk to the village of ,thornton ,heath1 where they may see a new church built entirely in this style1 with every detail copied faithfully from famous old ,norman churches4 ,other ,norman barons were not slow to follow the example of their overlord the ,earl of ,chester4 ,in #aaej ,hamon de ,massey1 ,baron of ,dunham ,massey1 built a priory at ,birkenhead for sixteen ,benedictine monks4 ,the tolls from a ferry across the ,mersey were granted to them for their support1 the charges being 'for a horseman two-pence1 for a man on foot one farthing1 a halfpenny for a footman on market days1 and a penny when he had goods or produce with him'4 ,the name of ',monks ,brow' still marks the landing-place of the ferry on the ,cheshire side of the estuary4 ,the monks were also freed from attendance at the ',hundred' ,court of the ,wirral4 ,the manors of ,tranmere1 ,bebington1 ,saughall ,massey1 and ,claughton were also given to the priory1 and the priors sat in the council or parliament of the ,earls of ,chester4 ,the ruined refectory is the only portion of the priory now remaining4 ,the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh received grants of land from ,earl ,hugh's barons as well as a large number of churches and manors from the earl himself4 ,in the course of time one-fourth of the entire city of ,chester became the property of the abbey4 ,the abbot also had the right of taking the tolls at the annual fair held at ,chester at the ,feast of ,s4 ,werburgh4 ,the fair lasted for three days1 during which time even criminals might visit the city to make their purchases without danger of arrest4 ,illustration3 ,,arms ,,of ,,the ,,see ,,of ,,chester ,chester had in fact rapidly become the chief seat of trade in the north-west of ,england1 and when the ,conqueror ordered the sees of the bishoprics to be removed from thinly populated centres to the large towns1 ,peter1 the first ,norman bishop of ,lichfield1 left ,lichfield 'a sordid and desert place' and came to ,chester1 'a city of renown1' making the church of ,s4 ,john his cathedral4 ,chester did not1 however1 keep this honour long1 for ,peter's successor removed to the rich monastery of ,coventry4 ,hence it is that you find three mitres on the arms of the bishopric of ,chester4 ,earl ,hugh ,lupus died in the second year of the reign of ,henry the ,first4 ,three days before his death he had put on the cowl and robe of a ,benedictine monk and entered his own monastery at ,chester4 ,he was buried in the abbey cemetery1 and his only son ,richard1 a boy of seven years of age1 inherited the earldom4 ,the ,abbey of ,combermere was founded for another brotherhood of monks called ,cistercians4 ,their 'rule' was even more strict than that of the ,benedictines4 ,they wore neither boots nor cowl1 and for a portion of the year were allowed but one meal a day2 nor were they permitted even to speak to one another4 ,in #aagh1 ,john1 ,baron of ,halton1 to secure the safety of body and soul previous to making a pilgrimage to ,palestine1 built a ,cistercian abbey at ,stanlaw1 a dreary spot on the shore of the ,mersey estuary1 and a third house of the same ,order was founded at ,pulton on the ,dee by ,robert ,pincerna1 butler to ,earl ,randle ,,ii4 ,stanlaw was almost wholly destroyed by a huge tidal wave which swept up the ,mersey1 and the monks were removed to ,whalley on the banks of the ,lancashire ,calder4 ,the monks1 doubtless1 were not sorry for the change1 for by the end of the twelfth century the majority of them had grown tired of the simple life1 and1 becoming more luxurious in their way of living1 preferred to build their homes in delectable river valleys1 where they could fish the streams to their hearts' content4 ,pulton ,abbey was not more fortunate1 and was much too near to the ,welsh to be a comfortable place to live in4 ,the ,welsh visits were so frequent and unpleasant that the monastery was abandoned and the monks placed in a fine new abbey at ,dieulacresse in ,staffordshire4 ,the monks who kept the abbey records were not always very particular about the truth of the events they relate4 ,they were very superstitious1 and ready to believe any story that would increase the fame of their founders1 or of their patron saints1 to whom they ascribed the power of performing miracles4 ,the story is told that when ,earl ,richard was making a pilgrimage to the holy well of ,s4 ,winifred in ,flintshire he was attacked by a band of ,welsh insurgents and compelled to take refuge in a neighbouring monastery4 ,he prayed for aid to ,s4 ,werburgh1 who is said to have instantly parted the waters of the ,dee by making new sandbanks1 over which the ,constable of ,chester marched troops to the relief of his lord4 ,these banks were long after known as the ,constable's sands4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,earls ,,of ,,the ,,county ,,palatine ,in the western porch beneath the tower of ,prestbury ,church are a number of fragments of broken grave-slabs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries4 ,on nearly all is carved a cross1 the head of which is usually enclosed within a circle1 the ends of the limbs of the cross consisting of a triple lily1 the favourite emblem of the ,norman sculptors4 ,one only of these fragments tells us over whose remains the slab was placed4 ,an inscription1 in which the letters ,,vivyn ,d are clearly seen1 tells us that this fragment formed part of the tombstone of ,vivian ,davenport1 ,chief ,forester of the ,forest of ,macclesfield4 ,hunting was the favourite sport of the ,normans1 and in ,cheshire1 as elsewhere1 large tracts of forest land were enclosed for the protection of deer and game1 and the amusement of the ,norman knights4 ,the ,conqueror himself set the example by making the ,new ,forest in the south of ,england1 and shortly afterwards the ,earl of ,cheshire enclosed the ,forests of ,mara or ,delamere in the west and ,macclesfield in the eastern part of the county4 ,the forest laws were very strict4 ,william the ,conqueror did not indeed punish offenders with death1 but he ordained that 'whoso slew hart or hind man should blind him1 that none should touch the harts or the wild-boars1 and he made the hare go free4 ,so mightily did he love the high deer as though he were their father4 ,his rich men bewailed it and the poor murmured at it1 but he was so stark he recked not of them all4' ,the forest laws of ,rufus were far more severe1 and caused fierce hatred among his poorer subjects4 ,the forests became the haunt of robbers and outlaws1 who clothed themselves in suits of ',lincoln green'1 the better to escape being seen in the greenwood4 ,foresters were appointed1 whose duty it was to hunt out these lawless and rebellious men1 as well as to preserve the game of the forest4 ,illustration3 ,latin ,cross1 prob4 c4 #aahj ,norman ,floriated ,cross1 c4 #abjj ,double ,floriated ,cross on ,grave-slab of ,vivian ,davenport1 c4 #abdj ,,grave-,,slabs ,,at ,,prestbury ,hugh ,lupus made ,john ,done of ,utkinton and his heirs ,chief ,bowbearer and ,forester of his ,forest of ,delamere4 ,the ,dones had the right to kill deer and game1 take swarms of wild bees1 the fallen trees1 and such small game as 'foxes1 hares1 weasels1 and other like vermin'2 their badge of office was a black bugle horn tipped with gold4 ,their hunting-seat or ',chamber in the ,forest' was served by ten keepers and two woodsmen4 ,some of their descendants were buried at ,tarporley1 and on one of the tombs you may see the badge of the bugle carved4 ,earl ,richard1 the successor of 'the ,wolf'1 married ,matilda1 niece of ,king ,henry ,i and a daughter of ,stephen of ,blois4 ,he was drowned with his wife on his return from ,france when the ill-fated ,white ,ship went down in #aaai4 ,the next earl was ,randle of ,meschines4 ,he was one of ,king ,henry the ,first's chief fighting-men1 and led the van at the ,battle of ,tinchebrai against the king's elder brother ,robert4 ,his son1 ,randle the ,second1 played a great part in the civil war of ,king ,stephen's reign4 ,stephen was quite unable to curb his barons as his predecessors had done1 and the ,earl of ,chester was unruly and ambitious4 ,in addition to his ,earldom of ,cheshire1 he had succeeded to vast estates in ,lincoln and the ,midlands4 ,his power and influence was so great that he ruled over an extent of country hardly smaller than the ancient ,earldom of ,mercia4 ,stephen refused to add the city of ,carlisle to the already numerous possessions of the earl1 who in anger declared himself on the side of ,stephen's rival ,matilda when she took up arms1 and became one of ,stephen's most bitter and active enemies4 ,the king took ,randle prisoner by a stratagem1 and the monks of ,pulton ,abbey were commanded to pray for the earl's safety4 ,when at length he was set free1 the earl in a moment of gratitude gave the monks permission to fish the waters of the ,dee1 and freed them from the toll which they were accustomed to pay for grinding their corn in the ,dee ,mills at ,chester4 ,under the ,norman rule the use of handmills1 such as the ,saxons had used1 was strictly forbidden1 and everybody had to send his corn to be ground in the mill belonging to his lord4 ,when the ,welsh heard of the earl's captivity they took advantage of his absence and ravaged the county of ,cheshire1 but were defeated in a battle at ,nantwich in #aadf by ,robert of ,montalt4 ,randle died in the same year as ,king ,stephen1 and was succeeded by ,hugh ,kyvelioc4 ,this second ,earl ,hugh enclosed large stretches of forest-land in ,east ,cheshire1 and gave the chief forestership to ,richard ,davenport4 ,it is ,richard's grandson ,vivian whose grave-slab we have seen in the church at ,prestbury4 ,to ,vivian ,davenport's office was also joined the office of ,hereditary ,grand ,serjeant of the ,hundred of ,macclesfield4 ,the ,grand ,serjeant received twelve pounds six shillings and eightpence a year1 and a fee of two shillings and a salmon for the capture of a master-robber1 and one shilling for a common thief4 ,human life was held cheap in those days4 ,the robbers when caught were beheaded1 and their heads sent to ,chester1 where they were publicly shown as a warning to others4 ,descendants of the ,davenports live now at ,capesthorne1 and their peculiar crest1 a robber's head with a rope round the neck1 recalls the gruesome duties of their ancestors4 ,a portion of the ,forest was held by the ,venables in return for providing thirty-three huntsmen on hunting days4 ,the ,downes of ,taxal held their land more cheaply on the northern limits of the ,forest1 which is now ,lyme ,park1 'by the blast of a horn on ,midsummer ,day and one pepper-corn yearly4' ,near ,overton is a spot still called ,gallows ,yard1 where the ,downes had power to execute robbers and criminals4 ,in ,lyme ,park you may see to this day the red deer that are descended from their wild ancestors of ,macclesfield ,forest4 ,when ,hugh ,kyvelioc was ,earl of ,chester1 ,henry the ,second ruled ,england and the greater part of ,france4 ,he also received at ,chester the homage of the ,king of ,scotland4 ,but in the later years of his reign he found it hard to keep together the widely scattered parts of his empire4 ,rebellions were frequent1 and his wife1 his sons1 and his barons all took up arms against him4 ,among his discontented barons none was more unruly than ,hugh ,kyvelioc1 who stirred up ,brittany against ,henry1 but he was captured in battle and brought to ,england4 ,in the great rising of #aagc ,geoffrey of ,costantin1 one of ,henry's sons1 held the castle of ,stockport against the king4 ,not a stone of this castle is to be seen now1 but it stood in the highest part of the town near the ,parish ,church4 ,after ,hugh ,lupus1 the greatest of the ,earls of ,chester was ,randle the ,third1 or ,randle ,blundeville4 ,like his predecessors1 he was constantly engaged in fighting against the ,welsh1 on one occasion being besieged in ,rhuddlan ,castle until he was relieved by a rabble of vagabonds hastily gathered from ,chester ,fair4 ,this ,randle was earl for over fifty years1 and was high in favour with three successive kings of ,england whom he steadfastly supported4 ,henry the ,second gave him in marriage his own daughter-in-law1 ,constance1 the widow of his son ,geoffrey4 ,the ,english historian1 ,matthew ,paris1 says that the earl carried the crown at the coronation of ,richard the ,first1 and he was present at the signing of the ,great ,charter by ,king ,john1 whose side he took in the quarrel with the barons4 ,the earl ruled ,cheshire wisely1 favouring especially the towns in his earldom4 ,to ,chester1 ,macclesfield1 and ,stockport he gave charters by which these towns were freed from certain payments and duties1 and were permitted to govern themselves under a mayor of their own choosing4 ,in the new ,town ,hall of ,stockport is a stained glass window commemorating the earl's grant to his baron ,sir ,robert de ,stokeport of the town's first charter of freedom4 ,his gifts to the ,church and the founding of abbeys won for him the title of the ',good' earl4 ,he did not neglect the poor1 for he built and endowed the hospital of ,s4 ,john1 near the ,north ,gate of ,chester1 for the support of thirteen poor people1 with three chaplains to minister to their religious needs4 ,at ,boughton1 outside the city walls1 he founded a hospital for lepers1 whose terrible disease was brought to this country by travellers returning from ,eastern lands4 ,in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries men's minds were deeply stirred by the hardships and cruelties put upon pilgrims to the ,holy ,land4 ,men of every ,christian land and race joined in the ,crusades or ,holy ,wars to win back ,jerusalem1 which had fallen into the hands of the ,saracens1 enemies of the ,christian faith4 ,baldwin1 ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 came to ,chester and preached from the ,high ,cross the duty of all ,christian men to rescue the ,holy ,city and the ,holy ,sepulchre from the power of the unbelievers4 ,crowds flocked to hear him1 and he did not preach in vain4 ,men of all classes dedicated their lives or their wealth to the service of the ,cross4 ,king and baron1 soldier and priest1 rich and poor alike put on the sign of the ,cross1 and sailed to the ,holy ,land1 where they vied with one another in deeds of chivalry and valour4 ,randle ,blundeville joined the ,crusades in #abai1 and set out with a number of other ,english knights for ,jerusalem4 ,he distinguished himself greatly in ,egypt1 and when he returned the fame of his brave deeds made him a popular hero1 and his adventures were recited or sung in many a stirring ballad4 ,the stone effigy of ,sir ,william ,boydell in ,grappenhall ,church will give you some idea of a crusading warrior4 ,he is clad in chain armour with a plain surcoat4 ,his legs are crossed1 a sign perhaps that he had taken the vows of the ,cross1 and his head rests on his helmet4 ,a shield is on his left shoulder1 by his left side a sword4 ,many ,crusaders bound themselves by sacred vows and joined different ',orders' or companies to which the names ,knights ,templars1 ,knights ,hospitallers1 or ,knights of ,saint ,john1 and so on1 were given4 ,the last-named founded a house where the brethren of the ,order might live in their old age at ,fulshaw1 near ,wilmslow4 ,when ,randle returned to ,cheshire he built in the heart of his earldom the strong castle of ,beeston1 on the summit of ,beeston ,rock1 from whose walls he could survey nearly every portion of the county over which he ruled4 ,he entertained ,henry the ,second at ,chester ,castle when ,henry made an expedition against the ,welsh1 the troops encamping on ,saltney marshes4 ,henry the ,second had high views of the duties of kingship1 and was always busily occupied at home or in his continental dominions4 ,but ,cheshire saw little or nothing of his son ,richard1 greatest of all ,crusaders1 for he spent the greater part of his reign seeking adventures abroad1 and left his people to take care of themselves4 ,illustration3 ,,effigy ,,of ,,crusader3 ,,grappenhall ,earl ,randle lived long enough to see the boy king ,henry the ,third dismiss his guardians and rule on his own account4 ,almost his last act was to refuse to allow the clergy of ,cheshire to pay the tenth part of their incomes to the pope to aid him in his private wars4 ,in #abcb he died1 and was buried with his forefathers in the ,abbey ,church of ,chester4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,the ,,churches ,,of ,,the ,,thirteenth ,,century ,the greatest churches which the ,normans planned were on such a scale that they could not be finished in the lives of their designers4 ,the work was carried on more or less continuously by the builders and architects who came after them4 ,but1 as time went on1 various improvements were made in the art of building1 and new fashions came into being1 and the original plans had often to be altered to meet the growing needs of the day1 or to allow the newest features of style to be introduced4 ,the interior of ,s4 ,john's ,church1 ,chester1 will show you some of the changes of style which were taking place in the early part of the thirteenth century4 ,the two rows of pointed arches over the circular headed arches of the nave tell us that by the time the massive ,norman piers and arches were finished1 an entirely different form of arch was coming into fashion4 ,the pointed arch was first used when ,norman and ,saxon had settled down peaceably side by side4 ,from the fusing of the two nations1 the ,english people grew in strength and power4 ,norman baron and ,saxon peasant had combined to wrest from a wicked king the ,great ,charter of freedom for the ,english people4 ,hence the new style is appropriately called ,early ,english4 ,the work of church building had often been interrupted4 ,during the civil war of ,stephen's reign1 the building of churches was almost at a standstill2 the ,crusades1 by drawing large numbers of people from the country1 also checked the progress of the work4 ,the raids of the ,welsh often destroyed a half-built ,cheshire church4 ,but from the time of ,magna ,charta the erection of sacred buildings went forward apace1 and was continued with even greater zeal and activity through the long reign of ,henry the ,third4 ,illustration3 ,,ruins ,,of ,s4 ,,john',s1 ,,chester ,change from ,norman round arch to pointed arch ,the pointed arch was the principal feature of the new style1 which is1 therefore1 sometimes called the ,pointed style4 ,but we must look carefully at the shape and details before we can be quite sure that an arch belongs to this period of building4 ,the arch must be tall and narrow1 the columns on which they rest1 round and slender1 often grouped together in clusters of three or more4 ,often the columns consist of slender shafts united on one base and under one capital4 ,the mouldings of the arch1 base and capital must be deeply cut and grooved4 ,the pointed arches of ,s4 ,john's have all these characteristic features4 ,the lower of the two rows of pointed arches is called the triforium or blind story1 that is1 without windows1 for it is built within the slope of the roof over the side aisles of the church4 ,the upper row is the clerestory1 containing many window lights4 ,a triforium is only to be seen in the very largest churches4 ,in the ruined portion of ,s4 ,john's you may see round and pointed arches side by side4 ,the arches of the nave at ,prestbury belong to this period4 ,the columns are very much more slender than the massive columns of ,s4 ,john's4 ,you will notice that the capital of one of the columns is covered with carved foliage which could only have been done with a chisel4 ,deep under-cutting is a feature of the ,early ,english style1 and shows that the ,english masons had improved greatly in their skill4 ,early ,english windows1 like the arches1 are long1 narrow1 and pointed4 ,from their shape they are called lancets4 ,sometimes two or more lancets are grouped together side by side under a single 'dripstone' or hood4 ,at the east end of the ,chapter-house at ,chester is a window consisting of five lancets4 ,several portions of ,chester ,cathedral1 or rather the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh as it was still called1 were built during this period4 ,in the north aisle of the choir you may see the point where we pass from the massive ,norman masonry to the lighter and more graceful ,early ,english4 ,the piscina or basin built in the wall is the place where you must look for the change4 ,at the end of the twelfth century the church of ,hugh ,lupus was already in ruins4 ,earl ,randle was in the ,holy ,land1 and1 during his absence1 the ,welsh were more than usually troublesome4 ,in the early years of the thirteenth century large sums of money were given to the abbey1 and the abbots began building in the new style4 ,when ,hugh ,grylle was abbot1 the ,chapter-house1 in which the business of the abbey was transacted1 was built4 ,the number of monks also increased to such an extent that a new and larger refectory was needed4 ,illustration3 ,,boss ,,from ,,ruins ,,of ,s4 ,,john',s ,,church1 ,,chester ,left of the boss is a strip of dog-tooth moulding ,this refectory and the vestibule or entrance hall leading to it contain the most beautiful examples of ,early ,english work to be found in ,cheshire1 and boys and girls who live in or near ,chester should study them carefully4 ,in the refectory is the stone pulpit referred to in a previous chapter1 with a staircase and arcade of ,early ,english arches leading to it4 ,the wall above the arches is pierced with a row of 'quatrefoil' openings1 with deeply cut mouldings4 ,illustration3 ,,early ,,english ,,doorway1 ,,chester ,in the hollows of the ,early ,english mouldings we sometimes see an ornament pointed like a dog's tooth4 ,you will see it in the moulding round a circular opening over the doorway of the vestibule in the cloisters of the ,cathedral4 ,another ornament which the thirteenth-century masons invented and put into their work was the 'cusp'1 a projection made by the meeting of two curves placed end to end4 ,if you put two cusps into the head of a pointed arch you will find that you have made a trefoil-headed arch4 ,the triforium arches in the choir of the cathedral are all of this description4 ,quatrefoils are made by arranging four cusps within a circle4 ,towards the end of the thirteenth century1 ,abbot ,simon of ,whitchurch built the ,lady ,chapel east of the choir4 ,the windows of this chapel are all lancets1 those at the side being arranged in groups of three1 while the east window contains five lights4 ,the ,lady ,chapel looks very new now4 ,it has1 in fact1 been almost entirely rebuilt since ,abbot ,simon's day4 ,the mediaeval builders of ,cheshire did not select their building-stone very carefully4 ,you will see from the cloisters how the red sandstone has weathered and crumbled to ruin4 ,the walls of ,early ,english buildings were not so thick as those built by the ,normans1 and required to be supported on the exterior by buttresses which projected further from the walls than the flat ,norman buttresses4 ,you will find ,early ,english buttresses at ,audlem and ,prestbury4 ,many houses in ,chester are built over crypts or underground cellars1 which were made during the reign of ,henry the ,third1 and consequently show some of the features we have been describing4 ,the oldest of these crypts is under a shop in ,bridge ,street4 ,it is lighted by a triple lancet window having deep splays4 ,the door of the staircase leading to it has a trefoiled head1 and the vaulted stone roof is groined and ribbed like the roof of the cloisters of the cathedral4 ,the roofs of ,early ,english churches were groined in the same way1 but with wood instead of stone4 ,many ,cheshire churches were1 no doubt1 rebuilt or repaired in the new style4 ,at ,bruera there is a pointed doorway under a semicircular arch4 ,bruera was one of the many churches bestowed on the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh by ,norman lords4 ,a grant of a manor or a church was often made when a baron or some member of his family entered the abbey as a monk of the brotherhood4 ,their descendants did not always approve of these gifts4 ,in the ,chronicle of ,s4 ,werburgh1 we read that in #abeh ,roger de ,montalt1 ,chief ,justice of ,chester1 tried to recover the churches of ,bruera1 ,coddington1 and ,neston1 which the lord of ,montalt had given to the abbey in the days of ,earl ,hugh4 ,roger entered ,neston ,church with a body of armed men1 and turned out the monks who had been sent from the abbey to perform the services1 and gave the living to his nephew ,ralph4 ,the ,chronicle speaks of the misfortunes that befell ,roger as a warning to other would-be robbers of the ,church4 ,his eldest son died within fifteen days1 and ,roger himself 'died in poverty within two years1 the common people being ignorant of the place of his burial'4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,growth ,,of ,,towns ,,in ,,cheshire ,earl ,randle 'the ,good' had no son to succeed him1 and when he died the earldom passed to his nephew ,john the ,scot1 the son of ,randle's eldest sister4 ,john married the daughter of ,llewellyn the ,prince of ,wales1 so that peace was secured for a time between the ,welsh and the earl's subjects4 ,he did not live to enjoy his earldom long1 however1 and he too died without an heir4 ,his wife was suspected of causing his death by poison4 ,henry the ,third was at this time ,king of ,england4 ,he had looked with anxious eyes upon the growing power of the ,earls of ,chester4 ,now that a suitable opportunity presented itself1 the king decided to take the earldom into his own hands1 his excuse being that he was unwilling that so fair an inheritance should be divided 'among distaffs'1 meaning the sisters of ,john the ,scot4 ,so he gave them each a portion of land and a husband1 and appointed ,john de ,lacy1 the ,earl of ,lincoln1 as custodian of ,cheshire4 ,a few years later ,henry bestowed the earldom on his son ,edward1 and from that time down to the present day the title of ,earl of ,chester has belonged to the son and heir of the reigning monarch4 ,the present ,prince of ,wales is also ,earl of ,chester4 ,one of ,edward's first acts was to confirm to the barons and the people of ,cheshire all the liberties and privileges which ,randle had formerly granted them4 ,some of these 'liberties' are set forth in the ,charter which ,john the ,scot gave to the people of ,chester3 ',know that ,i have conceded and by this my present charter confirmed to all my citizens of ,chester that no merchant should buy or sell any kind of merchandise which has come to the city of ,chester by sea or by land1 except these my citizens of ,chester themselves and their heirs1 or in accordance with their will1 and except in the established fairs1 that is on ,s4 ,john the ,baptist's day and at the feast of ,s4 ,michael4 ,likewise ,i have conceded and by this my present charter confirmed to my citizens of ,chester1 to have and to hold their guild merchant1 as freely as they held it in the time of my uncle1 ,lord ,randle1 ,earl of ,chester4' ,similar charters were given to other ,cheshire towns4 ,earl ,randle1 who was one of those who saw ,king ,john sign the ,great ,charter1 gave to his baron1 ,sir ,robert de ,stokeport1 a charter for his town of ,stockport1 with permission to hold markets and fairs1 receiving in return the market dues and tolls4 ,hamon de ,massey gave a charter for a weekly market to the inhabitants of ,altrincham4 ,congleton received its charter in the reign of ,edward the ,first from ,henry de ,lacy1 whose statue you may see on the front of ,congleton ,town ,hall4 ,macclesfield boasts of charters received from ,randle ,blundeville and from ,edward the ,first1 though by the latter the citizens were compelled to grind their corn at the king's mill and bake their bread in the king's oven1 paying a toll of one shilling each for this privilege4 ,in the thirteenth century the merchants and traders of a town formed themselves into guilds1 which drew up sets of rules for the regulation and protection of their trade and industries4 ,the merchants met at fixed times in their guild-hall1 where they elected the officers of the guild1 an alderman1 a steward1 a chaplain1 and an usher1 and where they transacted the business of the guild4 ,by these laws no merchant could buy or sell goods in the town unless he was a member of the guild4 ,all the members subscribed to the guild1 and if one of their number fell into poverty1 or was unable to work and provide for himself1 he received a sum of money every year from the common chest4 ,the little schoolroom in the churchyard of ,nantwich was the old ,guild ,hall4 ,the guilds became very rich in time1 and bought property and built homes for poor people who had belonged to the guild1 and schools where their children might be taught4 ,the workmen also who worked for the merchants wanted their own guilds1 and craft guilds were formed by the different trades of a city1 each of the guilds receiving a charter of its own4 ,several charters of this kind may be seen in the muniment room of the ,chester ,town ,hall4 ,in mediaeval towns those who were engaged in a particular trade lived near to one another in the same street1 to which they often gave the name of their industry4 ,the name of ,shoemakers' ,row still survives at ,chester to tell us where the shoemakers' shops were to be found4 ,newgate ,street was formerly ,fleshmonger ,lane1 and was the chief place of business of the butchers4 ,the ,skinners lived in ',castle ,drive'1 and a portion of ,bridge ,street known as ,mercers' ,row was given over to the mercers1 drapers1 and haberdashers4 ,the trade guilds were formed in the same way as the merchant guilds4 ,each had its own officers and meeting-place4 ,the ,phoenix ,tower takes its name from the crest of one of the city guilds1 which used the tower as its council-chamber4 ,while the merchant guild looked after the interests of the trades1 the town itself was governed by a mayor and aldermen1 who were responsible for the good behaviour of the inhabitants4 ,they also fixed the prices at which food and other necessaries of life were to be sold1 and had the control of all markets and fairs4 ,commonhall ,street takes its name from the old ,common ,hall in which the mayor and aldermen of the city met for their deliberations4 ,the old hall has long since disappeared4 ,the mayor and the magistrates administered justice in the ,penthouse or ,pentice1 which used to stand close to ,s4 ,peter's ,church in the centre of the city4 ,during the two great fairs of the city of ,chester a large white glove was suspended from the tower of ,s4 ,peter's as the symbol of welcome to all strangers to bring their wares into the city for sale4 ,in the church of ,s4 ,john's is an ancient grave-slab with glove and scissors carved upon it4 ,the slab once covered the remains of a glover2 glove-making has always been one of the chief industries of ,chester4 ,another slab shows by the hammer and horseshoe engraved upon it that it belonged to the tomb of a smith4 ,illustration3 ,,tombstone ,,of ,a ,,glover1 ,s4 ,,john',s ,,church1 ,,chester ,one of the privileges of the ,shoemakers' ,guild was that of providing the ball for the annual game of football played on the ,roodee on ,easter ,monday4 ,the mayor and all the city guilds came to watch the game1 which unfortunately did not always end happily1 for we read that 'great strife did arise'1 and many of the players were haled away to be dealt with by the ,mayor at the ,pentice court4 ,the saddlers provided a silver bell as a prize for the winner of a horse-race on the ,roodee4 ,but the greatest event of the year in mediaeval ,chester was the performance of scenes from the ,scriptures--mystery plays1 as they were called--at the ,festival of ,whitsuntide4 ,the city guilds bore the whole of the expense and chose the players to perform them1 each guild being responsible for one scene4 ,thus the painters and glaziers performed the ,shepherds' ,watch and the ,angels' ,hymn2 the vintners acted the part of the ,wise ,men of the ,east2 the butchers the ,story of the ,temptation2 the glovers the ,raising of ,lazarus4 ,scenes from the ,old ,testament were included1 the linen drapers performing the story of ,balaam and the ,ass1 and the watermen of the ,dee1 appropriately enough1 the story of the ,flood4 ,the plays were put into ,english verse by ,randal ,hignet1 a monk of ,s4 ,werburgh's1 and no doubt were originally performed by the monks as a means of instructing the people in the outlines of the ,christian faith4 ,as the abbey church was found to be unsuitable they were performed publicly in the streets1 in order 'to exhort'1 as a clerk of the ,pentice said1 'the minds of the common people to good devotion as well as for the common weal and prosperity of the city4' ,twenty-five scenes in all were played1 and the performance lasted for three days4 ,on the first day the people saw scenes representing the ,creation of the ,world1 the ,banishment from the ,garden of ,eden1 the ,birth of ,christ and the ,vision of the ,shepherds and the ,adoration of the ,wise ,men2 on the second day the ,passion and ,resurrection of ,christ2 and on the third day stories illustrating the founding of the ,christian ,church1 the ,lives of the ,saints1 and the final ,advent of ,christ and the ,day of ,judgement4 ,the plays were performed on movable stages fitted with wheels4 ,the stages consisted of two stories1 the upper one being left open for the plays1 the lower one covered with curtains that it might serve as a dressing-room4 ,the first performance took place at the ,abbey ,gate4 ,the stages then passed one by one to the ,water ,gate1 where a second performance was given4 ,the plays were acted for the third and last time in ,bridge ,street4 ,people crowded into ,chester from all the country round on these occasions1 for the pope granted one thousand days of pardon to all who witnessed the plays4 ,the abbey also grew in wealth1 for every one was expected to visit the ,abbey ,church and lay some offering at ,s4 ,werburgh's shrine4 ,to provide a passage for the crowds of pilgrims1 side aisles were built round the choirs of famous churches1 and behind the high altar a vacant space left where the shrines of saints were placed4 ,the ,cheshire towns which grew in importance during the thirteenth century as a result of the great increase in trade were situated on or near the great roads of ,cheshire1 which were still1 in the main1 the old roads laid by the ,romans4 ,their position was generally one of great strength1 having been chosen in early times in order that men might be able to beat off the attacks of enemies4 ,chester was1 as you have already seen1 guarded on two sides by a bend of the river ,dee1 and was the meeting-place of ,roman roads4 ,northwich on the ,watling ,street1 ,middlewich on ,kind ,street1 and ,stockport were all built at a point where two rivers meet4 ,runcorn1 ,lymm1 and ,altrincham are on sandstone heights protected on the north by the ,mersey2 ,macclesfield is astride the main road in ,east ,cheshire1 and ,nantwich on the highway into ,wales4 ,it was only by means of the roads that commerce between the towns could be kept open4 ,the ',welsh ,row' of ,nantwich recalls the days when the principal trade of the town was with the wool-weavers of ,wales1 a trade that was too often interrupted by the fierce outbreaks on the border4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,edward ,,the ,,first ,,and ,,cheshire ,simon of ,whitchurch received the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh from the hands of another and a greater ,simon1 the powerful ,earl of ,leicester1 who was engaged in a grim struggle with the king on account of the king's extravagance and misgovernment1 and the rule of foreign favourites4 ,both ,henry and his son ,edward were1 in fact1 at this very time prisoners of the earl1 for the battle of ,lewes1 which ended so disastrously for the king1 had just been fought4 ,in the same year ,earl ,simon summoned the famous ,parliament in which knights from the shires1 and citizens from the boroughs1 sat side by side with the nobles and bishops4 ,edward had not long received the ,earldom of ,chester from his father when the ,barons' ,war broke out4 ,simon de ,montfort made an alliance with ,llewellyn the ,welsh prince1 and ,chester1 expecting an attack1 was put into a state of defence4 ,abbot ,simon could hardly have commenced building his beautiful ,lady ,chapel when he saw his church desecrated and turned into barracks by ,sir ,william de la ,zouche1 the ,chief ,justice of ,chester4 ,after the defeat of ,henry and ,edward at ,lewes they were compelled to hand over to ,earl ,simon the ,earldom of ,chester1 and ,henry de ,montfort1 ,simon's eldest son1 came to ,chester and received in his father's name the homage and oath of fealty of the citizens4 ,lucas de ,taney was left in charge of the city4 ,edward afterwards escaped from the custody of ,earl ,simon1 and ,james de ,audley seized the castle of ,beeston on his behalf4 ,he also besieged ,lucas de ,taney in the castle of ,chester for ten weeks1 but did not succeed in taking it on account of the excellent defence made by the garrison4 ,de ,taney surrendered when he heard of the death of ,simon de ,montfort at ,evesham1 where ,edward won a great victory4 ,the chief of the surviving barons were brought as prisoners to ,beeston ,castle4 ,but the great prize for which de ,montfort fought and laid down his life was won4 ,when ,edward came to the throne he learned from the mistakes made by his father1 chose his ministers wisely1 and gave his people good laws4 ,his reign saw the growth of a full and free parliament1 in which all classes of free men were represented4 ,cheshire did not1 however1 send any members1 but being under the personal eye of the king had still a separate government of its own as well as its own judges and law-courts4 ,vale ,royal reminds us of the great ,plantagenet king1 whose motto was ',keep ,troth' and who for thirty-five years did all he could to win the love of his people4 ,before ,edward became king he went on ,crusade to the ,holy ,land1 where he distinguished himself by recovering the holy city of ,nazareth from the ,saracens4 ,on his return he narrowly escaped shipwreck4 ,in his peril he invoked the aid of the ,virgin ,mary1 and vowed that if he were saved he would build a monastery in her honour on his return to his own country4 ,the ,chronicle tells us that 'the vessel straightway righted itself and was miraculously brought safe into port2 the sailors disembarked1 the ,prince landing last of all1 and immediately the vessel broke in pieces1 and every fragment of the wreck vanished under the water'4 ,edward 'kept his troth' and built a home for one hundred monks of the ,cistercian ,order at ,darnhall4 ,four years later he laid the foundation stone of a stately ,abbey at ,vale ,royal1 in the very heart of ,cheshire4 ,queen ,eleanor and a great company of nobles accompanied him4 ,we may not now hear the ,angelus tolling its summons to evening prayer1 nor see jolly monks fishing the streams of the ,weaver1 but in the last few months the foundations of the ,abbey church where they chanted the mass have been discovered4 ,the abbey took more than fifty years to build1 and it was not until the reign of the third ,edward that the monks were able to move from their temporary lodgings to the new and spacious building4 ,the abbey received valuable lands in the neighbourhood of ,over1 ,darnhall1 and ,weaverham1 of which villages the abbot became lord4 ,by the ancient 'customs' of the manor of ,darnhall the villagers were required to attend at the manorial1 now the abbot's court2 the abbot had power of life and death over all his tenants1 who had also to grind all their corn at the abbot's mill2 at the death of any native the abbot took all his horses1 cattle1 and pigs1 and half of his standing and gathered corn4 ,cheshire saw a good deal of ,edward the ,first in the earlier half of his reign4 ,in the year after the ceremonies at ,vale ,royal we find him at ,macclesfield1 when he began to build the parish church of ,s4 ,michael4 ,he was the first ,english king to take in hand the conquest of ,wales seriously4 ,in the reign of ,henry the ,third the ,welsh had taken advantage of the king's troubles with his barons1 and waged a murderous warfare on the ,cheshire border4 ,they advanced as far as ,nantwich1 and ,james de ,audley1 who owned a large part of the barony of ,nantwich1 saw his castles burnt1 woods felled1 and cattle destroyed4 ,preparations were made for a big expedition into ,wales1 and ,prince ,edward summoned the knights and barons of ,cheshire to ,shotwick ,castle on the banks of the ,dee4 ,a grassy knoll1 where once stood the castle keep1 is all that is left of the scene of the gathering4 ,illustration3 ,,chester ,,wall4 ,roman below2 ,edwardian above ,chester1 from its position at the very gates of ,north ,wales1 was the natural meeting-place for the troops1 and the starting-point of ,edward's expedition against ,llewellyn4 ,soon after his accession he summoned the ,welsh princes to do homage to him4 ,this they refused to do1 and the king prepared for war4 ,llewellyn's brother ,david for a long time fought on the side of the ,english1 and received the manor of ,frodsham as his reward4 ,edward's first task1 however1 was to strengthen the defences of ,chester so that it might resist all attacks4 ,the enemy frequently came close up to the walls of the city1 and raided especially the suburb of ,handbridge on the opposite shore of the ,dee1 naming it ,treboeth or ',burnt ,town'1 a name that tells its own tale4 ,edward was a great castle-builder1 as many of you have learnt from pictures you have seen of his ,welsh castles4 ,the ,norman castle of ,chester had been constructed largely of wood4 ,edward now rebuilt it of stone1 and greatly enlarged it by adding an outer ward or 'bailey'4 ,he surrounded the whole fortress with 'curtain' walls flanked with towers and protected with a deep ditch4 ,he also set to work to rebuild the walls of the city4 ,the ancient ,roman walls had long since crumbled to their foundations1 though here and there a mass of masonry remained standing1 and the ,roman east gate was still in its place4 ,the stones of which the walls had been built had provided building-material for many centuries4 ,on the east side from the ,pepper ,gate to the ,phoenix ,tower ,edward built his wall on or near the foundations of the ,roman wall1 portions of which you may still see on this side of the city4 ,for the most part1 however1 the new walls were built outside the older ones1 and the area enclosed was much greater than that of the ,roman town4 ,the walls were strengthened by a number of watch towers1 some of which were not completed until the time of his grandson ,edward the ,third1 when ,bonewaldeston's ,tower and the ,water ,tower were built4 ,a wall-tax called 'murage' was levied on the inhabitants of ,cheshire for keeping the walls in repair4 ,the citizens of ,chester were also made to build a bridge over the ,dee4 ,edward's chief engineer was named ,richard1 and in return for his services he received for a number of years the ,dee ,mills1 so that for the time being he was the ',miller of the ,dee'4 ,illustration3 ,,water ,,tower ,,and ,,curtain ,,wall1 ,,chester ,after some years of hard fighting the conquest of the ,welsh was complete4 ,at ,rhuddlan ,castle1 on the borders of the ancient palatine earldom1 ,edward gave to the conquered ,welsh a settled government and a system of law-courts similar to that which he had already set up for the ,english4 ,he returned to ,chester to celebrate the peace that he had made1 and accompanied by his queen1 with great pomp and ceremony attended mass and a service of thanksgiving in the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh4 ,the river ,dee washed the walls of the ,water ,tower1 and great iron rings1 to which the barges were moored1 were fixed in the ,tower walls4 ,the ships brought wines from ,gascony and cloth from ,flanders1 whither the monks of ,vale ,royal and ,combermere sent the wool of the flocks that pastured on their meadows4 ,some of the ,flemish weavers left their own country and settled on the shores of the ,mersey near ,birkenhead4 ,in nearly every field in the pastoral parts of ,cheshire are to be found one or more small round pools1 often fringed with willows and reeds4 ,you know them well1 for you have been to them often to watch the tadpoles and the minnows4 ,but you have not wondered why they are there1 and why there are so many of them4 ,yet they have something to tell of the wool-raising in the days of the three ,edwards4 ,for they are marl-pits1 and many of them were dug first when the first ,edward was king2 the marl1 which is a great fertilizer1 being taken out of the earth and spread over the grass-lands on which the flocks were pastured4 ,the farmers do not use it now1 for new and easier ways of enriching the soil have been found4 ,the marl-diggers1 or 'marlers' as they were called1 had their own particular feast-day once a year1 when they claimed toll of every passer-by1 and in the evening sang their marling songs in the village ale-house4 ,when shut the pit1 the labour o'er1 ,he whom we work for opes his door ,and gies to us of drink galore1 ,for this was always ,marler's law4 ,who-whoop who-whoop wo-o-o-o-o4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,the ,,coming ,,of ,,the ,,friars ,three streets in ,chester in the neighbourhood of the ,church of ,s4 ,martin bear the names of ,grey ,friars1 ,black ,friars1 and ,white ,friars respectively4 ,during the thirteenth century numbers of begging friars1 clad in simple grey or black or white tunics1 came to ,chester and settled in the poorest quarters of the city4 ,like the early disciples of ,christ1 whose lives of poverty they sought to imitate1 they carried with them neither gold nor silver1 and walked unshod1 begging their food and shelter as they journeyed from town to town4 ,their simple teaching appealed to the poor1 who soon began to look upon them as their best friends4 ,for they brought the ,gospel of ,christ to them in their streets1 and tended the sick and the aged amid their squalid homes4 ,they were forbidden by the rules of their ,orders to receive either money or lands4 ,the first to arrive in ,chester were the ,dominicans or ,black ,friars1 who settled near the ,watergate when ,randle ,blundeville was earl4 ,the old palace of the ,stanleys formed part of the home of the ,black ,friars4 ,they were followed a few years later by the ,franciscans or ,grey ,friars who also lived by the ,watergate1 near the spot on which the ,linen ,hall was afterwards erected1 and in the reign of ,edward the ,first the ,white ,friars or ,carmelites took up their abode in the neighbourhood of ,white ,friars ,street4 ,unlike the monks1 the friars had at first no fixed homes of their own1 and preached at wooden crosses set up at the street corners4 ,afterwards1 with the alms they received from the people and the legacies from rich men who admired their devout lives1 each of the different ,orders of friars built for themselves a permanent dwelling-place or friary1 to which a church in time was added4 ,the ,church of the ,carmelites must have been one of great beauty4 ,some of the glazed coloured tiles which formed the pavement of the building may be seen in the ,grosvenor ,museum4 ,excavations have been made at the spot where the tiles were found1 and three feet lower down the workmen came across broken columns and bases of a large ,roman building4 ,mediaeval ,chester was built on the ruins of the ancient ,roman city4 ,a doorway in an old house called ',the ,friars' was part of the ,carmelite ,friary4 ,the friars studied medicine and devoted themselves particularly to the care of lepers4 ,they also built schools for the children of the poor4 ,the ,dominicans were also skilful engineers1 and ,edward the ,first employed them in making wells and laying water-pipes in the city4 ,unfortunately some of the friars did not live up to their early vows of poverty1 and the rules which ,s4 ,francis and ,s4 ,dominic had drawn up for them4 ,when wealth poured in upon them they became jealous of one another1 and quarrels and disturbances frequently arose between them4 ,the ,records of ,chester tell of many violent acts on the part of the ,dominicans and ,carmelites1 the latter of whom1 armed with cudgels1 were wont to roam in the night time through the city to the terror of the inhabitants4 ,the monks of the thirteenth century had also become idle and luxurious4 ,they had1 as you have already read1 become great landowners1 and received the manorial dues from the manors which belonged to them4 ,the ,abbots of ,vale ,royal ruled with a rod of iron4 ,the poor people rebelled1 and fights between them and the monks were frequent4 ,they laid their complaints before the king1 and good ,queen ,philippa interceded for them as she did for the burghers of ,calais1 but the abbot was generally able to prove his 'rights'1 and the people obtained little satisfaction4 ,the wealth of the monasteries was also greatly increased by the cultivation of crops and the sale of their wool4 ,but the richer they became1 the more they neglected their spiritual duties4 ,the poor could no longer look to them for their spiritual teaching or for charity and good works1 and so gladly turned to the friars who for a time ministered to their needs so well4 ,monks and friars alike were bitterly attacked in ,edward the ,third's reign in a poem written by ,william ,langland4 ,in this poem1 which is called ',the ,vision of ,piers ,plowman'1 the poet speaks of the ignorance and sloth of the monks1 one of whom is made to confess that he cannot even chant the ,lord's ,prayer4 ,i cannot the ,pater ,noster as the priest it syngethe1 ,but ,i can ,rimes of ,robin ,hood and of ,randall of ,chestre4 ,a few exceptions there were to the general rule4 ,in his quiet retreat in the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh1 ,ranulf ,higden wrote a work called ',polychronicon'1 which contained a history of the world from the ,creation to his own day1 with geographical descriptions of the different countries of the world1 and the favourite mediaeval legends of ,babylon and ,rome4 ,the book is valuable because it is one of the earliest pieces of literature written in the language of mixed ,norman and ,saxon which is our mother tongue to-day4 ,when printing was invented in the fifteenth century1 the ,polychronicon was one of the books printed by ,caxton the first ,english printer4 ,many of the churches in ,cheshire show us that the masons and builders of ,edward the ,third's long reign made great progress in their art4 ,we have seen how the thirteenth-century workmen learned to group a number of lancets together under one hood1 and to shape the lancet heads like a clover leaf by the addition of cusps4 ,in the fourteenth century the space above a row of lancet or trefoil-headed lights was filled in with a number of geometrical figures such as circles and foils4 ,hence the name of ,geometrical or ,decorated has been given to the work of this period4 ,the large east windows of many of our ,cheshire churches are made up in this way4 ,the patterns of flowing lines thus produced are called 'bar tracery'4 ,there are ,decorated windows in the aisles of the choir and south transept of ,chester ,cathedral4 ,illustration3 ,,north-,,west ,,view ,,of ,,nantwich ,,church ,windows and arches were now made wider than in the previous century4 ,the builders of the ,pointed period sought after height2 those of the ,decorated period aimed rather at breadth and openness4 ,illustration3 ,,geometrical ,,window1 ,,south ,,transept1 ,,chester ,,cathedral ,the fourteenth-century masons studied nature carefully1 and put masses of carved fruit or flowers or leaves in the capitals of their columns4 ,the arches of the nave of ,chester ,cathedral prove this fact4 ,a favourite ornament of the ,decorated period is the crocket1 a projecting bunch of foliage added to pinnacles1 the hoods of arches1 and the canopies of niches and tombs4 ,another device is the ball-flower carved in the mouldings4 ,the ball-flower is as sure a sign of ,decorated mouldings as the dog-tooth was in those of the ,early ,english period4 ,illustration3 ,,altar ,,tombs1 ,,macclesfield ,the choir of ,stockport ,parish ,church is a beautiful example of the ,decorated style1 and the greater portions of ,macclesfield1 ,nantwich1 and ,prestbury ,parish ,churches belong to the same period4 ,in many other churches you will find some detail1 generally a window or a doorway or an altar tomb1 which will show you some of the features of this style4 ,in the ,early ,english and ,decorated periods a spire was sometimes added to the tower1 as at ,astbury and ,bebington4 ,the spire grew out of the pyramid-shaped roof with which the towers of ,norman churches were covered4 ,in the low-lying portions of the ,cheshire plain1 where stone was scarce but timber plentiful1 the framework of a church was often built of wood4 ,in the village of ,warburton1 on the banks of the ,mersey1 is a fourteenth-century wooden church1 which served as the chapel of a priory that was established here by the ,normans4 ,the name itself 7',werburgh-ton'7 speaks to us of ,s4 ,werburgh1 the patron saint of the ,abbey of ,chester1 and a field by the river is still called the ,abbey ,croft2 the stone coffins within the church once contained the bones of monks who lived here4 ,illustration3 ,,interior ,,of ,,warburton ,,timber ,,church4 ,,fourteenth ,,century ,the arches within are made of rough-hewn timber1 rudely shaped with the axe4 ,lantern pegs of buck-horn from the deer that once roamed the woodlands of ,dunham ,massey are fixed on the oak pillars2 the roof is supported by stout cross-beams4 ,the brick tower has been added at a later day1 and the south wall built when the timbers on that side of the church collapsed4 ,the timber churches of ,lower ,peover and ,marton belong to the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century4 ,marton ,church was the burial-place of the ,davenports1 who lived at ,marton ,hall4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,old ,,priest',s ,,house1 ,,prestbury ,the ,davenports had a more splendid home at ,bramhall1 the oldest portions of which were built when ,edward the ,third was king4 ,the great hall at ,baguley was built about the same time4 ,the massive upright posts are cut from timber more than two feet square1 and the spaces between them filled with wickerwork and plaster4 ,the open roof is supported by a mighty 'tie-beam' and two uprights called 'queen-posts'#b4 ,the windows are tall and the lights narrow1 and separated from one another by oak mullions4 #b ,sometimes the roof was held up by a single 'king-post' in place of two queen-posts4 ,the 'king-post' reached from the centre of the tie-beam to the point of the roof4 ,surely the men who built it had hearts of oak4 ,the building reflects the rugged character of the men of the days when 'knights were bold' and 'might was right'4 ,in this hall we can picture old ,sir ,william ,baggiley feasting with his family and his retainers1 when the summons came from his king to follow him to the ,french wars4 ,his effigy still rests in the hall that he himself perhaps built4 ,it is broken and battered1 but enough remains to show us that the knights who fought for ,edward and the ,black ,prince had changed the fashion of their war dress since the ,crusades4 ,a hood of mail still protects the head and neck1 but the suit of mail has given way to plates of steel riveted or hooked together1 so that the whole body is cased in armour4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,a ,,deposed ,,king ,when ,edward the ,first completed his conquest of ,north ,wales1 and the ,welsh chiefs swore fealty at ,chester to the first ,english ,prince of ,wales1 the fighting squires of ,cheshire found themselves without any occupation4 ,edward the ,third1 ambitious of recovering the ,french dominions of the ,norman and ,angevin ,kings of ,england1 provided the ,cheshire men with a fresh field of adventures1 with far greater opportunities of performing deeds of valour and satisfying their thirst for warfare4 ,a number of ,cheshire knights followed the king and the ,black ,prince to ,france4 ,the ,french ,chronicler1 ,froissart1 tells us that ,sir ,james ,audley and his four ,cheshire squires 'fought always in the chief of the battle' at ,poitiers4 ,one of the four squires was ,sir ,john ,delves1 who built the old tower of ,doddington ,castle1 near ,audlem4 ,in ,barthomley ,church is a monument to ,sir ,robert ,fulleshurst1 who also was one of the dauntless four4 ,in the chancel of ,bunbury ,church is the tomb of ,sir ,hugh ,calveley1 who1 by his bold deeds1 won for himself the title of the ',cheshire ,hero'4 ,over the doorway of the inn at ,handley you may see the sign of the three calves1 the ancient coat of arms of the ,calveleys4 ,sir ,hugh was the leader of a famous band of soldiers called the ',companions'1 who gave their services for pay to any leader who required them1 and were the terror of the country people of ,france for many years4 ,edward made him the ,governor of ,calais1 from whence he sacked the seaport of ,boulogne1 and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty4 ,indeed1 many of his exploits are anything but deeds of glory4 ,when ,sir ,hugh ,calveley returned in his old age to his home in ,cheshire1 wishing to atone1 perhaps1 for his ruthless acts1 he founded a college at ,bunbury for a master1 two chaplains1 and two choristers4 ,their chief duty1 no doubt1 was to pray for the repose of the soul of their benefactor4 ,cheshire knights and ,welshmen fought side by side at ,poitiers4 ,when the ,black ,prince returned to ,england he gave the ,dee ,mills for life to ,sir ,howell y ,fwyall4 ,an inscription on the wall of the ,parish ,church of ,macclesfield tells us that ,perkin a ,legh 'serv'd ,king ,edward the ,third and the ,black ,prince his sonne in all their warres in ,france1 and was at the ,battell of ,cressie1 and hadd ,lyme given him for that service'4 ,the descendants of the ,leghs still live at ,lyme ,hall1 near ,disley1 where a life-size portrait of the ,black ,prince hangs in the entrance hall4 ,sir ,perkin married the daughter of ,sir ,thomas d',anyers1 who received a handsome reward for rescuing the ,royal ,standard at ,crecy from the ,french4 ,his body lies beneath the d',anyers monument in ,grappenhall ,church4 ,the same inscription at ,macclesfield tells us that ,perkin a ,legh 'serv'd ,king ,richard the ,second1 and left him not in his troubles1 but was taken with him and beheaded at ,chester'4 ,cheshire was very loyal to the unfortunate ,richard1 who styled himself ,prince of ,cheshire1 and showed great favour to the ancient earldom4 ,the victory of ,crecy was due to the ,english archers1 and among them none were more famous than those of ,cheshire4 ,on their return from the wars1 ,richard's faithful bowmen became his body-guard1 and could always be relied upon whenever he wished to strike a blow at his enemies4 ',sleep in peace1 ,dickon1' they would say to him1 'we will take care of thee1 and if thou hadst married the daughter of ,sir ,perkin of ,legh1 thou mightest have defied all the lords in ,england4' ,cheshire men got a very bad name1 for they were cruel and bloodthirsty1 given to lawless deeds and inspiring terror wherever they appeared4 ,they were safe in ,cheshire1 for the county was governed directly by the king1 and did not yet send representatives to ,parliament4 ,the ,house of ,commons itself was overawed by a force of #b1jjj ,cheshire archers1 commanded by seven ,cheshire esquires4 ,when the ,commons rose against the misgovernment of the king1 the unpunished robberies and evil deeds of the ,cheshire men were one of the causes of complaint4 ,the bowmen all wore the badge of the ,white ,hart1 ,richard's own device4 ,there are at the present day many inns in the villages of ,cheshire that bear the sign of the ,white ,hart1 a reminiscence of the days of ,richard and his ,cheshire guards4 ,the enemies of ,richard were determined to depose him1 and put in his place ,henry of ,lancaster1 son of ,john of ,gaunt4 ,richard banished ,henry1 and deprived him of his estates and possessions4 ,when ,henry landed with a small force at ,ravenspur in ,yorkshire1 in the year #acii1 he was joined by many of the northern lords1 chief among whom was the powerful ,earl of ,northumberland and his son1 ,harry ',hotspur'4 ,richard surrendered to his cousin at ,flint1 and was brought to ,chester 'on a sorry hack not worth a couple of pounds'4 ,he was confined in the tower over the gateway of the ,castle at ,chester before being removed to ,pontefract1 where he probably met a violent death1 though it was given out that he died of starvation4 ,perkin a ,legh was executed for his loyalty to ,richard1 and his head fixed on a pole on the highest tower of ,chester ,castle4 ,the ,cheshire archers struck one more blow in ,richard's defence4 ,hotspur had been made ,justice of ,cheshire and ,north ,wales by ,henry the ,fourth1 to keep down the turbulent ,cheshire men and the ,welsh insurgents4 ,he suddenly changed sides1 and joined ,earl ,mortimer and ,owen ,glendower of ,wales in their revolt against the new king4 ,hotspur gave out that ,richard was yet alive at ,sandiway1 and the chief barons of ,cheshire1 the ,venables and the ,vernons1 and the archers of ,macclesfield and ,delamere flocked to his standard4 ,the ,mayor of ,chester went too1 and the parsons of ,pulford1 ,davenham1 ,rostherne and other villages1 each with his own following4 ,though they were afterwards told that ,richard was really dead1 they were quite content to avenge him1 and the army decked with the badge of the ,white ,hart marched from ,cheshire to join the ,welsh leader4 ,king ,henry met them near ,shrewsbury1 where a fierce battle took place4 ,the ,cheshire archers fought with great bravery1 and even routed a portion of the king's army4 ,but they were gradually overcome by the more numerous royal forces1 and ,henry's victory was complete4 ,hotspur himself was killed1 and among the slain were 'the most part of the knights and squires of the county of ,chester'4 ,after the battle1 the baron of ,kinderton1 ,sir ,richard ,venables1 was executed1 and his estates given to his brother1 a supporter of the king4 ,the ancient yew-trees in many of the churchyards of ,cheshire will remind you of the sturdy bowmen who overthrew the mail-clad mounted men of ,france at the battles of ,crecy and ,poitiers4 ,the big yew in the churchyard of ,farndon must have been of great age1 even in the days when ,richard's archers cut their bows from its tough and pliant boughs4 ,the bow was made in ,england1 in ,england1 ,of true wood1 of yew wood1 the wood of ,english bows3 ,so men who are free ,love the old yew tree ,and the land where the yew tree grows4 ,in order to encourage archery among workmen and labourers1 ,richard forbade the playing of football1 tennis1 and the like1 under penalty of fine or imprisonment4 ,among the town-laws of ,chester was one which compelled all children of six years old and upwards to be taught the use of the bow and arrow1 both 'for the avoiding of idleness' and for service 'in the ancient defence of the kingdom'4 ,every ,easter ,monday the two sheriffs chose teams of archers1 and shot a match on the ,roodee1 the prize being a breakfast or dinner of calves' heads and bacon1 in which the ,mayor and ,aldermen also took part4 ,when a man of any well-to-do family married in ,chester1 he was expected to give a silver arrow in the following year as a prize for archery4 ,some of the knights who returned from the ,french wars found their old homes burnt or destroyed by marauding ,welshmen during their absence4 ,the castles which they built for their protection were built of stone1 and portions strongly fortified4 ,the massive tower or keep of ,doddington is crowned with a battlement and four square corner turrets2 the windows are mere slits in the walls4 ,brimstage ,tower in ,wirral was built in #acih by ,sir ,hugh de ,hulse4 ,the parapet or gallery is 'machicolated'1 that is to say it projects beyond the walls of the tower1 so that molten metal might be poured through holes in the parapet upon an attacking force below4 ,the more famous ,storeton ,hall was built about the same time1 though little remains now to show its former splendour4 ,from ,storeton came the powerful ,cheshire ,house of ,stanley4 ,in the reign of ,edward the ,third1 ,sir ,philip de ,bamville was master-forester of ,wirral1 which at the time was covered with an extensive forest1 so that an old rime said ,from ,blacon ,point to ,hilbre ,squirrels in search of food ,might jump straight from tree to tree1 ,so thick the forest stood4 ,sir ,philip was being entertained by ,john ,stanley4 ,in the evening1 when the festivities were at their height1 young ,william ,stanley ran away with ,joan de ,bamville1 ,sir ,philip's only child4 ,through forest and over moorland they spurred their horses1 and stayed not till the wide ,cheshire plain lay between them and their homes4 ,at ,astbury ,church they were wedded1 and after the old knight's death1 the ,stanleys succeeded to the forestership and the estates that went with it4 ,scarcely any churches were built in ,cheshire in the latter part of the fourteenth century1 though the chancel of ,west ,kirby was put up in the reign of ,richard the ,second4 ,the carved heads on one of the window-hoods are those of ,richard and his queen4 ,labourers were very scarce1 owing to the ravages of the terrible calamity known as the ,black ,death1 and the men who returned from the wars had no fancy for doing the work of the mason and the builder4 ,men refused to work2 wages and the price of bread rose so high that a limit had to be set to them by law4 ,even so great a person as the ,abbot of ,s4 ,werburgh was fined because his steward charged too big a price for the abbey corn4 ,when the next century dawned and the land had rest for a while under the ,lancastrian king1 churches were no longer built in the ,decorated style of the fourteenth century4 ,another style of church-building prevailed4 ,the curious ,chester ',rows' were originally built during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries1 though they have been altered and rebuilt many times since then4 ,there is nothing quite like them in any other ,english city4 ,the ',rows'1 or galleries1 run continuously for most of the length of the four principal streets over the shops on the street level1 as if the front rooms on the first floor of all the houses had been taken out and a thoroughfare made through them4 ,at the ends of the ,rows1 and at street corners1 you may descend by a staircase to the pavement below4 ,illustration3 ,,chester ,,rows1 ,,watergate ,,street ,no one can be quite sure how the ,rows came to be built on this plan4 ,some people have thought that they were copied from the porticoes or colonnades of shops in ,roman towns4 ,others1 again1 say that they were intended to serve as barricades in the street fighting which often took place when the ,welsh attacked the city4 ,probably1 however1 neither of these explanations is correct4 ,many old houses in ,chester show that they were at first built with outside flights of stone steps leading from the street to the first floor4 ,under the steps was an entrance to a cellar or storeroom4 ,at some time or other the steps were removed1 except at the ends of the streets1 and a footway laid along the tops of the cellars4 ,the upper stories were then brought forward1 and1 resting on columns of wood1 made level with the street fronts of the basement4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,the ,,rival ,,roses ,henry the ,fourth belongs partly to ,cheshire1 for a ,duke of ,lancaster had married the heiress of the ,lacys1 who were descended from ,nigel1 ,baron of ,halton and ,constable of ,chester4 ,john of ,gaunt1 the king's father1 was a frequent visitor at ,halton ,castle1 which he used as a hunting-lodge4 ,the ,french wars broke out again in the reign of ,henry the ,fifth4 ,once more the loyal ,leghs and other ,cheshire knights followed their king4 ,in fact the king's body-guard was composed of ,cheshire men1 among them being ,richard de ,mobberley1 ,ranulf de ,chelford1 and ,william de ,mere4 ,piers ,legh1 the grandson of ,perkin ,legh1 fell at ,agincourt1 as you may read on the brass plate in ,macclesfield ,church4 ,in the same church is the altar-tomb of another hero of ,agincourt1 ,sir ,john ,savage1 who was knighted after the battle4 ,henry was stricken down at the very moment of his triumph1 and a baby king succeeded to the throne of ,england4 ,the royal uncles1 who acted as guardians1 quarrelled with one another1 and in a few years the ,english were compelled to leave ,france4 ,foreign wars were followed by strife in our own country4 ,the ,wars of the ,roses lasted for the greater part of the second half of the fifteenth century4 ,queen ,margaret1 the 'outlandish woman' as her ,yorkist enemies called her1 was in ,chester in the year #adei4 ,the king was ill1 and the queen conducted the wars herself1 and summoned the fighting-men of ,cheshire to rally to her side4 ,the people of ,cheshire were not greatly excited over the wars1 which were mainly blood-feuds of powerful nobles4 ,the trading classes and the artisans of the towns took little part in the fighting1 but the sturdy ,cheshire yeomen followed the squires1 who ranged themselves on the one side or the other4 ,members of the same family often found themselves opposed to one another4 ,a sixteenth-century poet1 describing the battle of ,blore ,heath1 which took place just over the southern border of ,cheshire1 says3 ,there ,dutton ,dutton kills1 a ,done doth kill a ,done1 ,a ,booth a ,booth1 and ,legh by ,legh is overthrown2 ,a ,venables against a ,venables doth stand1 ,a ,troutbeck fighteth with a ,troutbeck hand to hand4 ,the ,red ,rose was badly beaten in this battle1 in which ,lord ,audley and two thousand ,cheshire men were killed4 ,one of the ,booths who fought in the ,wars of the ,roses is buried beneath the chancel floor of ,wilmslow ,church4 ,set in a marble slab which covers the grave is a brass plate with figures of ,sir ,robert de ,bothe and ,douce ,venables his wife4 ,similar 'brasses' were common enough in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the monuments of those families who could afford them4 ,they represent1 for the most part1 knights and priests4 ,few are left now1 for numbers were stripped from their places during the ,great ,rebellion4 ,portions of the brass at ,wilmslow have been destroyed or lost1 for the figures were at one time set in a handsome canopy of brass1 and the whole surrounded by an inscription1 only a fragment of which remains4 ,illustration3 ,,brass ,,of ,,robert ,,de ,,bothe ,,and ,,douce ,,venables ,the brass shows us the costume of a knight and lady of the fifteenth century4 ,the knight is in plate armour1 which1 since its first appearance in the ,edwardian wars1 had become more and more elaborate and highly ornamental4 ,if you study this brass and the effigies on the ,savage monuments at ,macclesfield you will be able to recognize in other churches the warriors who fought in the battles of the fifteenth century4 ,douce ,venables was only nine years of age when she was married by her parents to the twelve-year-old husband whom they chose for her4 ,throughout the ,middle ,ages child-marriages were frequently arranged in order to make secure the estates which the children were to inherit1 and save them from the greediness of the kings4 ,the sovereign claimed the right of wardship over all heirs and heiresses who were left orphans in early life1 and took a large sum of money out of their estates when he gave them away in marriage4 ,if they did not then marry according to his wishes they had to pay a further sum4 ,we may be sure the kings made all they could from this source1 for wars were expensive and the kings were always short of ready money4 ,the people of ,cheshire were glad when the ,wars of the ,roses were over4 ,the ,roses were united when ,henry ,tudor1 ,earl of ,richmond1 married ,elizabeth the heiress of ,edward the ,fourth and of the ,house of ,york4 ,on the porch of ,gawsworth ,church is a carved corbel consisting of a rose1 within whose petals appear two faces4 ,this is the ,tudor ,rose1 a symbol of the union of the ,houses of ,lancaster and ,york4 ,the porch was therefore built shortly after the wars were ended4 ,the ,cheshire ,stanleys helped ,henry ,tudor to win the crown of ,richard the ,third on the field of ,bosworth1 the last battle of the rival ,roses4 ,when ,richard saw the redcoats and the harts' heads of the ,stanley followers ranged on the side of his enemies1 he knew that he was doomed4 ,the ,stanley strokes they are so strong1 there may no man their blows abide4 ,it was ,sir ,william ,stanley who picked up the crown which had fallen from ,king ,richard's head when he was struck down1 and taking ,henry aside1 set it on his head4 ,macclesfield suffered severely in this battle4 ,among the corporation records of ,macclesfield is preserved a letter to ,king ,henry the ,seventh1 praying that the town might not lose its charter because it could not make up the necessary number of aldermen1 owing to the heavy slaughter of the townsmen at ,bosworth4 ,lord ,derby1 the head of the ,house of ,stanley1 arranged the new king's marriage with the ,lady ,elizabeth1 and ,sir ,william ,stanley was for a time high in favour with the king4 ,but one day he asked for too great a reward--nothing less than the ,earldom of ,chester1 and the suspicious king chopped off his head4 ,thus were men often requited for their services4 ,notwithstanding the squabbles and jealousies of rival kings and princes1 the people as a whole were progressing along more peaceful ways4 ,trade was flourishing1 and the class of well-to-do merchants becoming yearly more numerous and important4 ,wealthy aldermen imitated the good example of ,king ,henry the ,sixth1 founder of many schools and colleges4 ,edmund ,shaw1 of ,stockport1 founded in #adhg a ,free ,school at ,stockport for the children of the burgesses4 ,the master of the school was to be a priest1 'a discrete man1 and conning in grammer and able of connyng to teche gramer4' ,the art of printing had just been discovered1 and now that books were likely to be within the reach of all1 it was necessary first of all to teach ,cheshire boys how to read and understand their own language4 ,the century1 that opened with war and bloodshed1 closed in peace such as ,cheshire had hardly ever before experienced4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,churches ,,of ,,the ,,middle ,,ages ,many of the largest and finest churches in ,cheshire were built during the ,wars of the ,roses1 and in the reigns of the early ,tudors4 ,this fact shows us more than anything else perhaps that the wars did not greatly interfere with the progress and prosperity of the inhabitants of ,cheshire4 ,during this period the churches of ,mottram1 ,malpas1 ,great ,budworth1 ,nantwich1 ,astbury1 ,grappenhall1 ,tarvin1 ,bunbury1 ,wilmslow1 ,witton1 ,gawsworth1 and many others were built or completed4 ,illustration3 ,,astbury1 ,,west ,,front4 ,,perpendicular ,if you study any of these churches carefully you will see that the style was once again changing4 ,probably the first thing you will note will be the change in the patterns of the windows4 ,the mullions which divide the lights are carried right up to the crown of the windows instead of branching off to right or left in flowing curves4 ,this is the chief feature from which the new style has received the name of ,perpendicular4 ,the ,perpendicular builders of the latter half of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries found their windows growing to such a size that they had to strengthen them with cross-bars called transoms4 ,thus the windows1 as in the west front of ,astbury and the south transept of ,chester ,cathedral1 for instance1 present the appearance of a number of rectangles placed side by side and piled one above another4 ,the crown of the windows are also now flattened until they hardly appear to be pointed at all4 ,the clerestories of the ,perpendicular churches were filled with rows of windows until the whole length of the wall was almost continuous glass1 as at ,malpas and ,astbury4 ,when ,bibles and ,church services began to be printed more light was needed1 for people went to church to read as well as to listen4 ,the doorways1 like the windows1 have changed with the times4 ,the heads are flattened and covered with a square moulded hood4 ,the corner spaces between the arch and the hood are called spandrels1 and are generally filled in with carved foliage or shields4 ,at the sides are often niches for the images of saints1 or moulded panels4 ,the door of the ,rivers ,chapel at ,macclesfield is a beautiful specimen of ,perpendicular architecture4 ,the walls of ,perpendicular churches are generally surmounted by a parapet which runs round the whole length of a church1 as at ,malpas4 ,sometimes the stone work of the parapet is pierced with panel-shaped slits or ornamented with rows of quatrefoils4 ,panels appear on the buttresses of ,gawsworth ,church4 ,but the great glory of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century churches are the tall and massive square towers4 ,these are built in stages separated from one another by a narrow projecting course of stones or by bands of quatrefoils4 ,the name of the builder often appears on the tower4 ,round the tower of ,mobberley ,church runs a ,latin inscription bearing the names of ,john ,talbot and ,margaret his wife1 the patrons of the church1 and ,richard ,plat the master-mason4 ,on the towers of ,macclesfield and ,gawsworth ,churches are carved rows of shields bearing the arms of different lords of the manor4 ,like the body of the church1 the tower is generally crowned with an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the four corners4 ,illustration3 ,,perpendicular ,,tower1 ,,handley4 ,,fifteenth ,,century ,in the carved foliage of one of the capitals in the nave of ,chester ,cathedral are the letters ,s4 ,r4 ,they are the initials of ,abbot ,simon ,ripley1 one of the greatest of fifteenth-century builders in ,cheshire4 ,he rebuilt the upper parts of the nave and south transept of the ,abbey ,church1 and planned the central tower1 which was finished by the next abbot4 ,simon ,ripley also built the old tower and gateway at ,saighton ,grange1 which had been the residence of the ,abbots of ,s4 ,werburgh ever since the time of ,hugh ,lupus4 ,many of the village churches of ,cheshire were built on the sites of former churches1 and often a portion of the older building remains to prove this4 ,the ,norman font at ,grappenhall and the little ,norman window at ,woodchurch are all that is left to prove that churches existed here before the present buildings were erected4 ,in such churches you can often trace the successive buildings and rebuildings1 alterations and additions that have been made from time to time4 ,a single church may indeed show the chief features of all the styles from the time of the ,conqueror to the ,civil ,war4 ,at ,prestbury you may see a ,norman doorway in the little chapel in the churchyard2 in the chancel of the church is a window of pure ,early ,english1 and in the nave a pillar of the same period4 ,there are ,decorated windows in the aisles1 and a ,perpendicular window at the east end4 ,the ,cheshire churches are beautiful still2 they must have been even more beautiful in the sixteenth century1 before the ,puritans of the ,reformation and the ,civil ,war in their mistaken zeal destroyed almost everything of beauty within and without that could be destroyed4 ,on the walls of the interior were often painted pictures of ,bible stories such as the ,creation1 the ,crucifixion1 or the ,resurrection of our ,lord4 ,when the plaster was stripped from the walls of ,gawsworth ,church some of these wall-paintings were discovered4 ,drawings were made from them1 which you may see in the ,free ,library of ,macclesfield4 ,on the wall of the nave of ,mobberley ,church some of these paintings still remain1 but their meaning is not very clear4 ,the chancel was divided from the nave by a screen of carved oak1 with a long narrow gallery above it called a rood-loft1 from the rood or cross which was placed in the centre of the gallery4 ,the crosses have gone1 but at ,mobberley you may see the ancient screen1 with an inscription1 and the date #aejj carved upon it4 ,illustration3 ,,shocklach3 ,,cross ,,and ,,norman ,,door ,throughout the ,middle ,ages it was the custom for the lord of the manor to reserve some portion of the church for his own use1 or to add to the building a chantry or chapel where his own chantry priest might pray daily for the salvation of his soul4 ,these chapels are generally at the eastern ends of the aisles4 ,you will know them by the handsome monuments which were raised over the graves of the founders1 for these chapels were used as the burial-place of the founders and their families4 ,the ,calveleys had a private chapel at ,bunbury1 the ,mainwarings at ,over ,peover1 the ,dones at ,tarporley1 the ,troutbecks in ,s4 ,mary's1 ,chester1 and the ,cholmondeleys at ,malpas4 ,the church porches are on the south side of the church4 ,they are generally large1 for portions of the baptismal service were read there1 and the font is therefore close to the door within the church4 ,in the corner of the porch at ,woodchurch you will see a little stone basin or 'stoup' in which holy water was placed for the use of those entering the church4 ,at ,malpas there is a little room above the porch called a 'parvise'2 this was used as a priest's room4 ,over the door of the porch are niches for the images of the saints to whom the church is dedicated4 ,in the churchyard near the south porch1 which was nearly always the principal entrance to the church1 you will generally see a cross or stump of a cross and steps representing a ,calvary4 ,from these steps the friars used to preach to the people when they travelled through the ,cheshire towns and villages4 ,in many of the old churches of ,cheshire you will see a stout oak chest1 often black with age1 and strongly bound with bands and clasps of iron4 ,these chests were made to hold the deeds of gift of land and money made by rich patrons4 ,beneath the tower of ,wilmslow ,church is an ancient chest that was carved out of a solid block of wood4 ,some of you have perhaps tried to raise the heavy lid of the chest at ,little ,peover1 but it is as much as a strong man may do4 ,an old legend says that the maid who can lift it is indeed worthy to become a ,cheshire farmer's wife4 ,in the museum at ,warrington is preserved the old parish chest of ,grappenhall4 ,it is the oldest chest in the county4 ,it is of the rudest description1 consisting merely of a tree trunk1 seven feet long1 chopped smooth with an axe1 sawn into two portions and hollowed4 ,illustration3 ,,porch ,,with ,,parvise3 ,,malpas ,in these chests were also placed the churchwardens' accounts of expenses1 as well as the registers of births1 deaths1 and marriages which ,henry the ,eighth in #aech commanded to be kept in every parish4 ,these ancient records are valuable now1 and preserved with great care for from them we can glean much information about the lives of our forefathers4 ,many of them have been copied and published by scholars1 and may be read by you in your libraries4 ,many ,cheshire parish registers date from the times of the ,tudors1 but a large number were lost or destroyed during the ,civil ,wars4 ,churchwardens' accounts help us to picture in our minds the interior of a mediaeval church4 ,we read of payments made 'for timber bought to make the pulpit'1 'for mending of the ,bible book and for the covering of the same'1 for strewing rushes on the floor of the church to keep it warm1 and 'for a chain to the ,bible'4 ,there are chained ,bibles still at ,bunbury1 ,backford1 and ,burton4 ,a printed ,bible cost a lot of money1 and chains were necessary to prevent it being stolen4 ,there were no comfortable cushioned seats for those who worshipped in mediaeval churches4 ,wooden or stone benches were ranged along the walls1 and 'kneeling places' were made for those who could afford to pay for them4 ,in ,acton ,church the old stone bench running all round the walls of the nave and chancel still remains4 ,in the choir there were stone seats1 called 'sedilia'1 for the priests4 ,they are set in the wall on the south side of the chancel1 and are generally covered1 as at ,stockport and ,mobberley1 with a canopy of ,early ,english or ,decorated tracery4 ,in the churches which were closely connected with an abbey or monastery1 wooden stalls were made for the monks4 ,these are often beautifully carved1 and covered with handsome canopies of wooden tracery and pinnacles4 ,the choir stalls of ,nantwich are said to have been brought from the ,abbey of ,vale ,royal4 ,the carved oak stalls in ,chester ,cathedral are thought by many people to be the handsomest in ,england4 ,many of them still remain as they were in ,king ,henry the ,eighth's days1 freed now from the coat of white paint with which stupid workmen covered them at a later time4 ,the heavy seats are fitted with hinges1 so that they may be raised4 ,on the under side are quaint carvings of birds and dragons and unicorns1 kings1 knights and seraphs1 illustrating ancient legends such as ,richard ,cur de ,lion pulling the heart out of a lion1 or ,scriptural subjects and stories from the lives of the saints4 ,illustration3 ,sedilia at ,mobberley ,all ,cheshire boys and girls should learn to read and understand the stories of the ,cheshire churches1 for in them is bound up the story of ,cheshire men and women of many ages4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,reformation ,,and ,,the ,,great ,,awakening ,on one of the walls of the ,parish ,church of ,macclesfield is a small brass plate1 a few inches square4 ,it is called a ',pardon brass'1 and represents the ,pope bowing before ,christ1 while ,roger ,legh and his six sons are in the act of prayer4 ,beneath the figures is the inscription3 ',the pardon for saying of five paternosters1 five aves and a creed1 is twenty-six thousand years and twenty-six days of pardon4' ,we are not told how much money ,roger ,legh paid the ,pope for obtaining pardon for his misdeeds1 but it was a good round sum1 ,i imagine4 ,during the ,middle ,ages the doctrine grew up that sins committed by one man might be atoned for by the prayers or penance performed by others1 together with a sum of money1 which varied according to the crime4 ,the price of pardon for robbery was twelve shillings1 for murder only seven shillings and sixpence1 and for perjury nine shillings4 ,by the sixteenth century people began to have an uneasy feeling that the sale of 'indulgences'1 as these pardons were called1 was wrong1 and preachers rose up everywhere to denounce the system4 ,this was only one of many evils which was bringing the ,church into ill repute4 ,reformers1 like ,martin ,luther1 showed that the ,church believed many things which did not agree with the teaching of the ,bible4 ,moreover1 churchmen filled all the principal offices of state1 and used their position as a means of amassing great wealth1 a portion of which passed into the hands of the ,pope1 who was the recognized head of the ,church and whom the clergy were bound to obey4 ,as the clergy would not reform the ,church themselves1 the king and his lay ministers decided to do it for them by ,act of ,parliament4 ,king ,henry the ,eighth declared himself head of the ,english ,church1 which1 from this time1 became separated from the ,church of ,rome4 ,the king then turned his attention to the monasteries1 which had grown wealthy at the expense of the people4 ,the monks themselves had grown lazy and careless of their duties1 and many of them were living evil lives4 ,the king decided to turn out the monks and do away with the monasteries altogether4 ,in the year #aecf the king's officers appeared in ,cheshire4 ,the first to suffer was the ,abbot of ,norton ,priory1 who resisted stoutly and summoned all his tenants to his assistance4 ,the king's men were compelled to take refuge in a tower1 but managed to send a message to ,sir ,piers ,dutton1 ,sheriff of ,chester1 by whose aid the abbot was captured and conveyed to ,halton ,castle4 ,the priory was sold1 and the revenues1 plate1 and jewels confiscated to the king4 ,vale ,royal fared no better4 ,in this case1 at any rate1 the monks deserved their fate4 ,they had long been the terror of the neighbourhood1 and were the friends of the robbers and cut-throats of ,delamere ,forest4 ,abbot and monks were expelled from the abbey1 which was handed over to ,sir ,thomas ,holcroft4 ,the ,holcroft crest was a raven1 and superstitious people saw in the fall of ,vale ,royal the fulfilment of a prophecy of a ,cheshire 'wise man' named ,nixon1 who said that the abbey would one day be destroyed and become a raven's nest4 ,the ,cistercian ,abbeys of ,combermere and ,darnhall1 and the ,priories at ,mobberley and ,birkenhead1 were treated in similar fashion1 and their wealth and estates divided between the neighbouring gentry and the king4 ,the ,abbot of ,s4 ,werburgh was the most powerful man in ,cheshire1 but he could not save his abbey from the greedy hands of the king's officials4 ,the wealth of this abbey was reckoned at more than a thousand pounds1 a large sum in those days1 equal to a sum at least ten times as great at the present time4 ,the abbots lived in their fortified manor-houses at ,saighton and ,ince1 where they kept great state1 and supported large numbers of retainers and dependants4 ,they held a court at ,chester1 and frequent quarrels arose between them and the ,mayor of ,chester as to the extent of their powers and jurisdiction4 ,the people of ,chester were probably not sorry to see the abbot stripped of his power4 ,he did not1 like the ,abbot of ,norton1 show violence to the royal officers1 but fell in quietly with their wishes4 ,for this he received his reward1 and returned to ,chester within two years1 no longer as abbot1 but as dean of a new cathedral4 ,many of the bishoprics of ,england covered such a vast extent of country that ,henry decided to spend a portion of the wealth which he had taken from the monasteries1 in creating six new bishoprics4 ,chester was one of them1 and the ,abbey of ,s4 ,werburgh became the cathedral church of the new bishopric1 a portion of the new buildings being set apart as a palace for the newly made ,bishops of ,chester4 ,the first bishop was ,john ,bird1 a ,carmelite friar4 ,henry did not go as far in his reformation of the ,english ,church as many people wished4 ,there were many who 'protested' against practices in the ,roman ,church which they thought wrong1 such as the worship of images or of the relics of saints1 to which the people were encouraged by the clergy to pray for help4 ,the ,protestants1 as the extreme reformers were called1 increased in number daily1 and in the reign of ,edward the ,sixth got the upper hand4 ,they did away with the old ,latin services of the ,church1 which the greater part of the poorer classes did not understand1 and wrote a ,book of ,common ,prayer in the ,english tongue4 ,by an ,act of ,uniformity1 all the clergy were called upon to use this ,prayer ,book in their churches4 ,during ,edward's reign1 the rich jewelled vestments of the priests1 the church plate and crucifixes1 and even the church bells1 were swept away and sold for the benefit of the king4 ,many of our village crosses were wantonly destroyed during this period4 ,the beautiful ,sandbach crosses were thrown down and broken in fragments4 ,most of the pieces were recovered at a later day1 and the crosses set up again1 but they will for ever remain a proof of the careless destruction of works of art by which the period of the ,reformation was marked4 ,illustration3 ,,chester ,,cathedral 7before ,restoration7 ,when ,queen ,mary came to the throne she restored the old religion of ,rome4 ,a memorial obelisk on ,gallows ,hill1 ,boughton1 reminds us of the dark days when ,protestants were persecuted with blind and bitter hatred by their ,catholic enemies1 and even suffered death for their beliefs4 ,on ,gallows ,hill1 ,george ,marsh was burnt at the stake for teaching the doctrines of the reformed faith4 ,he was tried in the ,lady ,chapel of the cathedral1 and condemned to death4 ,the citizens of ,chester1 who had shown themselves sympathetic to the reformers1 were filled with horror1 and1 led by one of the sheriffs1 tried to rescue him1 but failed in the attempt4 ,the bones of the martyr were collected and laid in the burial-ground of ,s4 ,giles4 ,the sheriff was forced to flee to the continent until better times4 ,he returned in the more tolerant days of ,queen ,elizabeth1 and became mayor of the city4 ,a settlement was brought about in ,queen ,elizabeth's reign1 which satisfied all but the extreme men on either side4 ,she was the more inclined to the ,protestant cause inasmuch as she hated the ,catholic ,king ,philip of ,spain1 who called her 'the heretic queen'1 and whose spies were to be found all over ,england4 ,when the struggle with ,spain was near at hand1 ,protestants and ,catholics forgot their quarrels in face of a common danger1 and the queen had no more loyal subjects than the great ,catholic families of ,cheshire4 ,rowland ,stanley1 of ,hooton-in-,wirral1 gave a large sum of money for improving the defence of the sea-coast1 for it was thought that ,philip might land troops in ,wirral4 ,the ,reformation was only part of a great awakening of peoples all over ,western and ,central ,europe4 ,scholars studied and brought from ,italy copies of the books of the ancient ,greek and ,roman writers4 ,the invention of printing helped the spread of learning1 and the ,tudor monarchs encouraged the building of schools and colleges in order that all classes might have the benefit of a better education4 ,over the porch of the ,king's ,school1 ,chester1 is a statue of ,king ,henry the ,eighth4 ,he was the founder of the school1 which for a long time was carried on in the ancient refectory of the abbey4 ,some of the wealth taken from the abbeys and monasteries was devoted to the foundation of schools4 ,the ,grammar ,school at ,macclesfield was endowed in the reign of ,edward the ,sixth4 ,at ,bunbury1 ,thomas ,aldersey1 a haberdasher of ,london1 founded a school1 the chantry and college of ,sir ,hugh ,calveley having been dissolved at the same time as the abbeys4 ,sir ,john ,deane1 son of ,laurence ,deane1 of ,davenham1 gave some property which had been in the possession of monks for the building of a free ,grammar ,school at ,northwich1 'forasmuch as ,god's glory1 ,his honour and the public weal is advanced and maintained by no means more than by virtuous education and bringing up of youth under such as be learned and virtuous school-masters4' ',god's glory' was indeed not the least of the things that ,cheshire boys of the sixteenth century were taught to observe4 ,in the statutes of the founder of ,witton ,grammar ,school it is laid down 'that the scholars shall thrice a day serve ,god within the school1 rendering ,him thanks for ,his goodness done to them1 craving ,his special grace that they may profit in learning to ,his honour and glory'4 ,in the reign of ,henry the ,eighth the voice of the people of ,cheshire was heard for the first time in the ,parliament of the ,english people at ,westminster4 ,hitherto1 the miniature ,parliament of the ,norman and royal ,earls of ,chester had been considered sufficient for them4 ,henry now summoned two knights of the county and two burgesses from the city of ,chester to take their place side by side with the chosen representatives of the other ,english shires and boroughs in the national assembly4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,elizabethan ,,cheshire4 ,i ,the chief event with which all boys1 ,i imagine1 connect the name of ,queen ,elizabeth is the defeat of the ,great ,armada sent against these shores by the ,king of ,spain4 ,doubtless on that summer night in the year #aehh there were watchers by the beacon on ,alderley ,edge who saw the ',wrekin's crest of fire' flashing its message northwards4 ,there was no telegraph in those days1 and yet in an hour or two at most the news of the approach of an enemy was carried by beacon fires from the ,channel to the ,cheviots4 ,cheshire indeed produced no ,drake or ,hawkins2 but ,sir ,george ,beeston1 whose tomb you may see in ,bunbury ,church1 commanded the ship ,dreadnought1 one of the four ships that broke through the ,spanish line and took an active part in the pursuit and destruction of the ,spanish vessels4 ,a few years later ,sir ,uryan ,legh of ,adlington ,hall accompanied ,lord ,howard and ,raleigh and the ,earl of ,essex on an expedition to ,cadiz1 when they destroyed the ships in the harbour and for a second time 'singed the ,king of ,spain's beard'4 ,the town itself was taken by storm1 and for his bravery on this occasion ,sir ,uryan ,legh was knighted4 ,the ,leghs were always to the fore when there was any fighting to be done4 ,a canopied arch in ,prestbury ,church marks his last resting-place1 but the tomb itself has long since disappeared4 ,one result of the expeditions of ,drake and ,raleigh was that ,englishmen were inspired with a passion for travel1 whether abroad or at home1 partly for the sake of adventure and the pursuit of wealth1 partly out of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge4 ,the voyages of the great navigators1 'itineraries' or diaries of travel1 and histories of our own country and its people were written at this period4 ,these books show clearly in their pages how intensely proud the ,englishmen of ,elizabeth's day were of their country and their queen and her brave seamen1 who by their victories over ,spain raised ,england to the first position among the nations of the world4 ,michael ,drayton wrote a long poem called ',polyolbion'1 in which four hundred lines are taken up with a description of ,cheshire1 which he calls the thrice happy ,shire1 confined so to be twixt two so famous ,floods1 as ,mersey is1 and ,dee4 ,he speaks of ,chester as th' imaginary work of some huge ,giant's hand3 which if such ever were1 ,tradition tells not who4 ,the book was illustrated by a number of curious maps1 adorned with quaint figures of men and women representing the rivers1 hills1 forests1 and castled towns4 ,john ,speed was born at ,farndon on the ,dee1 and wrote a book called the ,theatre of the ,empire of ,great ,britain1 which contained the earliest set of maps published in ,england4 ,cophurst1 an old house near ,sutton ,downes in the ,forest of ,macclesfield1 is thought to have been the birthplace of the chronicler ,raphael ,holinshed1 who wrote a ,history of ,england and dedicated it to ,william ,cecil1 ,lord ,burghley1 the great minister of ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,shakespeare used this book for the plots of some of his plays4 ,the triumphs of ,francis ,drake were celebrated in a long ,latin poem by ,thomas ,newton of ,butley1 who placed the small brass tablet on the wall near the pulpit in ,prestbury ,church to the memory of his parents4 ,newton was for some time the head master of ,macclesfield ,grammar ,school4 ,another ,elizabethan poet was ,geoffrey ,whitney1 who was born at ,nantwich4 ,an inscription on an old house at ,nantwich1 bearing the date #aehd1 shows that ,elizabeth returned the affections of her people and did all she could for them4 ,the verse reads thus3-- ,god grant our royal ,queen ,in ,england long to reign2 ,for she hath put her helping hand ,to build this town again4 ,illustration3 ,,map ,,of ,,cheshire4 ,from ,drayton's ',polyolbion' ,nantwich had been almost totally destroyed by fire in the previous year4 ,the risk of fire was always very great1 owing to the fact that nearly all the houses of the ,middle ,ages were built of timber and thatched with straw4 ,the black and white timbered halls are the glory of ,cheshire4 ,let us pay a visit to-day to ,little ,moreton ,hall1 near ,congleton1 perhaps the most beautiful of them all4 ,the people who live here are proud of their home1 and on certain days of the week allow you to examine at your leisure many of the rooms in the old house1 which remains in almost the same condition as when the ,moretons removed to a new and more spacious house of brick hard by4 ,the framework of the house is all of wood1 good solid ,english oak1 and black with age4 ,the spaces between the beams and props are filled with plaster and painted white4 ,the principal beams which support the building are of course upright1 firmly laid on a foundation of stone4 ,within the squares of this framework other beams are set in sloping parallel lines1 forming patterns of chevron or diamond1 or arranged in rows of quatrefoils and arcades of trefoil-headed arches4 ,the upper stories and the gables of the roof project beyond the ground floor of the building1 which is thus kept dry4 ,we cross the moat by a substantial stone bridge1 and enter through a gateway whose massive oaken lintel and side-posts are covered with rich carving1 and find ourselves in a square paved courtyard4 ,within the gateway is a stone horse-block4 ,facing us are two deep bay-windows formed of five sides of an octagon4 ,over them you may read the carved inscription3 ',god is al in al things4 ,this window whire made by ,william ,moreton in the yeare of oure ,lorde ,,mdlix4' ,the building of the home was regarded by our ,elizabethan forefathers as an almost sacred work1 to be carried out with hardly less reverence than the building of a church4 ,a second gateway forms the entrance to the dining-hall on the one hand and the kitchen on the other4 ,the walls of the dining-room are lined with wainscoting of panelled oak2 the open timbered roof is held up by a strong central beam2 the windows are filled with countless tiny panes of glass1 with bright patches of red and orange and blue where the coat-of-arms and crest of the ,moretons are painted upon them4 ,illustration3 ,,little ,,moreton ,,hall ,in the kitchen are marks of the growing comfort and luxuries of ,elizabethan days--the rows of pewter plates bearing the ,moreton arms1 and a great spice-chest where the fragrant spices of the ,east1 brought home by travellers1 were stored1 as well as the sweet herbs1 the sage and rosemary1 lavender and thyme1 from the herb-garden of the ,hall4 ,in the open fireplace1 ten feet wide1 an ox might well be roasted2 the smoke from the log-fire was carried upwards from the roof by a chimney-stack of brick4 ,over the 'screen' or passage that divides the dining-hall and the kitchen is a musicians' gallery1 where the players of the viol and the harp made music while the squire and his lady supped in the early evening4 ,to the left of the gatehouse through which we first entered is the chapel1 where the chaplain read the daily prayers to the assembled family4 ,a narrow spiral staircase fixed upon a central newel post leads to a long gallery at the very top of the house1 running the whole length of one side of the courtyard4 ,this was the ballroom1 where ,elizabeth herself may perhaps have danced1 as tradition says she did1 for we know that she was fond of visiting her people in their own homes4 ,few sixteenth-century houses were without a secret chamber4 ,little ,moreton ,hall contains two such rooms1 cunningly concealed in a corner of the house4 ,they are entered by sliding panels from an apartment over the kitchen1 and the fugitive could escape his pursuers by an underground passage leading underneath the moat to the open field beyond4 ,at opposite corners of the moat are two green circular mounds1 on which probably once stood two watch-towers to guard the house against attack4 ,a large number of the old halls of ,cheshire were at one time moated for their protection1 though in many cases the moats have been filled up1 now that they are no longer necessary4 ,peel ,hall in ,etchells1 ,irby1 ,swinyard ,hall1 ,twemlow1 ,marthall1 and ,allostock ,hall still retain portions of their original moats4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,gallery1 ,,little ,,moreton ,,hall ,handforth ,hall was built1 as the inscription over the entrance door tells us1 'in the year of our ,lord ,god ,,mccccclxii by ,uryan ,brereton ,knight4' ,the ,tudor builders were not ashamed to put their names to their work4 ,within the ,hall is a wide oak staircase with a wonderfully carved balustrade1 one of the most beautiful pieces of ,tudor woodwork in ,cheshire4 ,sir ,uryan's daughter married ,thomas ,legh of ,adlington1 who built the timber portions of ,adlington ,hall in #aeha4 ,as you have already seen in a previous chapter1 some of the timber houses of ,cheshire belong to a period much earlier than the reign of ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,just as they reached their highest pitch of beauty and richness under the ,tudors a new style of domestic architecture was coming in4 ,bricks1 which had been very seldom used since the days of the ,romans1 were again employed4 ,the bricks were much larger than those used by the ,romans2 in fact they were precisely similar to those of the present day4 ,they were not1 however1 laid as they are now1 but in the style called ',english bond'1 in which one 'course' or row shows all the long faces and the next one all the short ends4 ,these brick mansions were larger and more spacious than the old wooden ones1 and built for comfort rather than defence4 ,they were set in the midst of broad parks1 and surrounded by terraced lawns and gardens enclosed by walls of clipped yew-trees4 ,sometimes ornamental fish-ponds1 such as you may see at ,gawsworth1 were laid out in front of the house2 avenues of limes and ,spanish chestnuts imported from abroad were planted along the roadway leading to the principal entrance4 ,their general shape1 out of compliment to ,queen ,elizabeth1 was that of the letter ,e4 ,brereton ,hall is a good example of this ',tudor' style4 ,it was built in #aehf1 the first stone being laid1 so it is said1 by the queen herself4 ,in the eastern parts of ,cheshire1 where stone is abundant1 houses similar in design were built of this material instead of brick4 ,arden ,hall1 near ,stockport1 is now in ruins1 but enough remains to show the chief characteristics of an ,elizabethan mansion2 the turret with circular stone staircase1 the wings with gabled ends1 and the bay windows carried up to the roof4 ,other ,elizabethan houses are ,marple ,hall1 ,poole ,hall1 ,carden ,hall in the ,broxton ,hills1 ,dorfold ,hall1 and ,burton ,hall in ,wirral4 ,illustration3 ,,tudor ,,monuments ,,in ,,gawsworth ,,church ,the central figure is that of ,mary ,fitton ,in ,gawsworth ,church are a number of monuments of members of the ,fitton family1 who lived at the ,old ,hall at ,gawsworth4 ,mary ,fitton was one of ,elizabeth's maids-of-honour1 and used to take part in plays for the amusement of the queen2 and it is not at all unlikely that she was a friend of ,shakespeare4 ,it is indeed supposed that she is the 'dark lady' of whom the poet speaks in his sonnets4 ,from an examination of these ,fitton monuments you can learn what the costume at the end of the sixteenth century was like4 ,lady ,alice ,fitton is surrounded by the kneeling figures of her two sons and two daughters1 the former in plate armour1 the latter wearing the familiar head-dress and ruff which are such distinctive features in the dress of ,tudor ladies4 ,the figures are carved in alabaster1 and have clearly at one time been painted in bright colours4 ,the picture of ,mary ,fitton will help you to recognize the ,tudor monuments which are to be seen in many ,cheshire churches4 ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,elizabethan ,,cheshire4 ,,ii ,many attempts were made by the ,tudor sovereigns to conquer the ,irish4 ,from time to time expeditions were sent across the sea1 and the troops embarked at various points on the ,cheshire coast4 ,the fighting ,leghs of ,adlington raised a troop of ,cheshire soldiers1 and ,thomas and ,ralph ,legh fell in battle against the ,irish chieftain ,shane ,o',neill4 ,a ,cheshire knight1 ,sir ,edward ,fitton1 of ,gawsworth1 was made ,governor of ,connaught4 ,in the later years of ,elizabeth's reign a constant stream of ill-clad and ill-paid soldiers marched through ,cheshire on their way to the wars4 ,the soldiers had to be supplied with food and quarters by the towns and villages through which they passed1 and the cost of billeting the men in the houses on their arrival at ,chester fell very hard on the city merchants1 who were soon brought to great distress4 ,the soldiers were generally put on board ship at ,parkgate1 for the channel of the ,dee had become so choked up with sand that only the smallest vessels could reach ,chester4 ,the leader of one of the expeditions was the ,earl of ,essex1 who was a frequent visitor at ,lyme ,park1 where he hunted the stag with his host1 ,sir ,piers ,legh4 ,the wars with ,spain ruined the oversea trade of ,chester1 consisting at this time largely in the export of tanned leather to the ,french ports of ,rochelle and ,bordeaux4 ,in the year #aeih1 ,thomas ,fletcher1 the ,mayor of ,chester1 wrote to ,lord ,burghley that he 'had found the poor city to be generally very weak and much decayed1 especially in the chiefest parts thereof 7the merchants7 who have been heretofore the most able to do her ,majesty service'4 ,for eight months there had not been 'one ship nor small bark laden into any foreign place'4 ,the queen had1 some years previously1 given the merchants license to export #aj1jjj 'dickers' 7that is1 bundles of ten7 of tanned calf-skins within a certain time1 but owing to the wars they were unable to get them away within the given period1 and the merchants asked for the time to be extended4 ,an old gabled house in ,watergate ,street1 with its pious superscription ',god's ,providence is mine inheritance'1 reminds us of a more dreadful scourge than war which visited ,chester1 and indeed the whole of ,cheshire1 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries4 ,this was the terrible plague1 which attacked rich and poor alike1 and stopped the trade of the city so much that1 as one writer says1 'grass did grow a foot high at the ,cross'4 ,houses that were infected with the disease were marked with a cross1 that none might go near2 no merchandise was allowed to enter the city until it had been unpacked and aired outside the walls4 ,death came suddenly1 or within a few hours at most2 and often 'to those that merrily dined it gave a sorrowful supper'4 ,god's ,providence ,house received its name from the fact that its inmates alone of all the neighbourhood escaped the disease4 ,illustration3 ,,stanley ,,palace1 ,,chester 7showing influence of ,renaissance7 ,the ,courts could not be held in the plague-stricken city2 the ,exchequer ,court was removed to ,tarvin1 and the ,assizes were held at ,nantwich4 ,the annual fairs were abandoned to prevent the spread of the disease4 ,numbers of victims were carried out from the city and hastily buried in the ',barrow ,field'4 ,other ,cheshire towns suffered severely4 ,on the hills1 near ,macclesfield1 are many gravestones of the victims of the plague2 two gravestones near the ,bowstones on ,disley ,moor tell the same tale4 ,some of the ,english nobles had residences in ,chester4 ,the city gates were confided to noble families for safe keeping4 ,the ,east ,gate was guarded by the ancestors of ,lord ,crewe4 ,the ',bear and ,billet' ,inn in ,bridge ,street belonged to the ,earls of ,shrewsbury1 who were ,sergeants of the ,bridge ,gate4 ,the ,earls of ,derby had charge of the ,watergate4 ,the ,north ,gate1 however1 the most important entrance to the city1 was entrusted to the mayor and the citizens4 ,a narrow court in ,watergate ,street leads to the ,stanley ,palace of the ,earls of ,derby2 the gardens extended down to the river-side4 ,the architecture is very similar to that of the old timber halls described in the last chapter1 but the row of round-headed panels tells us that people were beginning to imitate in their timber decorations the round-headed arches of the ,italian style4 ,as early as the reign of ,henry the ,seventh1 ,english architects were beginning to study the remains of ancient buildings in ,rome1 and ,italian architects were brought over to ,england4 ,henry the ,eighth invited a builder named ,john of ,padua1 who designed the north side of ,lyme ,hall4 ,the ,italians despised the ,pointed styles of ,english architecture1 calling it contemptuously ',gothic'1 from the name of the barbarian ,goths1 who overran the ,roman ,empire in the third and fourth centuries4 ,many of the ,cheshire gentry left their homes in the towns to live in new houses in the country4 ,the old hall of the ,sandbach family is now the principal inn of the town of ,sandbach2 the ancient home of the ,ardernes in ,great ,underbank1 ,stockport1 is now a bank2 and the house built at ,nantwich by ',richarde and ,marjery ,churche' has been turned into a ladies' school4 ,the ,mainwarings lived in a fine house in ,watergate ,street1 ,chester1 until a number of little shops were allowed to block up the front of their home4 ,the ,wilbrahams moved from ,nantwich to the spacious ,elizabethan hall at ,dorfold4 ,when the monasteries were destroyed1 a large number of people were thrown out of work1 especially in the country districts4 ,the distress was so great in ,queen ,elizabeth's reign that ,parliament passed a 'poor law'1 by which the inhabitants of every parish were compelled to pay taxes for the support of their own poor4 ,this did not1 however1 prevent rich and charitable men from devoting a portion of their wealth to the building of hospitals and almshouses1 where the aged poor could live in comfort4 ,in ,commonhall ,street1 ,chester1 are the old almshouses founded by ,sir ,thomas ,smith in #aecb1 and there are almshouses at ,acton1 ,little ,budworth1 ,macclesfield1 ,nantwich1 ,tarporley1 ,sandbach1 and ,stockport1 though some of these were built in later reigns4 ,nantwich was particularly favoured by benefactors1 and possesses four separate sets of almshouses4 ,sometimes sums of money were left to be spent on providing bread for those who were unable to work4 ,in the churches at ,little ,peover1 ,mottram1 and ,woodchurch1 you will see some wooden shelves fixed on the wall near the porch4 ,on these were placed the loaves which were distributed after the ,sunday services4 ,at ,bebington and ,woodchurch sums of money were given by a family of the name of ,goodacre for the purchase of bullocks to draw the ploughs of the poor peasants of ,wirral4 ,certain days of the year were set apart as public holidays4 ,every parish had its 'wakes' or festival of the dedication of the parish church4 ,these were held on the feast-day of the saint after whom the church was named4 ,another festival was that of the 'rush-bearing'4 ,in a former chapter you have read of the rushes that were spread on the floors of churches4 ,they were gathered from the fringe of a stream or mere1 and tied into bundles and placed on the rush-cart1 which was gaily decked with ribbons and flowers4 ,a procession was then formed of the villagers1 who accompanied the cart to the church1 where a special service was held4 ,there are still rush-bearing services at ,farndon1 ,aldford1 and ,forest ,chapel1 but in many villages the merry-making too often ended in disorder and drunkenness1 and the custom has been allowed to die out4 ,an ,elizabethan writer tells us that the people of ,nantwich visited the brine pits on ,ascension ,day and decked them with flowers and garlands4 ,then they offered hymns and prayers of thanksgiving for the blessing of the brine1 on which the prosperity of their town depended4 ,may-day was the favourite holiday of the people4 ,the maypole was set up on the village green1 where the ,queen of the ,may was crowned1 and morris-dancers danced to the fiddle and horn-pipe1 as they do to this day at ,lymm1 ,knutsford1 ,holmes ,chapel1 and many other ,cheshire villages4 ,sometimes there were wrestling matches1 and combat with sword and quarterstaff4 ,at ,gawsworth are the remains of a tilting-ground where such encounters took place4 ,the long terraced banks of earth on which the spectators sat may still be seen4 ,the good people of ,chester were particularly fond of shows and pageants1 and processions4 ,on ,midsummer ,day the mayor and aldermen of the city marched with banners through the streets to ,s4 ,oswald's ,church4 ,with them went 'four giants1 one unicorn1 one dromedary1 an ass and a dragon1 and six hobby horses'4 ,the giants were made of pasteboard and repainted every year1 and 'dosed with arsenic to keep the rats from eating them'4 ,some of their amusements were1 however1 of a more degrading kind4 ,the ,high ,cross of ,chester1 from which the friars and ,wyclif's 'poor priests' had preached in former days1 now became the scene of brutal pastimes4 ,for at this spot bulls were baited in the bull-ring when a mayor finished his year of office1 the mayor himself paying the expenses4 ,the ,bear's ,head and ,white ,bear ,inn at ,congleton remind us that the natives of ,congleton were so fond of bear-baiting1 that a local proverb says that they 'sold their ,church ,bible to buy a new bear'4 ,few towns or villages were without a cock-pit1 for cock-fighting was a favourite amusement of all classes4 ,happily1 these degrading sports are now forbidden by law1 and we do not regret their disappearance4 ,illustration3 ,cross and ,stocks1 ,warburton ,little mercy was shown to those who were guilty of brawling or breaches of the peace4 ,often by the lichgate of a ,cheshire churchyard1 or near the village cross1 you will see the remains of the wooden stocks in which drunkards were placed and exposed to the jeers and gibes of the passers-by4 ,in the museums at ,chester1 ,stockport1 and ,macclesfield1 you will see a still more barbarous form of punishment4 ,the scolding or brawling woman was compelled to have her head encased in a 'brank' or skeleton helmet of iron1 with a spiked iron piece pressing on the tongue4 ,a chain was attached to the woman's waist1 and she was led through the town4 ,another instrument of punishment is to be seen in the ,museum at ,west ,park1 ,macclesfield4 ,it is a girdle or cage1 consisting of a number of iron hoops fastened together by chains which were placed round the body of a woman1 who was then tied to a plank called a 'ducking-stool'1 and dipped in a pond4 ,there was also an iron strait-jacket at ,macclesfield for drunkards and lunatics4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,the ,,rule ,,of ,,the ,,stuarts ,in the ',stag ,parlour' of ,lyme ,hall is a framed piece of needlework done by ,mary ,stuart1 ,queen of ,scots1 when she stayed at ,lyme4 ,when she was deposed by her ,scottish subjects she threw herself on the mercy of ,queen ,elizabeth1 who permitted her to live in ,england4 ,but plots were made against the life of ,elizabeth1 and ,mary was suspected of having a hand in them1 and in the end ,mary had to pay the penalty of death4 ,mary was a ,catholic1 but her son ,james1 who succeeded to the ,english throne on the death of ,elizabeth1 had been brought up among the ,scottish reformers4 ,the extreme ,english reformers1 or ,puritans as they were now called1 hoped therefore that the king would be friendly to their wishes4 ,the ,puritans were disappointed1 but ,james agreed to one of their demands1 and said that he would have a new translation of the ,bible made4 ,the ,authorized ,version of the ,bible which is read in all ,cheshire churches and chapels to-day is the one noble work due to the first ,stuart king4 ,the ,puritans were so named because they wished to 'purify' the ,church of certain forms and ceremonies1 such as the use of the surplice1 and the sign of the cross at baptism1 and even the ring in the marriage service4 ,they also objected to the rule of bishops1 and wished the ,church to be governed by councils of elders or 'presbyters' after the manner of the ,presbyterian ,church of ,scotland4 ,during the reign of ,elizabeth many ,puritan clergymen had refused to perform the services of the ,church in the way ordered by the ,prayer ,book4 ,they were driven out of the ,church1 and formed separate congregations of their own4 ,hence they received the name of ,independents1 and they were the earliest of the ,nonconformist dissenters4 ,many ,independents suffered so severely at the hands of ,king ,james and his archbishop1 that they determined to leave the country and settle in new homes across the sea4 ,they gave the name of ,new ,england to their colony in ,america1 and thus became the founders of our ,american possessions4 ,among the exiles was ,samuel ,eaton1 a ,wirral clergyman4 ,he returned in the reign of ,charles the ,first1 and became a minister in the chapel attached to ,dukinfield ,hall1 which thus became one of the earliest places of worship for the ,independents in ,cheshire4 ,the ancient chapel now forms a portion of the modern ,nonconformist church of ,dukinfield4 ,the ,catholics were not more pleased with ,james than the ,puritans were4 ,they were compelled to attend the new services of the ,protestant ,church4 ,those who refused to do so were called 'recusants'4 ,the ,bishop of ,chester was ordered by ,james to hunt out all the ,popish recusants in ,cheshire and bring them to trial4 ,the secret hiding-places built in the walls of many ,cheshire halls must often have sheltered these fugitive priests1 for many great families in ,cheshire1 such as the ,stanleys of ,hooton and the ,masseys of ,puddington1 were strongly ,catholic4 ,chester was ,protestant1 and a ,puritan ,mayor of ,chester stopped the ,midsummer show1 and broke up the pasteboard giants1 and abolished the bull-ring2 for the ,puritans disliked shows and processions and sports of all kinds1 and even such harmless pastimes as the ,may-day dances4 ,the ,midsummer revels were1 however1 revived1 and held with great pomp when ,king ,james paid a visit to ,chester in #afag4 ,his arms are carved in a panel under one of the front windows of ,bishop ,lloyd's house4 ,one of the ,fitton family was mayor on this occasion1 and the king's sword was borne by a ,stanley4 ,james rode to the minster1 where he heard one of the scholars of the ,king's ,school read a ,latin address of welcome4 ',after the said oration he went into the choir1 and there1 in a seat made for the king at the higher end of the choir1 he heard an anthem sung4 ,and after certain prayers the king went from thence to the ,pentice1 where a sumptuous banquet was prepared at the city's cost3 which being ended1 the king departed to the ,vale ,royal3 and at his departure the order of knighthood was offered to the mayor1 but he refused the same4' ,the sale of knighthoods and baronetcies was one of ,king ,james's ways of raising money1 and the ,mayor of ,chester was not the only one who declined the honour4 ,a zealous ,puritan named ,william ,prynne wrote against the performance of stage plays1 dancing1 and other amusements4 ,some things that he said were thought to refer to the ,queen of ,charles the ,first1 and he was tried by the ,star ,chamber and ordered to pay a fine of #e1jjj and to have his ears slit4 ,there was a branch of the ,court of ,star ,chamber at ,chester1 but it was abolished in ,charles the ,first's reign4 ,in one of the rooms of ,leasowe ,castle are some oak panels brought from the ,star ,chamber at ,westminster4 ,william ,prynne passed through ,chester on his way to his prison in ,carnarvon ,castle4 ,the ,puritans turned out to welcome and cheer him in the streets1 but their leaders were punished by fines and imprisonment for so doing4 ,neither ,james nor ,charles got on well with their ,parliaments4 ,the ,tudor monarchs had for the most part understood the people1 and the people in their turn allowed them to have their own way4 ,but the ,stuarts began to claim powers which the people would not permit4 ,when ,parliament refused to grant money they asked for1 the ,stuart kings tried to raise money by means which the people thought illegal4 ,charles borrowed large sums of money without the consent of ,parliament4 ,sir ,randolph ,crewe1 of ,crewe ,hall1 was one of the judges who thought that this was wrong1 and he was dismissed from his office by the king4 ,charles also tried to impose a tax called ,ship ,money1 a tax which had in former times been levied on the counties on the seaboard for the support of the navy4 ,now the king proposed that inland counties also should contribute for this purpose4 ,sir ,william ,brereton1 a ,cheshire knight1 objected strongly to the hateful tax1 and was very angry with the people of ,chester for rating some land of his near ,chester1 called the ,nunnery ,fields1 for the payment of the money4 ,it is not surprising that trouble should arise between ,parliament and a king who refused to obey the wishes of the people over whom he ruled4 ,the ,stuarts believed in the theory known as the ,divine right of kings1 that is1 that kings are made by ,god alone1 and that from ,him alone they receive their power4 ,but from the time of the great awakening the people had begun to think for themselves1 and the result of this was that they were now determined that the king should carry out the will of the nation through the mouth of its ,parliament4 ,moreover1 ,charles was suspected of being a ,catholic2 at any rate he had married a ,catholic wife1 and ,parliament was not in a mood to permit a return to the unhappy state of affairs of ,queen ,mary's reign4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,civil ,,war ,,in ,,cheshire4 ,i ,,the ,,battles ,,of ,,middlewich ,,and ,,nantwich ,charles proclaimed war on ,parliament in the year #afdb1 and both sides prepared at once for the struggle4 ,roughly speaking1 ,london and the south-eastern counties were on the side of ,parliament1 for they were the chief centres of trade in the seventeenth century1 and felt most keenly the evils of bad government4 ,the great modern industrial towns of the northern counties of ,england were in most cases as yet mere villages4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,civil ,,war ,,in ,,cheshire ,the king's supporters were drawn chiefly from the north and west4 ,they were called ,royalists or ,cavaliers1 while the ,parliamentarians were nicknamed ,roundheads because they wore their hair cut short1 after the manner of the ,puritans1 and disdained the flowing curls which were fashionable at the time4 ,but although the country was thus roughly divided into two opposing factions1 supporters both of king and of parliament were to be found in nearly every town and village4 ,indeed it sometimes happened that members of a single family found themselves on different sides in the war4 ,the ,breretons of ,brereton ,hall were stout royalists1 but their cousins of ,handforth were1 as you will see1 the most determined opponents of the king4 ,the towns of ,cheshire1 with the exception of ,chester1 were largely on the side of ,parliament1 while most1 but not all1 of the great landowners and their numerous retainers fought for the king4 ,the county was represented in the ,long ,parliament by ,sir ,william ,brereton1 the son of ,william ,brereton of ,handforth ,hall4 ,brereton was an ardent ,puritan1 and at the first signs of approaching war he put himself at the head of the ,parliamentary party in ,cheshire1 calling upon all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty to join him at ,tarporley1 and soon after was appointed by ,parliament itself as commander of the ,cheshire forces4 ,his career was very nearly cut short at the very beginning of the struggle1 for he brought about a riot in ,chester by causing the drum to be beaten publicly in the streets for ,parliament4 ,he was brought to the ,pentice but released1 and with difficulty saved from the fury of the citizens1 who in later days complained bitterly that the mayor had preserved the life of one who was to be the author of so much disaster to themselves4 ,in ,tarporley ,church you may see a helmet and breastplate that were dug up in the neighbourhood4 ,they were probably worn by some soldier who fought in one of the earliest battles of the civil war in ,cheshire4 ,the first fighting took place in the southern parts of the county4 ,in ,february1 #afdb1 ,brereton was attacked at ,tarporley by the king's troops who had marched out from ,chester4 ,entrenchments were thrown up near the church1 but the severest fighting was at the neighbouring hamlet of ,tiverton1 where both sides lost heavily4 ,the ,royalist troops retired to ,chester and the ,parliamentarians to ,nantwich1 which ,brereton made his head-quarters4 ,from these two places the two parties 'contended which should most prevail upon the affections of the county to declare for them and join them'4 ,brereton's task was the capture of the important city of ,chester1 in order to prevent assistance reaching the king from ,ireland4 ,to this end he placed troops on the principal roads leading to the city4 ,the roads from the south were watched by the ,nantwich forces1 who captured and occupied ,beeston ,castle4 ,on the north ,warrington ,bridge was seized to prevent help coming from ,lancashire or from ,scotland1 which remained loyal to ,charles4 ,norton ,priory and the ,norman castle of ,halton1 already in ruins1 were fortified and held by the ,roundheads4 ,a strong force was posted at ,northwich which commanded the main road through the forest of ,delamere1 thus completing a chain of garrisons along the valley of the ,weaver from ,nantwich to the ,mersey4 ,on the ,welsh side the border castles of ,holt on the ,dee and ,hawarden in the county of ,flint were attacked and occupied by the ,parliamentarians1 who thus prevented the arrival of reinforcements from the west4 ,in #afdc ,brereton won his first great victory by defeating ,sir ,thomas ,aston1 the ,royalist leader1 at ,middlewich1 capturing two cannon1 four barrels of powder1 four hundred soldiers1 and arms for five hundred men4 ,sir ,thomas ,aston marched out from ,chester with a strong force of ,royalists one ,sunday morning in ,march4 ,brereton was at ,northwich at the time1 and word was sent to him that the king's forces were at ,middlewich and taking up a strong position there4 ,the ,roundheads hurried southwards1 but had not sufficient ammunition to take the town4 ,a fresh supply was sent for1 and on ,monday afternoon ,sir ,thomas ,aston found himself between two fires1 for troops from ,nantwich also arrived on the scene4 ,the ,royalists were driven into the narrow streets of the town1 where the cavalry were penned like sheep and quite useless4 ,the foot-soldiers fled into the church1 where they laid down their arms or were slain4 ,the church steeples1 like the keeps of the ,norman castles1 were usually the last places of refuge for the defenders of a town1 and many of them suffered great damage in consequence during the war4 ,aston escaped with a remnant of his cavalry1 leaving the infantry to their fate4 ,he laid the blame for his defeat upon his ,welsh allies1 who were sent to line the hedges of the roads by which the ,roundheads advanced1 but who threw away their arms and fled at the first approach of the enemy4 ,brereton's victory at ,middlewich was complete1 but some months afterwards ,sir ,thomas ,aston had his revenge and turned the tables on his enemy4 ,he was reinforced by troops from ,ireland1 by whose aid he was able to drive the ,parliamentarian general out of ,middlewich4 ,the ,royalists now appeared to be getting the upper hand1 and they actually laid siege to ,nantwich1 which was defended by ,sir ,george ,booth during the temporary absence of ,brereton4 ,the besiegers were commanded by ,sir ,nicholas ,byron1 the governor of ,chester1 and an ancestor of the poet ,byron4 ,brereton returned with ,sir ,thomas ,fairfax1 one of the greatest of ,cromwell's lieutenants1 and compelled the ,royalists to raise the siege4 ,thus the fortunes of war inclined now to one side1 now to the other1 and the towns continually changed hands4 ,the strong ,parliamentary garrison at ,northwich was attacked by ,aston1 at first without success1 but later in the year ,brereton was badly defeated here by his determined enemy1 and the town held by the ,royalist troops4 ,the event which had most effect on the war in ,cheshire was ,brereton's victory in ,august1 #afdd1 at ,tarvin on the road from ,chester to ,northwich4 ,prince ,rupert and ,prince ,maurice1 nephews of the king1 were attempting to reach ,chester with a relieving column4 ,brereton attacked and routed them and posted himself astride the main road4 ,tarvin ,church still shows traces of the fighting here1 for a bullet is buried deep in a brass plate in the chancel4 ,after this success ,brereton advanced his head-quarters to ,christleton1 only two miles from the gates of ,chester4 ,,chapter ,,xxv ,,civil ,,war ,,in ,,cheshire4 ,,ii ,a ,,memorable ,,siege ,in #afde word was brought to ,chester that the king himself was coming1 and the drooping spirits of the ,royalists revived4 ,charles entered the city with about three hundred followers who had escaped from the battle of ,naseby1 where the main ,royalist army had been cut to pieces by ,cromwell's ,ironsides4 ,during his short visit to ,chester the king was the guest of ,sir ,francis ,gamull at his home1 still called ,gamull ,house1 in ,bridge ,street4 ,many of you have read the inscription on the ,phoenix ,tower on the walls of ,chester-- ',king ,charles stood on this tower ,september #bgth1 #afde1 and saw ,his ,army defeated on ,rowton ,moor4' ,rowton ,moor is no longer moorland4 ,a village now stands on the battlefield where the last hopes of the loyal inhabitants of ,chester were destroyed4 ,the defeated army consisted of the remnants of the ,royalist cavalry under ,sir ,marmaduke ,langdale1 who was trying to cut his way through the enemy to reinforce the garrison of ,chester4 ,the ,royalists were almost successful1 and a sortie was made by the troops within the city to join hands with ,langdale1 but the ,puritan ,general ,poyntz1 following closely on the heels of the ,royalist horse1 threw them into hopeless confusion and drove them helter-skelter in all directions4 ,during the battle ,sir ,geoffrey ,shakerley1 whose tomb is in the ,shakerley ,chapel at ,little ,peover1 carried dispatches to the king1 ferrying himself across the river ,dee in a tub4 ,some matchlocks and firelocks used in this battle have been found on the ,heath1 and are now in the ,chester ,museum4 ,this defeat was almost the final blow received by the king in his struggle with ,parliament4 ,on the following day ,charles fled into ,wales by an undefended road1 asking only that the city might hold out for eight days longer to enable him to make good his escape4 ,in a tiny window in ,farndon ,church are some pieces of ancient painted glass1 with portraits of several of the ,cheshire esquires who attended ,charles during his stay in ,chester4 ,the cordon was now drawn tighter round the doomed city1 and a regular blockade followed to starve the citizens into surrender4 ,when the ,cromwellian troops who had been battering ,lathom ,house in ,lancashire arrived and took up a position on the north side of the walls1 the city was completely surrounded4 ,dodleston ,hall1 to the south-west of the city1 was occupied by ,brereton to prevent any further escapes into ,wales4 ,the ,roundheads made a floating bridge across the river ,dee1 which was1 however1 destroyed by fireships which were turned adrift and were carried up the river by a strong spring tide4 ,scaling-ladders were fixed on the walls1 but the ,royalists dragged them up into the city in the night-time4 ,the inhabitants were determined not to give in without a struggle4 ,even women took a share in the work of defence1 carrying baskets of earth to fill up the breaches made by a night attack upon the city walls4 ,the city was well protected by the river ,dee on its western and southern sides2 a semicircle of mud earthworks was made round the north and east of the city4 ,many large houses in the neighbourhood were burnt by the ,royalists to prevent their being used by the enemy4 ,the suburb of ,boughton1 with its hall1 was entirely destroyed1 fighting taking place almost daily in this quarter4 ,the ,royalists also made breaches in the ,dee ,bridge4 ,when the outworks were carried by the ,parliamentarian troops1 all ,s4 ,john's parish lay at their mercy4 ,the ,roundheads turned the church into a fortress1 and planted a battery of guns on the tower1 from which they battered the city walls4 ,in a glass case at the west end of the church you may see a cannon ball that was fired from the walls and long afterwards found embedded in the church tower4 ,the walls were also fiercely bombarded from ,brewers ,hall on the opposite side of the ,dee1 though a battery of guns placed on the summit of ,morgan's ,mount kept the besiegers at bay on the north4 ,the ,water ,tower at the north-west corner of the city bears the marks of some well-aimed shots from the guns of ,cromwell's men4 ,within the city the hardships were very severe4 ,fires were frequent1 especially in the night-time4 ,cold and bleak ,december days increased the suffering1 and1 worst of all1 food was getting scarce1 and the pinch of hunger began to be felt4 ,at length the inhabitants were reduced to eating the flesh of horses and dogs1 and still ,sir ,nicholas ,byron held out1 waiting daily for the help that never came4 ,famine did its work at last1 and after a siege of eighteen weeks the city surrendered to ,brereton on ,february #c1 #afdf4 ,one of the conditions of surrender was that the victorious troops should not do any damage to the city4 ,the fragment of the ,high ,cross1 now in the ,grosvenor ,museum1 shows that in this respect the soldiers of ,cromwell did not keep their word4 ,sir ,francis ,gamull1 the mayor1 bargained with the ,roundheads that the tombs of his family should not be harmed1 and this explains the fact that the ,gamull monuments in ,s4 ,mary's-on-the-,hill are almost the only relics of the kind in ,chester that escaped destruction4 ,the events of the war were published every week in the ,mercurius ,aulicus or ',court ,mercury1' a forerunner of the modern newspaper4 ,in the ,free ,library at ,birkenhead are preserved some sheets of this paper1 on one of which is related the story of the capture and recapture of ,beeston ,castle4 ,after its occupation by the ,parliamentary troops a daring assault was made upon the castle by ,captain ,sandford and a party of eight ,royalists1 who scaled the steep rock on which the castle is built and called upon the defenders to surrender4 ,captain ,steel1 the ,puritan commander1 was tried for cowardice in yielding to so small a force1 and condemned to be shot4 ,after the battle of ,rowton ,moor the castle endured a seven weeks' siege1 and surrendered in ,november1 #afde4 ,shortly afterwards ,parliament ordered the castle to be dismantled1 and it has been in ruins ever since4 ,several of the officers who were killed at ,beeston are buried at ,tarporley4 ,many of the ,cheshire halls1 which were held mainly by ,royalists1 suffered severely for their loyalty to the king4 ,crewe ,hall was taken by the ,roundheads1 retaken by ,byron1 and finally garrisoned by the soldiers of ,brereton4 ,huxley ,hall was occupied by ,colonel ,croxton during the siege of ,chester4 ,puddington ,hall1 in ,wirral1 the ancient home of the ,masseys1 whose owner1 ,sir ,william ,massey1 remained in ,chester till its fall1 was destroyed by fire4 ,adlington ,hall1 the home of the loyal ,leghs1 endured a fortnight's siege1 at the end of which time its gallant garrison of one hundred and fifty men was compelled to surrender and permitted to depart4 ,the marks of cannon shot used in the bombardment may still be seen upon the massive oak doors of the courtyard4 ,wythenshaw ,hall was held by ,royalists1 but ,colonel ,dukinfield1 a friend and neighbour of ,sir ,william ,brereton1 compelled a surrender after a short siege4 ,cannon balls have been found in the grounds of the hall4 ,vale ,royal1 the private residence of the ,cholmondeleys since ,henry the ,eighth turned out its abbot and monks1 was plundered and partly burnt by the soldiers of ,general ,lambert's army4 ,sir ,peter ,leycester1 of ,tabley ,hall1 fell into the hands of the ,parliamentarians and was sent to prison4 ,during his captivity he first planned his famous book of the ,history and ,antiquities of ,cheshire4 ,the lot of the unhappy ,cheshire squire was indeed pitiable4 ,royalists and ,roundheads were equally unwelcome guests1 treating their host with scant ceremony1 ransacking his house and helping themselves freely to everything that might be of any service to them4 ,let ,peter ,davenport1 the squire of ,bramhall1 tell in his own words the story of his woes3 ',on ,new ,year's ,day1 #afdc1 came ,captain ,sankey 7a ,parliamentary officer7 with two or three troopers to ,bramhall1 and went into my stable and took out my horses1 above twenty in all1 and afterwards searched my house for arms again and took my fowling-piece1 stocking-piece1 and drum1 with divers other things4 ,next day1 after they were gone1 came ,prince ,rupert's army1 by whom ,i lost better than a hundred pounds in linen and other goods1 besides the rifling and pulling to pieces of my house4 ,by whom ,i lost eight horses1 and they ate me threescore bushels of oats4' ,poor ,peter was not yet at the end of his troubles1 for when the war was over he had to pay five hundred pounds in order to buy back his own property1 for the estates of the ,royalists were confiscated by ,parliament and sold back to their owners for large sums of money4 ,the empty niches over the porches of many ,cheshire churches tell their own tale of the damage done by the ,cromwellian troops4 ,sculptured images were everywhere broken in fragments1 lead was stripped from the fonts and roofs to be turned into bullets4 ,the pipes were taken from the organ of ,budworth ,church1 and the stained glass windows of ,tarvin destroyed by the ,puritan fanatic1 ,john ,bruen4 ,the sacred buildings themselves were used throughout the war as barracks1 fortresses1 stables1 or prisons4 ,the destruction of property and of works of art that can never be replaced was indeed largely the work of the ,roundheads2 but it was the ,royalists who perpetrated the blackest deed in this long tale of civil strife4 ,in the winter of #afdc ,lord ,byron's troopers were plundering the villages of ,south ,cheshire1 burning farms and homesteads1 and driving the country people before them4 ,one of his officers1 ,major ,connought1 entered the village of ,barthomley1 and many of the panic-stricken inhabitants took refuge in the tower of the church4 ,connought and his brutal followers broke up the pews1 gathered together the mats and rushes strewn upon the floor1 and made a bonfire at the entrance to the tower4 ,forced from their place of refuge by fire and smoke1 the unfortunate villagers were stabbed and hacked to death as they came out one by one4 ,this was their ,christmastide1 the season of peace and good fellowship and brotherly love1 and men1 blind with the lust of blood1 were cutting the throats of their brothers as if they were sheep in the shambles4 ,happily1 such scenes as this were rare1 even in those dark years4 ,,chapter ,,xxvi ,,civil ,,war ,,in ,,cheshire4 ,,iii ,,the ,,protectorate ,,and ,,the ,,restoration ,the story is told that a schoolboy1 wandering among the tombstones in the churchyard of ,macclesfield1 scratched these strange lines on one of the grave-slabs3 ,my brother ,harry must heir the land2 ,my brother ,frank must be at his command2 ,while ,i1 poor ,jack1 shall do that ,which all the world will wonder at4 ',poor ,jack' was ,john ,bradshaw1 whose name is the first on the list of those who signed the warrant for the execution of the king4 ,on ,january #a1 #afdi1 ,parliament decided that ,charles should be tried before a ,high ,court of ,justice1 and on the twenty-seventh of the same month1 ,bradshaw1 the president of the ,court1 pronounced the death sentence in ,westminster ,hall4 ,john ,bradshaw1 the 'regicide'1 was born at ,wibbersley ,hall1 near ,disley4 ,in the register of the ,parish ,church of ,stockport is the record of his baptism3 ',december1 #afjb1 ,john1 the son of ,henry ,bradshaw1 of ,marple1 baptised the tenth4 ,traitor4' ,the word ',traitor' has been added by another hand1 no doubt that of some ardent ,royalist4 ,he was educated at ,bunbury ,school by ,edward ,burghall1 a notable ,cheshire ,puritan1 who was afterwards made vicar of ,acton1 and wrote a ,diary 7or copied someone else's ,diary7 of the ,civil ,war in ,cheshire4 ,bradshaw also probably spent a short time at the ,grammar ,school at ,macclesfield4 ,he became ,mayor of ,congleton and ,chief ,justice of ,cheshire4 ,the name of ,major-,general ,thomas ,harrison1 a native of ,nantwich1 also appears on the list of those who signed the death-warrant of the king4 ,memorials of the ill-fated monarch were eagerly sought for by the most devoted of his followers4 ,in the ,stag ,parlour at ,lyme ,hall are some chairs1 said to be covered with portions of the cloak that ,charles wore at the time of his death4 ,here also are a pair of embroidered gloves that belonged to the king1 and a dagger with his name ',carolus' engraved upon it4 ,the war was continued by his son1 ,charles the ,second4 ,james ,stanley1 ,earl of ,derby1 was made commander of the ,royalist forces in ,cheshire4 ,in the year #afea ,knutsford ,heath was a scene of bustling activity4 ,here were encamped the forces of ,general ,lambert1 one of ,cromwell's most trusted lieutenants1 consisting of #i1jjj horse and #d1jjj foot4 ,he was waiting for the ,royalist army1 which was marching southwards from ,scotland under the command of ,charles himself and ,general ,leslie4 ,lambert was ordered to cut down the bridge at ,warrington to prevent the passage of the king's army1 but arrived too late4 ,skirmishes took place at ,budworth and ,high ,legh1 and ,lambert was compelled to retreat to ,knutsford1 while the ,royalist army passed on its way to the fatal field of ,worcester4 ,a few days later1 the people of ,sandbach were setting up the stalls and spreading their wares in the market-place for the ,september ,fair4 ,a cry was suddenly raised that soldiers were entering the town4 ,they were all that was left of ,leslie's ,scottish ,cavaliers4 ,weary of war1 their horses jaded and lame1 they were anxious only to be allowed to reach their homes again in safety4 ,but the townspeople1 remembering perhaps the massacre of ,barthomley1 were not minded to let them off easily4 ,the foremost troopers1 who alone were armed1 were allowed to pass through the town4 ,then with sticks and staves they fell upon the rearguard and cudgelled them4 ,many were wounded and captured1 and placed in the town prison1 where perhaps they were not sorry to rest4 ,others escaped into the open fields4 ',scotch ,commons'1 as the scene of the encounter is still called1 reminds us of this last event of the ,civil ,war in ,cheshire4 ,the struggle was ended4 ,charles was an exile1 and ,cromwell ruled over the land4 ,one of ,cromwell's ,acts decreed that all who had any communication with ,charles the ,second should be held guilty of conspiracy against the ,state4 ,the ,earl of ,derby1 who escaped from the rout at ,worcester1 but was captured at ,nantwich1 was tried under this ,act and condemned to death4 ,he escaped from his prison in the castle at ,chester1 and lay concealed for a time1 it is said1 in a secret chamber in the ,stanley ,palace near the ,water ,gate4 ,the ',martyr ,earl' was1 however1 recaptured on the banks of the ,dee1 and beheaded at ,bolton4 ,brereton was rewarded for his devotion to the ,parliamentary cause with the chief forestership of ,macclesfield forest4 ,soon afterwards1 however1 he left the county of his birth and lived in ,london until his death in #affa4 ,his body was brought to ,cheadle for burial in the ,handforth ,chapel4 ,there is1 however1 no note of his burial in the parish registers1 and tradition says that during the journey the coffin in which his body was placed was swept away by the swollen waters of a river over which it was being carried4 ,the ,puritans determined to put an end to the government of the ,church by bishops1 and abolished the ,book of ,common ,prayer from the ,church services1 putting in its place a new form of public worship4 ,about thirty of the clergy in ,cheshire who refused to perform the new services of the ,church were turned out of their livings4 ,children were no longer to be baptized in fonts but from a basin4 ,hour-glasses were set up in the pulpits1 from which long political sermons were preached to the people4 ,the ,puritan mayor of ,chester would not permit ,christmas and other time-honoured festivals of the ,church to be kept1 and music1 dancing1 and games were rigidly put down4 ,in #afei an attempt was made by a number of ,cheshire gentry to restore ,charles to the throne4 ,oliver ,cromwell was now dead1 and had been succeeded by his son ,richard4 ,but the real power was in the hands of the soldiers1 and many people soon became disgusted with military rule4 ,the leader of the revolt in ,cheshire was ,sir ,george ,booth1 of ,dunham ,massey4 ,he had fought on the side of ,parliament in the early years of the war1 and was one of the ,presbyterian members of ,parliament who were turned out of the ,house by ',pride's ,purge1' just before the execution of the king4 ,sir ,george ,booth collected a ,royalist force on ,rowton ,moor1 and prepared to attack ,chester4 ,he captured the city and the walls1 but failed to take the castle1 whose governor was ,colonel ,croxton1 of ,ravenscroft ,hall near ,middlewich4 ,colonel ,lambert1 however1 was summoned with two regiments from ,ireland1 and he compelled ,booth to retire towards ,northwich4 ,the ,royalist force was overtaken at ,hartford1 and in the battle which took place near ,winnington ,bridge on the river ,weaver1 was completely routed4 ,but the return of the exiled king was not long delayed4 ,among the ,royalists captured at ,nantwich in #afdd was ,george ,monk4 ,after his release he entered the service of ,parliament1 and won the esteem of ,cromwell4 ,general ,monk now succeeded in persuading ,parliament to recall ,charles4 ,nowhere was the event welcomed more gladly than in ,cheshire4 ,church bells rang merrily1 maypoles were set up again upon the village greens1 and bonfires lighted on the hill-tops4 ,the long quarrel that had separated father from son and brother from brother was at an end1 and many a ,cheshire home was gladdened by the return of wearied soldiers4 ,the king had come into his own again4 ,,chapter ,,xxvii ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,the ,,stuarts ,when ,charles was restored to the throne the bishops also came back to their bishoprics4 ,the records of the churches of ,chester tell of the payments made to the ringers for the ringing of the bells when the citizens joyously welcomed ,bishop ,walton to the city4 ,a large number of citizens and mounted soldiers went as far as ,nantwich to meet him and escorted him to the city gates of ,chester1 where the mayor and corporation as well as the clergy and gentry of ,cheshire received him4 ,once more a ,christmas was kept in the old time way1 and the churches were decked with holly and evergreens for one of the greatest festivals of the ,church4 ,and truly the bare walls1 stripped of everything that was beautiful1 needed some adornment after the ravages and desecrations of the ,civil ,war4 ,but ,charles was a foolish king1 and spent most of his days in idle and frivolous pleasures4 ,the people were disappointed with him1 for he had plenty of brains4 ,one of his favourite hobbies was the study of science4 ,john ,wilkins1 another ,bishop of ,chester1 was one of a little band of clever men who helped the king to found the ,royal ,society for the spread of knowledge and the study of science4 ,to be a ,fellow of the ,royal ,society is to this day one of the highest honours that men of science can obtain4 ,the favourite study of ,john ,wilkins was astronomy1 and he wrote a book called the ,discovery of a ,new ,world1 to prove that there may be another habitable world in the moon4 ,another book of his was called ,mercury2 or the secret and swift ,messenger1 shewing how a man may privately and with speed tell his thoughts to friends at any distance4 ,thus1 had he lived in a later age1 he might perhaps have been the inventor of the telegraph and telephone4 ,charles secretly favoured the old ,catholic religion1 and on his death-bed was received into the ,catholic ,church4 ,during his reign another ,act of ,uniformity was passed1 much more severe than the former one4 ,sixty ministers of ,cheshire churches1 who refused to obey the ,act1 were turned out of their livings4 ,among them was ,adam ,martindale1 a noted ,puritan1 who was driven from his church at ,rostherne4 ,adam ,martindale wrote the story of his life1 with all his trials and misfortunes1 in a book which you may read in many of your public libraries4 ,the ,nonconformists were prevented by another ,act from holding prayer meetings within five miles of the town or village where they had held a living4 ,the gaol at ,chester was soon filled with those who were ready to suffer for the crime of preaching the ,gospel in their homes and to their friends4 ,sir ,geoffrey ,shakerley1 who had been made ,governor of ,chester ,castle for his services in the ,civil ,war1 sought them out and persecuted them with great cruelty4 ,still there were many who continued to worship in their own way4 ,for a long time they held their services secretly in private houses1 but1 in #afij1 the ,toleration ,act allowed them to build chapels4 ,these they erected chiefly on the outskirts of towns or in remote villages4 ,during the later years of the seventeenth century these chapels increased greatly in number4 ,the ,unitarian chapel at ,knutsford and the tiny brick chapel at ,dean ,row1 between the ,bollin and the ,dean1 are among the earliest of such places of worship in ,cheshire4 ,matthew ,henry1 a learned commentator of the ,new ,testament1 whose father had been turned out of his church at ,worthenbury1 preached in the chapel in ,trinity ,street1 ,chester4 ,you may still see the seventeenth-century pulpit from which he addressed his congregation4 ,during the ,civil ,war the pulpit had become the most important feature of the churches4 ,the ,puritans were in the habit of preaching long political sermons which they timed with an hour-glass fixed on the wall near the pulpit4 ,at ,shotwick is a pulpit of the kind called a 'three-decker'1 with a square box-pew beneath it for the parish clerk4 ,as soon as people were permitted to choose their own form of worship several other religious bodies came into being1 each with its own peculiar teaching and belief1 often differing but slightly from each other1 all bent on practising their religion precisely in their own particular way4 ,many earnest soldiers in the ,parliamentary army of ,sir ,george ,booth1 when encamped in the neighbourhood of ,knutsford and ,alderley1 had held their services in the barn of a farmhouse at ,warford4 ,their children in after days built the tiny ,baptist chapel which still remains in the village4 ,the ,quakers were very numerous in the neighbourhood of ,stockport and ,wilmslow1 and ,george ,fox the founder of their sect1 or ',society of ,friends' as it was called1 used often to visit them4 ,some cottages on ,lindow ,moss were once a ,quaker chapel1 and there is a ,quaker burial-ground in a clump of trees near ,mobberley4 ,many of the gravestones have seventeenth-century dates upon them4 ,often the ,quakers were refused burial in the churchyards1 and most out-of-the-way places were chosen for their last resting-place4 ,there are some ,quakers' graves in the woods at ,burton in ,wirral4 ,james the ,second1 who succeeded his brother ,charles1 did not try to hide the fact that he was a ,papist4 ,many people would have preferred the ,duke of ,monmouth1 a bastard son of ,charles the ,second1 as king4 ,he was known to be a ,protestant1 and the people of ,cheshire1 who were strongly ,protestant1 would have welcomed him as they had already welcomed him once in ,charles the ,second's reign4 ,three years before ,james became king1 the duke had visited ,cheshire and raised the cry of ',no ,popery6' ,he stayed at ,mainwaring ,house in ,bridge ,street1 ,chester1 and supped at the ,plume of ,feathers ,inn4 ,on the following day the little daughter of the mayor was christened1 and the duke stood godfather1 naming her ,henrietta4 ,the duke then made a triumphal progress through the villages of ,wirral4 ,he stayed at ,peel ,hall1 ,bromborough1 in order to attend the races at ,wallasey1 where he won a prize1 which he sent to his little goddaughter at ,chester4 ,several of the ,wirral gentry met in a summer-house at ,bidston1 and talked of a rising in his favour4 ,but the country people did not show so much readiness as had been expected1 and all the duke's doings were secretly reported to the king by ,sir ,peter ,shakerley1 the governor of ,chester ,castle4 ,monmouth also stayed at ,rock ,savage and ,dunham ,massey1 and witnessed the sports at ,gawsworth4 ,shortly afterwards1 however1 he was captured by the king's men at ,stafford1 and the plot came to nothing4 ,he was lucky not to lose his head4 ,charles was kinder to him than ,james was when the duke raised the ,west of ,england in #afhe4 ,james was thoroughly hated by the bulk of the people1 who grew tired of the mischievous rule of the ,stuarts1 and made up their minds to depose him4 ,they were also determined that never again should a ,catholic king reign over them4 ,james fled to ,france1 and ,thomas ,cartwright1 the ,bishop of ,chester1 who had made the citizens angry by bringing in again the old ,catholic services of the ,church1 followed him into exile4 ,in the gardens of ,gayton ,hall are two ancient trees which have been called ,william and ,mary4 ,william of ,orange was the new king who was invited by the ,english to succeed ,james4 ,all who held office in ,church or ,state were required to take the oath of allegiance to him4 ,some refused to do this4 ,they were called non-jurors1 and among them were several of the clergy of ,cheshire who had to give up their churches4 ,james made an effort to regain his lost kingdom1 and sailed from ,france to ,ireland1 where he hoped to win many adherents4 ,william assembled his forces in ,wirral1 staying at ,gayton ,hall1 the home of ,william ,clegg1 whom he knighted after his visit4 ,the ',king's ,gap'1 near ,hoylake1 reminds us of ,king ,william's presence in ,cheshire4 ,on the ,lowlands1 between ,hoylake and ,meols1 his army lay encamped1 and in the river ,dee ,sir ,cloudesley ,shovel1 the brave sailor who rose from 'powder-monkey' to admiral1 was waiting with the fleet to take the troops across to ,ireland4 ,cloudesley ,shovel is said to have received part of his education at the ,grammar ,school of ,stockport4 ,on the chancel wall of ,west ,kirby ,church is a tablet bearing the name of ,baron ,johannes ,van ,zoelen1 who died here in #afij4 ,the foreign-looking name is that of an officer of the ,dutch troops of the ,duke of ,schomberg1 for ,william employed ,dutch and ,german soldiers to put down ,james's rising in ,ireland4 ,the soldiers embarked at ,hoylake1 and a few weeks later the farmers of ,wirral1 who had had to feed the army1 and who1 no doubt1 were glad to see it depart1 heard of ,william's great victory at the battle of the ,boyne4 ,james took refuge again in ,france4 ,many ,cheshire men took part in ,william's ,irish campaign4 ,a regiment was raised in ,cheshire by ,sir ,george ,booth1 the old ,parliamentary leader who had1 after the ,civil ,war1 become one of ,charles the ,second's most devoted followers and received the title of ,lord ,delamere for his services4 ,the regiment was also accompanied by a troop of horse from ,wilmslow and the neighbourhood4 ,william was never popular with his subjects4 ,they disliked him because he was not ,english4 ,he was cold and silent1 and his manners ungracious2 he spoke ,english with difficulty1 and often he seemed anxious to get back to his own country4 ,but he was devoted to duty and a great soldier1 and he did much for ,england in checking the power of the ,french king who favoured the exiled ,stuart4 ,william died childless1 and was succeeded by ,anne1 the last ,stuart who sat on the ,english throne4 ,she had ,cheshire blood in her veins1 for she was the daughter of ,james the ,second's wife1 ,anne ,hyde1 whose grandfather1 the ,earl of ,clarendon1 was a ,hyde of ,hyde ,hall4 ,queen ,anne's children all died young4 ,before she came to the throne ,parliament had passed an ,act of ,settlement1 by which the crown was settled on a ,protestant1 ,princess ,sophia1 granddaughter of ,james the ,first1 and her heirs4 ,when ,queen ,anne died1 ,george1 the eldest son of ,sophia1 became king4 ,the fallen ,stuarts made more than one attempt to recover the ,british crown4 ,in #agae1 when ,george the ,first was king1 a number of ,cheshire gentlemen1 among whom were the ,leghs of ,legh and ,lymm1 the ,grosvenors of ,eaton1 ,warrens and ,asshetons1 and ,cholmondeleys met in the hall of the ,asshetons at ,ashley to decide whether they should give any help to ,james ,edward1 the ',old ,pretender'1 ,james's eldest son1 who was raising a revolt in ,scotland4 ,they decided by a majority of one only to remain loyal to the ,protestant ,king ,george4 ,thirty years later the inhabitants of ,east ,cheshire saw an army of rugged ,highlanders in bonnets and kilts pass southwards from ,stockport ,prince ,charles ,edward1 the ',young ,pretender'1 had raised his flag in the ,highlands of ,scotland and gathered together an army of ',jacobites'1 as the followers of the ,stuarts were called4 ,at ,manchester the ,scots had been joined by about #bjj ,lancashire ,catholics4 ,but the villagers who cheered the rebels on the ,macclesfield high-road saw them returning within a week1 for they had hardly crossed the hills at ,bosley and descended into the valleys of ,derbyshire when the ,duke of ,cumberland1 commanding an army in the ,midlands1 scattered them and drove them pell-mell northwards again4 ,in ,lyme ,hall are some ,jacobite wine-glasses1 with the ,white ,rose of the ,stuarts stamped on one side1 and on the other the ,latin word 'fiat'1 which expressed the thought that was in the minds of those who used them3 ',may the king come to his own again6' ,when men were forbidden to drink the health of the ,pretender in public1 these 'fiat' glasses were made by the ,jacobites and the toast drunk in silence4 ',bonnie ,prince ,charlie' stayed at the house of ,sir ,peter ,davenport in ,macclesfield1 and his officers at a house in ,jordangate which is now the ,george ,hotel4 ,stuart ',pretenders' were never seen in ,cheshire again4 ,,chapter ,,xxviii ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century4 ,i ,during the latter part of the seventeenth century the people of ,cheshire began to repair the damage done to the churches1 mansions1 and public buildings during the ,civil ,wars4 ,it was hardly to be expected that the art of the builder could flourish during that stormy period4 ,gothic architecture had reached its greatest glory under the ,plantagenet and ,tudor kings1 and when the builders of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries took up their work again they cast aside the aims and ideals of the ,gothic craftsmen and turned to new models and new sources for their inspiration4 ,the changes which were now made were one of the results of the ,renaissance or ,great ,awakening of the sixteenth century4 ,the men who visited ,italy and brought back with them copies of the works of the old ,greek and ,roman writers1 which they printed and gave to the world1 brought also the ideas of ,italian architects and plans of ,italian buildings1 which had been copied from those of ancient ,athens and ,rome4 ,englishmen of the eighteenth century took these as their models4 ,like the ,roman workmen1 they found it easier to copy than to invent4 ,if you turn back to ,chapter ,,vi you will find that the chief feature of the ,roman1 which we will now call the ,italian or ,classic style1 are the rows of pillars ranged along the front and sides of a building4 ,the ,town ,hall of ,macclesfield1 and the group of buildings which now form the ,castle of ,chester1 are good examples of the style of architecture which prevailed during the eighteenth century4 ,the windows are sometimes round-headed1 but more often they are rectangular1 with low triangles above them4 ,unfortunately many ancient buildings1 which we would gladly have with us now1 disappeared at this time4 ,some of them1 no doubt1 were in such a ruinous state that it was impossible to repair them1 but1 generally speaking1 little or no pains were taken to restore them to their former appearance4 ,the people preferred to pull down and destroy and rebuild in the new ,classic style1 which rapidly became a craze4 ,the greatest loss was that of the mediaeval castle of ,chester1 which1 with the exception of ',caesar's ,tower'1 was pulled down in #aghh4 ,the front entrance to the new castle is in the ,doric style4 ,round the courtyard are barracks and an armoury1 the county gaol and the shire hall with colonnades of ,ionic pillars4 ,many fine ,elizabethan halls were destroyed to make way for mansions in the ,classic style4 ,hooton ,hall was built on the site of an old 'black and white' timber house4 ,poynton1 ,tabley1 ,tatton1 ,ince1 and ,doddington ,halls were built about the same time4 ,other houses were altered or enlarged4 ,the beauty of ,adlington ,hall was spoilt by the stone front with its ,corinthian columns1 which ,charles and ,hester ,legh built4 ,the appearance of ,lyme ,hall was completely changed by an ,italian architect named ,giacomo ,leoni4 ,his work is adorned with figures of the gods of heathen ,rome1 ,neptune and ,venus and ,pan4 ,the ,leghs of ,lyme brought many treasures from ,italy4 ,the stained glass in the east window of ,disley ,church was brought by them4 ,the roundheaded ',italian' windows in the tower of ,rostherne ,church tell us that they are the work of eighteenth-century builders and 'restorers'4 ,the ugly tower cuts a sorry figure when compared with the beautiful perpendicular towers of ,mobberley1 ,cheadle1 ,budworth1 ,witton1 ,alderley1 ,middlewich1 and others in the neighbourhood4 ,the tower of ,great ,barrow ,church1 with urns in the place of pinnacles1 and the porch of ,frodsham1 are out of keeping with the ,gothic character of the rest of the buildings4 ,the eighteenth-century restorers had little taste or sense of beauty4 ,within the churches ugly wooden galleries were placed over the aisles1 and the walls1 pillars1 and pews coated with layers of paint or whitewash4 ,even the carved woodwork of the choir stalls of ,chester ,cathedral was painted4 ,the open timber roof of ,alderley ,old ,church was hidden by a flat ceiling of lath and plaster4 ,a portion of the old timber church at ,warburton was repaired with common bricks1 and sometimes whole churches were rebuilt with the same material4 ,illustration3 ,,entrance ,,to ,,chester ,,castle ,in place of the handsome ,decorated altar tombs1 with their effigies of knights and dames1 great tablets of marble brought from ,italy were fixed on the walls4 ,on them were carved skulls and cross-bones1 sometimes an entire skeleton1 with funeral urns like those in which the ,romans placed the ashes of their dead4 ,scrolls with long rambling inscriptions told of the virtues of the dead4 ,these were often written in ,latin1 as if the homely ,english of the mother tongue was not good enough for the purpose4 ,illustration3 ,,rostherne4 ,,eighteenth-,,century ,,tower ,the poets of the eighteenth century imitated the style of the poets of ancient ,rome4 ,their poems are full of the wit and satire found in ,horace and ,juvenal4 ,man1 not ,nature1 was nearly always the subject of their poems4 ,two lines of ,alexander ,pope1 the greatest of the eighteenth-century poets1 are carved on the tombstone of ,sir ,john ,chesshyre in ,runcorn ,church3-- ,a wit's a feather and a chief's a rod3 ,an honest man's the noblest work of ,god4 ,illustration3 ,,chancel3 ,,frodsham 7,eighteenth ,century7 ,sir ,john ,chesshyre was a lawyer1 and built the little library near ,halton ,castle in #agcc for the books which he left for the use of ,cheshire scholars and students4 ,clubs were formed by the poets and wits and 'men of fashion' of the eighteenth century4 ,they met in the taverns and coffee-houses of the towns1 and scratched their smart sayings on the window-panes with their diamond rings4 ,they rather prided themselves on their eccentric habits and their superiority over other men1 who had neither the time nor the money to waste on frivolous amusements4 ,in a little wood near ,gawsworth is a lonely grave with a plain flat stone1 beneath which1 ,undisturbed1 and hid from ,vulgar ,eyes1 ,a ,wit1 ,musician1 ,poet1 ,player1 lies4 ,the grave is that of ,samuel ,johnson1 a dancing master1 'afterwards ennobled with the grander title of ,lord ,flame1' as the inscription tells us1 who was buried here at his own desire4 ,neston and ,parkgate1 twin towns on the southern shore of ,wirral1 were visited by many fashionable people in the eighteenth century4 ,they spent the summer here for the bathing and the fresh breezes that blow from the ,irish ,sea and the hills of ,wales4 ,it is to be feared that ,parkgate was also the resort of less respectable folk1 for in some of the old houses you may still see the huge holes in which smugglers stored their unlawful cargoes4 ,it was dangerous work1 for the ',king's ,yacht'1 as the revenue cutter was called1 patrolled the waters of the ,dee1 and the officers had orders to shoot down all whom they caught in this illegal traffic4 ,it is from this boat that the ',yacht ,inn' at ,chester takes its name4 ,neston and ,parkgate were the starting-points for the ,irish mails4 ,the coaches from ,london and ,liverpool put down their passengers here for ,dublin4 ,one of the most beautiful poems in the ,english language1 the ',lycidas' of ,john ,milton1 was written in memory of ,edward ,king1 a friend of the poet1 who was shipwrecked on his way from ,ireland to ,parkgate4 ,the ,london coaches that brought travellers to ,chester and ,parkgate frequently got into difficulties in the low-lying parts near the ,river ,dee4 ,the roads were very bad1 and the coach often had to be hauled out of the mud by a team of horses borrowed from some neighbouring farm4 ,the passengers sometimes found themselves without their purses and their jewels at the end of their journey4 ,the roads were frequented by highwaymen--'gentlemen of the road'1 they called themselves--who held up the coach and demanded money4 ,with pistols levelled at their heads1 the travellers were generally glad to escape with their lives4 ,one of the most famous of these highwaymen was ,dick ,turpin1 whose escapades1 ,i imagine1 are known to most ,cheshire boys1 though ,i hope they have no wish to follow the career of this rascally thief4 ,once it happened in ,cheshire1 near ,dunham ,i popped ,on a horseman alone1 whom ,i speedily stopped2 ,that ,i lightened his pockets you'll readily guess-- ,quick work makes ,dick ,turpin when mounted on ,bess4 ,the robbery spoken of in these lines was committed on the high-road between ,altrincham and ,knutsford1 and ,turpin rode so fast to the inn at ,hoo ,green1 where he showed his watch to some ,cheshire squires1 that he was never suspected of the crime4 ,this and many other stories of ,turpin are told by ,harrison ,ainsworth1 the novelist1 whose father lived at ,rostherne4 ,knutsford claimed a highwayman of its own1 one ,higgins1 who lived on ,knutsford ,heath as an ordinary gentleman of means1 and was very friendly with the sporting squires of the neighbourhood4 ,his favourite amusement was to waylay the ladies who went to the county balls and 'assemblies' at the ,george ,hotel1 and rob them of their diamonds4 ,but he1 like most others of his profession1 was found out at last1 and paid with his life the penalty of his crimes4 ,,chapter ,,xxix ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century4 ,,ii ,the people of ,cheshire were not all thieves and robbers in the eighteenth century4 ,if the rich and the idle were given to folly and extravagance1 and poorer men also too often lost the little they possessed through gambling and cock-fighting1 the heart of the people was sound1 and only waiting to be stirred to newer life and better ideals4 ,in the latter half of the century a great preacher came to ,cheshire1 and stirred deeply the hearts of men by denouncing the follies of the age1 and the lack of religious feeling which had spread over all classes of society4 ,his name was ,john ,wesley1 the founder of the ,wesleyan and ,methodist bodies4 ,at first he met with much opposition1 and his meetings were broken up by the mob1 but in time the people were struck by his earnestness and flocked to hear him4 ,the chapel at ,chester where he preached was so crowded that it could not hold all who wished to listen to him4 ,in his ,diary he tells us of his visits to ,knutsford1 ,stockport1 and other ,cheshire towns4 ,but ,wesley and his followers often found themselves unable to preach in the churches1 so they built for themselves chapels1 little square brick buildings1 all over the county4 ,another fervent preacher of the time was ,captain ,scott1 who left the army to be a missionary among his own countrymen1 whom he gathered round him in the streets or the inn-yards of the villages where he stayed4 ,the ,mill ,street ,chapel at ,congleton is one of the many chapels founded by him in ,southern ,cheshire4 ,many ,cheshire men were fighting in the wars into which ,england was drawn in the eighteenth century4 ,in the reigns of ,anne and the three ,georges war succeeded war1 and the intervals of peace were few and short4 ,france and ,spain were our enemies1 each of whom looked with jealous eyes upon the growing power of ,england1 and1 still more1 her vast colonial empire4 ,from ,canada in the ,west to ,india in the ,east battles were fought on land and on sea to maintain for ,england the supremacy of the sea and her colonies4 ,many churches in ,cheshire tell the story of ,cheshire soldiers and sailors who distinguished themselves in these wars4 ,in the church of ,pott ,shrigley you may see a memorial tablet of ,peter ,downes1 whose ancestors were foresters of the forest of ,macclesfield4 ,peter ,downes entered the navy and was killed in a fight between the ,leander1 an ,english man-of-war1 and the ,french ship ,gnreux4 ,peter ,dennis1 who was born at ,chester and was a scholar at the ,king's ,school1 became an ,admiral of the ,fleet4 ,he was in command of the battleship ,centurion in a battle fought off ,cape ,finisterre4 ,afterwards he was knighted and made commander-in-chief of the ,mediterranean fleet4 ,the battleships in which these sailors fought were very different to the monster ironclads of the present day with which you are familiar4 ,the eighteenth-century vessels were the old 'wooden walls' of ,england1 big sailing ships called 'three deckers'1 with three rows of guns pointing outwards from their sides4 ,there is a model of one of them1 the ,royal ,george1 over the inner door of ,vernon ,park ,museum4 ,robert ,clive was the son of a ,shropshire squire1 and was educated at the little school in the ,cheshire village of ,allostock4 ,clive went to ,india and became a soldier4 ,the ,english and ,french were fighting for the mastery of ,india1 and it is to ,clive's victories that we owe in a great measure our ,indian ,empire4 ,in the last few years of the eighteenth century the dangers which threatened ,england from ,france were much nearer home4 ,in #agid ,king ,george the ,third was obliged to ask ,parliament for a large increase in our home army4 ,cheshire raised a regiment of six troops1 with ,colonel ,leicester1 of ,tabley ,hall1 as its commander4 ,shortly afterwards a call for ,volunteers was made in ,cheshire1 as in other parts of the country1 to defend the shores of our own land from attack4 ,the armies of ,napoleon were conquering everywhere1 and an invasion of ,england was expected4 ,knutsford ,heath presented the same busy scene that it had done #aej years before1 when ,lambert's troops were encamped upon it4 ,for ,knutsford was the appointed meeting-place of all the ,cheshire forces--,militia1 ,yeomanry1 and ,volunteers--and the beacon that was kept in readiness on ,alderley ,edge was to give the signal4 ,the danger was not over for many years1 for the war lasted well into the nineteenth century1 ending only when ,napoleon and the ,french were defeated by ,wellington at the battle of ,waterloo4 ,duke ,street and ,wellington ,street in ,stockport keep alive the memory of the ',iron ,duke'1 ,napoleon's conqueror4 ,a friend of the ,duke of ,wellington was ,stapleton ,cotton1 ,viscount ,combermere1 whose statue stands in front of the gates of ,chester ,castle4 ,he was a descendant of the ,cotton to whom the ,abbey of ,combermere was given when ,henry the ,eighth plundered the ,cheshire monasteries4 ,the ,duke of ,wellington frequently stayed at ,combermere2 on one of his visits he planted an oak tree which you may still see in the ,park4 ,on the tomb of ,stapleton ,cotton in ,wrenbury ,church you may read the names of the many battles in which this gallant soldier took part4 ,the wars of the eighteenth century and the final struggle with ,napoleon would have ruined this country but for a great increase in the wealth of the people1 which made them able to bear the cost4 ,to understand the sources of this wealth1 and the way in which it was made1 we shall have to go back again to the middle of the eighteenth century1 and tell the story of a great ,industrial ,revolution1 a revolution without war and bloodshed indeed1 but one that brought with it the greatest changes perhaps that ,cheshire had yet seen4 ,what these changes were1 and how they affected the lives of ,cheshire men and women1 you will read in the succeeding chapters4 ,,chapter ,,xxx ,,the ,,industrial ,,revolution4 ,i ,the ,industrial ,revolution of the eighteenth century laid the foundation of modern manufacturing ,england4 ,with remarkable rapidity great industries came into being1 and new methods of making all kinds of manufactured goods4 ,and the first cause of this revolution was the discovery of coal1 or rather the discovery of what you could do with coal4 ,for coal was all at once in great demand to provide the power of steam1 and in #agfi ,james ,watt1 the discoverer of the power of steam1 showed that the steam engine could be used to drive machinery hitherto worked by hand4 ,coal was first found in ,cheshire about the year #agej4 ,a colliery was opened at ,denhall in ,wirral1 where coal is worked to this day4 ,in ,east ,cheshire coal was found by an accident4 ,a farmer near ,poynton had to fetch his water from a considerable distance1 and asked his landlord1 ,sir ,george ,warren of ,poynton ,hall1 to sink him a well on his land4 ,while the workmen were boring the well they came across a seam of fine coal quite near to the surface4 ,many other collieries have since that time been started in the same neighbourhood1 and now coal is taken out of the earth nearly all the way from ,stockport to ,macclesfield4 ,there are pits at ,norbury1 ,middlewood1 and ,bakestonedale4 ,the coal-field extends northwards also1 and all along the ,tame valley there are pits1 and especially in the neighbourhood of ,dukinfield1 where some of the workings reach a depth of over two thousand feet below the surface of the land4 ,the earlier ,cheshire canals were made as a result of the discovery of coal4 ,the ,duke of ,bridgwater1 who owned rich coal-mines at ,worsley near ,manchester1 made very little profit out of them on account of the expense of carrying the coal by carriage to the shipping ports4 ,a clever engineer named ,james ,brindley was the first to suggest to him the making of a canal by which barges might take the coal to the river ,irwell4 ,this was the first canal made in ,england1 and was finished in the year #agfa4 ,the ,bridgwater ,canal was afterwards extended and carried over the ,irwell by an aqueduct4 ,it enters ,cheshire at ,stretford1 and passing through ,altrincham and ,lymm extends a distance of twenty-four miles to ,runcorn1 where it descends by a series of locks to the tidal waters of the ,mersey4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,old ,,canal3 ,,marple ,the canal turned out so successful that the manufacturers in the ,potteries of ,staffordshire asked ,brindley to make a canal across the ,cheshire plain to unite the rivers ,trent and ,mersey4 ,this was the beginning of the ,grand ,trunk ,canal1 which now winds through the heart of ,england and connects the great industrial towns of ,lancashire and ,cheshire with the metropolis4 ,at ,harecastle the canal is carried under the hills that separate ,cheshire from ,staffordshire by a tunnel nearly three thousand yards long4 ,at first the boatmen pushed their barges through the tunnel by 'legging' along the roof4 ,this was such a laborious and troublesome way that another engineer named ,telford1 the great road-maker1 afterwards built a second tunnel large enough for horses to tow the barges through it4 ,the ,ellesmere ,canal connects the estuaries of the ,dee and the ,mersey1 and thus cuts off the ,wirral peninsula from the rest of the county4 ,when this canal was being made1 layers of fine sand and sea shells were found1 proving that at some not very remote period the estuaries of the ,mersey and the ,dee were connected with one another4 ,in the east of ,cheshire the ,peak ,forest and ,macclesfield ,canal enters the county at ,dukinfield4 ,one portion goes southward to ,macclesfield and the other crosses the river ,goyt at ,marple by an aqueduct a hundred feet above the river4 ,the ,shropshire ,union ,canal connects the ,dee and the ,severn2 and thus all the great rivers of the north midlands1 the ,mersey1 ,dee1 ,severn1 and ,trent1 are united with one another by this network of ,cheshire canals4 ,the canals proved a blessing not only to the coal owners and manufacturers1 but were also used by the people of the country villages in order to travel from one part to another4 ,passenger barges called 'fly-boats' enabled the country women to take their butter and cheese to the market towns4 ,james ,brindley was a man of humble birth1 and for several years worked as a labourer on a farm1 amusing himself in his spare moments with making wooden models of machinery with a pocket-knife4 ,he was so clever that he was often called in by the mill-owners of ,macclesfield and ,congleton to repair their machinery4 ,when he was first employed by the ,duke of ,bridgwater he was paid only half a crown a day4 ,he was a very practical man1 and gained his knowledge not from books but from his own experiments4 ,when he was called to the ,house of ,commons to explain his scheme for carrying a canal over the ,mersey1 which many people laughed at as absurd1 he took with him a ,cheshire cheese which he cut in halves to represent the arches of the bridge1 and made a complete model of his proposed work which greatly amused his audience1 and at the same time proved that he was well able to overcome his difficulties4 ,the rivers also were dredged and made suitable for navigation wherever possible4 ,an artificial channel was made for the waters of the ,dee which had become choked with silt and sand1 and small ships could once more be towed as far as ,chester4 ,the ,weaver was made navigable from ,winsford to the ,mersey1 so that salt1 which was taken out of the earth in ever increasing quantities1 could be taken to ,runcorn in barges at a much smaller cost than on wagons4 ,salt is necessary in every home for cooking and other household needs4 ,but still greater quantities are required for alkalis and other chemicals1 the making of which is the chief occupation of the workpeople of ,runcorn and ,weston ,point4 ,thousands of tons are also exported every year to other countries where salt is scarce4 ,salt has been worked in the towns on or near the ,weaver from ,roman days4 ,the earlier way was simply to mine it as we do coal now4 ,some of the mines at ,northwich cover many acres1 and when lit up by electric coloured lights are very beautiful4 ,the roof of a mine is held up by columns of salt which are left in position for that purpose1 but they frequently give way and the buildings above them are wrecked4 ,the coarser kinds of rock-salt are still taken out in lumps4 ,you may often see pieces in the ,cheshire fields which farmers have put there for cattle to lick4 ,for salt contains health-giving properties1 and salt-mining is not injurious to health as coal-mining is4 ,brine baths have been made at ,nantwich for people suffering from certain diseases4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 wells or brine-pits were sunk and the water carried in leather buckets to the salt-houses4 ,edward ,king1 a ,cheshire historian1 who in the seventeenth century wrote a book called ,vale ,royal1 says that 'at ,northwich there was a salt spring on the bank of the ,river ,dane1 from which the brine runneth on the ground in troughs of wood until it comes to the wich-houses1 where they made salt4 ,some old leaden salt-pans may still be seen at ,northwich1 pieces of charcoal still sticking to them on the under side1 showing that the brine had been heated over wood fires4' ,illustration3 ,,the ,,mill ,,towns ,,of ,n4,e4 ,,cheshire ,modern science has found better and easier ways of making salt4 ,the white salt which you use daily is still obtained by evaporation4 ,the brine is first pumped into a reservoir and taken by pipes to large shallow salt-pans heated by furnaces beneath them4 ,as the water evaporates the crystals are formed and scraped from the sides and the bottoms of the pans4 ,you may see specimens of the different kinds of salt in the ,salt ,museum at ,northwich4 ,,chapter ,,xxxi ,,the ,,industrial ,,revolution4 ,,ii ,in the year #aghe cotton was brought into the ,mersey from the ,united ,states of ,america4 ,long before that time so-called 'cotton' stuffs had been made in ,cheshire villages4 ,but these fabrics were not really cotton at all1 but a mixture of wool and flax4 ,the flax was brought from ,ireland1 and woollen manufacturers tried for a long time to keep it out4 ,in the parish records of ,prestbury you may read of an ,act passed in ,charles the ,second's reign forbidding any one to be buried in anything but a woollen shroud4 ,at first there were no cotton-mills1 such as you see now in the populous towns of ,east ,cheshire4 ,the raw cotton was given out to poor people1 who spun it and wove it in their own cottage homes4 ,nearly every cottage became a small factory1 the fathers1 mothers1 and children all taking part in the work4 ,the machinery was simple and made of wood4 ,the spinning was done by the women and children in the house1 the weaving by the men in a weaving-shed of one story built in the yard4 ,as time went on1 the machinery was improved by the inventions of clever men1 so that one loom would do as much work as several had done previously4 ,the workpeople did not like the new machines1 for often a number of people were thrown out of work by them1 and frequently the new spinning and weaving-frames of the inventors were wrecked by a furious mob4 ,the earlier and simpler machines1 such as the spinning-wheel and the hand-loom1 were worked by hand4 ,but the new discoveries made it possible for one wheel to turn eighty or a hundred spindles at once by means of horse-power or a water-wheel1 and the hand-loom similarly gave place to a power-loom4 ,but in remote villages the old-fashioned methods survived1 and even to this day you may still occasionally see a hand-loom at work in cottages in the highlands of ,east ,cheshire4 ,then great factories began to be built1 huge buildings of brick and of many stories1 chiefly on the banks of ,cheshire streams1 or on the canals1 by which the raw cotton could be brought in barges to the very doors4 ,you may look down from the churchyard of ,mottram into the valley beneath and count a score of them4 ,steam was applied1 and the whole of the machinery of the factories was driven by this new force4 ,great towns sprang up like mushrooms4 ,hyde and ,stalybridge and ,dukinfield1 from being tiny villages1 soon became great busy hives of the cotton industry4 ,the cotton had also to be bleached and the calicoes printed1 and mills for the purpose were built along the streams1 whose waters provided the steam-power which worked the machinery of the mills4 ,from ,taxal to ,stockport1 along the banks of the now polluted ,goyt1 is an almost continuous line of great mills1 the bleach-works of ,whaley ,bridge1 the print-works of ,furness ,vale and ,strines1 the cotton-mills of ,disley1 ,marple1 and ,mellor4 ,the ,mellor mills were built as early as #agij by ,samuel ,oldknow1 and were at one time in the hands of ,peter ,arkwright1 who was one of a famous family of inventors1 and who made many changes in the machinery of his works4 ,thus the positions of modern manufacturing towns have not been chosen1 as were those of the towns of the ,middle ,ages1 by their ability to beat off the attacks of enemies4 ,for war is no longer the principal business of the inhabitants of ,cheshire4 ,the 'cotton' towns have come into being just in those parts where the conditions are favourable to the cotton industry4 ,in the first place the climate is damp1 owing to the nearness of the ,pennine hills1 on which the wet winds from the south-west drop their moisture2 and cotton can only be spun and woven in such a climate1 for a dry climate would make the threads break4 ,secondly1 there is a plentiful water-supply from the numerous streams that flow from the hills1 and lastly1 the towns are close to big coal-fields from which they may obtain the fuel for the engines that work the machinery of the mills4 ,in the pretty model village of ,styal1 on the banks of the ,bollin1 is a house which is still called by the name of ',prentice ,house4 ,here once lived a number of young girls and boys1 orphans many of them1 who worked in the picturesque ivy-clad building1 strangely unlike a mill1 at ,quarry ,bank4 ,they were 'apprenticed'1 that is1 bound to their master for seven years4 ,during that time they were well fed and clothed by their employer1 and certain times were set apart for learning to read and write and sew4 ,on ,sunday mornings they walked together to the church at ,wilmslow4 ,the girls were dressed in straw bonnets and plain grey dresses1 the boys in fustian coats and breeches of corduroy4 ,they were kindly treated1 but the hours in the mill were long4 ,they rose at five1 and their breakfast of porridge and milk was eaten in the mill4 ,half an hour was allowed for dinner1 and not until half-past eight did their long day of toil come to an end4 ,at ,christmas prizes were given to those who had been most obedient and industrious during the year4 ,the young people of ,quarry ,bank were on the whole happy in the service of ,samuel ,greg their master1 but the lot of the apprentices in other mills was often very different4 ,the harshness and cruelty of some employers led to the passing of ,acts of ,parliament which shortened the hours of labour and fixed severe penalties for ill-treatment4 ,a later ,act forbade altogether the employment of children under a certain age4 ,illustration3 ,,styal ,,mill ,in the middle of the eighteenth century the silk industry took root in ,cheshire4 ,we first hear of it in ,stockport1 where a mill was started for the winding and throwing#c of silk4 ,john ,clayton1 of ,stockport1 built a mill at ,congleton1 and the industry spread rapidly to the neighbouring villages of ,sutton1 ,rainow1 and ,bollington4 #c i4e4 twisting the fine threads into yarn4 ,those who were engaged in this particular process were called 'throwsters'1 just as spinster meant originally one engaged in spinning4 ,the first silk-mill in ,macclesfield1 which is now the chief seat of the silk industry in ,cheshire1 was opened by ,charles ,roe in #agef4 ,roe ,street is named after him4 ,he made a fortune and built ,christ ,church4 ,over the altar you may see his bust in marble1 and over it a figure of ,genius with a cogwheel in her hand4 ,in the museum at ,west ,park are some models of silk-looms4 ,there was a silk-mill at ,knutsford1 as the name ,silk ,mill ,street tells us4 ,in ,mobberley also nearly every cottage had its spinning-wheel4 ,the cottagers fetched the raw silk from ,macclesfield and took back the spun yarn to be woven into pieces at the ,macclesfield looms4 ,,chapter ,,xxxii ,,the ,,railways ,,of ,,cheshire ,after the making of canals came the railways1 and the mighty power of steam1 that had wrought such a vast change in the cotton industry1 was to be the moving force of the new invention4 ,late in the summer of #ahcj the people who lined the river banks from ,runcorn to ,latchford saw a trail of smoke travelling slowly across the nine arches of ,sankey ,viaduct and the peaty plains of the ,mersey4 ,the smoke was that of ,stephenson's ',rocket'1 the steam locomotive that was drawing one of the first passenger trains in ,england4 ,illustration3 ,,cheshire4 ,,railways ,cheshire had its ',rocket' too in those days1 the stage coach that left the ',black ,boy' ,inn at ,stockport and passed through ,cheadle1 ,lymm1 and ,warrington to ,liverpool4 ,and the old ',rocket' was very jealous of its new namesake1 for it was thought that with the coming of the railways the coaches would be driven off the road4 ,the canal companies also saw themselves threatened1 and did all they could to hinder the spread of the new way of travelling4 ,some years were to pass before the inhabitants of ,cheshire saw railways laid through their own towns and villages4 ,the farmers of ,wirral rubbed their eyes when the first train seen in ,cheshire carried its human freight along the southern shore of the ,mersey4 ,many of them had doubtless never seen one before1 and not a few of the more ignorant fled in terror from the puffing1 panting thing1 which they looked upon as the invention of the evil one4 ,it is hard indeed to think of ,cheshire without its railways4 ,before their coming1 almost the only way of moving from one place to another was by means of the stage coaches that rattled along the principal highways1 putting down at the nearest wayside inn the passengers who lived in villages off the main roads4 ,goods and merchandise were carried on pack-horses or slow lumbering wagons4 ,some of the most important main lines of ,english railways now pass through ,cheshire1 for the ,cheshire plain is the broad gateway that leads to the busy and populous towns of ,south ,lancashire4 ,within the space of half a century the county was covered with a network of lines1 and to-day it is impossible to find a spot that has not a railway passing within a very few miles of it4 ,the earliest railways avoided the hilly districts1 and for many years there were no lines in ,east ,cheshire4 ,the main line of the ,london and ,north ,western ,railway crosses the southern border of ,cheshire where the hills are low1 and picks its way through the ,cheshire plain1 keeping closely to the level valley of the ,weaver1 and leaving the hills of ,delamere and ,frodsham on the west4 ,it crosses the ,mersey into ,lancashire at ,warrington4 ,the cotton spinners of ,stockport wanted a quick route to ,london1 and so a branch line was made through ,alderley1 which joined the main line at ,crewe4 ,some of the old country towns would not have the railway too near1 so we find ,sandbach nearly two miles away from its station4 ,another branch westwards left the main line at ,crewe for ,chester and ,holyhead1 to carry the ,irish mails2 and a third branched off at ,preston ,brook for ,liverpool1 being carried over the ,mersey by a big iron bridge at ,runcorn4 ,there were only a few houses at ,crewe when the railways were made4 ,the station was in the village of ,church ,coppenhall1 but the shorter and more convenient name of ,crewe was chosen from ,crewe ,hall4 ,the little village rapidly became a big town1 for it was chosen to be the head-quarters of the ,london and ,north ,western ,company4 ,big engine and carriage works were built1 and iron foundries for the making of boilers and steel rails4 ,it is now one of the most important railway centres in ,england1 giving employment to many thousand workmen4 ,but one line was not enough to carry all the traffic from the great manufacturing towns to the ,midlands and the south of ,england4 ,other railway companies accomplished the difficult task of crossing the ,pennine ,hills1 and ,cheshire was thus brought into touch with ,yorkshire and the north-midland shires4 ,the ,midland ,railway tunnelled under the hills at a height of eight hundred feet above sea-level1 and descended rapidly to ,stockport by the ,goyt valley4 ,the ,great ,northern enters ,cheshire by the tunnel near ,penistone1 and follows the ,etherow down ,longdendale till it also reaches ,stockport4 ,the ,staffordshire ,railway from the ,potteries burrows through the hills at ,harecastle on its way to ,congleton and ,macclesfield4 ,all these railways vied with one another in quickening the speed of their trains1 and their rivalry soon caused the fares for passengers and rates for goods to become cheaper4 ,there is one railway which1 more than any other1 ,cheshire boys and girls may call their own4 ,the ,cheshire ,line is not one of the great 'trunk' lines to ,london1 but is confined to ,south ,lancashire and the county from which it takes its name4 ,this railway crosses the county from ,altrincham to ,chester1 never more than a few hundred yards from its great ancestor1 the ,watling ,street4 ,illustration3 ,,railway ,,viaduct ,,over ,,goyt ,,valley ,the populous towns of ,north-east ,cheshire are also served by branches of the ,great ,central and the ,lancashire and ,yorkshire ,railways4 ,the coast towns of the ,dee have their ',wirral ,railway'1 and through the heart of ,wirral ,great ,western expresses rush to their terminus at ,birkenhead4 ,the railways teach us that time is money1 and this fact is constantly brought home to us by seeing new lines made to shorten the distance between two points1 so that men may get to their places of business more rapidly4 ,the ,midland ,railway have in the last few years straightened their line by a short cut through ,cheadle ,heath1 that their express trains to ,manchester may avoid delay at ,stockport2 and the new ,london and ,north ,western line from ,wilmslow to ,manchester1 though it saved less than three miles1 was yet thought worth the cost4 ,the railways have brought town and country into closer touch with one another1 and both have gained4 ,farmers and market gardeners can send their produce quickly and cheaply to the great markets of ,stockport and ,birkenhead4 ,coals and salt1 machinery and manufactured goods1 can be distributed easily from the great towns that produce them4 ,moreover1 many people whose daily life is spent in the crowded cities are able to live away from their places of business and1 for a portion of the day at least1 breathe the purer air of the country4 ,two residential districts of ,cheshire are supported mainly by the merchants and manufacturers of ,manchester and ,liverpool4 ,in ,east ,cheshire1 ,altrincham and ,bowdon1 ,knutsford1 ,alderley1 ,cheadle1 and ,lymm are practically suburbs of ,manchester4 ,in the ,wirral1 ,hoylake1 ,west ,kirby1 and ,new ,brighton owe their present prosperity to the business men of ,birkenhead and ,liverpool who have built their homes on the ,cheshire seaboard4 ,in all these places you may see the mingling of the old and the new1 the older portions clustering round the parish church1 the brand new villas and mansions of the rich spreading on all sides into the surrounding country4 ,new towns spring up round the railway stations1 as at ,alderley ,edge1 which is two miles from the older village of ,nether ,alderley4 ,with the railways came also the 'penny post'1 for letters could now be carried cheaply and quickly to and from all parts of the country4 ,,chapter ,,xxxiii ,,progress ,,and ,,reform ,,in ,,the ,,nineteenth ,,century ,twenty years before steam locomotives were used to draw passenger trains over the earliest railways in ,cheshire1 a steam packet boat had been built to ply between ,liverpool and the ,cheshire port of ,runcorn4 ,this boat was called simply ',the ,steam ,boat'1 and was the first steamer ever seen in the ,river ,mersey4 ,the sailing packets were frequently becalmed1 but the new ship could make her voyage in all weathers4 ,a number of steam-tugs were built soon afterwards to tow the big sailing-ships that entered the ,mersey to the ports to which they were bound1 and the first steam ferry-boat crossed the ,mersey from ,liverpool to ,tranmere4 ,in a few years the ,cheshire shore of the ,mersey was lined with docks and quays at ,birkenhead1 ,seacombe1 ,woodside1 ,tranmere1 and ,eastham4 ,at the last-named port ,liverpool passengers could get on the coach for ,chester and the midland towns4 ,in #ahai1 the year in which ,queen ,victoria was born1 the ,savannah1 the first steamship that crossed the ,atlantic1 was seen in the ,river ,mersey4 ,the ,savannah took twenty-eight days over the passage1 lowering by many days the record of the fastest sailing-vessels hitherto4 ,this was thought a great feat in those days1 but the huge 'ocean greyhounds' that the boys and girls of ,wirral see riding at anchor off ,birkenhead1 now make four or five crossings in the same period of time4 ,just as ,crewe owes its rapid rise to the coming of the railways1 so ,birkenhead's prosperity dates from the beginnings of steam navigation4 ,both of these towns are growths of the nineteenth century4 ,at the beginning of the century ,birkenhead was a small village of less than a hundred inhabitants4 ,it is now ,cheshire's greatest town1 and contains a population of more than #ajj1jjj1 or1 if we include the populous suburbs which have sprung up on either side of it1 nearly twice this number4 ,illustration3 ,,birkenhead ,,the ,,mersey ,the old village clustered round its ruined priory1 which is still in the heart of the modern town4 ,a triangular piece of land1 now covered by the streets of ,new ,brighton1 ,liscard1 ,wallasey1 and ,seacombe1 was cut off from ,birkenhead and the rest of ,wirral by a broad and swampy river called ,wallasey ,pool4 ,mr4 ,laird1 the founder of the famous shipbuilding company of that name1 bought some land on the edge of the ,pool4 ,he saw that here was a firstrate place for dockyards and wharves1 which would be protected from south-westerly gales by the natural rampart of ,bidston ,hill and the high ground of ,oxton4 ,in a few years ,wallasey ,pool was turned into a huge basin capable of holding hundreds of big ocean-going ships4 ,in the ',great ,float'1 as this basin is now called1 you may see ships of every nation4 ,twenty pairs of lockgates connect it with the ,mersey1 and there are ten miles of quays with a network of quay railways laid along them4 ,the big ship-building yards of ,messrs4 ,cammell and ,laird give employment to many hundreds of the working-men of ,birkenhead4 ,here are built some of our largest merchant vessels1 as well as ships for the ,british ,navy1 chiefly gunboats and torpedo boat destroyers4 ,one of the ,lairds was ,birkenhead's first member of ,parliament4 ,you may see his statue in front of the ,birkenhead ,town ,hall4 ,two other men whose names are closely linked with the shipping of the ,mersey will always be remembered by the people of ,wirral4 ,william ,inman and ,thomas ,ismay were the founders of fleets of ocean liners4 ,with a portion of the wealth that he derived from his business1 ,inman built churches for the villages of ,upton and ,moreton4 ,ismay lived at ,dawpool ,hall1 and is buried in the churchyard of ,thurstaston4 ,the first street-tramway in ,europe was laid along the streets of ,birkenhead1 from ,woodside ,ferry to the ,park1 by an ,american called ,train4 ,the cars were built at ,birkenhead1 and drawn by horses2 the length of the line was less than two miles4 ,now tram routes are spread all over ,eastern ,wirral1 and are to be found in the streets of all large towns4 ,but the horses are gone1 and the cars are now driven by the cheaper and more serviceable method of electricity4 ,our tram-cars are one of the greatest conveniences in the busy life of a town4 ,prior to the year #ahcb ,chester was the only ,cheshire town which had its own members of ,parliament4 ,the county returned two members1 one for the north division and the other for the south4 ,the big manufacturing towns which had increased so rapidly in size and population had no representatives1 while numbers of small towns and villages in other parts of ,england returned one and sometimes even two members to the ,house of ,commons4 ,the workers of the busy industrial districts felt that this was very unfair1 and demanded to be allowed to be represented4 ,after a long struggle ,reform ,bills were passed1 and now ,stockport is allowed to choose two members1 and ,stalybridge and ,birkenhead one each4 ,the number of county members has also been increased from two to eight1 one from each of eight divisions1 to which the names ,hyde1 ,macclesfield1 ,altrincham1 ,knutsford1 ,crewe1 ,eddisbury1 ,northwich1 and ,wirral have been given4 ,until the passing of the ',reform ,bills' only those who possessed property were allowed to vote1 the great majority of the people of ,cheshire had no say in the government of the country at all4 ,the ,reform ,bill of #ahcb gave the vote to many more people1 to every man in fact who paid a rent of ten pounds or more a year for his house4 ,thus much of the power which had previously belonged to the rich passed into the hands of the poorer classes4 ,one of the first results of the ,reformed ,parliament was the passing of a number of ,factory ,acts4 ,the cry of the children at work in the mills had long been heard through the land1 and the people were indignant at the cruelties put upon them by some mill-owners4 ,as early as the year #ahjb ,sir ,robert ,peel1 a ,lancashire manufacturer1 had persuaded ,parliament to pass an ,act to improve the condition of the factories4 ,the ,reformed ,parliament now made it illegal to employ children under nine years of age1 or to make boys and girls under thirteen work for more than twelve hours a day4 ,later ,acts have still further shortened the hours of work for women and children1 and in many other respects have made the lot of all the working classes more tolerable4 ,manufacturers are now compelled to keep their factories clean and wholesome1 and fit to work in4 ,factory inspectors are appointed to see that the laws are carried out1 and those whose lives are spent in dangerous occupations1 such as coal-mining or the making of chemicals1 are protected by strict rules which lessen the danger to life and limb4 ,the greatest evil from which the poorer classes suffered in the early years of the nineteenth century was the high price of bread4 ,this was due to the heavy duty put on corn imported from foreign countries4 ,in ,s4 ,peter's ,square1 ,stockport1 is a statue of ,richard ,cobden1 who for six years was ,stockport's member of ,parliament4 ,cobden saw that the poverty of the working classes could not be lessened until this corn-tax was removed4 ,he pleaded eloquently on their behalf1 and in the end he was successful4 ,the growers of corn grumbled1 but as ,cheshire is not so much a corn-growing as a pastoral county1 the farmers of ,cheshire were not greatly hurt4 ,cobden also persuaded ,parliament to take away or to lessen the duties on imported raw materials1 such as cotton1 wool1 and silk1 on which the prosperity of the ,cheshire workers so much depended4 ,the result was that the manufacturers were able to pay the people who worked in their mills better wages4 ,thus1 with cheaper bread and wages higher1 the lot of the industrial classes became brighter4 ,soon also the duties on manufactured goods brought to ,cheshire from abroad were removed1 and the system of ,free ,trade1 under which ,cheshire has become rich and prosperous1 came into being4 ,among the leaders of the working classes were some who wanted far greater changes4 ,in the museum at ,vernon ,park are some iron pike-heads taken from these men when they tried to arm the people and urge them to fight for their 'rights'4 ,the aims of the ,chartists1 as these reformers were named1 were set forth in a document which they called the ,people's ,charter4 ,among other things1 they demanded votes for all men1 yearly ,parliaments1 vote by ballot1 and payment of members of ,parliament4 ,but the bulk of the people took alarm1 for it was thought that if every man had a vote1 too much power would be put into the hands of the working classes4 ,the ,chartists were tried for causing riots1 and many were put in prison4 ,one of the ,chartist leaders was ,james ,stephens1 who is buried in ,dukinfield churchyard4 ,in #ahfa a great disaster befell the cotton trade4 ,in that year civil war broke out in ,america between the ,northern and the ,southern ,states of the ,union4 ,the ,southern ,states were the seat of the cotton-growing plantations1 which were worked by millions of negro slaves4 ,the ,english people had put an end to slavery in their own colonies1 and the ,northern ,states of ,america wished to do the same4 ,when the ,southerners desired to extend the cotton industry to other new ,states1 the ,northern ,states refused to allow it1 and war broke out4 ,the war brought much distress to the cotton workers of ,cheshire1 for the ports of the ,southerners were blockaded by the warships of their enemies1 and the ships which had brought their cargoes of raw cotton to the ,mersey could do so no longer4 ,the result was a cotton famine4 ,the looms were idle1 and thousands of workpeople were thrown out of employment in ,stockport1 ,stalybridge1 and the other towns and villages which depended for their daily bread on a constant supply of the raw material4 ,attempts were made by ships sent from ,england to run the blockade of the ports of the ,southern ,states4 ,at ,birkenhead a ship called the ,alabama was built in the dockyard of ,messrs4 ,laird for the use of the cotton planters4 ,the ship entered the harbours in the night-time or during fogs1 and succeeded several times in bringing small supplies of cotton4 ,she was caught at last1 but not before she had destroyed sixty or seventy vessels of the ,northern fleet1 and she very nearly brought about a war between ,england and ,america4 ,the war lasted four years4 ,then peace was restored1 and the cotton was once more brought to the starving spinners and weavers of ,east ,cheshire4 ,during the famine the poor had been supported by sums of money raised in the large towns of ,england1 and many years passed before the cotton industry reached its former prosperity4 ,the memory of the hard days of the cotton famine has been handed down to the grandchildren of those who suffered4 ,within the last few years the cotton merchants and manufacturers have started an association for growing cotton in our own ,english colonies1 so that the workers may not depend entirely on the cotton produced by foreign ,states4 ,,chapter ,,xxxiv ,,the ,,reign ,,of ,a ,,great ,,queen ,many of the changes described in the last three chapters were but partially accomplished in ,cheshire1 when a young princess of eighteen years became ,queen of ,england4 ,the power of steam was known1 but the ,cheshire railways were not yet laid1 and those who wished to attend the coronation of ,queen ,victoria had to use the stage or the family coach and take a day and a half over the journey4 ,telegraph and telephone were also quite unknown1 and the penny post had not yet come into being4 ,that was to follow in the wake of the railways4 ,during her reign all our main roads were lined with telegraph wires1 and cables laid at the bottom of the seas sent our messages to the uttermost parts of the earth4 ,the news of distant events1 which formerly took weeks or even months to reach us1 may now be read in our newspapers within a few hours at most4 ,inventions without number followed the discovery of electricity4 ,the shops and warehouses of large towns1 railway carriages and ocean liners1 and the homes of the well-to-do are lighted with it4 ,electric launches flit along the shores of the ,mersey4 ,tram-cars are worked by electricity1 which also sets in motion the dynamos that work the machinery of mills and workshops4 ,the pressing of an electric button sets free the big ships when they take the water for the first time in the dockyards of ,birkenhead4 ,the wonderful progress made by the engineers of the nineteenth century is seen in the making of the ,manchester ,ship ,canal1 the greater part of which lies within the county of ,cheshire4 ,for many years ,manchester's great ambition was to become a port4 ,the winding and shallow bed of the inland waters of the ,mersey could not be navigated by ocean-going vessels1 and a ship canal was wanted in order that the bales of cotton might be brought direct from the ,united ,states and other cotton-growing countries to the place where the raw material is distributed4 ,thus time would be saved1 as well as the expense of unloading at ,liverpool and putting the cargoes on the railways1 whose rates were very high4 ,it was therefore decided to ask ,parliament for powers to make a wide and deep canal1 capable of carrying ships of several thousand tons burden4 ,the railway and canal companies and the ,liverpool merchants who controlled the navigation of the ,mersey were afraid that the trade of ,liverpool would be injured1 and opposed the scheme vigorously4 ,but ,parliament was wise enough to see what a boon the canal would be to the cotton towns and the district through which it was to be laid1 and passed the bill for its making4 ,in the ,jubilee year of ,queen ,victoria the work was begun4 ,many millions of money were required for such a vast undertaking1 and more millions were asked for as the work went on4 ,after seven years of perseverance in the face of tremendous difficulties1 the canal was opened by the queen4 ,the canal is thirty-five and a half miles long1 and1 roughly speaking1 two-thirds of it are in ,cheshire4 ,the entrance to the canal is at ,eastham1 where great locks were built4 ,from ,eastham to ,runcorn1 a distance of thirteen miles1 the canal is tidal and laid along the foreshore of the ,mersey estuary1 and protected by an embankment4 ,at ,runcorn ',gap' the canal and the ,mersey1 which here becomes very narrow1 are separated by a concrete wall nearly one mile in length4 ,the rest of the waterway lies inland4 ,latchford serves as a port for ,warrington1 and the locks here always present a busy scene4 ,at ,irlam locks the canal enters ,lancashire1 and its waters are at this point forty feet above sea-level4 ,the canal is fed by the ,river ,irwell1 whose waters flow down the canal from ,salford to ,irlam4 ,the railways are carried over the canal by lofty bridges1 which had to be made very high to allow the masts of ocean ships to pass under them4 ,bays or sidings1 where ships may pass each other1 occur at intervals4 ,wharves and docks have been built at many points along the canal1 which some day may be expected to appear one long seaport4 ,ellesmere ,port1 where the ,ellesmere ,canal and ,ship ,canal unite1 has become a thriving place in recent years1 and the trade of ,runcorn has also been greatly increased by the canal4 ,large alkali works have been built at ,weston ,point1 the most suitable place that could have been found for them1 because they are equally near to the ,lancashire coal-field on the one hand and to the salt beds of ,cheshire on the other4 ,the salt is brought in the form of brine direct from ,northwich to the works by pipes laid underground1 a great saving of money1 for salt is heavy and costly to carry4 ,though the cotton industry was the one that was expected to gain most from the canal1 the traffic is by no means confined to this commodity4 ,grain and cattle are brought from the ,united ,states and from ,south ,america1 timber from ,canada1 and hides from the ,argentine1 and big cargoes of bananas1 oranges1 and apples1 pass up the canal4 ,in addition to this oversea traffic1 the canal also has a great share of the coasting trade of the ,west of ,england1 of which slates from ,carnarvon1 and china clay from ,cornwall may be taken as the best examples4 ,the triumphs of engineering and mechanical skill have improved our means of travelling from one place to another4 ,the great engines that are now turned out from the locomotive sheds at ,crewe are as vastly superior to the ,rocket 7models of which are now but a curiosity in our museums7 as the twentieth-century motor-cycle is to the velocipede or wooden 'bone-shaker' that your fathers rode4 ,horse carriages are fast disappearing and giving place to the motor-car1 and hansoms to the taxicab4 ,the science of aviation is turning the inventive powers of men into new channels1 and 'flying men' are showing to the world that the conquest of the air is but a matter of time4 ,before the reign of ,queen ,victoria1 few of the children of the poorest classes were able either to read or write4 ,such education as these could receive was given in the ,sunday ,schools1 which ,robert ,raikes had started in #agha4 ,the children were hard at work in the mills all the week4 ,teachers volunteered for the work1 which was carried on in cottages or disused factories4 ,in #ahje1 ,stockport built the big ,sunday ,school which still remains1 and a hundred thousand children have been grateful for the simple teaching given to them4 ,the ,education ,bills of ,queen ,victoria's reign brought knowledge within the reach of all4 ,education is cheap for the middle classes1 free for the poor4 ,schools have been built where none existed before4 ,money has been found to help any ,cheshire boy or girl to receive the very highest education1 and to open up the way from village school to university4 ,the municipalities have built their own municipal schools in the chief towns of ,cheshire1 and technical schools where you may learn a trade4 ,at the ,agricultural ,school at ,holmes ,chapel you may be instructed in the newest and most scientific ways of farming4 ,the people have learnt to study the laws of health1 and to understand the value of light and fresh air4 ,towns are cleaner and your homes healthier4 ,open spaces1 parks and playing-fields1 brighten the lives of the children in the towns1 and by making them stronger1 fit them the better for the hard work that lies before them4 ,port ,sunlight shows how much can be done by those who study the needs of the working classes4 ,this 'garden city'1 with its avenues of dainty cottage villas1 is the home of those who work in the big soap-works on the ,mersey4 ,here everything is done that can make for the comfort and well-being of the inhabitants4 ,there are schools for the children1 and 'institutes' for the young men and women1 libraries and reading-rooms1 savings banks to encourage thrift1 games1 clubs1 swimming-baths and gymnasium for the strong1 a hospital for the sick and infirm1 ambulance and fire brigade and a life-saving society1 and societies for the study of literature and science4 ,you are not all as fortunate as the dwellers of ,port ,sunlight4 ,but some day many of you will perhaps see the slums of great towns cleared away1 and you will take care that sunlight is let into dark places4 ,you will have learned how foolish it is to overcrowd the towns and herd together in close and mean streets1 and you will have the power to say that these things ought not to be4 ,the ,cheshire ,county ,council was created by ,queen ,victoria4 ,its members are elected1 and the ,council allows large parishes to elect a ,parish or ,district ,council to manage their own local affairs4 ,but ,stockport1 ,chester1 and ,birkenhead do not send members to this ,council1 for their populations are so big that they are considered as counties in themselves4 ,the ,county ,council also controls the education of the county1 keeps roads and bridges in repair1 directs the cleansing of the small towns and villages1 and provides a pure water-supply4 ,new boroughs were made at ,crewe1 ,hyde1 and ,stalybridge in ,queen ,victoria's reign1 with a mayor and corporation to direct their affairs4 ,macclesfield1 you will remember1 was a borough in very early times4 ,altrincham and ,over too1 once had their mayors1 though they have them no longer4 ,their mayors seem to have been men of very humble position1 and to have been looked down upon by their neighbours4 ,you have perhaps heard of the ,cheshire saying3 ,the ,mayor of ,altrincham1 ,and the ,mayor of ,over-- ,the one is a thatcher1 ,the other a dauber4 ,illustration3 ,,modern ,,gothic3 ,s4 ,,margaret',s1 ,,altrincham ,the work of the borough councils has become very heavy during the last fifty years4 ,gas1 water1 electricity1 libraries1 education1 public health1 baths1 markets1 and police1 have their own special committees to look after them4 ,the handsome ,town ,halls of ,chester and ,stockport1 the latter opened only a few years since by the present ,king ,george the ,fifth1 had to be built to accommodate the small army of clerks who assist in the government of a great city4 ,the reign of ,queen ,victoria was not all one of peace4 ,the war with ,russia1 and the terrible mutiny of her ,indian subjects with its tale of horrors and its glorious heroism1 brought woe to many a home in ,cheshire4 ,the obelisk by the roadside between ,aldford and ,farndon reminds us that the soldiers of ,cheshire were often called upon to fight our battles and too often find a grave in distant lands4 ,colonel ,barnston1 of ,crewe ,hill1 to whose memory this monument was set up1 fought at the siege of ,sebastopol4 ,in the ,indian ,mutiny he was wounded while gallantly leading an assault at the relief of ,lucknow1 and died of his wounds at ,cawnpore4 ,numbers of memorial tablets in the ,cathedral of ,chester speak of the lives that were cheerfully laid down by ,cheshire men in the service of their queen and country4 ,your fathers will tell you how bonfires were lighted on the beacons and hill-tops of ,cheshire to celebrate the ,jubilee or fiftieth year of the reign of ,queen ,victoria4 ,still greater was the rejoicing some ten years later1 when she surpassed in length of reign all previous sovereigns of ,england4 ,nearly every town and village has some memorial of her3 a cross in the village street1 a drinking-fountain by the wayside1 new bells for the parish church or a lich-gate for the churchyard1 a village 'hall' or a public recreation ground1 these are but a few examples that prove the love and reverence that ,cheshire men and women felt for the great queen whose only thought was ever for the welfare of her people4 ,yet her last years were saddened by the long and costly war in ,south ,africa1 still unfinished when she died4 ,the call to arms was once more heard from east to west of ,cheshire2 from town and country1 'reservists' who had thought to end their days in peace were sent oversea to defend the ,south ,african dominions of the queen4 ,the brave ',cheshires'--the fathers of some of you were among them--served throughout the war4 ,a gallant ,cheshire officer was one of the first to win distinction4 ,lieutenant ,congreve1 of ,burton ,hall1 was one of three who volunteered to rescue the guns at the battle of ,colenso4 ,he was shot down in the attempt1 but was able to crawl to a sheltered place1 and lived to receive the reward that all soldiers strive to merit--the ,victoria ,cross4 ,,chapter ,,xxxv ,,famous ,,men ,,and ,,women ,,of ,,cheshire ,throughout the ,middle ,ages1 until the end of the ,wars of the ,roses1 war was the chief1 almost the only occupation of the leading men of ,cheshire4 ,a few entered the ,church1 ,richard de ,vernon1 for instance1 who was ,rector of ',stokeport' early in the fourteenth century 7his tomb is in the chancel of ,stockport71 and ,william de ,montalt1 ,rector of ,neston4 ,one of the ,bebingtons1 ,william de ,bebyngton1 even became ,abbot of ,s4 ,werburgh's ,abbey4 ,the descendants of the barons who settled in ,cheshire in the days of the ,conqueror followed the ,norman and ,plantagenet kings to the ,crusades or the ,french wars4 ,few of them stayed at home for any length of time1 and when they returned1 they generally found that some score had to be settled with the ,welshmen1 who had been making havoc of their lands during their absence4 ,so that whether at home or abroad1 fighting was always their chief business4 ,cheshire has been called the 'seed-plot of gentility'4 ,the ,cheshire gentry prided themselves on marrying within their own county4 ,a ,cheshire proverb says3 '',tis better to wed over the mixen than over the moor1' meaning the moorland that separates ,cheshire from her neighbours4 ,the result of this intermarriage was that the number of great ,cheshire names did not greatly increase1 and soon there became ,as many ,masseys as asses1 ,leghs as fleas1 ,and ,davenports as dogs' tails2 to quote another ,cheshire saying4 ,one of the oldest ,cheshire families is that of the ,wooley-,dods of ,edge ,hill1 who trace their descent from the ,saxon ,dot1 who was a great man in ,cheshire before the ,normans came4 ,the ,grosvenors1 whose ancestors came over with the ,conqueror1 live at ,eaton ,hall1 and own vast estates in ,western ,cheshire4 ,the present head of the family is the ,duke of ,westminster4 ,the ,mainwarings1 whose forefathers fought in the ,crusades1 are at ,peover1 and the crest of the felon's head of the ,davenports still survives at ,capesthorne1 though the ,davenports of ,marton and ,bramhall are no more4 ,many old families of ,cheshire have long since died out4 ,the last of the ,masseys of ,puddington 7they had lived there since the days of ,rufus7 died in the ,stuart rising of #agae4 ,there are no ,pooles at ,poole ,hall nor ,venables at ,kinderton4 ,the last of the ,savages of ,rock ,savage1 whose tomb is in the ,rivers ,chapel at ,macclesfield1 died in the seventeenth century4 ,dutton village and ,dutton ,hall bear the name of a famous family that was allied by marriage with most of the great families of ,cheshire4 ,duttons live no longer at the ,hall1 for the last male heir died in the reign of ,james the ,first4 ,they were descended from a squire of ,robert ,lacy1 ,constable of ,chester4 ,when ,earl ,randal was besieged in ,rhuddlan ,castle by the ,welsh1 the ,constable and ,dutton1 his henchman1 hastily gathered together a motley rabble of fiddlers and mountebanks from ,chester ,fair and went to his assistance4 ,the ,earl was rescued1 and from that time forward to the ,duttons was given the charge of all minstrels and fiddlers in the county4 ,there are ,duttons in ,chester now2 one was a mayor of the city quite recently4 ,neighbours and kinsmen of the ,duttons were the ,dones or ,donnes of ,utkinton1 hereditary foresters of the ,forest of ,delamere4 ,many of them are buried at ,tarporley4 ,the name of the last ,lady ,done is still called to mind in the neighbourhood where they lived4 ,the ,cheshire proverb is the highest praise that can be given to a young ,cheshire housewife1 and ',lady ,done' is a pet name for modest and thrifty girls1 as ',little ,lord ,derby' is for brave and honourable boys4 ,lancashire claims the ,earls of ,derby now1 but they are descended from the ,stanleys1 perhaps the most famous of all ,cheshire families1 by the marriage of ,sir ,john ,stanley and ,isabella1 heiress of the ,lancashire ,lathoms4 ,the ,stanleys settled at ,storeton in ,wirral in the fourteenth century4 ,many men of mark1 churchmen and scholars1 statesmen and soldiers1 belonged to this family4 ,a ,stanley helped to win the battle of ,bosworth for ,henry ,tudor1 and a ,stanley led the ,cheshire troops in the famous charge at ,flodden ,field1 ,when shivered was fair ,scotland's spear ,and broken was her shield4 ,one branch of the family settled at ,hooton1 but the last of this line lost his estates by gambling and extravagance4 ,the ,stanleys of ,alderley received knighthood from ,james the ,first2 they are ,barons of ,alderley now4 ,this family has given a bishop to ,norwich and a still more famous dean to ,westminster4 ,the bishop was educated at the ,grammar ,school of ,macclesfield4 ,the ,egertons are descended from the standard-bearer of ,henry the ,eighth1 who made him a knight after the ',battle of the ,spurs'4 ,one of them rose to be ,lord ,chancellor in the reigns of ,elizabeth and ,james the ,first1 and was made ,baron ,ellesmere4 ,the first ,earl ,egerton of ,tatton was made a peer by ,queen ,victoria largely for the help he gave in the making of the ,ship ,canal4 ,the ,jodrells1 buried in ,taxal ,church1 were descended from an archer who served under the ,black ,prince4 ,perhaps he cut his bow from the very yew tree that still stands in the churchyard4 ,one of them fought in the ,peninsular ,war1 but the name has disappeared from this part of ,cheshire now4 ,several ,cheshire noblemen sit in the ,house of ,lords to-day1 their family name disguised under the more showy title of a peerage4 ,a ,booth became ,lord ,delamere at the ,restoration1 and the ,viscounts of ,combermere are the descendants of the ,cottons1 who helped ,henry the ,eighth to plunder the ,cheshire monasteries4 ,the ,ardernes are represented by the ,earl of ,haddington2 ,lord ,newton lives at ,lyme ,park1 the ancient home of the ,leghs1 and the ,earl of ,crewe at ,crewe ,hall4 ,lord ,ashton of ,hyde has only recently taken a seat in the ,house of ,lords4 ,he was made a baron at the coronation of ,king ,george the ,fifth4 ,when great industries took root in ,cheshire new names appeared1 and some of the most honoured families in ,cheshire now are those that have been closely associated with the workers of the county4 ,we hear a great deal nowadays of 'the dignity of labour'1 and we think it no disgrace to rise to position and power by a life of toil4 ,the ,gregs of ,styal and the ,brunners of ,northwich1 the ,levers of ,wirral1 and many others1 have endeared themselves to the people of ,cheshire by the example of their own labours and the pains they have taken to make the lives of those who live about them and work for them brighter and happier4 ,a simple cross in the graveyard of the ,unitarian ,chapel at ,knutsford bears the name of ,elizabeth ,cleghorn ,gaskell4 ,the people of ,knutsford have a warm corner in their hearts for her1 for in a way she has made their town famous for all time4 ,one of the books she wrote--,cranford she called it--speaks of the people of ,knutsford as she knew them in the earlier days of ,queen ,victoria4 ,the book tells you much of the quiet life of a country town before the coming of the railways and the busy hubbub of the later nineteenth century1 and all ,cheshire children should read it4 ,mrs4 ,gaskell wrote several other books1 all of which show her sweet sympathy and kindliness towards those whose lives are cast in lowly surroundings4 ,if you have not heard of ,cranford you have probably read a book whose title you know better than the name of the writer4 ,alice in ,wonderland was written by a man who spent much of his early life in ,cheshire4 ',lewis ,carroll'1 though that is not his real name1 is the name under which he wrote the humorous stories that have delighted young people and old alike4 ,john ,critchley ,prince1 the workman poet of ,hyde1 lived in the days when the poorly-paid workers of ,cheshire were struggling for a better existence4 ,while working in a factory at ,hyde he found time to write poems which speak of the charms of home1 the brotherhood of all mankind1 and the hopes and ambitions of his fellow men4 ,prince was thriftless and intemperate1 and much of his life was spent in misery1 but his talents were great1 and the people of ,hyde have done him honour4 ,he is buried in ,hyde churchyard4 ,in the chancel of ,stockport ,parish ,church is a tablet to the memory of ,john ,wainwright1 the organist who composed the tune for ',christians1 awake'1 the beautiful ,christmas hymn 'whose sound is gone out into all lands where the praise of our ,lord is sung'1 as the inscription runs4 ,the words of the hymn were written by ,byrom1 a ,manchester man4 ,cheshire produced a famous hymn-writer in ,bishop ,heber4 ,reginald ,heber was born in the rectory of ,malpas in #aghc4 ,he gave himself up to missionary work in foreign lands1 and was made ,bishop of ,calcutta4 ',from ,greenland's icy mountains' and ',brightest and best of the sons of the morning' are two of the hymns that came from his pen4 ,charles ,kingsley must have loved ,cheshire4 ,though he was not a ,cheshire man by birth1 he claimed descent from the ,kingsleys of ,vale ,royal4 ,he was a great lover of nature1 and1 while he was ,canon of ,chester1 founded the ,natural ,history ,society in ,chester1 whose home is in the ,grosvenor ,museum1 and encouraged the people of ,cheshire to take an interest in the story of their county1 and to study the ways of plants and of the wild creatures of the fields and the forests4 ,his pathetic ballad of the ,sands of ,dee1 ',o ,mary1 go and call the cattle home1' will always be a favourite with the village people of ,wirral4 ,tabley ,hall was the home of another celebrated naturalist4 ,here lived ,lord de ,tabley1 one of the greatest students of ,cheshire flowers1 and a lover of all wild living things4 ,his grave is in the churchyard of ,little ,peover1 and over it trails a bramble1 which was his favourite plant and one of which he made a special study4 ,in the gardens of ,tabley ,hall is a bramble-bed1 still tended carefully1 which he laid out from the choicest briars he could find4 ,lord de ,tabley was a poet as well as a lover of flowers and birds4 ,perhaps you will some day read his poems1 and be charmed by his descriptive pictures of the ways of his feathered friends1 the 'starlings mustering on their evening tree'1 the 'swallows beating low before a hint of rain'1 the 'plaintive plovers'1 and the 'wide-winged screaming swift'4 ,lord de ,tabley's example is one which all ,cheshire boys and girls should learn to copy4 ,those who are proud of their county will not do anything to make it less beautiful4 ,like him1 they will cherish and protect the plants and birds and all the wild creatures that have been put into their keeping2 for such things are the common heritage of the people of ,cheshire1 and1 once destroyed1 can never be replaced4 ,,chapter ,,xxxvi ,,conclusion ,we have traced the story of ,cheshire from prehistoric times4 ,for long ages the story was one of war and bloodshed1 of conquest and defeat1 of the coming and the passing of many nations1 each in turn yielding to a more powerful foe4 ,cheshire has seen more of the strife of nations than most counties of ,england4 ,her position on the map of the ,british ,isles has willed that this should be4 ,when the latest struggle for the possession of our country was ended1 and the ,normans lorded it over the conquered ,saxons1 we saw ,cheshire made into a bulwark to keep in check the nations that surrounded her on north and west4 ,for #bjj years this was her mission4 ,she was a kingdom within a kingdom1 with an earl or viceroy to rule over her1 and a ,parliament and laws of her own4 ,more centuries passed by before a ,tudor king permitted her to take her place in that greater ,english ,parliament and to help to frame laws under which she1 along with the rest of ,england1 should be governed4 ,illustration3 ,,dee ,,bridge ,,and ,,mills3 ,,chester ,but ,cheshire was not denied the greatest of all good gifts4 ,we saw the lamp of ,christianity burn brightly from ,hildeburgh's ,isle to ,chadkirk1 and some of the earliest ,gospel teachers were sent by the very ,welsh and ,irish nations over which ,cheshire was afterwards set as sentinel and watch-dog4 ,feebly the light sometimes glimmered in days of stress and storm1 but it never went out2 and after the ,tudor monarch had shaken off the shackles of ,rome1 and the minds of men had been stirred by a great awakening1 its early brightness was restored in a purified religion that gave freedom of conscience to all men4 ,then came the horrors of civil war1 when ,cheshire men fought for the liberty to believe what they thought to be right1 and rose in their wrath at the unlawful misdeeds of the ,stuart kings1 when patriots rose in defence of the ancient liberties that are the inheritance of all ,englishmen4 ,this was the last blood shed in ,cheshire4 ,in the last hundred years the people of ,cheshire have seen the face of ,cheshire greatly changed4 ,they have helped to create great industries1 and they have witnessed the wonderful discoveries of the power of steam and electricity1 and all the conveniences and comforts of modern life that have followed in their train4 ,in ways too numerous to speak of1 their lives have been made brighter and happier4 ,the ,princes of ,wales are the ,earls of ,chester still4 ,king ,edward the ,seventh1 when he was ,prince of ,wales1 came to ,chester and opened the new ,town ,hall4 ,the citizens of ,chester knew him well1 for he was often a guest at ,eaton ,hall1 the home of the ,grosvenors1 the descendants of the ,conqueror's 'mighty huntsman'4 ,william the ,norman harried ,cheshire with the sword1 and the people of ,cheshire fled before him4 ,king ,edward brought not a sword but peace in his hand1 and the people loved him1 for he was one of the world's great peace-makers4 ,in one of the earliest chapters of this book you have read of the 'making of ,cheshire'4 ,we have brought the story of ,cheshire down to the present day1 but ,cheshire is not yet 'made'4 ,many and wonderful changes there have been since our ancestors shot wild beasts with their flinty arrow-heads1 and devoured raw flesh in the pits and caverns of ,alderley ,edge4 ,the people of ,cheshire1 who have struggled through long centuries to win for themselves light and liberty1 have never turned their faces backwards4 ,with steadfast purpose and unfaltering steps they march forward on the way of progress4 ,the 'making' still goes on2 and there is plenty of work to do for the ,cheshire boys and girls of to-day1 that they may help to make their county a better place to live in than they found it4 ,enough1 if something from our hands have power ,to live1 and act1 and serve the future hour4 ,the great families of ,cheshire whose names recur so often in these pages were proud of the mottoes written beneath their crests and coats of arms4 ,the words inscribed on the village cross which the boys and girls of ,eastham pass on their way to school1 are the best mottoes that all ,cheshire school-children can take for their own3 ',fear ,god4 ,honour the ,king4 ,work while it is yet day4' ,and the day is very short4 ,as the lines on a tombstone in ,little ,peover churchyard remind us3 ,a little rule1 a little sway1 ,a sunbeam in a winter's day1 ,is all the greatest of us have ,between the cradle and the grave4 ,,index ,acton1 #abf4 ,adlington1 #ada1 #afa4 ,aethelfrith1 #dd4 ,aethelred1 #ej4 ,agricola1 #cf-h4 ,alabama1 the1 #bjc4 ,alderley ,edge1 #ae1 #ah1 #be1 #db4 ,aldford1 #bj1 #fa4 ,alfred the ,great1 #ea4 ,almshouses1 #adg4 ,altrincham1 #hh1 #bjh4 ,anne1 ,queen1 #aga4 ,anselm1 #fd4 ,archery1 #aaj4 ,architecture1 ,saxon1 #ej2 ,norman1 #fe-ga2 ,early ,english1 #ha-f2 ,decorated1 #aja-d2 ,perpendicular1 #abj-b2 ,elizabethan1 #acg-db2 ,eighteenth-,century1 #agc-f4 ,arden ,hall1 #adb4 ,armada1 ,spanish1 #acd4 ,astbury1 #de1 #ajd4 ,aston1 ,sir ,thomas1 #aef4 ,athelstan1 #ee4 ,baguley1 #ajf4 ,baldwin1 ,archbishop1 #gi4 ,barnston1 ,colonel1 #baj4 ,barrows1 #bg4 ,barthomley1 #afb4 ,bebington1 #ga1 #ajd1 #adg4 ,beeston ,castle1 #fa1 #afj4 ,beeston1 ,sir ,george1 #acd4 ,benedictines1 #fd4 ,birkenhead1 #ab1 #aih-bjj4 ,birkenhead1 ,priory1 #ga2 ,shipping1 #bjj4 ,black ,death1 #aab4 ,booth1 ,sir ,george1 #aeg1 #aff1 #aga4 ,boulder clay1 #bj4 ,bradshaw1 ,john1 #afc4 ,bramhall1 #ajf4 ,branks1 #adi4 ,brasses1 #aae4 ,brereton ,hall1 #ada4 ,brereton1 ,sir ,william1 #aec1 #aee-fj1 #afe4 ,bridgwater ,canal1 #ahd4 ,bridgwater1 ,duke of1 #ahc4 ,brindley1 ,james1 #ahc1 #ahe4 ,british remains1 #bg4 ,brocmael1 #dc4 ,bromborough1 #ef4 ,bronze ,age1 #bh4 ,broxton ,hills1 #bg4 ,bruera1 #hf4 ,bucton ,castle1 #bg4 ,budworth1 ,great1 #aai1 #afb1 #afd4 ,bunbury1 #ajh1 #acd4 ,bunter ,sandstone1 #ah4 ,burial urns1 #bg1 #cd4 ,byron1 ,sir ,nicholas1 #aeg4 ,caesar1 ,julius1 #bi4 ,calveley1 ,sir ,hugh1 #ajh4 ,canals of ,cheshire1 #ahc-e1 #bje4 ,carboniferous ,rocks1 #bd4 ,carroll1 ,lewis1 #bae4 ,ceawlin1 #dc4 ,celts1 #bf-h4 ,chad1 #dh4 ,chadkirk1 #dh4 ,charles ,i1 #aec1 #aeh4 ,charles ,,ii1 #afd-f4 ,charters1 #gh1 #hh4 ,chartists1 #bjb4 ,cheshire1 ,canals1 #ahc-e1 #bje2 ,meres1 #ae2 ,plain1 #aj2 ,rivers1 #ab-ad2 ,railways1 #aib-g4 ,chesshyre1 ,sir ,john1 #agg4 ,chester1 ,battle of1 #dd2 ,castle1 #ee1 #fb1 #if1 #agd2 ,caleyards1 #fe2 ,cathedral1 #acj2 ,customs of1 #fb2 ,king's ,school1 #acc1 #aeb2 ,plays1 #ij-a2 ,phoenix ,tower1 #hi1 #aeh2 ,roman city of1 #cf-h2 ,rows1 #aab2 ,s4 ,john's ,church1 #ej1 #ff1 #ha1 #afj2 ,s4 ,mary's on the ,hill1 #afj2 ,s4 ,olaf1 #eg2 ,s4 ,oswald1 #dg2 ,s4 ,werburgh's ,abbey1 #fd1 #gb1 #hc2 ,siege of1 #aeh-fj2 ,situation of1 #aj2 ,trade1 #ee1 #add2 ,walls1 #cg1 #if2 ,water ,tower1 #ih4 ,chests1 ,church1 #abd4 ,christianity1 ,introduction of1 #dg-ea4 ,christleton1 #bj4 ,chronicle1 ,old ,english1 #ed4 ,circles1 ,stone1 #bh4 ,cistercians1 #gc4 ,civil ,war1 #aec-ff4 ,clive1 ,robert1 #aha4 ,clulow ,cross1 #be1 #bh4 ,cnut1 #eg4 ,coaches1 #agh4 ,coal measures1 #bb4 ,coal-fields1 #ahc4 ,cobden1 ,richard1 #bjb4 ,combermere1 ,abbey of1 #gc4 ,combermere1 ,viscount1 #ahb4 ,congleton1 #hh1 #adh4 ,congreve1 ,lieutenant1 #baa4 ,connought1 ,major1 #afb4 ,constable's ,sands1 #gd4 ,conversion of the ,english1 #dg-h4 ,cotton famine1 #bjc2 manufacture1 #ahh4 ,cotton1 ,stapleton1 #ahb4 ,county ,council1 #bjh4 ,crewe1 #aie1 #bjh4 ,crewe1 ,sir ,randolph1 #aeb4 ,crosses1 #dh4 ,crusades1 #gi4 ,danes1 ,invasion of1 #eg4 ,davenport1 ,peter1 #afb4 ,davenport1 ,vivian1 #gd4 ,dean ,row1 #afh4 ,decorated ,architecture1 #aja-d4 ,dee ,mills1 #gg1 #ih4 ,dee1 ,river1 #ab4 ,delamere1 ,forest of1 #ae1 #bg1 #gd4 ,dennis1 ,peter1 #aha4 ,derby1 ,earls of1 #bac4 de ,tabley1 ,lord1 #baf4 ,deva1 #cj4 ,dissolution of the ,monasteries1 #abi-cc4 ,domesday ,book1 #fb-d4 ,done1 ,john1 #gf4 ,downes1 ,peter1 #aha4 ,drayton1 ,michael1 #ace4 ,dukinfield1 #aea1 #ahc4 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,earl1 #gf4 ,richard ,i1 #hj4 ,richard ,,ii1 #aji4 ,richard ,,iii1 #aag4 ,rivers of ,cheshire1 #ab-ad4 ,roe1 ,charles1 #aib4 ,roger de ,montalt1 #hg4 ,roman altars1 #ce2 bricks1 #dj2 buildings1 #ch2 capitals1 #ci2 coins1 #da2 forts1 #cf2 hypocausts1 #ci2 pottery1 #da2 roads1 #cj2 tombstones1 #cd4 ,romans1 ,coming of the1 #bi4 ,roses1 ,wars of the1 #aae4 ,rostherne1 #agd4 ,rowton ,moor1 #aeh1 #aff4 ,runcorn1 #ah1 #ed1 #ahf4 ,runes1 #de4 ,rupert1 ,prince1 #aeg4 ,rushbearing1 #adg4 ,salt1 #ah1 #ahf4 ,samian ware1 #da4 ,sandbach1 #fd2 battle of1 #afd2 crosses1 #dh4 ,sandstone1 ,new ,red1 #af-ah4 ,saxons1 ,coming of the1 #dc4 ,scandinavians1 #ea-c4 ,scott1 ,captain1 #ahj4 ,seven ,lows1 #bg4 ,shakerley1 ,sir ,geoffrey1 #aei4 ,ship ,canal1 #ab1 #bje-f4 ,ship money1 #aec4 ,shocklach1 #fh1 #abc4 ,shotwick1 #ae1 #fh1 #ie4 ,silk manufacture1 #aib4 ,simon de ,montfort1 #ib4 ,simon of ,whitchurch1 #ib4 ,simon ,ripley1 #abb4 ,speed1 ,john1 #ace4 ,stalybridge1 #bjh4 ,stanlaw1 #gc4 ,stanley ,palace1 #adf4 ,stanleys of ,cheshire1 #ii1 #aab1aag1 #afd1 #bac4 ,steam1 ,introduction of1 #ahi4 ,stephen1 ,king1 #gf4 ,stockport1 #ab1 #cb1 #hh1 #ajd1 #bjb1 #baj4 ,stocks1 #adi4 ,stone ,age1 #be4 ,storeton1 #ah4 ,stretford1 #cb4 ,styal1 #aij4 ,sunday ,schools1 #bjg4 ,tame1 ,river1 #ab4 ,tarporley1 #aee4 ,tarvin1 #bj1 #aeg4 ,thelwall1 #ed4 ,thingwall1 #eb4 ,thornton ,heath1 #ga4 ,timber ,houses1 #acg-da4 ,tramways1 #bjj4 ,turpin1 ,dick1 #agi4 ,vale ,royal1 #ic1 #abi4 van ,zoelen1 ,baron1 #aga4 ,veratinum1 #da4 ,victoria1 ,queen1 #bjd-aa4 ,wainwright1 ,john1 #bae4 ,wakes1 #adg4 ,wales1 ,conquest of1 #id4 ,wallasey1 #ad1 #gj1 #afi4 ,walton1 ,bishop1 #afg4 ,warburton1 #aje4 ,warford1 #afi4 ,warren1 ,sir ,george1 #ahc4 ,watling ,street1 #ab1 #cb4 ,weaver1 ,river1 #ad1 #ai1 #ahf4 ,wellington1 ,duke of1 #ahb4 ,werburga1 ,saint1 #ej4 ,wesley1 ,john1 #ahj4 ,west ,kirby1 #ec1 #aga4 ,wilderspool1 #cb4 ,wilkins1 ,john1 #afg4 ,william the ,conqueror1 #eh4 ,william ,rufus1 #ge4 ,william ,,iii1 #agj4 ,wilmslow1 #aae4 ,wirral1 #i1 #bb1 #eb1 #aig4 ,witton1 #acc4 ,woodchurch1 #fi1 #adg4 ,yoredale rocks1 #bc4 ,oxford3 ,printed at the ,clarendon ,press by ,horace ,hart1 ,m4,a4 ,some ,oxford ,books on ,,history ,general4 ,,the ,,teaching ,,of ,,history1 by ,c4 ,h4 ,,jarvis4 ,pp4 #bdj4 #es4 #f;d4 net4 ',my aim has been to deal simply and clearly with the problems which often perplex those teachers who have had no definite historical training and do not specialize in ,history teaching4'--,from the ,preface4 ,,history ,,as ,a ,,school ,,of ,,citizenship1 by ,,helen ,m4 ,,madeley4 ,with a ,foreword by the ,master of ,balliol4 ,pp4 #ajf1 with #ae illustrations4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,civilization4 ,,the ,,living ,,past4 ,a ,sketch of ,western ,progress4 ,by ,f4 ,s4 ,,marvin4 ,pp4 #cab4 #es4 #f;d4 net2 and ,,the ,,century ,,of ,,hope4 ,a ,sketch of ,western ,progress from #ahae to the ,great ,war4 ,by ,f4 ,s4 ,,marvin4 ,pp4 #cff4 ,second edition4 #fs4 net4 ,a ,,brief ,,history ,,of ,,civilization1 by ,,john ,s4 ,,hoyland4 ,pp4 #bhh1 with many illustrations4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,ancient4 ,,an ,,outline ,,of ,,ancient ,,history1 by ,m4 ,a4 ,,hamilton and ,a4 ,w4 ,f4 ,,blunt4 ,pp4 #aid1 with many illustrations4 #cs4 ,,outlines ,,of ,,roman ,,history1 by ,m4 ,a4 ,,hamilton4 ,pp4 #bjj1 with #g maps and illustrations4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,outlines ,,of ,,greek ,,history1 by ,m4 ,a4 ,,hamilton4 ,shortly4 ,,ancient ,,rome4 ,the ,lives of ,great ,men told by ,m4 ,a4 ,,hamilton4 ,with ,translated ,passages by ,c4 ,e4 ,,freeman4 ,pp4 #afj1 with #ec illustrations4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,an ,,introduction ,,to ,,roman ,,history1 ,literature1 and ,antiquities1 by ,a4 ,,petrie4 ,pp4 #abf1 with #bg illustrations4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,ancient ,,greece4 ,a ,study1 by ,,stanley ,,casson4 ,pp4 #if1 with #ab illustrations and #b maps4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,growth ,,of ,,rome1 by ,p4 ,e4 ,,matheson4 ,pp4 #if1 with #aj illustrations and #c maps4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,writers ,,of ,,rome1 by ,j4 ,,wight ,,duff4 ,pp4 #aab1 with #ag illustrations and a map4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,pageant ,,of ,,greece4 ,selections in translation from ,homer1 ,herodotus1 ,thucydides1 ,xenophon1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,demosthenes1 ,plutarch1 c4 ,edited by ,r4 ,w4 ,,livingstone4 ,pp4 #ddh1 with #ab illustrations4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4 ,british ,history4 ,textbooks4 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,england1 by ,,muriel ,o4 ,,davis4 ,pp4 #beh1 with #fj illustrations and #ai maps4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,also in two parts1 #bs4 each4 ,a ,,school ,,history ,,of ,,england1 by ,c4,r4,l4 ,,fletcher and ,,rudyard ,,kipling4 ,pp4 #bej1 with #aa half-tone and #ab other illustrations by ,h4 ,j4 ,,ford1 and #g maps4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,,teachers' ,,companion to the above1 giving authorities1 sources1 c4 ,pp4 #fd4 #as4 net4 ,a ,,new ,,history ,,of ,,great ,,britain1 by ,r4 ,b4 ,,mowat4 ,part ,i1 ,to the ,death of ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,pp4 #cbj1 with #aaf illustrations and maps4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,part ,,ii1 ,to the ,treaty of ,vienna4 ,pp4 #chg1 with #acc illustrations4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,part ,,iii1 ,to the ,outbreak of the ,great ,war4 ,pp4 #cfg1 with #agg illustrations4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,complete1 ,pp4 #ajfh1 with over #djj illustrations and index4 #ajs4 ,also in six ,sections3 7#a7 #ee ,b4,c4-,a4,d4 #adhe1 #bs4 #f;d42 7#a;a7 #ee ,b4,c4-,a4,d4 #agad1 #ds4 #f;d42 7#b7 ,a4,d4 #adhe-agad1 #cs42 7#b;a7 #adhe-ahae1 #es42 7#c7 #afhh-ahae1 #cs42 7#c;a7 #afhh-aiad1 #es4 #f;d4 ,special ,edition for the ,dominions1 particulars on application4 ,a ,,school ,,history ,,of ,,england1 by ,o4 ,m4 ,,edwards1 ,r4 ,s4 ,,rait1 ,h4 ,w4 ,c4 ,,davis1 ,g4 ,n4 ,,richardson1 ,a4 ,j4 ,,carlyle1 and ,w4 ,g4 ,,pogson ,,smith4 ,second edition4 ,pp4 #dad4 ,two vols4 #cs4 each4 ,also in one vol41 #es4 ,,an ,,analytical ,,outline ,,of ,,english ,,history1 by ,w4 ,e4 ,,haigh4 ,pp4 #cdh4 #ds4 n4 ,,lessons ,,in ,,english ,,history1 by ,h4 ,w4 ,,carter4 ,pp4 #bjh1 with #fg maps1 plans1 and illustrations1 bibliography1 extracts from contemporary writers1 and chronological chart4 #ds4 net4 ,a ,,short ,,economic ,,history ,,of ,,england4 ,part ,i1 #ajff-agej1 by ,,charlotte ,m4 ,,waters4 ,pp4 #cbh1 with #aag illustrations4 #ds4 #f;d4 ,sources4 ,,pages ,,of ,,britain',s ,,story1 #eig-ahih4 ,from her ,historians and ,chroniclers1 edited by ,j4 ,,turral4 ,pp4 #cbf4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,illustrations ,,to ,,british ,,history1 #ee ,b4,c4-,a4,d4 #ahed1 being extracts from contemporary documents and literature1 edited by ,j4 ,,turral4 ,pp4 #cad4 #cs4 net4 ,,poems ,,of ,,british ,,history1 ,a4,d4 #fa-aiaj1 selected by ,m4 ,e4 ,,windsor and ,j4 ,,turral1 ,preface by ,j4 ,c4 ,,smith4 ,introd41 c41 pp4 #a-f1 ,text1 ,notes1 and ,glossary1 pp4 #g-bbd4 #cs4 net4 ,also separately3 ,part ,i 7,a4,d4 #fa-acha7 #as4 #c;d4 net2 ,part ,,ii 7#achh-afda71 #as4 #c;d4 net2 ,part ,,iii 7#afdd-aiaj71 #as4 #f;d4 net4 ,civics4 ,,citizens ,,of ,,the ,,empire4 ,an introduction to ,civics1 by ,i4 ,l4 ,,plunket4 #bs4 #d;d4 ,,citizenship1 by ,w4 ,h4 ,,hadow4 ,a course of ten lectures on ,citizenship delivered to the ,university and ,city of ,glasgow4 ,pp4 #beb4 #fs4 net4 ,,the ,,common ,,weal4 ,written by the ,right ,hon4 ,,herbert ,,fisher4 ,a course of lectures on ,citizenship delivered to the ,university and ,city of ,glasgow4 ,pp4 #bif4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4 ,european4 ,,outlines ,,of ,,european ,,history1 by ,m4 ,o4 ,,davis4 ,illustrated edition4 ,pp4 #aib1 with #hj illustrations and maps4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,,europe ,,in ,,the ,,middle ,,ages1 by ,i4 ,l4 ,,plunket4 ,from the #ast century ,a4,d4 to #adid4 ,pp4 #djj4 #ds4 #f;d4 net4 ,,outlines ,,of ,,modern ,,history1 by ,j4 ,d4 ,,rogers4 ,a brief history of ,europe and ,european ,expansion from #adib to #aijj4 ,pp4 #baf1 with #de illustrations and maps4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,movements ,,in ,,european ,,history1 by ,d4 ,h4 ,,lawrence4 ,a picturesque account of the general course of ,european history from the time of the ,romans to the present day4 ,pp4 #caf1 with #ad maps and many illustrations1 #es4 net4 ,,oxford ,,text-,,books ,,of ,,european ,,history4 ,seven volumes in periods by ,,kenneth ,,bell1 ,r4 ,b4 ,,mowat1 ,e4 ,m4 ,,tanner1 ,j4 ,h4 ,,sacret1 ,p4 ,,guedalla1 ,i4 ,l4 ,,plunket1 ,l4 ,,cecil ,,jane4 #ds4 #f;d4 net each4 ,list on application4 ,,saints ,,and ,,heroes ,,of ,,the ,,western ,,world4 ,from ,constantine the ,great to ,ignatius ,loyola1 by ,m4 ,o4 ,,davis4 ,pp4 #add1 with #cf illustrations4 #bs4 #f;d4 ,a ,,note-,,book ,,of ,,mediaeval ,,history1 by ,c4 ,,raymond ,,beazley4 ,a4,d4 #cbc-adec4 ,the chief events1 social as well as political1 chronologically arranged in #bg periods4 #ds4 net4 ,,the ,,crusades4 ,by ,,ernest ,,barker4 7,world's ,manuals47 ,pp4 #aab1 with map1 bibliography1 c4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,europe ,,overseas4 ,by ,j4 ,a4 ,,williamson4 7,world's ,manuals47 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 ,shortly4 ,,histories ,,of ,,the ,,nations4 ,fourteen volumes by ,j4 ,a4 ,r4 ,,marriott1 ,r4 ,b4 ,,mowat1 ,,nevill ,,forbes1 ,,robert ,,dunlop1 ,d4 ,p4 ,,heatley1 ,,robert ,p4 ,,porter1 ,r4 ,g4 ,d4 ,,laffan1 ,a4 ,,hassall1 and others4 ,list on application4 ,empire4 ,,the ,,english-,,speaking ,,nations1 by ,g4 ,w4 ,,morris and ,l4 ,s4 ,,wood4 ,an account of the development of the ,commonwealth ideal4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,british ,,empire1 by ,j4 ,p4 ,,bulkeley4 ,a ,short ,history1 with an ,introduction ,by ,sir ,,charles ,,lucas4 ,pp4 #bdj4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,,origin ,,and ,,growth ,,of ,,greater ,,britain1 by ,h4 ,e4 ,,egerton4 ,pp4 #bdb1 with #h maps4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,products ,,of ,,the ,,empire1 by ,j4 ,,clinton ,,cunningham4 ,pp4 #cjj1 with #gh illustrations4 #cs4 #f;d4 ,a ,,short ,,history ,,of ,,australia1 by ,,ernest ,,scott4 ,pp4 #chd1 with #bd maps4 #ds4 net4 ,a ,,history ,,of ,,south ,,africa1 by ,,dorothea ,,fairbridge4 ,pp4 #ccf1 with #ec illustrations and maps4 #es4 net4 ,,the ,,oxford ,,student',s ,,history ,,of ,,india1 by ,,vincent ,a4 ,,smith4 ,ninth edition revised by ,h4 ,g4 ,,rawlinson4 ,pp4 #cfd1 with #ae maps and #cb illustrations4 #ds4 net4 ,a ,,brief ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,indian ,,peoples1 by ,sir ,w4 ,w4 ,,hunter4 ,revised by ,w4 ,h4 ,,hutton4 ,pp4 #bfj4 #ds4 ,for ,general ,reading and ,reference4 ,,the ,,legacy ,,of ,,rome4 ,essays by ,c4 ,,foligno1 ,e4 ,,barker1 ,h4 ,,stuart ,,jones1 ,g4 ,h4 ,,stevenson1 ,f4 ,,de ,,zulueta1 ,h4 ,,last1 ,c4 ,,bailey1 ,,charles ,,singer1 ,j4 ,w4 ,,mackail1 the late ,,henry ,,bradley1 ,g4 ,,mcn4 ,,rushforth1 ,g4 ,,giovannoni1 ,w4 ,e4 ,,heitland4 ,edited by ,,cyril ,,bailey1 with an ,introduction by the ,right ,hon4 ,h4 ,h4 ,,asquith4 ,pp4 #ebd1 with #gf illustrations4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,legacy ,,of ,,greece4 ,essays by ,g4 ,,murray1 ,w4 ,r4 ,,inge1 ,j4 ,,burnet1 ,sir ,t4 ,l4 ,,heath1 ,d',,arcy ,w4 ,,thompson1 ,,charles ,,singer1 ,r4 ,w4 ,,livingstone1 ,a4 ,,toynbee1 ,a4 ,e4 ,,zimmern1 ,,percy ,,gardner1 ,sir ,r4 ,,blomfield4 ,pp4 #dcf1 with #cf illustrations4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,companion ,,to ,,roman ,,history1 by ,h4 ,,stuart ,,jones4 ,pp4 #dhd1 with #hj plates1 #fe other illustrations1 and #g maps4 #ags4 #f;d4 n4 ,a ,,companion ,,to ,,classical ,,texts1 by ,f4 ,w4 ,,hall4 ,pp4 #cgb1 with #g plates4 #is4 #f;d4 net4 ,,historical ,,portraits4 ,chosen by ,,emery ,,walker4 ,the ,lives1 by ,c4 ,r4 ,l4 ,,fletcher1 and 7in part of ,vol4 ,,ii7 ,h4 ,b4 ,,butler4 ,introductions on the artists by ,c4 ,f4 ,,bell4 ,in four volumes1 each #abs4 #f;d4 net1 the complete set #des4 net2 the ,portraits separately in envelope #gs4 #f;d4 net each of four sets4 ,vol4 ,i1 #adjj-afjj2 ,vol4 ,,ii1 #afjj-agjj2 ,vol4 ,,iii1 #agjj-ahjj2 ,vol4 ,,iv1 #ahjj-ahej4 ,the four volumes contain #dhj portraits4 ,,mediaeval ,,england4 ,a new edition of ,barnard's ,companion to ,english ,history4 ,edited by ,h4 ,w4 ,c4 ,,davis4 ,pp4 #fed1 with photogravure frontispiece and #cei other illustrations1 #bas4 net4 ,,shakespeare',s ,,england4 ,being an ,account of the ,life and ,manners of his ,age4 ,forty-three sections of contributors of authority1 with an ,ode on the ,tercentenary ,commemoration by the ,poet ,laureate4 ,two vols4 ,pp4 #aaib1 with #b photogravure frontispieces and #aie illustrations4 #dbs4 net4 ,,english ,,industries ,,of ,,the ,,middle ,,ages1 by ,l4 ,f4 ,,salzman4 ,pp4 #chj1 with #ajc illustrations4 #ajs4 net4 ,,oxford ,,county ,,histories1 by ,e4 ,a4 ,g4 ,,lamborn1 ,c4 ,e4 ,,kelsey1 ,f4 ,s4 ,,eden1 ,w4 ,h4 ,,weston1 ,f4 ,,clarke1 ,e4 ,g4 ,w4 ,,hewlett1 ,h4 ,a4 ,,liddell1 ,t4 ,,auden1 and ,j4 ,l4 ,,brockbank4 ,with maps1 photographs1 and illustrations of prehistoric remains1 coins1 medals1 and architecture1 each #cs4 net4 ,list on application4 ,,an ,,historical ,,atlas ,,of ,,modern ,,europe ,,from #aghi to #aibb4 ,with an historical and explanatory text by ,c4 ,,grant ,,robertson and ,j4 ,g4 ,,bartholomew4 ,pp4 #cb1 with #db pp4 of maps4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,historical ,,atlas ,,of ,,modern ,,europe4 ,from the decline of the ,roman ,empire1 comprising also maps of parts of ,asia1 ,africa1 and the ,new ,world connected with ,european ,history4 ,edited by ,r4 ,l4 ,,poole4 ,with #ij coloured maps and #ahb pages of double column letterpress4 ,prices on application4 ,,oxford ,,university ,,press ,amen ,house1 ,warwick ,square1 ,e4,c4 #d